First all Grain Brew.

[keebie]

Ive Been extract brewing for a few months now and found most kits to be wanting, so we tried a partial grain kit and even tho it didn't set my world on fire i saw the light in as much as how much flavour we can get. The answer was all grain. so we knocked up a kind of braumister clone, and tried our first brew. These were the numbers we used so any feed back would be great. Also i will get some photo's of the rig for any that are interested.
This is our brew numbers.

Style: American amber ale
Boil time:60 mins
Steep time 90mins
Batch size:37 Litres (9.7 gallons)
Boil size:28.5 litres (7.5 gallons)
Efficiency : 64% ( We had pump failure on the rig )
Og: 1.046 Fg 1.013 (we are aiming for this)
IBU: 43.5

We used:
6.32 kg (13.9 lbs) American-pale 2 row
1.58kg (3.47lbs) American wheat
0.79kg (1.78lbs) American caramel)
Hops:
60g cascade 60mins
40g cascade 15mins
16g amarillo 15mins
40g amarillo 5mins
44g amarillo at 2 days of fermentation.
This is in the fermenter at the moment so any feed back would be great.

 

[keebie]

Now on day 5 of the fermentation, the gravity is at 1.013. seems to have gone pretty quick for 18c. Beer seems to have a slightly tropical smell and taste to it? Any idea's as to why that would be.?

 

[BrokenKnucklesBrewery]

On the 5th day, you could very well be done with fermentation, but you probably want it to sit for a few more days. Even though the fermentation may appear complete, the yeasties are actually going back through and cleaning up after themselves. This can change the taste big time. I would suggest letting it sit for another 5 days, check gravity and then proceed to either secondary or kegging/bottling.

 

[nevertrustahipie]

What kind of yeast?

 

[kh54s10]

I taste my brew at different times throughout the process. Unless it would taste really bad (never so far, Damn, jinxed myself again.) I only use that as a reference. I find the final, properly carbed and chilled beer is way different than at any prior tasting. I would be very surprised that the fermentation is totally done at 5 days. I have never taken a gravity reading at less than 10 days. Most of my beers are still active at 5 days. I also suggest leaving it alone for at least another 5-16 days!

 

[nevertrustahipie]

I've had brews finish primary fermentation in 2 days from pitching with Notty yeast. Not that it was ready to bottle at that time, not even close.

Definitely need to taste at several stages, for quality and learning experience.

 

[keebie]

Thanks for the feed back, i will let it sit and check it again in a week. The yeast is us05.

 

[RM-MN]

You need to read this article as it tells how the yeast take your wort and make it into beer. http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

The tropical smell you noticed is a combination of the hops and the esters produced by the yeast as they devoured the maltose. Given time the yeast will remove most of the esters for you. Another week will do wonders for your beer as will a week beyond that. I find that doing at least 3 weeks in the fermenter gives me better flavored beer and drops out a lot of the yeast so it isn't in the bottles.

 

[keebie]

Thanks for that link, from my very limited experience that article makes total sense.
Im actualy keen to revisit some of my past beers now to see if i was drinking "green beer" or not. I keg and carbonate with co2 but always bottle at least a six pack and ferment those in the bottles, so hopefully they will we better now with time.

 

[keebie]

Thanks for the advice, leaving it in the fermenter for another week did the trick, was a great beer.