Have i ruined my beer - No.01

[daveymc]

I recently brewed an american style IPA (white labs american ale yeast), and after the primary fermentation (constant 20degC for 14 days) put it in a barrel with my priming sugar (85g table sugar for 22l).

The barrel then went straight in the garage - which is fairly cold at the moment. It was in there for a week when I had a taste of the beer which tasted a little sweet. Seemed like there was loads of pressure in the barrel so assumed everything was going ok. I moved the barrel indoors as I was concerned that the temperature had slowed any secondary fermentation.

It's now nearly two weeks and I reckon there's still a little sweetness there - but the missus disagrees.

What do you reckon, have I dropped a clanger?

[periolus]

When you prime, you are expecting the yeast to revive and undertake a second fermentation, which will require them to be working in a sensible range of 16-20C, with 18ish about optimal. If you put them straight into a cold environment then they might have time to start the process, but will eventually shut down due to the cold.

If it is back indoors then they may well finish the job, as moving it will have roused them. Try rousing again gently and leaving for another week.

I used to then condition indoors for 10 days before leaving somewhere colder to condition until ready.

Hope that helps!

[daveymc]

Thanks for that. When you say rouse, what do you mean - give it a shake?

(i'm a novice - can you tell?!)

[jimp2003]

When you added the sugar did you first boil it up in some water and then cool before adding it to the barrel? If you just added the sugar granules these can take a while to dissolve and distribute through the beer.

When rousing do not shake the beer as such as you don't want to oxidate it which can lead to off-flavours. Just gently stir with a sanitised spoon or swirl the beer in the keg.

As periolus has said its best to leave the beer in a warm place to allow the yeast to get to work.

[techtone]

Two weeks in the keg and slightly sweet would be perfectly normal, to me. Maybe slightly "thin" too. You had loads of pressure so secondary fermentation has worked. Another couple of weeks and it will be quite different!

[daveymc]

Techtone - hadn't really thought about it last time I tried it but you could call it thin.

Jim - yes, I made a solution with normal sugar and a little water, boiled briefly and then let it cool. I gave the barrel a gentle swirl last night, so fingers crossed.

I'll have to be more patient! I'll let you know how it turns out.

As an aside, I would assume/expect hop aroma to be evident from the get go. It's a little lacking in aroma but there's plenty bitterness. Here's my hop additions, maybe move the 20 min ones nearer the end next time, or try a dry hop...?

Magnum 15g 60 mins
Chinook 15g 45 mins
Cascade 30g 20 mins
Chinook 30g 20 mins
Chinook 30g 5 mins
Cascade 30g 5 mins
Chinook 25g 0 mins

[jimp2003]

That hop schedule looks pretty good to me. However if you really want to up the aroma you could easily double the 0 min addition and make sure you add them after chilling the wort down to 80 degrees rather than bunging them in as soon as the flame/electricity goes off.

Dry hopping would also help of course...

[daveymc]

Thanks Jim, I'll give that a try as I've been adding them as the gas goes off. See how it turns out and try dry hopping the one after if I need the additional boost!

I'm determined for a top IPA!

[jimp2003]

Sounds good. I used to bung the 0min hops in right at flameout but since leaving it until the brew cools down a bit I have definitely noticed a difference. Its common sense I guess as you don't want the aroma to be evaporated off...

[daveymc]

Just a quick update on this - my IPA is tasting a lot better now, after rousing it and bringing it back in the house. It hasn't got the hop aroma that I was after but the sweetness that was troubling me has gone. Will try the same recipe and method again but will fettle the hop additions.

[Klaus]

For my AG#3 Crouch Vale Best Bitter, the recipe suggested dry hopping in the barrel with 8g EKG.
Well, never done this before so a hop sock went in (just floating at the top) and the hoppiness after two weeks was amazing. Certainly any sweetness would have masked by the hop flavour, not that I was worried about that.

[jonnyt]

You could dry hop to get a more desired Aroma post fermentation.