Aeration Issues?

[buckeyebrewer521]

My friend and I both brewed a Kolsch based on the Brewers Best Kolsch kit. His turned out very clean and crisp, while mine was still sweet and didn't taste as finished, plus all the kit beers have a discernible "twang", while his had none. A couple things were different in the brew days and I am trying to figure out what we did with his that was such an improvement over mine. Here are the things we did differently.

1. I used the actual kit from Brewers Best and used WYEAST Kolsch yeast. When we went to the store to get his they were out of kits, so we just built the kit from the malt extract they had at the store (it was still the exact LME and DME that is in the kit, just off the shelf instead). We also had to get his specialty grains crushed in the store as opposed to them being sealed in the box kit. All his hops came out of a freezer, and we had to substitute the Hallertau hops with Tettnang. He also used WYEAST Kolsch yeast.

2. We brewed his on a turkey fryer burner in a 7 gallon pot, while mine was done on electric stove in a 5 gallon pot.

3. We used a copper wort chiller to cool his, while I do not have a chiller and used an ice bath. His chilled faster, but using the ice bath only took 10 mins or so longer.

4. To aerate his wort prepitch, we used a wine stirrer attached to the drill, and it appeared to aerate very well. As I do not have a stirrer, I just stirred the wort vigorously by hand. Aeration was not near the same level as his.

5. During my fermentation, it stayed in the low 60s, while his was pretty low to start, then he put a heater near it, and it by accident managed to climb close the high 70s.

6. I let mine secondary for almost a month in 25-35 deg weather in the garage. We used SuperMoss in his and no secondary.

Both of our OGs were very close to each other, and both finished at 1.012. His color was alot lighter than mine also, even though we both followed the Brewers Best directions. My personal opinion is that it is from the aeration, but I have only done four batches, so I'm not totally sure. All four batches have been subpar, and I have not had the means to really aerate any of them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I have also included a link to the recipe.
http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1015%202013%20Kolsch%20Recipe.pdf

 

[buckeyebrewer521]

Here is the recipe just in case there are issues with link.

View attachment 1015 2013 Kolsch Recipe.pdf

 

[stpug]

I very well could have simply been the freshness of the extract, particularly the LME. This freshness, in and of itself, can account for color, twang, and residual sweetness. It does sound like you guys did a better job aerating his work which would be helpful when pitching a single smackpack of yeast. If your smackpack was older than his then it would exacerbate some off characteristics as well.

Overall, it seems like there were plenty of different processes when brewing these two batches that it's hard to really pinpoint one thing in particular that caused all of the differences.

 

[Irish1225]

Did both or either of you remove your pot from heat when adding the LME/DME?

Your brew may possibly be darker due to some scorching of extract on your electric heating element :-/

 

[Homercidal]

As has been mentioned before, I think the color is a giveaway on this. Liquid extract turns darker as it ages. It's possible that the extract in the kit was significantly older than the extract bought separate in the store.

Also, it's quite possible to scorch the extract when you add it to the kettle if you did not turn off the heat.

Another possibility is that he did a "Full Boil" in his 7 gallon pot, while you added top-off water to yours. The important part is that your version was likely boiled at a higher gravity, which helps promote melanoidens (carmelization).

Almost any difference between the brews can be attributed to the differences in the final beer. Aeration is possibly a cause, as is fermentation temp control.

That's why brewers have varying degrees of success in replicating recipes between each other.

 

[Croyzen]

Think about what you'd rather have;

A.) A kit sitting on a LHBS shelf for who knows how long at room temperature. Crushed grain, extract, hops, yeast, all sitting for who knows how long before you come along and purchase it.

B.) Fresh ingredients, the yeast and hops probably stored in a cool/cold place, and the LME most likely much fresher. (Huge factor and a give away as mentioned, the older, the darker), freshly crushed specialty grains.

It may be that he also got a better hot and cold break as well.

Want to make a great batch of extract beer?

Step 1; Don't brew a Brewer's "Best." If it were the best you'd be getting the freshest ingredients that were stored with the greatest care. Instead brew an extract recipe and buy your ingredients outright.

Step 2; Pitch the right amount of healthy yeast and control your fermentation temps.

Also be sure to follow good sanitation procedures and research how to brew good extract. Kit instructions are terrible. Learn about late extract additions and proper grain steeping techniques, both which are always wrong in beer kit instructions.

 

[Trox]

I would say it is because you did a smaller boil than him and he probably reached boil faster, resulting in less opportunity for his extract to caramelize compared to yours (shorter cook time and the wort is as concentrated as yours would be sugar to water ratio).

 

[h22lude]

I think the answer is #1. Quality fresh ingredients makes a good beer. Just like everything man built/made, the better the quality of the individual parts the better the finished product.

It definitely isn't 3 and 4. If it only took you another 10 minutes, that wouldn't affect anything. You shaking the bucket and him using a wine whip create the same O2 levels (I think 8ppm). The only advantage for using a wine whip is time...oh and maybe your back lol

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[Devilsnight]

..to many homebrews on my birthday... I think fresher ingredients go a long way. Quality in, quality out! I doubt aeration was the issue

 

[wtfDean]

Incase I missed it you mentioned he used wyeast kolsch, what did you use?

1. I used the actual kit from Brewers Best and used WYEAST Kolsch yeast.

I'm gonna go ahead and say that if you didn't properly aerate your wort prior to pitching the yeast, your gravity would have ended higher than your friend's. I won't speculate about all the things that could have gone wrong with your brew, since that has already been done, but I will say rather confidently that your problem was not aeration. Before I purchased an oxygen aeration system I would never hit final gravities below 1.018 because the yeast would drop out early. You would have a similar gravity reading, and you don't.

edit: Ok, I'll speculate a little bit. You said you "left it in the garage for almost a month in 25-35 degree weather." Now I am willing to bet that the diurnal temperature swing in your garage is way more dramatic than 10 degrees. I have been told that it is a bad idea to expose your beer to huge swings in temperature. I've never done it so I can't say for sure what the outcome is, but that could be a factor.

 

[buckeyebrewer521]

Thanks everyone for all the information. My friend just did his second batch from a kit and he said it already tasted different from his first. Next brew day I am going to try fresher stuff and see how it goes. Thanks again!

 

[buckeyebrewer521]

I'm gonna go ahead and say that if you didn't properly aerate your wort prior to pitching the yeast, your gravity would have ended higher than your friend's. I won't speculate about all the things that could have gone wrong with your brew, since that has already been done, but I will say rather confidently that your problem was not aeration. Before I purchased an oxygen aeration system I would never hit final gravities below 1.018 because the yeast would drop out early. You would have a similar gravity reading, and you don't.

edit: Ok, I'll speculate a little bit. You said you "left it in the garage for almost a month in 25-35 degree weather." Now I am willing to bet that the diurnal temperature swing in your garage is way more dramatic than 10 degrees. I have been told that it is a bad idea to expose your beer to huge swings in temperature. I've never done it so I can't say for sure what the outcome is, but that could be a factor.

I am also thinking the "lagering" period I did had some pretty extreme temperature swings. I did that purely for clarity, but since then I have started using SuperMoss and have noticed a big difference in clarity so I will not do another "lagering" unless I can control the temperature. Thanks again for the advice.

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