Brewbs wrote:It was a US 5 gallon batch of approximately 19 litres. I didn't even rehydrate the yeast let alone create a starter. Just pitched and stirred the single pack of us05 as per the instructions. This beer spent 2 weeks each in primary and secondary and was not cold crashed.
Always rehydrate dry yeast. Starters are typically not necessary. 2nd, don't time your fermentation in days or weeks, do it in gravity. Those are 2 huge things that are often very wrong in the instructions given with kits.
Brewbs wrote:For priming the kit came with a 5oz pack of dextrose. This was boiled in a cup of water for a few minutes, added to a sanitized bucket then the beer added affter.
Always weigh it. Not in the package, but put a proper container on your scale, tare it & see what you actually have. Relying on an automated machine is nonsense after the time, effort & love you've put into your batch. Use a pitching calculator to confirm the weight of primer you actually need.
Brewbs wrote:It's aged for 2.5 weeks in my basement. The basement was 70ish for the first week and a half and then cooler for the last week after we had to turn on the A/C.
Start cooler & raise temp toward the end of fermentation. Letting the yeast cool down when they're trying to finish up is generally a bad idea.
Brewbs wrote:I've now sampled 3 bottles from different points in the bottling process and they are all the same.
Maybe the single pack of yeast took a shit kicking during fermentation? I took a 24 box upstairs where its mid to high 70s. I'll check it in another week before I do anything extreme like recarbing.
I should note that this was only my 3rd batch in capped glass bottles. First time using these particular bottles so I was worried that I didn't get the caps on well enough however their is definitely a little something cause there is the smallest sound of gas escaping when I crack them...this much is consistent.
That much is good. If they're all the same, you likely got a good mix in the bottling bucket. Raising the temp & being patient is also a wise idea. My guess is that the caps are on fine & that they just need a little more time.