As I mentioned in a thread a while back, I brewed my first all-grain beer a few weeks ago. It was an a hoppy American ale, with a pretty long grain bill, and four different hops; a clone of Three Floyd's Alpha King. I racked to a corny keg after secondary/dry hopping about a week ago, and carbonated.
How it turned out:
Drinkable +
What I learned:
Single biggest issue with the beer is that I used pellet hops, and, especially in dry-hopping, I did not put them in a bag, etc. I didn't have a screen in my boil kettle, either, nor did I whirlpool. MOST of them settled out into the trub cake in my fermenter, but...I think there are some flavor issues that resulted, especially from dry-hopping without a bag (and in the original fermenter--I did primary and secondary in a Speidel 30L). I'll fix this next time.
I boiled too hard, and long (about 8 minutes over), and lost wort. My SG was high, and I added water to lower this prior to primary. My yeast were VERY fast, and ended up going below target final gravity, as well. Still trying to figure this out.
I over-carbonated (waiting for this to naturally settle out is the only reason the keg is not empty). It was my first time kegging, too, so...learning curve.
I want to give this recipe one more shot, better control and document, maybe get a hop spider for the boil kettle and rack to a secondary before dry-hopping (in a bag, in a corny keg), all to try to produce a clearer beer free from hop debris (it's not bad, but, I feel I can taste it).
I want to stay in secondary a bit longer to let the beer develop. I cold-crashed and transferred to get it off the trub cake too soon, I think. Had I secondaried in a clean fermenter, I wouldn't have felt the need to rush this.
Still, I made a very drinkable ale
Feel free to comment or add tips...and to share your own experiences.
How it turned out:
Drinkable +
What I learned:
Single biggest issue with the beer is that I used pellet hops, and, especially in dry-hopping, I did not put them in a bag, etc. I didn't have a screen in my boil kettle, either, nor did I whirlpool. MOST of them settled out into the trub cake in my fermenter, but...I think there are some flavor issues that resulted, especially from dry-hopping without a bag (and in the original fermenter--I did primary and secondary in a Speidel 30L). I'll fix this next time.
I boiled too hard, and long (about 8 minutes over), and lost wort. My SG was high, and I added water to lower this prior to primary. My yeast were VERY fast, and ended up going below target final gravity, as well. Still trying to figure this out.
I over-carbonated (waiting for this to naturally settle out is the only reason the keg is not empty). It was my first time kegging, too, so...learning curve.
I want to give this recipe one more shot, better control and document, maybe get a hop spider for the boil kettle and rack to a secondary before dry-hopping (in a bag, in a corny keg), all to try to produce a clearer beer free from hop debris (it's not bad, but, I feel I can taste it).
I want to stay in secondary a bit longer to let the beer develop. I cold-crashed and transferred to get it off the trub cake too soon, I think. Had I secondaried in a clean fermenter, I wouldn't have felt the need to rush this.
Still, I made a very drinkable ale
Feel free to comment or add tips...and to share your own experiences.
