First ever homebrewing experience

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

29 minutes ago, Robert Pretty said:

Hi Wazza

After it has been in cold crush for 48 hours , it will go to Kegging and raise the temperature, where it will stay for another 48 hours. If it isn't kegged with in that 48 hours it will go to store. Otherwise on the App just press the store button. Then press it again if you want to get it to kegging temp.

Thank you C3D. That has done the trick. I've pressed the Store button and it's now maintaining the 4C target. Whew.

Again, thank you so much for the guidance and insight, it's invaluable to this homebrew noob. Honestly, not sure what I would do without the help from this forum as the instructions from BrewArt aren't that, uhmmm, great.

Cheers

[Dustin Frothman]

1 hour ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Thank you C3D. That has done the trick. I've pressed the Store button and it's now maintaining the 4C target. Whew.

Again, thank you so much for the guidance and insight, it's invaluable to this homebrew noob. Honestly, not sure what I would do without the help from this forum as the instructions from BrewArt aren't that, uhmmm, great.

Cheers

Hey @Wazza_wantsbeerdon’t stress too much about your bottles. Your brew can sit in storage almost indefinitely so you’ve got plenty of time. The beer will clear up further whilst it’s sitting there.

When it comes time to bottle you should watch the bottling videos again, in particular the one that shows bottling with the Dry Hop filter. A few users have reported issues with leaky bottling wands or elbow joiners. If you can get hold of some keg lube:

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.ikegger.com/products/food-safe-keg-lubricant

you could use this to help with putting the bottling wand parts together (it can be tricky) and you’ll also be able to use this on the lid of your BeerDroid when putting your next brew on.

Finally, it’s 2 x carbonation drops for each of the BrewArt PET bottles. You should fill leaving about 5cm from the top and squeeze as much of the air out as possible before securing the cap. You can hand tighten but a light turn with a pair of multigrips at the end will finish it off.

Then put them somewhere away from direct light and relatively mild - you’re looking for 18 - 21 degrees C.

Most importantly - forget about them for 6 weeks and stick another brew on straight  away!

Cheers!

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

17 hours ago, Dustin Frothman said:

Hey @Wazza_wantsbeerdon’t stress too much about your bottles. Your brew can sit in storage almost indefinitely so you’ve got plenty of time. The beer will clear up further whilst it’s sitting there.

When it comes time to bottle you should watch the bottling videos again, in particular the one that shows bottling with the Dry Hop filter. A few users have reported issues with leaky bottling wands or elbow joiners. If you can get hold of some keg lube:

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.ikegger.com/products/food-safe-keg-lubricant

you could use this to help with putting the bottling wand parts together (it can be tricky) and you’ll also be able to use this on the lid of your BeerDroid when putting your next brew on.

Finally, it’s 2 x carbonation drops for each of the BrewArt PET bottles. You should fill leaving about 5cm from the top and squeeze as much of the air out as possible before securing the cap. You can hand tighten but a light turn with a pair of multigrips at the end will finish it off.

Then put them somewhere away from direct light and relatively mild - you’re looking for 18 - 21 degrees C.

Most importantly - forget about them for 6 weeks and stick another brew on straight  away!

Cheers!

Thank you Dustin, sage advice.

Bottles received today in the post so woo hoo, I'm about to keg and bottle. But yes, will watch the videos again to make sure I get it all down pat.

My plan is thusly:

I'm using my 4 litre iKegger keg and 8 x 750 ml PET bottles. Because I have the Gen. 1 iKegger tap and connections, it's virtually impossible to do a closed line fill of the keg like you can if you have the most recent generation iKeggers with the Stainless Steel Spear with Standard Homebrew Connections and Mini Regulator on Check Valve Disconnect which will allow you to do a closed transfer.

So, for the keg I am planning to use the BrewArt Primer in this. What do you think, go whole hog and put the whole thing in or measure and remove 1/5th of the primer before putting it into the keg? I do have a a CO2 cartridge with my iKegger so the plan is to purge the O2 with CO2 once I fill the keg.

I've just finished my prep, sanitising everything I can think of... all bottles + lids, keg parts plus Dry Hop Filter and the Bottling Valve with Connector. All parts have all gone into 6 litres of StellerSan in a bucket. How long should I soak them?

Obviously the bottles I can't soak in the bucket for so so I immersed them in the bucket of StellarSan until they were almost full, stuck my thumb in them and shook them about for 20 - 30 seconds then poured the StellarSan liquid back into the bucket and continued with the next one. Wil this do or do I need to keep the StellarSan inside the bottle longer?

One thing I did notice with the StellarSan, it foams up... a lot, especially inside the bottles and keg so my question is, is it safe to leave the foam inside when filling?

I did follow the instructions and only used 9 ml of StellarSan for 6 litres of water so at 1.5 ml/l concentration.

So excited now, cannot wait to get them filled and yes, put down for the next 6 weeks. (but will probably want a sneaky taster at the 4 week mark.

And yes, I plan on getting the next brew put down.

I actually now have 3 choices:

1. The Point IPA

2. I purchased the All Inn Brewing NEIPA Fresh Wort Kit (still need to buy the recommended Hops but I'll pick those up from Hop and Grain)

3. I've ordered the BrewArt Ingredients for the Hazy IPA recipe (also need to buy additional hops for this and will also do so from Hop and Grain)

Decisions, decisions.

I know I can get three brews (the one just completing and two more in quick succession) in so that they are all drinking just before and during the holiday season so now I need to chose 2 of the 3 options above.

And finally, because I am planning to do another 2 brews consecutively, just last night I ordered the iKegger 10L KEG PACKAGE WITH FILLING KIT COMPATIBLE WITH BREWART BEER DROID but took the 2x 5 litre option. It was on special, 25% off which is a hell of a savings on a $499 package 🤩

By taking the 2x 5 litre keg option, I can keg half of each coming brew and bottle the other half as my plan is to buy another dozen 750 ml bottles, this time glass swing tops, also from Hop and Grain in Marrickville. Then I can decide which I prefer, PET or glass swing top.

So damn excited now as it all seems very real  😁

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Okay did some research and yes, StellarSan is designed to foam up and yes, it is safe.

Just now need the guidance on the keg primer, to trim off 1/5th or keep whole for my 4 litre keg?

Watched both videos, bottling and kegging as well as the dry hop filter video which was probably the most helpful.

Think I'm just about ready to start except for the Primer question.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Oh bugger, I've just pulled out 150 ml/half a cup as recommended in the videos and bugger, there is so much sediment it's not funny.

Should I put back into cold crash mode for another day or two? Or run it until it clears out. And by sediment, I mean it's chunky, very chunky and cloudy. 😨

Advice please...

 

Edited November 3, 2021 by Wazza_wantsbeer
spelling

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

I've decided to put it back into storage mode and the temperature is dropping as I type this.

I received a text message reminder that touch footy is back on this evening  so I don't have much time to get anything sorted to finish kegging and bottling today. So I've packed everything up, put the bucket full of StellarSan in the laundry and will have another go tomorrow. Which means redoing all the sanitising but hey, since I'm a noob, I can use all the practice I can get right.

I will then clean the Droid immediately after and I will definitely use @Captain 3 Droids  suggested method of using the removed head of a spatula to clean out all the gunk at the bottom of the Droid. Fortunately, we have a spatula almost exactly like that in the picture he posted.

I need to get it all done tomorrow as my wife and I will be taking our first steps beyond the boarders of Greater Sydney, going to Newcastle on Friday and Saturday as it is my Mother-in-Law's birthday. I plan to get the next brew in on Sunday morning so I want the droid sparkling clean so that all I need to do is drop the Droid Cleansing tablet, wait the required time and then start brewing.

So, hopefully the sediment settles even more and I can keg and bottle without heaps of gunk in the bottom of the bottles or keg.

BTW, what should I do first, fill the keg and then the bottles or the other way around?

I have to say, when I pulled on the tap to draw that first 150 mls, it came out, well, like the morning after a nasty curry, in spurts and chunks  🤢

[Dustin Frothman]

Hey @Wazza_wantsbeer, lots of questions there, I won't answer them all as others will want to contribute.

The first cup or so of the brew that you pull through the BeerDroid tap is supposed to be full of yeast, trub and hops so yes your sample picture looks spot on. When you pull your BeerDroid apart to clean it, have a good look at where the trub line sits in relation to the tap. You'll notice the clever design. Your BeerDroid is basically a conical fermenter and as your brewing progresses you'll see why this is an advantage.

When you bottle or keg you'll be using the Dry Hop filter so this will catch most of the debris before it gets to your bottles or kegs.

Putting your brew back into storage for a day or so is no big deal and will further settle and solidify the trub and hops debris.

As for your next brew - I reckon you should do another Brewart ingredients based recipe just to get the hang of everything before you do the fresh wort kit as that will be a slightly different process. 

The kit you've ordered from iKegger sounds great. I saw that special. I have only just started using stainless steel kegs myself so am also fairly new to this and using a different style of keg. But with regards to the keg primer; yes they are measured for a 5 litre keg so you could either work out how to remove a fifth of it (this won't be easy), consider priming your keg with dextrose or just use the whole thing and see what happens. Your beer may be a little foamy. You may just need to experiment to find the sweet spot.

There are many calculators online to assist you with priming and some brewers will say that using dextrose as opposed to sucrose (the Brewart sticks are sucrose) results in a different taste.

@Captain 3 Droids is very experienced with this so I'll let him point you in the correct direction with regards to that.

Cheers!

[Captain 3 Droids]

Sorry for late response. Trim off 1/5 for the 4l, if you use the lot then it will probably be over carbonated. Personally I prefer sucrose to dextrose however for bottles it probably doesn’t matter but I believe there is a “tang” to dextrose when in larger amounts.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Thank you @Dustin Frothmanand @Captain 3 Droids

The good news is, the iKegger package was ready to be picked up today so off I went and picked it up. So now I have 2x 5 litre and 1x 4 litre kegs. I also popped into Hop and Grain to get a dozen of the 750ml Swing Top Glass Bottles for a total of 24 bottles. I also took the opportunity to buy the hops I need for my next two brews. Which means I will be able to 1/2 keg and 1/2 bottle 3 lots of 10 litre brews.

Happy days.

Now, with the system I just picked up, I can do a closed transfer straight from the BeerDroid to the 5 or 4 litre iKegger. iKegger has a video on this if anyone is interested...

After a very informative conversation with the knowledgeable gent at Hop and Grain, I've decided to keg 4 litres at 4C and then use CO2 to force carbonate as I know have all the equipment I need to do so.

Both the 4 & 5 litre kegs fit very nicely on a shelf in my fridge laying down and the iKegger setup allows for forced carbonation whilst laying horizontal.

As for the bottles, I am going to go half PET and half glass and half carbonation drops and half dextrose for secondary fermentation to see if there is any difference and if there is, which combination I prefer.

Given I need to bottle 6 litres of the N-C IPA, that equals 8x 750 ml bottles, 4 PET, 4 glass. Then two of each of the PET and Glass will get the BrewArt carb drops and two of each will get the right amount of dextrose. The aforementioned gentleman who was helping me at H&G threw in a measuring device that caters for 0.33, 0.50 and 0.75 litre receptacles.

I know that after I fill the keg, I will then need to return to kegging temperature before I can bottle.

So, how does that sound? Too ambitious?

[Captain 3 Droids]

14 minutes ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Thank you @Dustin Frothmanand @Captain 3 Droids

The good news is, the iKegger package was ready to be picked up today so off I went and picked it up. So now I have 2x 5 litre and 1x 4 litre kegs. I also popped into Hop and Grain to get a dozen of the 750ml Swing Top Glass Bottles for a total of 24 bottles. I also took the opportunity to buy the hops I need for my next two brews. Which means I will be able to 1/2 keg and 1/2 bottle 3 lots of 10 litre brews.

Happy days.

Now, with the system I just picked up, I can do a closed transfer straight from the BeerDroid to the 5 or 4 litre iKegger. iKegger has a video on this if anyone is interested...

After a very informative conversation with the knowledgeable gent at Hop and Grain, I've decided to keg 4 litres at 4C and then use CO2 to force carbonate as I know have all the equipment I need to do so.

Both the 4 & 5 litre kegs fit very nicely on a shelf in my fridge laying down and the iKegger setup allows for forced carbonation whilst laying horizontal.

As for the bottles, I am going to go half PET and half glass and half carbonation drops and half dextrose for secondary fermentation to see if there is any difference and if there is, which combination I prefer.

Given I need to bottle 6 litres of the N-C IPA, that equals 8x 750 ml bottles, 4 PET, 4 glass. Then two of each of the PET and Glass will get the BrewArt carb drops and two of each will get the right amount of dextrose. The aforementioned gentleman who was helping me at H&G threw in a measuring device that caters for 0.33, 0.50 and 0.75 litre receptacles.

I know that after I fill the keg, I will then need to return to kegging temperature before I can bottle.

So, how does that sound? Too ambitious?

No that’s a great start and experiment with drops vs dextrose. 

[Dustin Frothman]

1 hour ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Thank you @Dustin Frothmanand @Captain 3 Droids

The good news is, the iKegger package was ready to be picked up today so off I went and picked it up. So now I have 2x 5 litre and 1x 4 litre kegs. I also popped into Hop and Grain to get a dozen of the 750ml Swing Top Glass Bottles for a total of 24 bottles. I also took the opportunity to buy the hops I need for my next two brews. Which means I will be able to 1/2 keg and 1/2 bottle 3 lots of 10 litre brews.

Happy days.

Now, with the system I just picked up, I can do a closed transfer straight from the BeerDroid to the 5 or 4 litre iKegger. iKegger has a video on this if anyone is interested...

After a very informative conversation with the knowledgeable gent at Hop and Grain, I've decided to keg 4 litres at 4C and then use CO2 to force carbonate as I know have all the equipment I need to do so.

Both the 4 & 5 litre kegs fit very nicely on a shelf in my fridge laying down and the iKegger setup allows for forced carbonation whilst laying horizontal.

As for the bottles, I am going to go half PET and half glass and half carbonation drops and half dextrose for secondary fermentation to see if there is any difference and if there is, which combination I prefer.

Given I need to bottle 6 litres of the N-C IPA, that equals 8x 750 ml bottles, 4 PET, 4 glass. Then two of each of the PET and Glass will get the BrewArt carb drops and two of each will get the right amount of dextrose. The aforementioned gentleman who was helping me at H&G threw in a measuring device that caters for 0.33, 0.50 and 0.75 litre receptacles.

I know that after I fill the keg, I will then need to return to kegging temperature before I can bottle.

So, how does that sound? Too ambitious?

That video is a great resource. Although I have different style kegs I used it as a reference for the first time I filled one.

I reckon after you’ve gone through the process required to fill bottles you’ll probably never bother again and just buy more kegs. 😉

[Dustin Frothman]

1 hour ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Thank you @Dustin Frothmanand @Captain 3 Droids

The good news is, the iKegger package was ready to be picked up today so off I went and picked it up. So now I have 2x 5 litre and 1x 4 litre kegs. I also popped into Hop and Grain to get a dozen of the 750ml Swing Top Glass Bottles for a total of 24 bottles. I also took the opportunity to buy the hops I need for my next two brews. Which means I will be able to 1/2 keg and 1/2 bottle 3 lots of 10 litre brews.

Happy days.

Now, with the system I just picked up, I can do a closed transfer straight from the BeerDroid to the 5 or 4 litre iKegger. iKegger has a video on this if anyone is interested...

After a very informative conversation with the knowledgeable gent at Hop and Grain, I've decided to keg 4 litres at 4C and then use CO2 to force carbonate as I know have all the equipment I need to do so.

Both the 4 & 5 litre kegs fit very nicely on a shelf in my fridge laying down and the iKegger setup allows for forced carbonation whilst laying horizontal.

As for the bottles, I am going to go half PET and half glass and half carbonation drops and half dextrose for secondary fermentation to see if there is any difference and if there is, which combination I prefer.

Given I need to bottle 6 litres of the N-C IPA, that equals 8x 750 ml bottles, 4 PET, 4 glass. Then two of each of the PET and Glass will get the BrewArt carb drops and two of each will get the right amount of dextrose. The aforementioned gentleman who was helping me at H&G threw in a measuring device that caters for 0.33, 0.50 and 0.75 litre receptacles.

I know that after I fill the keg, I will then need to return to kegging temperature before I can bottle.

So, how does that sound? Too ambitious?

It’s probably also worth pointing out just in case is wasn’t clear - even though you’re going to force carb your keg it will still need the 6 weeks for the beer to mature and be consumed at its best. You will be bitterly (pun intended) disappointed if you omit this step.

Cheers!

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

So just finished filling the 4 litre keg. Whew, that was not easy. The beer wouldn't flow at all until I realised I had to keep burping the keg using the pressure release thingamajig.

Once I did that frequently, the keg filled up nicely, perhaps too nicely as I think it is damn near to the top.

Anyway, the keg is now in the fridge with a soda stream bottle attached to the regulator and it is set for 12 psi.

Bottles done, ended up with the expected 8 plus about 500 ml which went into a 5th PET bottle.

That whole thing is quite tricky at first but once you get the hang of it, it becomes quite machine like. Line up the empty bottles to your right, place the filled ones on the left. As soon as all bottles were filled, I did as promised, 2 carb drops in half the bottles and the 750 ml measure of Dextrose in the other half. The 500 ml bottle got a 500 ml measure of the dextrose for good measure.

I think this to be quite a good experiment. This should tell me if I prefer PET v Glass and Carbonation Tablet v Dextrose  😎

Wazza's Droid is now cleaned up, damn, what a pile of sludge at the bottom of that thing.

@Dustin Frothman I can see what you said about the shape of the bottom and the placement of the tap and drainage holes. I can also see why the initial draws from the Droid were so "muddy", the sediment at the bottom clearly reached up to a quarter or third of a way up the tap hole.

Can I ask, what does everyone else do with the sludge at bottom of the droid once a brew is done? Seems like such a waste.

I'd like to thank all those who provided advice, guidance, help and encouragement throughout... @Captain 3 Droids @Dustin Frothman@Robert Pretty@Eltham Brewing House . I apologise for being a bit on edge throughout the whole process and I sincerely thank your for your patience.

Now these six weeks are sure as hell going to drag.

Oh and yes, I'll take @Dustin Frothman advice and I'll do The Point next to get more experience before going the Hazy IPA and finally the All Inn Brewing NEIPA FWK. Walk before you run right  😁

[Captain 3 Droids]

Well done, it is exciting. With the filling of the kegs you need to hold the pressure release valve open (if it doesn’t lock open) so as the beer can replace the air inside the keg. If you don’t the flow will stop.

The trub is good for the garden, top fertiliser so to speak.

Besides a lot of interesting items in the forum it is also about asking and answer questions so don’t be shy and fire away. Thanks for the compliments.

 

[Eltham Brauhaus]

1 hour ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

So just finished filling the 4 litre keg. Whew, that was not easy. The beer wouldn't flow at all until I realised I had to keep burping the keg using the pressure release thingamajig.

Once I did that frequently, the keg filled up nicely, perhaps too nicely as I think it is damn near to the top.

Anyway, the keg is now in the fridge with a soda stream bottle attached to the regulator and it is set for 12 psi.

Bottles done, ended up with the expected 8 plus about 500 ml which went into a 5th PET bottle.

That whole thing is quite tricky at first but once you get the hang of it, it becomes quite machine like. Line up the empty bottles to your right, place the filled ones on the left. As soon as all bottles were filled, I did as promised, 2 carb drops in half the bottles and the 750 ml measure of Dextrose in the other half. The 500 ml bottle got a 500 ml measure of the dextrose for good measure.

I think this to be quite a good experiment. This should tell me if I prefer PET v Glass and Carbonation Tablet v Dextrose  😎

Wazza's Droid is now cleaned up, damn, what a pile of sludge at the bottom of that thing.

@Dustin Frothman I can see what you said about the shape of the bottom and the placement of the tap and drainage holes. I can also see why the initial draws from the Droid were so "muddy", the sediment at the bottom clearly reached up to a quarter or third of a way up the tap hole.

Can I ask, what does everyone else do with the sludge at bottom of the droid once a brew is done? Seems like such a waste.

I'd like to thank all those who provided advice, guidance, help and encouragement throughout... @Captain 3 Droids @Dustin Frothman@Robert Pretty@Eltham Brewing House . I apologise for being a bit on edge throughout the whole process and I sincerely thank your for your patience.

Now these six weeks are sure as hell going to drag.

Oh and yes, I'll take @Dustin Frothman advice and I'll do The Point next to get more experience before going the Hazy IPA and finally the All Inn Brewing NEIPA FWK. Walk before you run right  😁

I am a little concerned about the 2 carb drops and extra dextrose for you 500ml bottles. Sounds a bit excessive. I use 1 1/2 carb drops per 450mml /

500ml bottle and that's been quite sufficient and safe with no need for adding extra dextrose. It will be interesting how you go with the bottles. Good luck

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

59 minutes ago, Eltham Brewing House said:

I am a little concerned about the 2 carb drops and extra dextrose for you 500ml bottles. Sounds a bit excessive. I use 1 1/2 carb drops per 450mml /

500ml bottle and that's been quite sufficient and safe with no need for adding extra dextrose. It will be interesting how you go with the bottles. Good luck

@Eltham Brewing House my poor explanations.

All the bottles I have and using are 750 ml in size, both PET and glass swing tops.

After filling the 4 litre keg and the 8 750 ml bottles, I still had some beer in the droid and filled an extra 750 ml PET bottle with approximately 500 ml of the last dregs from the Droid. It was to this last bottle with the approximately 500 ml contents that I added a 500 ml serve of Dextrose.

I hope this makes more sense?

[Dustin Frothman]

4 hours ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

So just finished filling the 4 litre keg. Whew, that was not easy. The beer wouldn't flow at all until I realised I had to keep burping the keg using the pressure release thingamajig.

Once I did that frequently, the keg filled up nicely, perhaps too nicely as I think it is damn near to the top.

Anyway, the keg is now in the fridge with a soda stream bottle attached to the regulator and it is set for 12 psi.

Bottles done, ended up with the expected 8 plus about 500 ml which went into a 5th PET bottle.

That whole thing is quite tricky at first but once you get the hang of it, it becomes quite machine like. Line up the empty bottles to your right, place the filled ones on the left. As soon as all bottles were filled, I did as promised, 2 carb drops in half the bottles and the 750 ml measure of Dextrose in the other half. The 500 ml bottle got a 500 ml measure of the dextrose for good measure.

I think this to be quite a good experiment. This should tell me if I prefer PET v Glass and Carbonation Tablet v Dextrose  😎

Wazza's Droid is now cleaned up, damn, what a pile of sludge at the bottom of that thing.

@Dustin Frothman I can see what you said about the shape of the bottom and the placement of the tap and drainage holes. I can also see why the initial draws from the Droid were so "muddy", the sediment at the bottom clearly reached up to a quarter or third of a way up the tap hole.

Can I ask, what does everyone else do with the sludge at bottom of the droid once a brew is done? Seems like such a waste.

I'd like to thank all those who provided advice, guidance, help and encouragement throughout... @Captain 3 Droids @Dustin Frothman@Robert Pretty@Eltham Brewing House . I apologise for being a bit on edge throughout the whole process and I sincerely thank your for your patience.

Now these six weeks are sure as hell going to drag.

Oh and yes, I'll take @Dustin Frothman advice and I'll do The Point next to get more experience before going the Hazy IPA and finally the All Inn Brewing NEIPA FWK. Walk before you run right  😁

Great work @Wazza_wantsbeer , none of it is of course very difficult, it’s just all the little tricks and perfecting of your processes that will benefit from some repetition.

As per @Captain 3 Droids  I just chuck the trub and hop debris either on the garden or in the compost bin … after enjoying the aroma of course.

Some brewers harvest the yeast for subsequent brews. I can’t be bothered with that.

[Robert Pretty]

Hey Wazza

Glad it worked out. I knew nothing 12 months ago when I started. Thanks to this forum I had my questions answered, and now I can help others. There are no silly questions, better to ask a stupid question, than lose a brew. Once you have brewed a few, you will understand the process. It becomes second nature. You will be a C3D in know time.

Now the hard part waiting to drink. Building stock. As the Captain sayes 1 out, next 1 in. 

 

 

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Okay, so as discussed in other threads, today marks 2 weeks of secondary fermentation for this, my first ever home brew of Narci-Citrus IPA.

As above, I have a "dregs" bottle which is approximately 500 ml of the last liquid at the bottom of the Droid. I decided to put that bottle in the fridge and taste it.

So first impressions...

Darker than I thought it would be based on how it looked when it was kegged/bottled (see above)

Well carbonated but a bit of a thin head on the pour.

Great smell, the hops clearly coming through

Taste is a little disappointing but that's expected as I've been well warned about this.

Not getting a lot of the hops in the taste, much more malt flavour.

The maltiness (if that's even a word) reminds me of the Newtowner APA by Young Henry's.

One thing thats very noticable for the lack of... really not getting the alcohol hit I would have expected at the advertised 7.5% ABV

All up in definitely going to let the rest sit and not open another bottle for at least 2 weeks and the keg won't be tapped until at least 4 weeks from today but I will be tasting a bottle a week starting in 2 weeks time as this will be my guide in terms of how it matures.

Finally, am I enjoying it...

Hell yes!!!

[Robert Pretty]

@Wazza_wantsbeer, 2 weeks is way to young to be drinking IPA's. I know I cracked the the Hazy at 3 weeks. 6 weeks min. 8+ weeks preferable. I had the same problem when I first started. Drinking early and I was disappointed. Good things take time. Being a solo droider , I know how hard it can be to build stock. I still struggle now being a shift worker. If I haven't got anything ready I get a case of Coopers Pale Ale long necks to drink. Then I can at least build bottle stock .

[Dustin Frothman]

1 hour ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Okay, so as discussed in other threads, today marks 2 weeks of secondary fermentation for this, my first ever home brew of Narci-Citrus IPA.

As above, I have a "dregs" bottle which is approximately 500 ml of the last liquid at the bottom of the Droid. I decided to put that bottle in the fridge and taste it.

So first impressions...

Darker than I thought it would be based on how it looked when it was kegged/bottled (see above)

Well carbonated but a bit of a thin head on the pour.

Great smell, the hops clearly coming through

Taste is a little disappointing but that's expected as I've been well warned about this.

Not getting a lot of the hops in the taste, much more malt flavour.

The maltiness (if that's even a word) reminds me of the Newtowner APA by Young Henry's.

One thing thats very noticable for the lack of... really not getting the alcohol hit I would have expected at the advertised 7.5% ABV

All up in definitely going to let the rest sit and not open another bottle for at least 2 weeks and the keg won't be tapped until at least 4 weeks from today but I will be tasting a bottle a week starting in 2 weeks time as this will be my guide in terms of how it matures.

Finally, am I enjoying it...

Hell yes!!!

Nice one.

Did you pour off the very last bit of your bottle into your glass? 

With the PET bottles I always leave the last bit (probably 5 cm worth) as it's mostly settled yeast, unfermented primer etc and it definitely has a taste that I'm not after.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

27 minutes ago, Dustin Frothman said:

Nice one.

Did you pour off the very last bit of your bottle into your glass? 

With the PET bottles I always leave the last bit (probably 5 cm worth) as it's mostly settled yeast, unfermented primer etc and it definitely has a taste that I'm not after.

Haha, busted.

Yes I did, I poured and had my first taste with my wife. Then remembered that I wanted to take a picture so poured the remnants from the bottle into the glass.

The contents of the glass certainly went hazier and had floaties after that. It also got slightly darker with that last pour.

In future I'll definitely make sure not to pour the last bit of each bottle into a glass.

 

 

[Captain 3 Droids]

21 hours ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

With the PET bottles I always leave the last bit (probably 5 cm worth) as it's mostly settled yeast, unfermented primer etc and it definitely has a taste that I'm not after.

There is a trick to this. The PET bottles have indentations in the bottom that hold the settle yeast which is relatively hard after about 4 weeks. If you pour the beer in one continual flow then the settle yeast stays there, it’s when you pour some beer and the bottle is then upright again that the yeast gets disturbed and mixes with whats left in the bottle. 
How do you do 740ml one pour! Big glass or two glasses without uprighting the bottle.

The short answer to be honest, if you don’t have a 740ml plus glass then do what Dustin does 😂😂🤭

[Dustin Frothman]

5 hours ago, Captain 3 Droids said:

There is a trick to this. The PET bottles have indentations in the bottom that hold the settle yeast which is relatively hard after about 4 weeks. If you pour the beer in one continual flow then the settle yeast stays there, it’s when you pour some beer and the bottle is then upright again that the yeast gets disturbed and mixes with whats left in the bottle. 
How do you do 740ml one pour! Big glass or two glasses without uprighting the bottle.

The short answer to be honest, if you don’t have a 740ml plus glass then do what Dustin does 😂😂🤭

Yeah I always pour the bottles into 2 glasses in one big pour without uprighting it again.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Okay, update time.

Sorry as I know the veterans will be shaking their respective heads but I just couldn't resist having another sneaky one and boy, what a difference 9 days makes.

Also note, this is one of the PET bottles that was secondary fermentation with Dextrose and not the Drops.

Colour is a little lighter than the first tasting and clear AF.

In terms of flavour, a much cleaner, brighter,cleaner and sharper flavour. A fair bit less malt and a little more bitterness from the hops I added (as a reminder, 95g of hops in total, added at start and then again at dry hopping time).

My wife just tried it and and was like, oh wow, that's so good.

Oh no, it won't be all mine 😢 

Cannot wait to try again in another 10 days or so and see how it matures from from now until then.