Kit O' Beer

[Glass]

yes I agree. I think we are all doing ok with what we have achieved so far. I'm going to put some feelers out see if there's an unwanted fridge out there. Something in the back of my head says I've seen one somewhere. Hazy at best. The stuff I made was pretty forgiving. They design it that way. Kind of like bait. Not too hard to do, can tolerate some brewing ignorance and still come out ok. I was lucky with the temps I had.

I bought another kit today. I was in another mass merchandise place and I walked past their home brew section which I didn't know they had. I've been there before looking and couldn't find it. So I grabbed a can and BE1. Then went to LHBS to get some more S-04 ale yeast. I'm going to do some of their kits when it's time. Anyway stand by for Kob #3.

I'm looking to improve my OG/mixing of fermentables and the wort aeration. Probably related things.

[Libertytree]

Temp matters. You guys are pushing fermentation specs to the extreme. If you like the beer you are producing then more power to ya! I think you guys will be pleasantly surprised, however, when you you put the yeast into a more comfortable temperature range. Trust me, the temp ranges for optimal fermentation by the manufacturers are not some wild guess!

Cheers!

It'll be nice to see the results once I've corrected my ferment temps. I've got a good idea of what I'm gonna do to fix it but like everything else it takes more money and will have to wait its turn. Next up is the wort chiller/sanitizer combo. The good thing right now is that the temps in the ferment room are right about 70F and not the usual 80-85F.

[Glass]

Then there were 2. 3rd last bottle of thee Australian lager was downed on Australia day. This beer was disappointing. Low carbonation. Flavour ok. Slighest whiff when opened but no lingering smell. I think maybe 5 or 6 in the whole batch were a bit flat. Will be interesting to see how the bottle cap comparo goes on KoB #2

I've got a line on a cheap fridge. Going to check it out tomorrow morning. It's 340L which is bigger than I wanted but it could be $150. It would hold a fermenter and probably a whole batch bottled as well. Will see.

[Libertytree]

Sounds like a great deal and when it comes to refrigerators bigger is always better. If I could only build a walk in cooler.

It seems in homebrew all beers are not created equally, I usually have 2 or 3 that don't turn out like the rest but they're still drinkable!

What did you do different in regards to the bottle caps in #1 vs #2?

[Glass]

I didn't get to check out the fridge. Just a flat out day from go to whoa.

Caps.
The beer kit PET bottles come with black caps that screw down and have that collar seal on them that you break when you open the cap.

I purchased some white caps that the LHBS had. I want to write on the cap so I thought they would be a good idea.

When I saw these white caps the description was something like: Safety cap. Ensures the safe release of excess pressure. Seals can be used only once.

So being an optomist I figured my beer could generate explosive pressure. I read the description and I assumed that the words "Safety Cap" mean this pressure release ability. But on reflection the words Seals can be used only once, was probably talking about the collar that gets left on the caps.

Anyway for KoB #2 I did half with the white caps and half with the regular caps to compare if there is any difference. I think the white capped bottles seem just a bit more carbonated than the other caps. Might be a bias, don't know.

Will be taste testing KoB #2 tonight. I selected 2 bottles, one white cap, one regular and chilled them both. Probably test 1 tonight and the 2nd on the next day.

[Libertytree]

It was my understanding that any of the screw caps could only be used once, collar or not.

[Glass]

yeah I was working on single use. The thing I forgot to say was that the white caps have a blue plastic seal inside the top of them.

I was unsure if the collar which is a tamper proof indicator or the blue seal was the "safety seal". Anyway no matter.

[Glass]

There was one bottle of beer in the fridge, only one bottle of beer.

The 2nd to last bottle of KoB #1 was shared with good friends on the weekend. These guys got me into the brew-on premises caper a few years ago now and they know some small amount about home brewing although haven't done any for a while. So while it was only one glass a piece the consensus was "bloody good beer". It was the very good beer IMO. Good thick creamy head minimum 2 fingers. Lots of carbonation and a smooth easy to chug flavour.

I took one of those and a couple of these store bought bitter ales I've been drinking. Well, beer friend said, "shit I didn't think they made this stuff anymore". You know that kind of pucker reaction in your mouth you get when your mouth is dealing with an astringent flavour. Sometimes you need a couple mouthfuls to aclimatise or kill your tastebuds. What ever it is. Anyway. Chalk and cheese. While the store bought is drinkable the pucker grimace with the first few mouthfuls made me chuckle. Anyway he was a good sport and two thumbs up on the home brew lager.

I have to say that I really liked this lager in the end. It came out very tasty and smooth. It met and exceeded my expectations. I want hold on the last one and never drink it but then again "is beer is good".

when I fridged the bottles from that batch, the bottles where nicely pressurised going in. Being plastic you can squeeze them so when they are hard to squeeze your getting close to ripe. Once in the fridge though I found the bottles go a bit soft again. Anyway the two remaining bottles did firmed up again nicely during the few weeks they have been in there. And now there was one.