Hello from the great white north!

[Benjimagoo]

Hey fellow beer drinkers,

My name is Ben and I'm happy to be here.

I received a Brewmaster brewing kit for Christmas and have so far have 2 brews on the go (both 5 gallons) brewing 1 ale and 1 Pilsner (hopped) which I will attempt to lager.

The Ale brew has been sitting at 11-12C (51.8F approx) since boxing day and I just brewed the Pilsner yesterday (after purchasing two more 23litre / 6 US gallon Carboys).

The Ale was a very easy brew in-so-much it was an all syrup brew... the effort was all in the sanitizing of everything.

Yesterday's Pilsner was a kit that was a little more involved as it included some grain and hop pellets to add. I added some additional Liberty hops at each of the stages laid out on the recipe sheet as I have enjoyed the bitterness of Mad Toms and Boneshaker in the past.

I head a hell of a job siphoning due to the additional hops being dried leaf, in the end the mix went through an un-sanitized strainer (I was also making supper at the time) so I kicked myself after for that.

The airlock is hardly moving on the ale Carboy so am thinking about dragging that into a warmer environment to help the yeast clean up. I'm not sure if this is required.

Does the airlock not moving denote the end of any specific stage of the yeast lifecycle?

Also, does anyone know whether the Beermaster instructions are in US Gallons? Are US Gallons assumed when talking Beer brewing?

Oh yes, one more thing of note - Originally I'm from England and have had mad love for Ales since my mid 20's.

Good to be here.



Ben.

 

[Cider123]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I'm guessing your up in Canada?

Couple things:

First, 51F is a good temp to ferment a pilsner lager, but is way too low for an ale. You want to be careful warming it up though. 62-66F is a good standard range for most ale yeasts. If you go above 68F you'll start producing off flavors.

Next, airlock bubbling is not a good measure of when fermentation stops. Some fermenters are not airtight and will not have bubbling at all. Yes, for the most part if the bubbling is slowing then fermentation is probably slowing down, or in your case with the ale, not quite going. I can't speak for lagers because they are not what I usually make, but for the ale:
get it in the 62-66 range
let it sit for 2-3 weeks
check the final gravity, if it's the same for 3 days in a row then it's safe to bottle

Finally, don't trust intro beer kit directions. I've seen many a beginner foiled by poor advice from starter kits. Get a copy of John Palmer's book "How to Brew" and learn from that.

Then sit back and have a brew. (And Bob's your uncle) Don't worry about the strainer. Yes, sanitizing is important, but when those yeasts take off they will usually overrun any other wee beasties just from sheer number.

BTW, being from England, do you have any favorite mild or brown ales?

 

[ncbrewer]

Welcome to HBT.

As far as the siphoning problem, I just pour the wort into the fermenter – lots of brewers do this. Sometimes I stop when it gets pretty thick with hop sediment – sometimes not.

When the bubbling stops usually means the fermentation has slowed down, but you really can’t use the bubbling as a gauge. Other things like temperature, barometric pressure, and a leaky fermenter seal (not uncommon) can also affect it.

I don’t know about the Beermaster instructions. Whether “gallons” means US or imperial seems to depend on where the speaker is from. Here on HBT, it usually seems to mean US gallons.


I hope your brews turn out well.

 

[Benjimagoo]

Hey Cider,

Yes, I'm in the sticks about 2 hours north of Toronto.

Thanks for the advice, I will move the Ale slowly toward to door of the cold room and then into the basement - it's a little warmer than the cold room.

As for beer preferences: When I was last in England I was at the pubs drinking their seasonal home-brews so I forget names... probably due to the fact I was enjoying them so much!

My most recent brown ale consumed which I loved (and remembered) was the Black Oak Nut Brown Ale made in Oakville, Ontario - this was a while ago mind so I don't know whether it is still as good today as it was then.

Given your name is Cider - I hope you've had the chance to taste Thatchers Cider, delicious and powerful stuff.

Thanks also for the additional advice and recommendations - much appreciated.

Ben.

 

[Benjimagoo]

Thanks Ncbrewer,

I will wait until the 26th of this month (a month from brew date) and take a gravity reading.

All the best!

Ben.

 

[Cider123]

BTW, sometimes they sell pilsner kits made with ale yeast rather than lager yeast. These are pilsner-like ales and are good for beginners. If it is an ale yeast then you would ferment at the same temp as the ale. If it is a lager yeast then you would stick closer to 50F.

If your not sure, you can post what type of yeast it is and we can help.

 

[boo boo]

Welcome to HBT, and brewing your own. Is that a Mr. Beer kit? If it is, more than likely it will have ale yeast for all kits. It would be nice for us to know so we can better help you.

 

[Benjimagoo]

Hey Cider, boo boo,

It's a Brewers Best Continental Pilsner which can be brewed as an Ale per the instructions.

The fermentation appears stuck (no evidence of CO2 or any bubbling) which likely is due to the lower temperatures in the cold room.

I will move it into a warmer spot alongside the other brew that has come out of cold, which I hasten to add is a lot more active now -

Thanks again and apologies, I don't have the yeast sachet so am unsure of what type of yeast was included - other than it being a "continental pilsner" yeast which is good to be brewed as an ale.

Best Regards, Ben.

 

[Benjimagoo]

The kit instructions state that it is indeed a lager yeast.

I thought better of moving it and instead have added more O2 as my gut told me that a lack of O2 was the missing piece... I back tracked over the process and realized that I didn't give it a really good aeration.

I tasted some of the wort and it's tastes great as is but there was no yeast cake or suggestion of C02 so it's either bad yeast or not enough O2.

So I went with O2, we will see.

Happy to hear any other thoughts.

Ben.

 

[unionrdr]

Lagers also seem to need a larger yeast pitch than ales,due to the colder fermenting temps. But moving the ale to a warm spot of around 65-69F right away will be ok. It'll take a day or so to get the temp to rise anyway. It won't hurt the yeasties. As the temp comes up to a suitable range for the ale yeast,gently swirl the fermenter to stir them up into suspension again. But don't slosh it roughly,as oxygenation might be bad at this point.

 

[Homercidal]

Lagers generally take longer to show signs of fermentation. If you gave the yeast food, and it's not too cold, then you are doing good.

 

[Benjimagoo]

Hey unionrdr, Homercidal,

I moved the brew to a warmer spot and it took off like it was playing catch up.

I think I will leave it to ferment out as an ale, then try and lager it which I assume would work given the yeast is a lager strain.

Thanks all for the warm welcome If I run into any other problems or have any other questions I look to the general forums.

Good to be here.

Ben.

 

[Benjimagoo]

thought to update.

I had moved both brew into a warmer climate (approx 21C) and bottled the original (brown ale) yesterday, I tasted the product - not one sign of any off flavours but decidedly uncomplex. It's my first batch so I'm not concerned.

I'm going to let it carbonate and try a bottle in a week (knowing that 2 weeks is probably the right amount of time).

I don't know how serious to take this process, so I'm going to see how the finished product sits and if I want to take more control over the process I will look into investing the time and potentially money to give me that control.

I wanted to also extend a thanks for all the feedback and welcome I received from the crowd here.

I'll be posting on other threads so hope to see you then.

Best Regards, Ben.

 

[tannerev]

Hello, hello.

I have been lurking these forums for awhile now, I am in a similar situation to Benjimagoo - my wife bought me a kit for Christmas, and one of my friends back in Vancouver was into homebrewing... I got hooked right away. I have two batches going now and I will be bottling my first 5 gallon batch in a few days. I have been reading the forums non stop.

From the great white north as well, I live about 4-4.5 hours north of Edmonton, Alberta. It's a very rural little place, and shipping from the online stores is not too cheap... so my first trip into my "LHBS" (4.5 hours away) will be this week and i have a huge list!

Anyway not meaning to hijack your introduction Benjimagoo, when i read the title of the thread it just seemed like an appropriate place to introduce myself as well.

 

[Homercidal]

It might seem uncomplex before it's carbed, but carbonation, besides the texture, also adds some flavor compounds and might help to bring out the complexity. Coming up with the right mix of grains and hops and other things is one of the big reasons to brew PM or AG.

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

welcome to the forum! i'm right in Toronto but spend much of my time in the Kawartha Lakes/Haliburton counties, that's about 2-3 hrs north of the city. anyway, welcome neighbor!!