Hey guys!
I will try to answer all at once =)
Your process seems pretty solid to me. My guess is that during fermentation the temp is getting too high. Fermentation produces a lot of heat, so your 64 Fahrenheit (18C) closet is probably too warm and letting the fermentation get into the low to mid 70s Fahrenheit (like 23+ C).
.. Also if you could rinse the bag of grain with rather than squeeze, that might help keep some husk material out of the boil, but to me that's probably a more minor issue..
And in regards to sanitizer, that could be an issue but I really don't know if what you're using works for sanitizing or not...
Actually, I'm rinsing it with few portions of hot water (65-70C) as I don't have spare stove to heat a lot of water, so using 2 liters electric teapot. Planning to do a test batch around 3 liters today without my beg hugs =)
As for sanitizing with spirit, should be good as spirits should denature anything which has proteins in it =) I've heard that fungus is highly resistant to spirit, but I think I'm safe while I'm cleaning all equipment pretty good before sanitizing. Those fungus has no chance to survive =)
I'm with Frodo, your process looks fine to me as well. Looks like all 3 beers you used pale malt and the only one that turned out good was the one with specialty malts . Makes me wonder about your water . You say it's from a spring and really soft so not sure . Have you had the water checked?
Did you use the same yeast every time? Min temp for that is 59f / 15c and max temp is 74f / 23 c and you pitched @18c so I'm thinking that's close to 23. If you dont have temp control I'd pitcher the lowest end. The fermentation temp could have surpassed max temp. When you drink a beer are you pouring the whole beer into your glass? You should put in fridge for 24hrs+ then leave the slurry at the bottom( careful not to rouse up the sediment at the bottom right before you open) Your using a high flocculation yeast so I'm leaning back to water because of the cloudiness. Other then that I'm out of ideas . As long as your equipment is clean and sanitized correctly your process looks good.
The only thing I see that sticks out is grain to bottle in 6 days , if I'm reading that right . I personally think that's too short .
Yeah, used same yeast every time. First time I had pretty high temp as outside temp was still high. My closet ambient have reached 22C those days. And that first bad beer has "yeast taste", which is pretty obvious as I think.
Never managed to keep beer in a fridge for 24 hours =( I need some patience or a bigger fridge, maybe! And I'm pouring whole liter of beer into 1liter glass at once, so all yeasts stays in a bottle. Actually I've tried to mix those with a beer, and their taste isn't so bad as I thought, I've even liked it =) It becomes so... full! Like you're actually eating beer =) Tried that with my successful batch.
Also think that my fermentation is too fast but can't imagine how to lower temperature =( No possibility to install conditioner there, it's too far away from a outer building wall. Maybe I could try to place my fermenter into basin filled with water... Open water might cool it I think as it will be able to evaporate. Have to give it a try
Is it possible you scorched the mash on the first and third brews, but not the second? Continuously applying direct heat to the mash is a chancy thing; if you don't give great attention to stirring, you might possibly scorch the mash. A gas flame is pretty hot, this could happen fairly fast I'd think.
A better approach, IMO, would be to take the kettle off the stove when you add the crushed malt, cover the kettle with the lid, and then wrap it up in a thick blanket. This should hold the heat and there's no risk of scorching.
Doesn't looks like. I've used continuous heating only on this 3rd batch, but wort was smelling and tasting good. And my pan has thick bottom, around 6mm, and I was steering like a madman, every 5 minutes, because I'm a noob and every aspect is scaring me (you all know this feeling, I bet).
Moving my kettle is a kinda problem as I have a problem back, shouldn't lift so much weight. That's why I've switched to continuous heating, had spine problems after first two batches. And my wife surely isn't a helper in it =)
Why are you doing this? (I see, below, it looks like you're using it as priming sugar)
Yeah, I red that priming with any kinds of sugar leaving off flavors as "cider-like". And I was priming my first with dextrose and carbonation took more than 10 days, which is slow as hell O_O. Using 10% of original wort works pretty great.
There is a little bit of a language issue here--what do you mean by "tissue?" A rag or a cloth?
Actually I meant a medical pure cotton gauze wrapped in 4 layers. Bought the one which has no additions (not sterile), boiled it and it has no taste impact.
If after 3 weeks you aren't getting enough carbonation, you need more sugar in your bottles. You should let the bottles sit in the dark at room temperature (roughly 22C) for up to 3 weeks. If you are checking after 3 days, it's not long enough, you need to let the bottles go at least 2 weeks, and 3 weeks is better.
Then chill for at least 24 hours, then test.
Thanks, will surely try like you said!
The first had too much yeast. I doubt that too much yeast is actually the problem. It looks like your beer is only in the primary fermentor for 8 days? I’d consider extending that to three weeks. I have turned beer around much quicker but as a beginner, I recommend leaving it for a solid three weeks. Two weeks minimum. Stable final gravities are the actual measure your shooting for but with added time you’ll get there regardless.
Do you mean I should leave beer in my fermenter for 2-3 weeks? Even after gravity have stopped to change at around 2%? Is it safe?
By the way, my successful batch stayed a bit longer than failed. I gave it 4 days more to settle (kinda experiment).
Maybe that's my problem??? Lack of patience? Should include extended fermentation period into today's testing batch!
18C is a good temperature for fermenting, but bring the fermenter out to a warmer spot when its almost done and let it sit a week, the warmer temperatures will allow the yeast to finsh and many clean up some unwanted flavors.
Since you are in Poland and it gets cold there, use cold wintertime temperatures to help make better beer. When the beer is done fermenting, set the fermenter in a cold place and more of the yeast will drop to the bottom. If you are getting a yeast flavor, this step will help.
As someone already indicated, 6 days from brewing to bottling is pretty fast.
A better schedule would be to ferment for 5-6 days, let it sit in a warmer temperature 5-6 days and then go into a cold environment for another week.
The above schedule is just a guideline, let you beer tell you when its ready by observing it and tasting it.
Sure, you can go from grain to glass in 6 days, but you need a kegging setup for that and there's a good chance you'll have problems.
Adding 10% unfermented wort when you are bottling can affect the taste.
Another method would be to heat water to sanitize, add sugar, let it cool then add to the beer.
There are online priming calculators available to help figure out how much sugar to add.
Next time, run some trials, using the wort in some bottles and adding the sugar mixture to your beer in others and see if that helps.
The bottling process can cause plenty of problems like oxidation and the introduction of bacteria. I no longer use a bottling bucket when I bottle (which is seldom) I put a domino dot sugar cube in each bottle and it works great and reduces handing of the beer.
Using distilled spirits as a sanitizer may or may not be effective, depending on your method. Many flavor problems are usually traced back to sanitizing issues.
There are many videos on you tube showing all kinds of different ways to bottle beer, check these out and see what works for you.
Also, read the John Palmer book "how to brew" which is available free on line.
I'm from Kiev, Ukraine actually =)
From your post and all above I think that I'm bottling too early =/
Again, is it safe to keep beer in fermenter after gravity has settled for 2 weeks more? I will include extended fermentation period to my test now cause I think that's my main trouble.
If not, will experiment with another sanitizer.
By the way, another issue I'm facing is I'm adding even a bit less hops than in recipe and still my beer is too bitter. That bitterness isn't from any issues, exact hops bitterness, but too much of it... Maybe I should buy one of those hop bags and take them out once boiling is done? As I have another 20 minutes after boiling to whirlpool and chill my wort. Probably too much A-acids dissolves.