Tangy Ambiorix

[pauljmuk]

Just tried a bottle of my Ambiorix, made to the instructions, using candi sugar instead of household, and replacing kit yeast with a SAF Belgian yeast.

3 weeks conditioning now (yes I know it's early) and it is clear as a bell, but got that homebrew tang to it.

Will longer conditioning help this mellow out?

[Mogwyth]

As you say it is a bit young for a brewferm kit, so I wouldn't over worry, my Diabolo gets better and better. What water did you use?

Cheers

Bill

[pauljmuk]

Tap water - our tap water is pretty decent to be honest. Did add a tiny pinch of crushed campden in any case.

It's the same tang i had with my very first basic kit beer which used loads of sugar. This used loads of Candi (as per instructions).

I suppose my general question is will any bottled beer with sugar twang, get better / mellower with age?

[Toiletbrewer]

Great to hear of this good news!

I started my Ambiorix on Sunday, will probably bottle it on Tuesday, can I get away with Monday? Fermentation has slowed right down. Is it ok to drop in a bit of candy sugar?

Made 13l, adding 450g candy sugar, 100g brown sugar, 450ml LME and also used a yeast nutrient. Temp is constantly between 20-25°c in a dark corner.

How strong is your stuff?

[Mogwyth]

First why change the supplied yeast, my Diabolo went down to 1.006 with the supplied yeast. It was made with 650gm golden syrup which is a partially inverted sugar and very close to candy sugar and Eden falls mineral water, came out at 7.8% abv it has no homebrew twang what so ever, one of my mates didn't believe it was a kit.

Toilet, Brewferm kits can take up to the full 10 days to ferment out and I certainly wouldn't add anymore fermentables, I thought most Brewferm kits recommend 500gms.

Cheers

Bill

[JayBee]

First Brewferm kit I did was really disappointing at the reccomended 8 weeks so I left it and got something else on the go. I tried it again after another 2 months and it was completely different, really mellowed out and no homebrew connection at all.
Same with the Diabolo, I made it as my Xmas brew last October but it was poor so I put it at the back of the cupboard and it took until February/March to become a bloody marvellous pint.
I only make a Brewferm now when I`ve got plenty of other stuff to drink for a while, the 6 - 8 weeks they suggest just isn`t long enough IMO.

[Toiletbrewer]

Bottled Ambiorix 2 weeks ago and took a sample on Monday - brilliant already. Will leave it in the cellar for another month. Even the sediment at the bottom of the bottle does not taste rank.

[pauljmuk]

My update at week 5 in cold conditioning - tang has gone - brilliant beer!

[Benson_JV]

I've done all of the brewferm kits, and all of them now (well..what i have left!) are excellent, some of them are anything up to 8 months old, absolutely gorgeous, nothing like kits.

[kfm]

Excellent, I've a corny full of adapted Ambiorix at the back of my garage brewed in Jan/Feb that is destined for Xmas 09. Happy days en route

[Manx Guy]

Hi,
To confirm that brewerm kits improve with age I've found that tasting after 4 ,6 and 7 weeks ther is a noticable improvement in flavour and head etc.

I bottled my Ambiorix on the 3rd of August after 12 days in the FV (primary) I bottled it into 30 450ml Grolsh bottles and placed in a warm (18-20C)place for 10 days... it was then moved to a cool spot that is consistantly 14/15C
after a further 3 weeks I put a bottle (upright) in the fridge for about 4 days before sampling

I have to say I was impressed with the beer-it looked great had a nice tight packed head and small compact bubles...
It tasted slighty sweet with a bitter aftertaste but very drinkable.
after a couple more weeks I poped another in the fridge and the beer was still well carbonated and the head remained as I drained it
the taste was noticibaly smoother and more complex and the bitterness was not quite as harsh

last time I tried some it tasted good however my wife distracted me during the pour and i ended up with some of the sediment in the glass...
this lead to a slighty yeasty nose but the beer was still very drinkable!

The yeast sediment is not very compact and I beleive this may be due to it being a high atentuating strain (to ferment the high gravity brew) from my limited understanding these types of yeast do not form firm sediments like lower atenuating yeasts... as they need to stay in suspension to convert the sugars malts in the high gravity brew to booze...

please correct me if I'm mistaken in that last paragraph...

However I suspect that this will mean that these brews wont 'travel' too well eg. to a mates house for a cards game etc.

Slainte!

[JayBee]

"The yeast sediment is not very compact and I beleive this may be due to it being a high atentuating strain (to ferment the high gravity brew) from my limited understanding these types of yeast do not form firm sediments like lower atenuating yeasts... as they need to stay in suspension to convert the sugars malts in the high gravity brew to booze... "

Interesting thought, I have wondered myself actually. Brewferm are the only kit yeasts I use as they work really well but are so loose in the bottle. I`ve still got a couple of bottles of Diabolo left from last October, be interesting to see if the yeast has compacted down, especially as they havent been moved since then.
Just hope I can remember where I stored them.

[Manx Guy]

Hi,

The yeast does compact down to a certain degree and chilling in the fridge overnight does help...

However it doesn't take much to disturb the sediment, but that said I've often had a cloudy Belgian beer when over there...
It doesn't seem to effect the taste much, just spoils my enjoyment of my own handy work... lol

Claire (SWIMBO) finds it very ammusing that I sit there sniffing and admiring my glass of beer, before taking a drink....

This is coming from someone who drinks white wine like a dog in the sun!


I am going to obtain a brewferm Lager yeast to brew up my brewferm Pils... as I think the included yeast is a regular 'ale' type yeast...

I'm confident that if I follow the directions I'll have a superb lager after 6-10 weeks...
Just waiting for the temprature to drop (probably november will be just right)


Slainte!

[dunc]

Just had a sneaky bottle of my Ambiorix I'm supposedly saving for Christmas, its been bottled four weeks and is crystal clear, not in the least homebrewy tasting with a huge fluffy head. Reminded me of Orval a bit - will definitely do this kit again. Did it to 15 litres with a kilo of BKE and 125g of soft dark brown sugar, ended up at 6.5%. Only trouble is going to be leaving the rest to finish maturing. Better buy another kit.