6/15 - OG 1.060 @ 70.9 7/2 1.015 @ 70.9 Brewer's Best ESB kit Of course I drank the wort sample. ☺. Not bad, may have a slight off-flavor but its hard to tell with warm flat beer. Guess I'll take another sample Friday and see where things are at.
Not having a developed palate for off-flavors and little brewing experience, I can't really describe it. It was very subtle and may just be a quality of 2.5 week old beer. It did seem to me the beer was carbonated somehow, because I got a tingly sensation on my tongue. It tasted good otherwise. I purposely bought a Fullers ESB yesterday so that I would have something to compare it to. My ESB had the same maltiness of the Fullers and didn't taste like it was massively or even mildly off, unlike batch #1, which I am still drinking here and there. It is still bubbling this morning - about 1 bubble a minute although I didn't time it. Say, I appreciate your replies. If you're ever in Nashville, send me a message and I'll buy a few rounds. :-)
Yep. Your fermented beer will hold a certain amount of the CO2 that was produced by fermentation. How much it holds is temperature dependent.
It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. I wouldn't worry about a slight off flavor at this point. One thing you'll notice is that the beer will continue to change even after it's "done" fermenting. It's not unusual to have a beer taste just a little off somehow at first, and then to get a lot better as it matures. Sometimes the flavors just need to blend or mellow a bit. And yes, the beer does will have some carbonation at this point. In fact, the bubbling you're seeing at this point may just be the beer de-gassing a little, and not a sign of active fermentation. Next time you take a sample, check the gravity. Rule of thumb is that if it hasn't changed for three days, you're ready to bottle.
Ready to "keg"! I'm not done with bottles - bottling isn't the arduous task that most people make it out to be, but I'm all ready to try kegging, although I don't have a chest freezer yet. I'm hoping I can get a volunteer in our local homebrew club to give me space for 1 keg so I can get it carbed.
The best thing that ever happened to my ESB, was 3 weeks in primary instead of 2. definitely cleaned up those off flavors!
I am going to keg today. Don't have a way to chill my keg yet, but am looking for a volunteer in our homebrew club. At least I'll get it out of the fermenter and I can condition it further. I've got another kit on the way!
I wasn't happy with my first few ESBs. They had an off flavor because I fermented too warm and I didn't aerate properly. It just had a little bit of a twang to it. I had to sit on them for a few extra months. They'll come around.
Ha! Good question. I'm still on the lookout for *something* that I can use - chest freezer, smallish refrigerator... seems like these kegerators are too expensive, and I want a place where I can maybe have a chilly place to ferment a lager, even though I don't care for that style too much. I'm good just opening a door, grabbing a picnic nozzle and pouring myself a glass. In the meantime I got my ESB kegged and headspace purged many more times than it actually needed. It's sitting in a cool bathroom in the meantime. I'm sure another week or two of it sitting around and settling more will only improve the flavor - I hope!
Don't forget that the lager family of beers goes beyond pilsners and 'light lagers' and includes the entire bock family. Everyone loves a good bock, dopplebock, weizenbock or maibock.
Sure thing. Dopples & Mais are good for me, I'm just too addicted to IPAs and DIPAs right now to care about anything else.
I scored a GE 7cf chest freezer yesterday at Home Depot. It won't be delivered until next Thursday though, but I can finally get my ESB on "ice" and get it carbed and work on getting my second keg filled with something. Seems like a lot of the reviewers did the same thing - buy it for the keezer application. I also have the requisite Johnson A419, so I think I'm ready to roll. http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-7-0-cu-ft-Chest-Freezer-in-White-FCM7SUWW/203547578#customer_reviews
