Hi all!

I figured it's time to expose my spying on this group and come clean and
honest. The inevitable questions will follow. :-)
I have finally begun home brewing and it has been quite a learning process
so far. I say finally 'cause I've been sitting on the equipment for almost 2
yrs now. My butt got sore so I decided to try to actually use the stuff for
what it was originally intended. I read the book I was sold which is
supposed to be some sort of brewing bible. I attended a local seminar
offered by a new dealer in town which also helped get me started. I had
printed instructions from the dealer given me when I first bought the setup
(2 yrs ago). So I thought I had some notion of what I was doing! hahahaha.

I made a weiss from an extract kit I bought with the equip (now 2 yrs old).
I bought new yeast (German weiss liquid) so at least I knew that was fresh.
I was well prepared for sanitizing (thanks seminar). The making of the wort
went very well. I did fail to strain the wort when I poured into the
fermenter. Found out later this was probably not a real good thing, but
probably wouldn't hurt it. My OG was low for what the package said it should
be by a good .01 (after temp compensation). It started fermenting by the
next morning. I did not move to a secondary, but left it on trub for 2 weeks
(supposedly not too long, but still unfiltered). This may account for the
cloudiness in the final product which I'll not call beer yet! Anyway, when I
siphoned into the bottling bucket I saw no mention of predissolving the corn
sugar. So I just dumped the package into the bottom of the bottling bucket
and racked the "product". I finished bottling the "product" and found a big
pile of residue on the bottom of the bucket. I think I correctly guessed it
to be undisolved sugar. Hmmmmmm. Well, I let it sit in the bottle for a week
and then put 4 in the fridge for a week for testing purposes. I drank one.
Can we say flat? So I drank another anyway. It is a dark weiss and the
flavor wasn't bad, malty but with a hops aftertaste. So, how to fix? The
"bible" suggested to try putting a couple grains of yeast in each bottle and
recap and wait a week. If that didn't work to try to add a quarter tsp of
corn sugar to each and recap and wait a week. If all failed then to mix with
real beer. I figured the yeast wasn't the problem as I knew I screwed up the
bottling sugar, so I went right for the sugar solution. Wow, dump some sugar
into the bottles was like starting Mt. St. Helens all over again for each
bottle. Had to wait for the eruptions to end, then cleaned the lips with
paper towel soaked in idophor solution and recapped. Just as I finished the
last bottle I opened one of the two remaining bottles in the fridge from the
"testing" batch. That sucker was so carbonated it was hard to pour in the
glass! Oh Oh.
I figured I better test last one in the fridge and it too was flat. This was
a week ago. Nothing has blown up yet. I take that as a good thing. I tried a
bottle yesterday and it is still pretty flat, but now has taken on a fairly
strong licorice flavor. Where did that come from? a combo of the sugar and?

I was not discouraged by this attempt. I brewed an Octoberfest last week
without the mistakes of the previous attempt (so far). I have not racked to
a secondary as I used the glass carboy and didn't want to move back to
plastic. This time I had to steep a grain bag first. One direction said to
add to water and leave 'till water begins to boil, then remove. Other said
to bring water to boil. remove from heat and steep for 20 minutes. Being
easily confused I decided to do both! I finished out the wort as instructed.
I did strain the wort as I added to primary this time. I again had rather
low starting gravity readings. I think I am reading the hydrometer correctly
and don't know why the low readings for two different batches. I believe I
will be ready to bottle this weekend judging from the airlock movement or
lack thereof. I hate to open the fermenter and risk contamination. I may
have to wait a bit more though. Funny, the kit said "ready to bottle in 4
days." I'm sure I would have bottle rockets if I had done that.

So, this is my tale and beginnings. I have read much useful information here
and will continue my quest for the perfect brew with all your help.....
whether you know it or not! :-)
I think you will know it though.

Ziggy

Hi there! Sorry folks, this was posted to the wrong group.
I do like to drink good beer though, and would not mind participating here
as well.
Ziggy (who likes to top post by default!)

"Ziggy" > wrote in message
...
> Hi all!
>
> I figured it's time to expose my spying on this group and come clean and
> honest. The inevitable questions will follow. :-)
> I have finally begun home brewing and it has been quite a learning process
> so far. I say finally 'cause I've been sitting on the equipment for almost
2
> yrs now. My butt got sore so I decided to try to actually use the stuff
for
> what it was originally intended. I read the book I was sold which is
> supposed to be some sort of brewing bible. I attended a local seminar
> offered by a new dealer in town which also helped get me started. I had
> printed instructions from the dealer given me when I first bought the
setup
> (2 yrs ago). So I thought I had some notion of what I was doing! hahahaha.
>
> I made a weiss from an extract kit I bought with the equip (now 2 yrs
old).
> I bought new yeast (German weiss liquid) so at least I knew that was
fresh.
> I was well prepared for sanitizing (thanks seminar). The making of the
wort
> went very well. I did fail to strain the wort when I poured into the
> fermenter. Found out later this was probably not a real good thing, but
> probably wouldn't hurt it. My OG was low for what the package said it
should
> be by a good .01 (after temp compensation). It started fermenting by the
> next morning. I did not move to a secondary, but left it on trub for 2
weeks
> (supposedly not too long, but still unfiltered). This may account for the
> cloudiness in the final product which I'll not call beer yet! Anyway, when
I
> siphoned into the bottling bucket I saw no mention of predissolving the
corn
> sugar. So I just dumped the package into the bottom of the bottling bucket
> and racked the "product". I finished bottling the "product" and found a
big
> pile of residue on the bottom of the bucket. I think I correctly guessed
it
> to be undisolved sugar. Hmmmmmm. Well, I let it sit in the bottle for a
week
> and then put 4 in the fridge for a week for testing purposes. I drank one.
> Can we say flat? So I drank another anyway. It is a dark weiss and the
> flavor wasn't bad, malty but with a hops aftertaste. So, how to fix? The
> "bible" suggested to try putting a couple grains of yeast in each bottle
and
> recap and wait a week. If that didn't work to try to add a quarter tsp of
> corn sugar to each and recap and wait a week. If all failed then to mix
with
> real beer. I figured the yeast wasn't the problem as I knew I screwed up
the
> bottling sugar, so I went right for the sugar solution. Wow, dump some
sugar
> into the bottles was like starting Mt. St. Helens all over again for each
> bottle. Had to wait for the eruptions to end, then cleaned the lips with
> paper towel soaked in idophor solution and recapped. Just as I finished
the
> last bottle I opened one of the two remaining bottles in the fridge from
the
> "testing" batch. That sucker was so carbonated it was hard to pour in the
> glass! Oh Oh.
> I figured I better test last one in the fridge and it too was flat. This
was
> a week ago. Nothing has blown up yet. I take that as a good thing. I tried
a
> bottle yesterday and it is still pretty flat, but now has taken on a
fairly
> strong licorice flavor. Where did that come from? a combo of the sugar
and?
>
> I was not discouraged by this attempt. I brewed an Octoberfest last week
> without the mistakes of the previous attempt (so far). I have not racked
to
> a secondary as I used the glass carboy and didn't want to move back to
> plastic. This time I had to steep a grain bag first. One direction said to
> add to water and leave 'till water begins to boil, then remove. Other said
> to bring water to boil. remove from heat and steep for 20 minutes. Being
> easily confused I decided to do both! I finished out the wort as
instructed.
> I did strain the wort as I added to primary this time. I again had rather
> low starting gravity readings. I think I am reading the hydrometer
correctly
> and don't know why the low readings for two different batches. I believe I
> will be ready to bottle this weekend judging from the airlock movement or
> lack thereof. I hate to open the fermenter and risk contamination. I may
> have to wait a bit more though. Funny, the kit said "ready to bottle in 4
> days." I'm sure I would have bottle rockets if I had done that.
>
> So, this is my tale and beginnings. I have read much useful information
here
> and will continue my quest for the perfect brew with all your help.....
> whether you know it or not! :-)
> I think you will know it though.
>
> Ziggy
>
>

Thank God; it was getting sleepy in here
Close enough to be a Philadelphian!