thanks guys!
I am going to do a brew tomorrow as suggested and see how it goes.
G.
Disheartening - Am I doing something wrong
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Aleman
- It's definitely Lock In Time
- Posts: 6132
- Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 11:56 am
- Location: Mashing In Blackpool, Lancashire, UK
Having read through the threads . . . I have to say that the only thing you are doing wrong is brewing beers that you don't really like. Taste and perception can be a funny thing. David Edge tells the story of one CBA member that was complaining of an awful bitter after taste in his beer . . . loads of things were suggested to improve things and nothing worked . . . eventually a sample of the beers appeared and was tasted by some fairly experienced brewers, all of whom could not taste any wrong, apart from the fact they were a bit hoppy . . . Guess what the problem was ? Yeah He didn't like hoppy beers.
Try something wildly different and more 'in your face', and you will get that wow factor . . . hopefully after a few brews you will then come to appreciate the more subtle balanced beers, that are quite difficult to master
Good luck and keep brewing
Try something wildly different and more 'in your face', and you will get that wow factor . . . hopefully after a few brews you will then come to appreciate the more subtle balanced beers, that are quite difficult to master
Good luck and keep brewing
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Should drink more
I totally agree with Aleman on the choice of recipe. Since I started trying clones of beers I know I like I seem to have got a lot better at it. Maybe it's practice or improving method or perhaps I just didn't like the basic recipes I was trying.
I'm still building the confidence and knowledge needed to make up my own recipes.
I'm still building the confidence and knowledge needed to make up my own recipes.
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fivetide
Grahame - it's all down to personal taste, but if I were you I would add 5% or so of crystal or Munich (or both) to your bill just to create a different malt profile. You could even chuck in an extra half kilo to a kilo of malt generally if you are after a stronger brew. Then up the copper hops to say 40 IBUs, and up your aroma hops so you've got at least half the weight of your copper hops in at flameout and a healthy addition at 15 minutes too. A nice big chunk of green EKG or Styrians or Cascade or similar at the end of the brew smells fantastic on brew day and in the glass.
But my biggest tip would be to condition for a lot longer. Consider a secondary fermenting stage, which will also help your beer drop clear (I don't use finings either). Keg and leave alone for a month before tasting for the first time, then judge whether it needs further time for those flavours to blend.
That's all really. You could consider dry-hopping at that secondary stage in future too, for some variety.
I have been to beer festivals where they have 20 golden ales and apart from a few standout tastes, many can taste a bit samey. I try and change this around with different hop additions, as it also helps me find the hop flavours I like best, but like you I wanted a change recently and so made a mild/porter style beer just for the hell of it. I'm going to make a ruby ale soon too, but I'll always come back to golden beers I think (I'm not a massive fan of crystal!)
But my biggest tip would be to condition for a lot longer. Consider a secondary fermenting stage, which will also help your beer drop clear (I don't use finings either). Keg and leave alone for a month before tasting for the first time, then judge whether it needs further time for those flavours to blend.
That's all really. You could consider dry-hopping at that secondary stage in future too, for some variety.
I have been to beer festivals where they have 20 golden ales and apart from a few standout tastes, many can taste a bit samey. I try and change this around with different hop additions, as it also helps me find the hop flavours I like best, but like you I wanted a change recently and so made a mild/porter style beer just for the hell of it. I'm going to make a ruby ale soon too, but I'll always come back to golden beers I think (I'm not a massive fan of crystal!)
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Edwin Thrunge
Hello, oi be a noobie here, so please don't bite....
I've had some brews that I can only describe as "bland", and when I look back at the recipes I chose/made up, they've looked sound, but I made one mistake - I should have made them 4 gallon brews, not 5 gallon brews.
My latest (yesterday evening - first for over six months) is a 20L brew, with the intention of putting it in a corny, not in a king keg.
PH is pretty well 7 here in this part of Bedfordshire, chlorine is non-existant according to my test strips, so I don't do any other water treatment.
TBG Bitter:
4Kg Maris Otter, 500gm Crystal, 250gm Torrified Wheat.
Mash at 150F for 90min.
Boil 90min.
30gm Progress at 15min
15gm Fuggles at 15min
25gm Fuggles at 75min
25gm Fuggles at End of Boil
10gm Irish Moss
Safale 04 yeast.
OG. 1042@20C
I ferment in my cellar which is a fairly constant 70F temp - due to the domestic appliances, computing equipment, and air conditioner.
What this one will be like, not too sure. I've increased the aroma hopping as the last rendition of this was a little lacking in that area.
I've had a few "sarson's" brews over the years, but most of my problems tend to come from being a little over-conservative on the hops.
'Er indoors doesn't like too much in the way of bittering hops, so I tend to stick to general purpose hops like Progress, with aroma hops - usually Fuggles.
Unless I'm doing a Pilsner of course.
Made a cracking copy of a Meteor Pils two years back using the recipe in the CAMRA "Fester up Europeen stuff like wot you buy" book. Overdid it a little, it came out a 7.2%ABV instead of 5%. Went down well.
I've had some brews that I can only describe as "bland", and when I look back at the recipes I chose/made up, they've looked sound, but I made one mistake - I should have made them 4 gallon brews, not 5 gallon brews.
My latest (yesterday evening - first for over six months) is a 20L brew, with the intention of putting it in a corny, not in a king keg.
PH is pretty well 7 here in this part of Bedfordshire, chlorine is non-existant according to my test strips, so I don't do any other water treatment.
TBG Bitter:
4Kg Maris Otter, 500gm Crystal, 250gm Torrified Wheat.
Mash at 150F for 90min.
Boil 90min.
30gm Progress at 15min
15gm Fuggles at 15min
25gm Fuggles at 75min
25gm Fuggles at End of Boil
10gm Irish Moss
Safale 04 yeast.
OG. 1042@20C
I ferment in my cellar which is a fairly constant 70F temp - due to the domestic appliances, computing equipment, and air conditioner.
What this one will be like, not too sure. I've increased the aroma hopping as the last rendition of this was a little lacking in that area.
I've had a few "sarson's" brews over the years, but most of my problems tend to come from being a little over-conservative on the hops.
'Er indoors doesn't like too much in the way of bittering hops, so I tend to stick to general purpose hops like Progress, with aroma hops - usually Fuggles.
Unless I'm doing a Pilsner of course.
Made a cracking copy of a Meteor Pils two years back using the recipe in the CAMRA "Fester up Europeen stuff like wot you buy" book. Overdid it a little, it came out a 7.2%ABV instead of 5%. Went down well.
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SiHoltye
Hi Grahame,
Sorry to hear about these teething troubles.
What's your fave commercial brew and what characteristic of it do you like best?
With this info we might be able to suggest a brew, or balance of ingredients to bring out this characteristic.
Using the same yeast strain over and over you can learn to identify it, and it may become a little same-y, but malt and hops can make themselves known despite the yeast choice.
Sorry to hear about these teething troubles.
What's your fave commercial brew and what characteristic of it do you like best?
With this info we might be able to suggest a brew, or balance of ingredients to bring out this characteristic.
Using the same yeast strain over and over you can learn to identify it, and it may become a little same-y, but malt and hops can make themselves known despite the yeast choice.
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confused
When I started AG someone on here suggested I start with Jim's stock bitter recipe which he details on his AG page. I was glad I did as not only is it a cracking beer in it's own right it has moderate hoppiness and malt sweetness. I posted on here in my brewday post that it was really satisfying to be able to taste the different elements in the Beer and to understand where they came from. That was the real advance from kits for me.
My next two AG's were the same recipe, one modded for greater hops, one with increased amount of crystal. The difference was very noticeable. The increased crytsal variant came out very akin to Abbot which I quite like, maybe a little sweet for most. The increased hops was a bit overpowering, not the favourite beer I have ever brewed but I learnt a valuable lesson.
I generally use tastybrew's full recipe calculator to test my recipe on nowadays, touchwood it hasn't let me down yet. I especially like it for the IBU result, I know now that I'm not going to get an overly bitter, or bland beer.
My next two AG's were the same recipe, one modded for greater hops, one with increased amount of crystal. The difference was very noticeable. The increased crytsal variant came out very akin to Abbot which I quite like, maybe a little sweet for most. The increased hops was a bit overpowering, not the favourite beer I have ever brewed but I learnt a valuable lesson.
I generally use tastybrew's full recipe calculator to test my recipe on nowadays, touchwood it hasn't let me down yet. I especially like it for the IBU result, I know now that I'm not going to get an overly bitter, or bland beer.
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Grahame
Hi guys, just read the replies over the last few days on here, thanks a lot for all your help and suggestions.
I think that it is a combination of too subltle a malt profile, not enough IBU's and not long enough conditioning time that has been my problems. my last brew (MO, Wheat Malt, Crystal and 40IBU with fuggles and EKG) is sitting in the primary clearing just now and the test samples are very promising. Also, my second to last, with Cascade, is 10 days in the corni and tasting again very promising.
I think I am getting there, slowly!
G.
My first AG was your Briar's best, which to be honest has been my best to date. I like most beer styles but my favourites are Coniston Bluebird, Deucars IPA, Jennings Cocker Hoop and Harviestoun Bitter & twisted.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:41 am Post subject:
Hi Grahame,
Sorry to hear about these teething troubles.
What's your fave commercial brew and what characteristic of it do you like best?
With this info we might be able to suggest a brew, or balance of ingredients to bring out this characteristic.
Using the same yeast strain over and over you can learn to identify it, and it may become a little same-y, but malt and hops can make themselves known despite the yeast choice.
I think that it is a combination of too subltle a malt profile, not enough IBU's and not long enough conditioning time that has been my problems. my last brew (MO, Wheat Malt, Crystal and 40IBU with fuggles and EKG) is sitting in the primary clearing just now and the test samples are very promising. Also, my second to last, with Cascade, is 10 days in the corni and tasting again very promising.
I think I am getting there, slowly!
G.