Simple questions

[BigRed]

Hello everyone!

I have a few simple questions concerning brewing.

I brewed my first batch last Tuesday (9/30/03) and just racked it to my secondary (bottling bucket) today. My questions are:

1) I brewed a 5 gallon batch. Yet, I somehow only managed to get about 3 1/2 gallons to my secondary (I left about 1 1/2 inches of beer on the bottom of my carboy, which is 6 gallons). Did more evaporate during the boil than I thought?

2) I decided to take a small taste - it was kind of "watery", but didnt have any off flavors. This question is kinda related to question 1: Is the "watery" taste part of the "green" beer taste or did I do something wrong (I used Deer Park spring water for the boil)?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance :D

[toneyc]

Yes, more probably evaporated off in the boil than accounted for. There are a couple of ways you can get around that. One is start off with a larger boil quantity, two is top up to about 5.25 gallons after the boil. If you are worried about your tap water, boil and cool some extra for that purpose. You should be able to use the bottled spring water that you mentioned right out of the bottle. I use water right from my tap to top up with.

Without knowing more about the recipe, I would hazard a wild guess that the watery taste might be green beer, but I dunno.

:)
Toney.

[wortchillergoal]

Welcome to the wonderful world of homebrewing. It is quite possible that between boiling and racking you lost that much volume. NO big deal.

As for the watery taste ther are questions to be asked. What was the OG and what style of beer is it? What is the hydromemeter reading now?

It is really hard to screw up your beer to the point of being undrinkable. I am sure others will give their tips on how to compensate for the volume lost during the boil, as I am pressed for time I will let them do so. There is not much you can do about the loss at racking.

[sallad]

if you made a 5gallon batch, with a starting boil volume of 5 gallons, you probably had close to 1 gallon boil off. so, from there i have a few points...

first, 4gallons in a 6 gallon carboy is only 2/3 full- 5 gallons would be much nearer to a full carboy. for my first batch, i filled my carboy with a 1/2 gallon measuring cup making marks at each 1/2 gallon increment so i could see where exactly 5 gallons was.

second, if your recipe was for 5 gallons and it was condensed down to 4 gallons, i don't believe it would be watery. green beer won't taste like real beer, but it shouldn't taste watery, especially when its been condensed 20%.

did you take an SG reading before you started fermenting? how about when your transferred to 2ndary? those numbers would help...

[BigRed]

Here is the recipie I used:

Recipe
Cincinnati Pale Ale
Ingredients for a 5 gallon batch

3-4 lb. Pale malt extract syrup, unhopped
2 lb. Amber dry malt extract
12 AAU of bittering hops (any variety) For example, 1 oz. of 12% AA Nugget, or 1.5 oz. of 8% AA Perle
5 AAU of finishing hops (Cascade or other) For example, 1 oz. of 5% Cascade or 1.25 oz. of 4% Liberty
2 packets of dried ale yeast

Modifications: 4 lbs. Pale Malt extract (Instead of 3 lbs.), Warrior hops (bittering) 1 oz. @ 15.7 AAU, Saaz hops (US, aroma) 1 oz. @ 5.7 AAU, White Labs WLP006 Bedford British Ale Yeast

Thanks for the help :D

EDIT: I didnt use a hydrometer - I got two of them with my kit - broke one on the day of the boil, broke the other about an hour ago

The recipie was I used was from www.brew4less.com, under the "How-to-brew" section

[MmmBeer]

The first time you taste beer flat it tastes kind of watery. Wait until it bottle conditions, cool it, and I bet it tastes more like beer you are used to.

[BigRed]

Thanks for all the help guys!

[BigRed]

I tasted my beer today!

Things I noticed:
-It wasnt as carbonated as it should be (either I didnt use enough priming sugar or it was to soon - 1 week)
-Other than that, it tasted pretty good - kind of watery, but not as bad as before

[Beerconnoisseur]

Originally posted by BigRed
I tasted my beer today!

Things I noticed:
-It wasnt as carbonated as it should be (either I didnt use enough priming sugar or it was to soon - 1 week)


To modify carbonation, you modify the temperature that you store the beer at, instead of the amount of priming sugar. For example, if you keep the beer at room temperature for 1 or 2 days, and it's flat, then next time you would keep it at room temperature for 3 or 4 days instead. Adjust up or down as needed, and to your preference.

When it reaches the carbonation level you like (or according to the style), you then move the beer to your refridgerator, and the cold will slow down the yeast activity/ cause it to fall out of suspension. This stops the bottles from potentially exploding.

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by Beerconnoisseur
To modify carbonation, you modify the temperature that you store the beer at, instead of the amount of priming sugar. For example, if you keep the beer at room temperature for 1 or 2 days, and it's flat, then next time you would keep it at room temperature for 3 or 4 days instead. Adjust up or down as needed, and to your preference.

When it reaches the carbonation level you like (or according to the style), you then move the beer to your refridgerator, and the cold will slow down the yeast activity/ cause it to fall out of suspension. This stops the bottles from potentially exploding.

I would suggest that this is not a good way to adjust for carbonation. You adjust before hand by changing your priming dose so you have the desired level and then allowing your beer to carbonate fully before moving to condition in the fridge.

If you have added to much priming sugar, even after they have been put into the fridge you still run the risk of gushers from overcarbonation or even a beer that may be a bit sweeter then you expected.

[Beerconnoisseur]

Originally posted by brewmonkey
I would suggest that this is not a good way to adjust for carbonation. You adjust before hand by changing your priming dose so you have the desired level and then allowing your beer to carbonate fully before moving to condition in the fridge.

If you have added to much priming sugar, even after they have been put into the fridge you still run the risk of gushers from overcarbonation or even a beer that may be a bit sweeter then you expected.

Hunh? That doesn't make sense to me.... unless you are dealing with a lager, or an ale (barleywine, etc.) where extended aging will be a factor. :confused:

Typically I add 4 oz. of corn sugar at bottling for a 5 gal batch. I did try adding an additional 2 oz. once, for a total of 6 oz. corn sugar. But that batch was terribly sweet and yeasty, and I wasn't pleased with the results.

Maybe I should switch to only using 2 or 3 oz. of corn sugar....

[brewmonkey]

When it reaches the carbonation level you like (or according to the style), you then move the beer to your refridgerator, and the cold will slow down the yeast activity/ cause it to fall out of suspension. This stops the bottles from potentially exploding.

This is the part of your response I was talking about. You calculate before hand the amount of priming agent you will need then add it. You do not slow down carbonation by putting the beer into the fridge. You allow it to continue until done and then start the cold condition. I would never advocate using this method of moving them to a cold area to stop the carbonation. That is only going to make the yeast dormant and possibly cause problems later on when the beer comes back up to temp.

This has nothing to do with the style of beer being carbonated.