Thinking to much

[berryman]

I use to use one of these when bottle priming with good results http://www.mrbeer.com/accessories/sugar-measure from MB and I would guess brewdemon might have them too. Yes might not be the perfect carb per style but works, I just used table sugar and never had a bomb but sometimes more carb then I might have wanted, But simple. After you get going more look into batch priming, maybe better but a little while back I helped a friend do a MB Seasonal and bottle primed and it came out good.

[Tmike]

Well i popped the top on my first brew beer. It was 2 weeks fermented one week conditioning and three days in fridge. I just had to reward myself. The rest is still conditioning. I got two bottles not as clear as the others hope it gets their. The smell was good the taste was o.k. i found it had more of a fruity bitter cider dominant flavor(best i can explain it). I enjoyed it though and will drink the rest in couple of weeks. I would upload a pic of the pour but i cant seem to figure it out. Someone earlier posted how to do it but it wasnt clear enough to me.

[John Sand]

Cider flavor is "green beer", it's too young. That flavor will fade, give it a couple of more weeks in the bottle. Even when you become an advanced brewer, many beers will benefit from conditioning.
Really cool to drink beer that you made yourself, isn't it?

[MrBandGuy]

And if your like many of us, you'll continue taking "quality control" samples until you discover the last bottle is the best one!

[Tmike]

Well just tried my second beer from first batch almost three weeks conditioned . Very good and alot clearer. Had a crawfish boil today and let bunch cajun family members get a lil shot and they were very impressed with it. I had flavorable beer to drink and they had store bought . Cant wait till i have a pipeline stock. Find that the first glass and half very good and all after the cider flavor and cloudy taste takes over like all of the one week one.

[mashani]

The "cider" flavor of green beer should in theory either be there or not, it's a compound called acetaldehyde. The yeast in the bottle "eat" it over time.

What probably happened is you got the yeast mixed back into suspension when pouring a second or third time, and you were tasting that. It would account for the cloudiness too.

What you should do in that case is get out 2 pint glasses or 3 12ozers, and just pour the beer into all the glasses as smoothly as possible as close to "one single pour" as you can so you don't shake up the yeast at the bottom of the bottle. Leave a little bit in the bottle, otherwise you will pour that yeast in still at the end.

In the future, if you use a different yeast - something like Nottingham or SafeAle S-04, or something like Muntons Gold - then the yeast will "pack itself to the bottom" more and be less powdery, so it's less likely you will stir it back in. Then you might be able to do multiple pours without that happening. How much it packs and sticks is a yeast specific thing. Yeasts that are described as "highly flocculent" will pack down and stick.

Also, the longer they age, and especially if you put the bottles in the fridge for a good while before you open them, it can help pack down that yeast.

And of course smaller bottles make pouring a single beer easier if that's your thing.

When I use the big bottles, I just pour myself a couple of pints straight away, or pour myself a pint from a bottle and then put it in the fridge recapped, and then pour my next from some other bottle. And then next day everything is settled down in both for the second pours. As long as you re-cap tightly you won't lose much carb.

The good news is there is lots of vitamins in that yeast.

[Tmike]

Appreciate the reply and knowledge. Learned something new again. Gonna bottle second batch tomm (hellfire red )and heat up another can of wort for fermenting (twisted monk).

[Inkleg]

Glad you're learning, having fun and making good beer Tmike. That's what this hobby is all about.

And Thank You mashani for your detailed post not only above, but all over the forum. Knowledge = Power = Good Beer.

[John Sand]

Keep posting Tmike. It helps everyone.

[Tmike]

Bottled second batch hellfire red. Three weeks fermentation.First three bottles were really cloudy and off color, sample was lil sour i find. After the rest bottles the color looked more like it should and sample was alot beter like flat beer. I did not move the LBK at all to stir trub. Wonder what happened.

[John Sand]

That may just be yeast. Some prop the LBK up on the tap side while fermenting to avoid trub. If you are using an LBC, it may be that this batch had more trub, and it reached the tap. I have had that happen. The beer will clear in the bottle.

[mashani]

You can prop up the LBC's on shims too, I've done it for some beers where I knew the trub was going to get too close to the spigot for comfort.

@Tmike, the cloudy bottles will clear up over time, they will just have more yeasty stuff piled up at the bottom. Just be careful when pouring not to pour that into your glass and you should be fine.

[Tmike]

Ok i made mistake i dont have LBK. I have Brew Demon 2 gall Conical. Do yall think the lil sour flavor was trub? Either way its in bottles priming. My third batch twisted monk is on second day fermenting . Looks like wort is forcing its way through the plastic spigot valve. Its not leaking from hole its leaking from nozzle top. Wish i could figure how load pictures from my cell phone.

[Dawg LB Steve]

Patience is a virtue with this hobby. The more you brew, the more you will learn and before you know it you will look back and say I can't believe I can make beer that taste as good as store bought beer. That sour/tart is just a young beer, some extract beers take a bit longer for that to condition out. Good rule of thumb is to let it ferment for 3 weeks, keeping the temperature of the wort in the 66-68 degree range. Mashani is a wealth of knowledge.

[John Sand]

I have not had a leak from the top of the spigot. I'm not sure how to handle that. If it seems like it will all leak out, you should transfer it to another container. You could use an iced tea container, or cheap stainless or enameled pot with a lid. Sanitize whatever you use first.