What are you brewing?

[nzbrewer]

Since this is the most popular thread on the RealBeer.co.nz forum I thought I would start it here just to see what happens

[jt]

Well I'd used Gervin Ale yeast a year or so back - that was supposedly repackaged Nottingham ?

Maybe I didn't know what strengths to brew to with it

http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/xn/detail/1500433:BlogPost:1061

 

Now the Windsor I'm keen to try ...

[JoKing]

It would appear that Gervin is a Nottinham type strain... I think the main difference is the manufacturer. Danstar and Fermentis are market leaders in the dried yeast world. I think this goes a long way to ensure the quality and viability of the yeast and guarantee that it makes great beer.

[MrC]

I've been reading about this recently as I have a twin pack of Nottingham in the fridge (via Craftbrewer).  From what I've read, if you keep the fermentation temp at the low end you'll get a very clean ferment and the hops will come through nicely.  There was even mention of it being a good choice for a psuedo lager.  However, if you want the esters come through you need to ferment a little warmer at which point you may want to increase the hops a little to keep the balance.

 

[JackoNZ]

Let's just say the brew day took 9 hours all up and I left the cleaning until this morning! New shiny orange cooler didn't go quite as planned when grain ended up under the false bottom. Luckily jt was around to lend a set of hands, ideas and some positive vibes just as I was about to call it quits and chuck it all out. We had to tip the mash out into a bucket twice, the second time because I stupidly forgot to check the tap fitting itself was clear, it wasn't. Anyway much splashing later, plenty of recirculating and it was all running freely like it's supposed to. 

I don't hold much hope for the brew itself but we'll see. Should certainly find out if HSA is fact or fiction! Thanks for your help and the beer/grains jt. Maybe leave that Barley Wine for a while yet, tried it tonight, it's still not very carbonated.

On a side note I've also picked up a metallic aftertaste in my latest two beers, I appear to be hitting a poor run of form.

[MrC]

On a side note I've also picked up a metallic aftertaste in my latest two beers

Are you using old base malt?  I found I was getting a metallic taste when using old base malt (12-15 months old) that had been stored in my garage with temps ranging from 5C to 40C.

 

 

[Llew Bardecki]

I had a monster brewday too, though it was pretty much to be expected.

Made a Russian Imperial Stout. It took two separate mashes, because my bag/mash tun weren't big enough to handle all the grain.  The bag got so clogged up during lautering that I had to dump all of the grain out and wash the bag a couple of times.

 

Buff Face RIS:

20L batch

4.25kg Munich (39.1%)

3.75kg Golden Promise (35.6%)

0.50kg Chocolate Wheat (4.6%)

0.50kg Special B (4.6%)

0.25kg Black Patent (2.3%)

0.25kg Pale Crystal (2.3%)

0.05kg Peat Smoked (0.5%)

0.31kg Treacle (2.9%)

1.00kg Dark Candi Sugar (9.1%)

Mashed at 67

 

120 min boil

25g Nelson Sauvin @120

25g Pacific Gem @ 120, 15, 5, 0

1.120 OG, 100IBU

Fermenting on a yeast cake of US05

 

A lot of the ingredients were things I just happened to have around and wanted to use somehow, but I reckon it should come out pretty good.

[JackoNZ]

Hey Mr Cherry, after a fair bit of searching on the internet I think that's exactly it. I've had some base malt that's been around for ages, not sure exactly, but prob at least a year. Both my beers had the same base and apart from that the recipes are quite different. I have recently ordered a fresh sack so next brew will be a simple recipe with that to see if it fixes it. 

I was reading some old posts on here earlier and noticed you thought you had a problem with leaving your water out overnight, was that a problem too or was it just the old base malt that you pinned it down too? 

 

[MrC]

I'll be interested to if the problem goes away with the fresh base malt.  Make sure you let me know :)

 

I stopped using old base malt and I stopped filling my pots the night before brew day and the problem seems to have disappeared.  My guess is that the base malt was the culprit.  Even in very dark flavorsome beers the metallic flavour came shining through.

[JackoNZ]

Yeah I just found out from my mate who's malt it actually is was bought in Jan 2010 so I really hope that's the culprit. I'll let you know for sure. Only problem I have now is that I'm not sure if I used more of the malt in my brown ale brewed on Saturday. My recipe says pearl but have a feeling I used the old Marris Otter, time will tell!

You're right with the dark beers too, one of my beers is an American Stout, heavily hopped, lots of dark malts and the metallic aftertaste is just there. Exactly the same in the English Ordinary too. Did you find with time the metallic taste drops off or is it there for good?

 

Oh and one other thing I thought of, do you reckon it doesn't effect the spec malts because we use less of them as a percentage of the grain bill?

[MrC]

The metallic taste is there for good I'm afraid. Mine never improved over time. For some reason the specialty malts don't seem to have the same problem. Not sure why. My specialty malts do get better storage conditions though in small air tight containers. I have only recently started storing base malt air tight in a retired fermenter.

[jt]

We've had some discussions in North Welly over off flavours including metallic over recent times
They only pop up in paler beers it seems
Seem to cover different sacks of pale, old stock and newer so we were discounting the malt.
We'd come to the conclusion that it was either a change in the Welly water or possibly under pitch of aging dried yeast
Mr malty told me I'd need 1.3 packets of '05 that are expiring in November 2011, so I've been under pitching, by that calculation, by 0.3 of a pack.
But when I repitch slurry into a pale (at Mr malty recommended rates) I get a good result (likewise when repitching into the Lil' Darkies)

[Chris Banks]

Just for comparisons sake when you guys say metallic taste do you mean literally like your sucking on a lump of steel or ??

I had described my off flavours as metallic/minerally as it gave me a slightest bit of the feeling that you get when you eat silverbeet or spinach.

Which I had always thought/been told (jeez mum) it was the iron in the veges but actually its not at all its oxalic acid reacting with calcium forming calcium oxalate crystals which deposit on your teeth giving that feeling.

Any thoughts?