A few problems with my extract brews

[Mudcrab]

Hello,

I seem to be having a few problems with my extract brews. I try to brew IPA/APAs using various combinations of hopped, unhopped and DME. Regardless of the extract combination and hop combination I use, my beer always tastes the same.

I follow the process described by John Palmer, boiling the extract (both hopped and unhopped variations) and add my bittering hops early and aroma hops late, I transfer to the fermenter, leave for the recommended time (sometimes a little bit longer) and then bottle when the SG has remained constant for 24-48 hours. To add to the pain of my beers tasting similar, the carbonation is non-existent. I add a tsp of dextrose to each 750ml bottle and it doesn't seem to affect it at all. 

One cause of the taste remaining the same could be that I pour the entire contents (hops and all) from my boiling kettle into the fermenter. From what I've read, this seems normal. 

Does anyone have any ideas as to where I'm going wrong with my batches tasting the same and also the lack of carbonation? 

Thanks

[Des Ross]

Your beer should not have off flavours and should carbonate....there obviously are reasons for this and issues with what you are doing or not doing.
It's difficult to easily identify these issues in your brewing practice....for example, it certainly is not standard practice to tip the entire contents of the boil into the fermenter!.....there could be many others, including yeast, sanitation, fermentation, temperature control, oxygen pickup etc. My best advice would be to watch an experienced brewer on a brew day session. You will learn heaps and have the opportunity to ask questions at every step. If you identify to this forum where you live, I'm confident an experienced brewer will invite you along to a brew session. Good luck!

[Mudcrab]

I guess I was following this guidance when pouring the cooled wort into the fermenter: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter1-2.html 

 

I take it as pouring the contents of the cooled wort into the fermenter as it doesn't suggest filtering it first. All of my brews are very bitter, which could be a mixture of many things: too many bittering hops, not cooling the wort quickly enough...

 

Thanks for the response.

[Des Ross]

Sorry, I thought you meant the entire contents including hops, trub....but there are more likely other reasons for the issues you note. I still think it would be great if you get brew alongside an experienced brewer...I know I learnt some invaluable lessons that way

[Samuel Loader]

you dont have to filter but you should try not to let the yeast ferment on your boil hop additions where possible, transfer of the all the hops/trub from the kettle to the fermenter can result in bitter/grassy flavours due to the amount of time the beer spends in contact with the boil hops. 

options (assumption- your using a standard stock pot for brewing process)

1. use a hop sock - you'll lose some IBU's but you'll be able to remove a lot more of the plant matter before fermentation

2. Once the wort has cooled after the boil let it set for an extra half hour to allow all the trub/ plant matter sink to the bottom use racking cane to transfer wort to the fermenter you'll still lose a bit of wort (5-10cm) in the kettle 

3.(if you dont have a racking cane/auto syphon) Once the wort has cooled after the boil let it set for an extra half hour to allow all the trub/ plant matter sink to the bottom and decant into your fermenter carefully as to not to disturb the trub/ plant matter on the bottom of your kettle. you'll have to leave about 10-20cm of wort in the kettle. 

I recomend using 1 &2 in combination 

Hope this helps 

[Mudcrab]

Thanks - I think I can narrow it down to pouring the hops/trub into the fermenter that leave my brews with the bitter/grassy flavour.

 

I'll try the suggestions from you both above.

Cheers

[Mark Thomas]

What type of bottles are you using? I found that the flip-top glass bottles I bought from Brewer's Coop would generally not hold carbonation (very frustrating!). You can check by getting some screw-top plastic bottles or crown cap glass bottles.

Regarding flavour, I'm not sure. I know you can get more intense hop flavour and aroma by using a glass or steel fermenter (as opposed to plastic). You could also just try different brands of malt extract? I've only done a couple of extract brews, and they did tend to have more of a caramel flavour than the equivalent grain recipe

[Mudcrab]

I'm using 750ml PET bottles. They are probably a little dated and need to be replaced but the guys at the home brew store said they are more durable than most think and can handle a dozen or so brews.

 

I'm using a steel fermenter and have tried various brands/variations of extract.

 

I think a hopsock and not pouring everything including the kitchen sink into the fermenter will improve things dramatically.

 

Thanks for your help everyone.

[Mark Weusten]

Hey what yeast do you use mainly and how much? Just wondering if your yeast is not bringing out the hop flavours and not enough of it left when it finishes to carbonate......

[Mudcrab]

I use Mangrove Jacks mainly - normally 1 sachet (10g I think). I've been told I could use a bit more.

[Peter Smith]

if you measure out say 24 teaspoons of sugar what weight is it?

for a 19L batch of pale ale probably aiming for about 2.2vol   fermented at 18C   you need about 100-110g of table sugar, measure out the teaspoons you are using and weight it...   and report back.   may be just sugar volume is off...

[Mudcrab]

I have no idea - I've just been adding per bottle and haven't considered weighing it. It ended up making 27 bottles, so 27 tsps. I would like to think that it was close to, if not heavier than 100gms.

I guess I need to invest in some scales and a few other things that will help me.

[Mark Weusten]

I read a flat teaspoon holds 5ml and holds 4grams so that should be right.....In saying that I bottled an IPA 2 weeks ago in 750 plastic bottles and ran out of carbonation drops so did the one teaspoon per bottle and they are still soft to squeeze. Normally with 2 drops I find they are hard in a week.