Learning to brew, brew

[SunkenBier]

Hey thirsty

Wow, thats a nice head. Looks like you sprayed shaving cream on top.

Im glad to hear the brew worked out nicely. When I first started doing my recipe designs I made sure to change one thing at a time and its great to try and repeat the exact same procedure. This allows you to see how that one ingredient or procedure change affect the beer.

The haze you may have may be from not enough hot or cold break. I noticed when I started hitting those nicely my beers were much clearer.

[Thirsty Boy]

No shaving cream I promise But it is a little over carbonated, so the nice head retention actually makes it a bit of a pain to pour.

I wasn't all that thrilled with the taste at first, not bad, just a bit boring, but three or four days later and the close to six litres I kegged is nearly gone! So I guess that I like it well enough after all. Its a beer that slides down easy and makes you want to reach for another. That can only be good.

Hopefully any issues I am having with break, and I did have a few problems with the boil, will go away next batch. The new three ringed burner I just bought would do the job for a 5 gallon system, so it will certainly do it for me!

I also need to go out and buy that chalkboard you mentioned. Great idea. I am keeping records though. Alas, I have no OG and FG readings for this beer as I dropped my hygrometer fairly early in the brewday. When I get a new one I'll take a FG and I'm gonna take a sample into work to get an ABV reading, so I should be able to reverse engineer myself an OG out of that info. Might even get one of the supervising brewers to taste a little sample and tell me if there are any faults my rustic pallet is failing to detect. That'll be scary.

See ya

[Speyedr]

My first Pale Ale (brewed recently) was hazy at first, but it cleared up REAL nice. I think maybe you just need to try to wait a little longer before tapping it. Alternatively, it COULD be yeast at the bottom of the keg, and once it all got sucked out it cleared up. I am trying Dr. Scotts Gelatin technique on a Marzen now and it seems to work really well, but it's a lot of waiting and extra work.

I am also a big fan of the 133f protein rest (approx. 55c) since Charlie P. recommended it. I know Oz is a big fan of this rest too.

I'm brewing my next one this weekend to dial in my system, same as you.

Good luck with it!

Rob

[Thirsty Boy]

Wait...... Wait..... surely you jest! I'm a bit like justin (except for the gayness) and I'm lucky if I let the stuff ferment out before I start hooking into it.

Yeah, it would probably clear up some if I waited it out; and I need to experiment with the whole finings thing as well. I've got the rest of the batch bottle conditioning, so it will be interesting to see the difference that a few more weeks and natural carbonation will have.

No problems with my next brew though. Gonna do a heffe. For a while its going to be one Learning Brew followed by one cross my fingers and have a go brew with a style that I really want to drink. So after the hefe, its back to the Teachers Pale for another go at self improvement.

[SunkenBier]

I like to drink beers when soon after their tapped too just for the convenience. To stop myself from doing that I just brew more so I cant keep up with the beer. Ive done 7 10 gallon batches in the last 3 months. Wife lets me brew as much as I want so long as I dont gain weight.

[Speyedr]

I like to drink beers when soon after their tapped too just for the convenience. To stop myself from doing that I just brew more so I cant keep up with the beer. Ive done 7 10 gallon batches in the last 3 months. Wife lets me brew as much as I want so long as I dont gain weight.

Mine lets me gain as much weight as I want so long as I don't wear wife beaters and scratch myself in front of her...

I definitely agree with your methodology.. brew more so you CAN'T drink it early. Since March 4th I've brewed 60gal of beer (several were 5gal batches) ... and 10 more this weekend. I'm catching up!!

Rob