Brewing temp of 24 degrees

Mal1841

I brewed my first ever batch of woodfordes Wherry a few months back and its almost finished already!. The beer tastes fine except it has that weird but not unpleasant bublegum homebrew taste to it. Ive read in forums that this can be due to high primary fermenting temps and true it was the usual british summer last june until I started brewing then we got a heatwave for the week I was doing my primary fermentation!. The temp on the side of the barrel read 24 degrees and the Wherry box says to keep it between 18 and 22. Even on a coolish day thats pretty cold for a flat isnt it??. I dont really have a cold place to put the bucket so I'm wondering will all my future brews have this bubble gum aftertaste and is there anything i can do to keep the temp down?. All the best, Mal

HBO_Staff

The taste may be down to the process, it is often hard to brew at the exact temperatures the manufacturers state so home brewers just have to do their best, a couple of degrees either way is usually fine, if warmer it may ferment faster, and cooler may slow fermentation times down. Usually brewing at an average room temperature of around 20 degrees is fine for most brews. Other causes could be for various reasons which are worth bearing in mind; store your beer away from direct sunlight or fluorescent tubes; high and fluctuating temperatures during fermentation; sediment mixing when dipensed, try and leave as much sediment behind in the fermenting vessel to minimise the sediment in the finished beer; yeast breakdown - this is caused by leaving the brew in the fermenting vessel on the dead layer of yeast for a long time after fermentation has completed, so try to transfer to the barrel as soon after fermentation has completed; flavours from the barrel - ensure the barrel is sterilised and well rinsed before each use.

Just for comparison purposes and a little experiment, you may consider bottling your next batch and see if this has any effect on the taste, some find it does and others notice none, it can also vary from different beers.

Mal1841

Thanks for that. I did bottle half and leave the rest in the keg and they both had the same after taste and smell of bubblegum although the bottled ones were slightly more carbonated than the barrel but thats down to the tap on the keg. Whats with that by the way?. Its the Woodfordes wherry kit i bought on here and to pour a pint out of the keg takes an age. The tap has 2 settings, dribble and full on foam up the walls!. Not that thats a prob I just have to kneel down for 3-4 mins waiting for the glass to fill lol. I guess maybe fluctuating temps and maybe letting it sit in the primary fermenting buckets given that taste so I'll try and be a bit more vigilant on my next batch which is Nelsons revenge which I'm told by my wife has turned up at the door this morning YAY!!!!

HBO_Staff

Kegs can be a problem with the pressure, it's one of those things which is hard to control, in that respect bottles are often easier. It is hard to keep the temperature constant during fermentation, ideally try and find a spot in a room around 20 degrees, away from direct sunlight or draughts from doors or radiators, and then keep an eye on the Nogs progress with your hydrometer, once it's finished fermenting try and transfer over in to your keg or bottles, prime in the usual way and leave to secondary ferment for a while, let us know how the Nog turns out....

Mal1841

Will do. I guess its just a case of practise makes perfect. My brothers been doing this longer than me and he said winter was a better time to brew ale as its easier to control the temp in your house than in summer months. As for now...well i have a great excuse to fire into the keg to.... er get it ready for the next batch lol.

Mal1841

Hi again. SO!. On Sat I started the new batch of the Woodfordes Nelsons Revenge. It to says on the box to ferment between 18-20 degrees so this time I only filled half the can with boiling water to flush out the remains of the extract, the rest I just used cold water from the tap to fill up to the mark thinking I can add hot water anytime on the way up to keep the temp correct. I used the sticky thermomiter oon the side of the barrel to see what temp the water from the tap was and it said 21 degrees!. So again my fermenting buckets sitting today saying the temp is between 22 and 24 degrees. I dont think I'll ever be able to get the correct temp unless I put the bucket outside in the garden but then the temp will fluctuate between night and day. This morning when I checked the bucket, it seems to be fermenting ok but I'm getting that sweet bubblegum smell I got with the Woodfordes wherry and its not due to be keged until next Sat. What am I doing wrong?. Everyone says a couple of degrees either way wont harm but I dont want all my beer tasting the same *:o(

HBO_Staff

We have brewed many times at the 22/24 degrees and it would not affect the kit much, a few degrees either way is not a big difference. We wonder if it is perhaps something which you particularly notice with the Muntons kits, it would definitely be worth trying a different manufacturer to see if the taste you experience is still there. The new Festival range, York Brewery kits, the Simply range, or any of the Coopers range are all made differently and not by Muntons, and many say the Muntons kits have a recognisable style to them. Just make sure your water is not giving any kind of taste to it, presumably you are using straight from the tap, try letting it stand in a clean container for 24 hours before using if possible

Mal1841

Hmm ok I'll try a different brand next time. Its Woodfordes I'm using not muntons and My brother made the wherry kit down in Devon and it tased completely different to my wherry batch I made before. He tasted my batch and said it had "that homebrew taste to it". Maybe it is a difference in the water as I'm in London which has notoriously hard tap water.

HBO_Staff

It is tarnge you would only notice it in yours and not your brothers, water may be having an effect, leaving it to stand for at least 24 hours might help. Some people use spring water but that really starts to add to the cost and is generally not considered necessary. Muntons are the manufacturers behind many of the kits you see, including the Woodfordes range, and are involved wih many home brew ingredients, but if you don't notice it in your brothers brews then that would suggest it is not the kits you taste it in. The only other thing we can think of is the fermenting vessel, presumably you are using a PET plastic food safe container, such as the ones in our home brew kits, non food grade plastic can give off flavours into the contents?

Mal1841

I'm using your homebrew kit. This is just my second brew attempt, Like I said the wherry was nice apart from the distinctive but not unpleasent smell and taste. The thing that worries me is than now I'm brewing a different type of ale the Nelsons revenge I'm smelling the same buble gummy fruity smell. It's strange as the vessel as you know has a sealed lid with an airlock half filled with water so I shouldnt be smelling much should I?. Also its placed in a cupboard this time round and I'm assuming the yeast doesnt need light to do its stuff ??.

HBO_Staff

As any gases escaping from the vessel will give the cupboard a smell of the brew, and this is normal, but being in the dark out of the way is a good thing and the yeast will work fine in the dark 

Mal1841

I'll take a hydrometer reading tomorrow night then again on thurs then Fri to make sure its stopped fermenting. Maybe its as you suggested earlier, if its fermenting quickly at a higher temp then it might have been sitting on dead sediment for a few daysbefore I kegged it into the pressure barrel. The smell coming from it though worries me as I was hoping for a different tasting ale than the wherry and the smell on the Nelsons revenge is the same as the taste on the Wherry if you get what I mean )

chopster

As previously said by the HB staff these brews are all made by muntons and do have a similar, I think caramel type taste ( mind you i find it difficult to describe tastes).
The fact that your brothers Wherry tasted different to your own points to possibly your water especially as you are in a hard water area. (it is by far the largest quantity ingredient in your brew) and does effect the taste, ales from burton on trent for instance are famous for there distinct taste due to the unique water from that area. There are things you can do to combat water problems such as chlorine etc like adding half a crushed campden tablet to the water before using it in your brew or even adding it to the wort and gently stirring before adding the yeast but ensure you leave for around 15 mins before adding your yeast or it may be killed off by the tablet.
Hope this is some help and good luck with your next brew.