Great video, as always, Steve! Thanks for giving the HomeBrewing Journal such a big plug! Honoured to have had it featured in the last official "apartment" brew (... sorry the beer didn't turn out the way you'd hoped though) ... But on that note, I say you reattempt it. I know you can knock it out of the park ... and hey, at least you have the notes to refer back to! Hahahaha! Cheers buddy!
Aw man, I was watching that mash schedule thinking "But it's a heritage malt?!?!" I step mash all of my heritage malt beers. I'm really glad you left this in, though it shows great character. I think you should rebrew it, with a stepped temperature mash, a longer fermentation, a d-rest and then condition it at cellar temps (10°c) for a couple of weeks. Also, don't carbs it so much. Patience is the key for English bitters and pales.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video, and confirmed my suspicions! Do you have a recommended mash schedule that works well for heritage malts? Fully agreed on the carbonation level - that was another mistake I didn't address in the video but I accidently WAY overcarbonated this beer at the beginning. Set my regulator to 50 PSI to carb overnight but forgot about it for over a full day.
Still an awesome video! Your “unsuccessful” beer was presented just as informatively and gracefully as your successful ones…that is why you are the best brew channel on RUclips! I would love to see this reattempted! Also, love the mini-vignette in the beginning.
What a great video. Love the intro and your honesty with what went wrong. I love seeing what the differences are when I make small changes to my brewing and fermenting. It is the best way to learn. Please brew this again. It will be so interesting to find out the result of different treatment of the heritage malts. Keep up the great work!
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I think pretty much everyone here wants me to re-brew this so that's what I'll do! I'm pretty confident the recipe is fine, just need to tweak the technique!
Wow, didn't expect the hilarious intro, thanks for that! Great video as always! Will miss the background of the apartment but looking forward to the basement brewery! Cheers!
Your videos are some of the best home brewing videos out there. With this one your timing couldn't have been any better for me. I have 12 lbs. of Chevallier that I haven't used yet. Its a malt there isn't much talk of on the internet (at least that I've managed to find), so the advice from your video was like a gift; as well as some of the comments from the brewers who've commentedwhich were very helpful. My vote is do it over again so we can all see if your thoughts on what went wrong can be corrected. A toast to you as well for putting this on RUclips as is, and not scrapping it when the brew failed. Good stuff all the way around.
I haven't brewed in 25 years, and your channel has inspired me, much to the chagrin of my wife. I dug out an old carboy, a hydrometer, and a bottling wand. I think I will need to go shopping. Thank you.
I always enjoy your videos but, I will say I appreciate you giving us the honest video (we all screw eventually) instead sluffing it off. I honestly have never used any traditional/old style malts so, this will be great help since I have some on the way. As always great vid and keep on brewing!
I met with the Crisp guys recently. Now I realise why heritage malts are a thing of the past… The advice they gave to me was mash at 63C/145F and add 10% of regular (modern!) pale malt to provide enough enzymes to convert. Even then, expect lower attenuation. Great video, keep up the good work!
Wow, yeah that all makes sense now in context. I may use that strategy to add in some extra higher diastatic power malt to get a better mash, thats a good idea. Cheers!
That was a great video. You became real in the fact that not everything works out. As a novice to brewing I do try to learn from you and others. Some times it’s frustrating seeing every video work perfect. Yes I have had to dump some failures. I try to learn from every batch I make and make adjustments. Thank you for the honest review. Perry
That means a lot, but it's the truth, not everything is the perfect success! Sometimes the best opportunities we have to learn are from failure. Cheers!
Thanks for sharing, even when it doesn't turn out great! It is encouraging to realize that we all have bad batches, and it is just part of the craft. I've been finding that Wyeast 1098 (and even more so, 1968) is a little too random and/or temperamental at times. So, to combat that, I've been still using it, but after three or four days, I've been pitching Nottingham on top of that, going a co-fermentation route. This way, I get the contribution of the key flavors of the primary yeast, and using the Notty for a very predictable finish, even if the 1098/1968 conks out along the way.
Credit to you. You could've just binned the brew and the video along with that but I appreciate the honesty. Sometimes brews go south but we learn as much from the ones that fail as the ones that go well. Really enjoy your channel and watch regularly. All the best in your new place.
Definitely brew this one again soon. I think it would be beneficial to focus on your notes and the improvements/changes you make the next time around. Love that you show the mistake brews as well. Thanks for the great content.
Now that I’ve watched the whole video I’m sorry to hear that your beer didn’t turn out as you expected. I say brew it again and make the adjustments and see what happens because it sounds like a solid recipe that would taste absolutely delicious!
Haha they've definitely got some interesting tracks! I think pretty much everyone agrees that I need to try this again so I think I will. I love English beers and I think it the recipe has potential. Cheers Brian!
Love the video as someone who is coming off a horrendous beer as well it’s nice to see we all make mistakes or don’t think of everything. I would love to see this beer redone!!
Man I just love your content!! I'm beginning in this homebrewing world and I've learned a lot from you. It's very valuable to see what not to do and what we should do when problems arise. Looking forward to see the basement brewing! Keep it up man!!
Great video explaining what was wrong with this beer and how to fix it in the future. It would be very informative if you made another video of brewing this same beer. Thank you!
Definitely think you should rebrew with the adjustments to see if it gets the beer here you wanted it. I liked that you were willing to put up a failed beer and analyze what went wrong. That finishing sip 🤣 Ordered one of the brewing logs from the Canadian Amazon site, looks great and I recently decided I really need to start keeping physical copies of my brew logs and this looked like a great product for it.
Thank you! Yeah, I think it is 100% worth it to explain why things didn't go right - hopefully people can learn from that! Hope you enjoy Mark's journal, its a great product!
Kudos for showing the failure. But valuable knowledge and for us watching to learn from others mistakes. Kudos again and don't let it eat you. You are a good brewer, we all have bad batches.
Definitely do a rebrew and video on it. I failed an ESB a few months ago, and still pondering how to rebrew it. It lacked maltiness, and the yeast character wasn't nice IMO, it had that very homebrew-ey flavor in a bad way, partly because of yeast esters I think. I used Simpons Maris Otter and a little of their Crystal malt, and the yeast was the Lallemand London ESB dry yeast. I think I mainly messed up the fermentation temperature, the given range is 18-22 C, it stayed around 21 C the first couple of days, but as the yeast activity dropped the temperature in my fermentation freezer also dropped to around 18 C around day 3, and it didn't seem to recover from that, fermentation pretty much stopped with an attenuation of 66%. I need to do a better job with the temperature control and/or maybe try another yeast, not sure why it lacked maltiness though. Anyway, it's fun to watch people fail from time to time since that's how we learn the most, and it's annoying to fail a beer completely after all that work. So cheers for this!
Friend, I would love to see you rebrew this one. I find your videos inspirational as well as educational and sometimes the failures are worth 10 times the value of the successes!
Lemme tell ya it’s cool that you’re frank and honest with us that you don’t like this beer. We all have our failures that we learn from. For instance, I made a Grapefruit Wheat Braggot/gruit and should not have made it considering I did not have the experience to pull that brew together. But I learned from it and have made several brews that made me happy
Awesome video Steve! Congrats and good luck at your new place. Shot out to Mark just ordered a new journal. That's a solid AAR, it explained why my last amber tasted of broccoli/ripe cabbage. Teaches us to always check starch conversion. Thank you as always, Prost🍻
Big props for highlighting the mistakes, as we all know, sometimes this is the best way to learn. Great video, even though it was not the intended outcome.
Steve, responding to your video, since there are so many beer styles out there, I'd say move on to a different one. I definitely appreciate this video because I think it helps educate other brewers about how to avoid issues that you wouldn't have an opportunity to talk about in a grain to glass video that went smoothly. I just ran into the same clarity issue on Saturday as I was transporting a keg of beer with me to a crawfish boil. The beer was nice and clear before I left and I tapped it prior to moving to make sure that anything that had settled to the bottom was out. But once it was all hooked up at the event, the beer was murky. I would love to find a transportation solution that doesn't compromise my brew. I still don't know how to do it yet.
Glad you enjoyed the video, and you nailed it - people learn from the mistakes of others just as much (if not more) than when things go as planned. Kegs are tough to move because its just one big container, but I think the best options really are to bottle or can and then bring it with you.
I’ve also had weird results with Chevallier and even floor malted Maris Otter. Those grains, combined with lower attenuating English yeast, sometimes require some babying. I’ve found Golden Promise to be extremely consistent when it comes to mash and ferment performance, and it tastes *almost* as good as Maris Otter. GP is my new go-to base malt for ales.
I'm a huge fan of golden promise! It is amazing in SMASH beers. Maris Otter is relatively consistent for me but I've had trouble with floor malted MO before too.
I almost exclusively brew English style beers using floor-malted grains (Admiral Maltings in Alameda, CA). Not sure if they’re considered heritage malt, but I used to run into some of the conversion/efficiency issues you described. Step mash helps, but I’ve found (also as a clawhammer user) that crushing the malts just about as fine as I dare and extending the mash as long as 120 minutes helped a ton. Never had a stuck mash issue. Also when using crystal malt, I add in some corn sugar to the boil. Maybe 1/3-2/3 the mass of the crystal malts. I find I can preserve some of those nice complex caramel/toffee/toast flavors and offset some of the sweetness this way. My recipe for an English IPA that does this recently won 2nd place in its category. Happy to let you take a peek at the recipe if you can forgive it for using mostly American hops.
Awesome, thank you for those tips! I'm definitely interested in that recipe if you are willing to share. My last attempt at an English IPA ended up significantly over-bittered so it would be a good style to revisit.
Very interesting video, respect your honesty and explanation for why it didn’t work out. However having brewed English Pale Ale for many years I am not convinced with the explanation. 18C is an ideal temperature for English ale yeasts, I use Nottingham at this temperature. Heritage malts should convert successfully in 60 to 90 mins at a single mash temperature of 67C. 60 min boil is fine. I believe you may have had a bad batch of yeast or there has been a microbial contamination at some point. On the recipe the addition of crystal is excessive and will give a clawing sweetness, I use 100g max for a 75 litre brew. The remaining grain bill is usually just Maris Otter. The water profile is just wrong for this style of beer which tends to be high in Calcium and bicarbonate ions and low in Na. The sulphite to chloride ratio should be around 2:1 to enhance bitterness and a hoppy profile. I would use Muntons Gold yeast which is almost impossible to get wrong and flocculates well leaving a clear beer. I like an IBU of around 35 to 40 in my English Ales at 4.2% ABV served at 12psi at 5C. Good luck with the planned repeat.
Another good video! I really appreciate the honest assessment and explanations at the end. I follow a few bbq and cooking channels. Some must have hundreds of videos and everyone of them is the best thing ever which is a little hard to believe. I think you should put this on the list to make again. I am! And I plan on taking all the info you put out here, beginning to end, and put to use with hopefully a beer as good as it sounds!
if at first you don't succeed...try, try again. I think it would be worth brewing it again with the adjustments you've suggested...that's the experimental side of homebrewing...learning the lessons and making it better. Great video. Good luck for next time
Love it. Thanks for sharing your failure. It helps so much to see how things can go wrong. I really appreciated your breakdown of everything what you could have done differently. So helpful.
Love the intro and the honest review. So is with brewing. I brewed a Wit this last weekend, single infusion w Pilsner and torrified wheat, way undershot SG. Had to add what I had on hand. Unfortunately 1lb Belgian Candy Sugar. Got my gravity on point post boil but my gut is the body might be lacking. Only time will tell. Blowing a batch happens. I feel especially when the grain bill moves in to very new territory. Try again! Congrats on the move. Cheers.
Love this Steve. You don't learn as much from success as you do from failure. I'd love to see you try it again. I think you should include a protein rest. That should help with the haze.
I would like to see you rebrew this beer and do a step mash with a longer boil. I am interested in this style but don't have a lot of experience in English beers. Cheers!
I’d love to see you re-brew the recipe! I’ve always had soft spot for ESB’s going back to the early days of Redhook’s original recipe - now called “banana beer”. I miss those days at the Trolleyman.
Had something similar happen with the first all grain batch I brewed from flaked corn. Starch haze never went away and it always had a slightly off flavor. Although it wasn't quite a dumper. Haven't used flaked corn since.
Thank you for sharing. Only been brewing for a year or so. Had this exact thing happen to a blonde ale I brewed. I never quite figured out what happened
Great video and overview of what can happen with the heritage malts. I'd like to try that someday (and also mess it up to see what a proper dose of DMS tastes like, just maybe not with 5 gallons of it). Great T-Shirt as well, thanks! The only thing that possibly needs work for next time is your tactical roll. Cheers!
I did a sweet potato ESB with English yeast, the exact same thing happened. I did a starch test, which passed, but when the temp raised up to sparge it continued to break starch off of small pieces of potato that werent broken down enough. The starch stayed in the beer forever, and the beer felt thick and heavy. Didn't dump it, but we drank most of it hoping it would clear up 😅
I would say to move on and come back to it in six months or something. Thanks for showing what could possibly go wrong and maybe someday we will see how it can be corrected. Cheers Steve!
Yeah it wont be an immediate rebrew for sure, I've got a bunch of Belgian beers to make! But I think late summer or early fall would be a nice time to make this beer. Cheers!
Is it true, I couldn’t believe my eyes, I don’t believe it, the infamous BEER NINJA!!!! I remember hearing stories, while sitting around the local brew pub and I read about them on the bathroom walls. Lol!!!!!!! that was awesome man hahahaha 👍🏻👍🏻🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
Great video its a shame the beer didn't turn out. I'm really glad you did post this because it let's everyone know that these things happen to everyone. I will have to try this malt, I'm going to give growing barley a go this fall and malting my own and learning how to treat under modified malts will be helpful.
You mentioned it in the video, and I see other comments about step mash. That could possibly help reduce DMS going into the boil. Also, I have read that a covered boil can slow down the reduction of DMS during the boil. Though I have also read that this theory had been debunked, so I can't say I am convinced one way or another. But, as a fellow Clawhammer 120V brewer, I do know that to hold a boil on that system, the kettle needs to be 'mostly' covered to maintain a boil. I now also have the 240V system and find that the boil is much more vigorous (or at least can be if you want it). With that I have been leaving the cover either completely off or covering about 1/2 the kettle. You do steam off much more so more volume reduction and bigger gravity delta pre to post -- and perhaps more DMS reduction if it is there to start. And as most other comments, I'd like to see English Pale Ale the sequel. Great video, Cheers!
The step mash would certainly help with starch conversion, but I am not sure how that would reduce DMS. The old theory is that DMS is boiled off with a long boil, but that came around from commonly accepted knowledge 40 years ago, when the malts were produced differently. The main factor with DMS ending up in your beer is really the malt. Nowadays every single malt (except ones made "traditionally") have negligible levels of the precursor chemicals that eventually become DMS and hence the 30 minute boil is a thing, so its rare to have it in a beer unless its a situation like this one. I've done many pale beers with pilsner malt (often with a 60 minute boil or less) and DMS has never been a problem for me on the 120V system, until now haha. Thanks for watching and I will definitely be brewing a new version of this some time!
Heh, not to sound inconsiderate but... I love the fact that the batch's been a failure. It made for an interesting episode. Love the fact that you still decided to show it all. Cheers!
hello from southern Victoria Australia, looks like you've just made a keg of drain cleaner, been there many times, I wouldn't use that Heritage malt again, you probably should have done a full step mash with it, it just goes to show you how good we have it now days with all the great base malts available, I was watching I think it was Glen from Homebeerbrewrey from Holland in one of his old videos and he said once if you are into brewing spirits you can put a beer which you don't like into the vessel and distil all the alcohol out of the beer then you can dump the rest and you'll end up with a litre or so of pure alcohol, I'm not sure if this is 100% correct but it sounds like it would work, I'm thinking about getting into spirit making just for that reason, on the odd occasion I'll brew a beer which I don't like or like one just the other day I brewed a lager, under pressure and was full of sulphur, yes I did recycle my yeast cake, so it could have come from there, cheers to more better beers 🍺
Even the pros screw one up once in a while. I remember when Dogfish Head had to dump an entire batch of 120min IPA, Sam was pretty upset...although the only mistake was that the FG finished a few points too high lol...but that's why they're still around. Good lessons on this episode.
I think a go around would be good to settle this attempt out. don't feel bad my first Kolsch I just made a few weeks ago was pretty bad (first attempt ever at making beer) I plan on making it again to get it right.
Actually I think a rebrew would be the best. Let's learn here! If I may suggest, A09 pub has been my go to English and ferments nice at 64. I think it might be a less funicky yeast. Also i always crank up temp on English yeast by about 2F a day past mid point. You'll attenuate better and clean up. Simething else to try? I like the step mash idea.
I may look into switching up the yeast for the rebrew. I actually originally ordered the London ESB strain for this beer but they had to make a substitution due to what was in stock, but I've heard good things about Pub, and I'm turning into an Imperial fanboy haha. Thanks for fermentation schedule suggestions too!
Ouch. I've only brewed one English and it was also with Chevallier. I didn't even know what Heritage meant, so I mashed 60min and boiled 60min. In conjunction with some Light munich and light crystal and single hop fuggle. It was one of the best beers I've ever made. Oh used Nottingham from Lallemand. Give it another go Steve! I'm getting ready for my second English, going to throw in the EKG with the fuggle this time. Man I'm thirsty now.
Thanks for the informative video! Sometimes you learn more from a mistake then you do a success. As someone who as never used it- What is it about east Kent goldings that makes it your favorite English hop? Also keep up the great work! Your videos inspired me to get a brew system earlier this month and I’m 2 beers in and the second one was brewed with the patriotic hop T-Shirt
EKG is just a really nice combination of earthy flavors with a nice herbal spice. Its hard to describe, but it has that "je ne sais quoi" that cascade has. I'm super pumped that you started brewing, don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions! Thanks for buying a T-shirt!
Despite your obvious disappointment in the resulting brew, this was a great video! Brew it again! Get back on the horse that threw ya’ as they say. You’ve got good notes to work with, so you should be able to nail it next time!
You could ditch the wheat and crystal and go with just Chevalier and around 10% cane sugar(inverted if you don't mind a ~20min extra step the night before brewing). Keep the OG and IBU the same but up the late boil hops and a bit of dry hop. Voila! You brewed yourself a late 1800's-early 1900's AK, the precursor of interwar-modern day Standard and Best/Premium Bitter.
You're in the Boston area now!? I'm there often, we should meet up at a brewery sometime. Cheers Steve! I had a cabbage smelling and tasting beer a few months back, it was a dumper for sure.
Sorry to hear that this beer was not as successful as your other ones you've done in the past. You are correct you just don't want to show the successes but the failures as well. Not only do you learn but so do we watching your channel and I think that's awesome. If you brew this again I will say better luck on your next attempt. Have good one.
Okay so I did like three homebrews so far so take this with a grain of malt (pun intended), but I recently went to a brewing conference where a chemistry teacher talked about the chemistry of brewing and he strongly advised to make sure to really have a "rolling" boil to avoid DMS. Maybe skomething to look into?
He is right, a rolling boil will help reduce DMS, since the stronger the boil the better the volatilization rate. However whether DMS ends up in your beer has significantly more to do with the malting process than the brewing process. The malting process is responsible for creating the precursor chemical to DMS, and it used to be very tough to make pilsner or pale malt without generating a ton of DMS precursor, so the idea came around that if you were to brew using mostly these types of malts, you needed to have a strong, 90-minute boil or longer to boil off the DMS. But nowadays (basically half a century later) modern malting techniques reduce DMS precursor to near-negligible levels in every type of malt. Hence you are now able to do things like a 30 minute boil and not end up with DMS. I've personally brewed many beers with pilsner or pale malts and less than 60 minute boils and I've never had an issue with DMS, until now, where the only variable I changed was the selection of a malt made with an older malting style. It's interesting stuff! Thanks for watching, sorry the response ended up so long, I just get upset that so many new brewers are still taught that DMS is going to end up in every beer unless they boil forever
I think you can learn more from failures than successes. Have you played around with sort-of pressure fermenting? I just did an english IPA under about 5psi at 63 and it came out great. Maybe something like lallemand kolsch at 63 for an in between us-05 and s-04 fruitiness. Also, my english friend alerted me to over carbonating my English IPA and said basically none is the proper amount -- like 1 volume of CO2. Thanks for the videos -- can't all be winners! :)
I've pressure fermented a bunch of lagers but only tried it with an ale once, in a NEIPA. I enjoy the subtle esters of English yeast (when fermented right) and I feel that pressure fermentation would make it too bland, but maybe I'll try it one of these times! Oh for sure this was overcarbonated!
@@TheApartmentBrewer My un-scientific research has been 3-5psi is pretty close to no pressure, but you can usually go a few degrees more on your temp. 5-10 psi will restrain most esters, but they are in the background. 10+ psi is super clean, but I still got some yeast production out of some strains -- Verdant was one of them.
I say brew it again with the changes you think caused the problem. You’ll feel better about yourself knowing you conquered the beer demons. Good luck in your new location.
I brewed this at my old apartment a few months ago, before I moved everything to the basement at the new house. I just spent a long time hoping the beer would improve but no luck.
If the beer looked and tasted good going into the keg, I wonder if something else was the cause. Also, having a clear beer turn cloudy seems odd. A Craft Beer & Brewing article on DMS says "infection-related DMS will probably taste more like cabbage, celery, or even shrimp". Might be something related to the transport and exposing the keg to warm temps? In any case, thanks for sharing and good luck next time!
It was odd for sure. I don't think its an infection since it's flavor never really changed ever since it got cloudy (which was pretty much over the course of a single day - since it got agitated during the moving process and just never clarified after that. Either way it was definitely frustrating.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Maybe if you move this beer between different taps, it will scare off your beer thief! I had a NEIPA recently that turned out "off." Some knowledgeable friends said Acetaldehyde, my girlfriend said "citrus rind", and I got a bit of a menthol vibe. I still have not quite figured out the source of the issue, but, yeah, sometimes beers just don't turn out quite right and hopefully it is a good learning opportunity.
I'm fixing to brew an English IPA using Chevalier for steeping grains. Do you recommend increasing the time and/or temp for steeping, and do you still recommend a longer boil? Also do you know if the Thames Valley strain from Wyeast will have any of the same issues as the strain you used?
Sorry it didn't work out. Chevalier is one of my favorites. I've done a dozen or so brews with Chevalier as well as with Crisp's floor malted #19 Maris Otter. Have had zero problems with DMS with either. I never do more than a 60 minute boil. All of these were with Lallemand Verdant IPA yeast as opposed to Nottingham, and at a range of fermentation temperatures from 70-85F, and a range of different mash temps. I don't use yeast nutrient with Verdant - the only time I've done that it ripped through in 24 hours and I had major fusel alcohol flavors for weeks. The major difference between Chev and MO is the bigger earthy biscuity flavor. Give it another shot!
Love to learn about the mistake of other XD The look is really terrible i can taste it for here. haha Anyway keep going your really nice informative video i really like it :P Maybe use good quality Modern malt for your next english pale ale. Historic English pale ale supposed to be a bit more darker. I made a receipt of Best Bitter at 11SRM and its so drinkable, easy beer, 4.8abv really well balance of sweet, roast and floral, herb. Thin beer, low abv but full flavor. One of my recipe ill do forever.
Kind of random question, but my wife and I will be visiting New England in a couple weeks. Boston for a few days, then driving up to Maine with stops in Portland and Acadia National Park. Any hidden gem type breweries we should visit?
Can't go wrong with Treehouse, Trillium and Bissell Brothers. But I would not consider them "hidden". Cambridge Brewing Company, Vitamin Sea Brewing or Barrel House Z would be closer to hidden gems in the Boston area.
Enjoy Acadia! I lived in Maine for 6 years and I loved it. The above breweries are great - my personal favorite in the Boston area is Mighty Squirrel. When in Portland be sure to check out Allagash as well. If you've got the time I would highly recommend stopping in Portsmouth, NH as well. You'll be driving right past it anyway and it's one of my favorite towns in all of New England.
@@rustbox70 thanks for the suggestions. There was no way I’d miss Tree House. There is a Trillium location near Fenway, so we’re going to go there before a baseball game. Cheers!
@@TheApartmentBrewer sorry, I meant brew-wise not tasting-wise. but, I think you could still use existing footage interspersed with new stuff to get a similar effect.
You should rebrew it. I'd save a couple of bottles of the failed beer and do a comparison to the rebrew when it's finished. I think that'd make for another good video.
![3 English Ale Yeasts [Side By Side Comparison!] - Brew Dudes](/img/1.gif)
Great video, as always, Steve! Thanks for giving the HomeBrewing Journal such a big plug! Honoured to have had it featured in the last official "apartment" brew (... sorry the beer didn't turn out the way you'd hoped though) ... But on that note, I say you reattempt it. I know you can knock it out of the park ... and hey, at least you have the notes to refer back to! Hahahaha! Cheers buddy!
I'm glad to give the shoutout man! It's a great product! MARKS JOURNAL: amzn.to/3JU5hmJ
Thank you both. Superior product and love to support.
Aw man, I was watching that mash schedule thinking "But it's a heritage malt?!?!" I step mash all of my heritage malt beers.
I'm really glad you left this in, though it shows great character. I think you should rebrew it, with a stepped temperature mash, a longer fermentation, a d-rest and then condition it at cellar temps (10°c) for a couple of weeks. Also, don't carbs it so much. Patience is the key for English bitters and pales.
Agreed we need a redemption brew!
I'm glad you enjoyed the video, and confirmed my suspicions! Do you have a recommended mash schedule that works well for heritage malts? Fully agreed on the carbonation level - that was another mistake I didn't address in the video but I accidently WAY overcarbonated this beer at the beginning. Set my regulator to 50 PSI to carb overnight but forgot about it for over a full day.
Still an awesome video! Your “unsuccessful” beer was presented just as informatively and gracefully as your successful ones…that is why you are the best brew channel on RUclips!
I would love to see this reattempted! Also, love the mini-vignette in the beginning.
Thank you! I try to make it so people can learn from every video no matter how it turns out - and to keep me humble!
What a great video. Love the intro and your honesty with what went wrong. I love seeing what the differences are when I make small changes to my brewing and fermenting. It is the best way to learn.
Please brew this again. It will be so interesting to find out the result of different treatment of the heritage malts.
Keep up the great work!
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I think pretty much everyone here wants me to re-brew this so that's what I'll do! I'm pretty confident the recipe is fine, just need to tweak the technique!
Would actually like to see a “rebrew” of this one. Appreciate the explanations of the problems. Very nice job!
Thanks, I'll definitely be doing this again!
I agree. I think a rebrew would add a lot of value. Bummer it didn't work out, but we can all learn from it.
Wow, didn't expect the hilarious intro, thanks for that! Great video as always! Will miss the background of the apartment but looking forward to the basement brewery! Cheers!
Glad you liked it, I've been dabbling with the idea of doing some skits like that more often. Cheers!
This was excellent content! From that hilarious intro to the lessons learned from a troubled beer. Great stuff Steve as always!
Thanks Trent, I really appreciate it!
Your videos are some of the best home brewing videos out there. With this one your timing couldn't have been any better for me. I have 12 lbs. of Chevallier that I haven't used yet. Its a malt there isn't much talk of on the internet (at least that I've managed to find), so the advice from your video was like a gift; as well as some of the comments from the brewers who've commentedwhich were very helpful. My vote is do it over again so we can all see if your thoughts on what went wrong can be corrected. A toast to you as well for putting this on RUclips as is, and not scrapping it when the brew failed. Good stuff all the way around.
Well that's awesome! I hope your experience with the malt is good!
I haven't brewed in 25 years, and your channel has inspired me, much to the chagrin of my wife. I dug out an old carboy, a hydrometer, and a bottling wand. I think I will need to go shopping. Thank you.
Comments like this are why I do it! Happy brewing and welcome back to the hobby!
Appreciate the full disclosure and the humility. Not every batch is a winner. Cheers.
REBREW!
I always enjoy your videos but, I will say I appreciate you giving us the honest video (we all screw eventually) instead sluffing it off. I honestly have never used any traditional/old style malts so, this will be great help since I have some on the way. As always great vid and keep on brewing!
I met with the Crisp guys recently. Now I realise why heritage malts are a thing of the past… The advice they gave to me was mash at 63C/145F and add 10% of regular (modern!) pale malt to provide enough enzymes to convert. Even then, expect lower attenuation. Great video, keep up the good work!
Wow, yeah that all makes sense now in context. I may use that strategy to add in some extra higher diastatic power malt to get a better mash, thats a good idea. Cheers!
That was a great video.
You became real in the fact that not everything works out. As a novice to brewing I do try to learn from you and others. Some times it’s frustrating seeing every video work perfect. Yes I have had to dump some failures. I try to learn from every batch I make and make adjustments. Thank you for the honest review.
Perry
That means a lot, but it's the truth, not everything is the perfect success! Sometimes the best opportunities we have to learn are from failure. Cheers!
Thanks for sharing, even when it doesn't turn out great! It is encouraging to realize that we all have bad batches, and it is just part of the craft.
I've been finding that Wyeast 1098 (and even more so, 1968) is a little too random and/or temperamental at times. So, to combat that, I've been still using it, but after three or four days, I've been pitching Nottingham on top of that, going a co-fermentation route. This way, I get the contribution of the key flavors of the primary yeast, and using the Notty for a very predictable finish, even if the 1098/1968 conks out along the way.
Credit to you. You could've just binned the brew and the video along with that but I appreciate the honesty. Sometimes brews go south but we learn as much from the ones that fail as the ones that go well. Really enjoy your channel and watch regularly. All the best in your new place.
Thank you very much! I'm hoping folks can learn from it nonetheless!
Thanks for being honest and sharing the beer even though it didn't turn out! We all can learn more through our failures than our successes.
Definitely brew this one again soon. I think it would be beneficial to focus on your notes and the improvements/changes you make the next time around. Love that you show the mistake brews as well. Thanks for the great content.
Glad it was so well received! I'll definitely be rebrewing this one!
Love the intro, especially the music choice! Cheers to epidemic sound 🤣🤣
Now that I’ve watched the whole video I’m sorry to hear that your beer didn’t turn out as you expected. I say brew it again and make the adjustments and see what happens because it sounds like a solid recipe that would taste absolutely delicious!
Haha they've definitely got some interesting tracks! I think pretty much everyone agrees that I need to try this again so I think I will. I love English beers and I think it the recipe has potential. Cheers Brian!
Love the video as someone who is coming off a horrendous beer as well it’s nice to see we all make mistakes or don’t think of everything. I would love to see this beer redone!!
Thanks for shearing. We never stop learning. Now I am going to England for a best bitter. Cheers.
Man I just love your content!! I'm beginning in this homebrewing world and I've learned a lot from you. It's very valuable to see what not to do and what we should do when problems arise.
Looking forward to see the basement brewing! Keep it up man!!
I'm glad you enjoy it so much! I am excited to get more brews going!
Great video explaining what was wrong with this beer and how to fix it in the future. It would be very informative if you made another video of brewing this same beer. Thank you!
Definitely think you should rebrew with the adjustments to see if it gets the beer here you wanted it. I liked that you were willing to put up a failed beer and analyze what went wrong. That finishing sip 🤣
Ordered one of the brewing logs from the Canadian Amazon site, looks great and I recently decided I really need to start keeping physical copies of my brew logs and this looked like a great product for it.
Thank you! Yeah, I think it is 100% worth it to explain why things didn't go right - hopefully people can learn from that! Hope you enjoy Mark's journal, its a great product!
Great vid sir....lovin that Party Time T......be safe man
Thanks man! I appreciate the community!
Kudos for showing the failure. But valuable knowledge and for us watching to learn from others mistakes. Kudos again and don't let it eat you. You are a good brewer, we all have bad batches.
Thanks, I appreciate it!
Definitely do a rebrew and video on it. I failed an ESB a few months ago, and still pondering how to rebrew it. It lacked maltiness, and the yeast character wasn't nice IMO, it had that very homebrew-ey flavor in a bad way, partly because of yeast esters I think. I used Simpons Maris Otter and a little of their Crystal malt, and the yeast was the Lallemand London ESB dry yeast. I think I mainly messed up the fermentation temperature, the given range is 18-22 C, it stayed around 21 C the first couple of days, but as the yeast activity dropped the temperature in my fermentation freezer also dropped to around 18 C around day 3, and it didn't seem to recover from that, fermentation pretty much stopped with an attenuation of 66%. I need to do a better job with the temperature control and/or maybe try another yeast, not sure why it lacked maltiness though.
Anyway, it's fun to watch people fail from time to time since that's how we learn the most, and it's annoying to fail a beer completely after all that work. So cheers for this!
Sorry to hear about your batch, but it sounds like you know what went wrong and you'll have a better time next time!
Friend, I would love to see you rebrew this one. I find your videos inspirational as well as educational and sometimes the failures are worth 10 times the value of the successes!
Lemme tell ya it’s cool that you’re frank and honest with us that you don’t like this beer. We all have our failures that we learn from. For instance, I made a Grapefruit Wheat Braggot/gruit and should not have made it considering I did not have the experience to pull that brew together. But I learned from it and have made several brews that made me happy
As long as you don't quit trying to make it better and you take something away from the experience, its a success in my book!
Digging the new vibe Braj! I’m gonna go watch this on my smart tv now too
Thanks man! Good times this weekend!
Thank you for putting this kind of video out there. Very useful for every brewer, no matter the level of expertise. And yes, you should brew it again.
Thank you! I will definitely be tackling this again
Awesome video Steve! Congrats and good luck at your new place. Shot out to Mark just ordered a new journal. That's a solid AAR, it explained why my last amber tasted of broccoli/ripe cabbage. Teaches us to always check starch conversion. Thank you as always, Prost🍻
Prost! Glad you enjoyed the video and it was useful! Let's hope that unlike most training, I actually apply the AAR comments lol
Big props for highlighting the mistakes, as we all know, sometimes this is the best way to learn. Great video, even though it was not the intended outcome.
Thanks for that! I hope everyone can learn from it!
We all learn from your mistakes, great video of the breakdown of the steps you took.
Steve, responding to your video, since there are so many beer styles out there, I'd say move on to a different one. I definitely appreciate this video because I think it helps educate other brewers about how to avoid issues that you wouldn't have an opportunity to talk about in a grain to glass video that went smoothly. I just ran into the same clarity issue on Saturday as I was transporting a keg of beer with me to a crawfish boil. The beer was nice and clear before I left and I tapped it prior to moving to make sure that anything that had settled to the bottom was out. But once it was all hooked up at the event, the beer was murky. I would love to find a transportation solution that doesn't compromise my brew. I still don't know how to do it yet.
Glad you enjoyed the video, and you nailed it - people learn from the mistakes of others just as much (if not more) than when things go as planned. Kegs are tough to move because its just one big container, but I think the best options really are to bottle or can and then bring it with you.
I’ve also had weird results with Chevallier and even floor malted Maris Otter. Those grains, combined with lower attenuating English yeast, sometimes require some babying. I’ve found Golden Promise to be extremely consistent when it comes to mash and ferment performance, and it tastes *almost* as good as Maris Otter. GP is my new go-to base malt for ales.
I'm a huge fan of golden promise! It is amazing in SMASH beers. Maris Otter is relatively consistent for me but I've had trouble with floor malted MO before too.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Glad to hear our experiences line up.
I almost exclusively brew English style beers using floor-malted grains (Admiral Maltings in Alameda, CA). Not sure if they’re considered heritage malt, but I used to run into some of the conversion/efficiency issues you described. Step mash helps, but I’ve found (also as a clawhammer user) that crushing the malts just about as fine as I dare and extending the mash as long as 120 minutes helped a ton. Never had a stuck mash issue. Also when using crystal malt, I add in some corn sugar to the boil. Maybe 1/3-2/3 the mass of the crystal malts. I find I can preserve some of those nice complex caramel/toffee/toast flavors and offset some of the sweetness this way. My recipe for an English IPA that does this recently won 2nd place in its category. Happy to let you take a peek at the recipe if you can forgive it for using mostly American hops.
Awesome, thank you for those tips! I'm definitely interested in that recipe if you are willing to share. My last attempt at an English IPA ended up significantly over-bittered so it would be a good style to revisit.
@@TheApartmentBrewer for sure. I’ll DM you on Instagram in a sec
Very interesting video, respect your honesty and explanation for why it didn’t work out. However having brewed English Pale Ale for many years I am not convinced with the explanation. 18C is an ideal temperature for English ale yeasts, I use Nottingham at this temperature. Heritage malts should convert successfully in 60 to 90 mins at a single mash temperature of 67C. 60 min boil is fine. I believe you may have had a bad batch of yeast or there has been a microbial contamination at some point.
On the recipe the addition of crystal is excessive and will give a clawing sweetness, I use 100g max for a 75 litre brew. The remaining grain bill is usually just Maris Otter. The water profile is just wrong for this style of beer which tends to be high in Calcium and bicarbonate ions and low in Na. The sulphite to chloride ratio should be around 2:1 to enhance bitterness and a hoppy profile. I would use Muntons Gold yeast which is almost impossible to get wrong and flocculates well leaving a clear beer. I like an IBU of around 35 to 40 in my English Ales at 4.2% ABV served at 12psi at 5C. Good luck with the planned repeat.
Thanks for the comments, I'll keep this in mind for the rebrew.
Another good video! I really appreciate the honest assessment and explanations at the end. I follow a few bbq and cooking channels. Some must have hundreds of videos and everyone of them is the best thing ever which is a little hard to believe. I think you should put this on the list to make again. I am! And I plan on taking all the info you put out here, beginning to end, and put to use with hopefully a beer as good as it sounds!
Thanks, yeah its not all clickbait perfection over here!
if at first you don't succeed...try, try again. I think it would be worth brewing it again with the adjustments you've suggested...that's the experimental side of homebrewing...learning the lessons and making it better. Great video. Good luck for next time
It looks like everybody wants me to try this again, so thats what I will do!
Love it. Thanks for sharing your failure. It helps so much to see how things can go wrong. I really appreciated your breakdown of everything what you could have done differently. So helpful.
I'm glad it was so well received!
Love the intro and the honest review. So is with brewing. I brewed a Wit this last weekend, single infusion w Pilsner and torrified wheat, way undershot SG. Had to add what I had on hand. Unfortunately 1lb Belgian Candy Sugar. Got my gravity on point post boil but my gut is the body might be lacking. Only time will tell. Blowing a batch happens. I feel especially when the grain bill moves in to very new territory. Try again! Congrats on the move. Cheers.
Oof that sounds like a rough brew day! Thats a good reminder for me to stock up on DME for situations like that!
Love this Steve. You don't learn as much from success as you do from failure. I'd love to see you try it again. I think you should include a protein rest. That should help with the haze.
It definitely might, I should incorporate that into the mash schedule for the next one
I would like to see you rebrew this beer and do a step mash with a longer boil. I am interested in this style but don't have a lot of experience in English beers. Cheers!
This is what the people want!
I’d love to see you re-brew the recipe! I’ve always had soft spot for ESB’s going back to the early days of Redhook’s original recipe - now called “banana beer”. I miss those days at the Trolleyman.
I'll definitely have it on the list for rebrew soon!
Had something similar happen with the first all grain batch I brewed from flaked corn. Starch haze never went away and it always had a slightly off flavor. Although it wasn't quite a dumper. Haven't used flaked corn since.
Thank you for sharing. Only been brewing for a year or so. Had this exact thing happen to a blonde ale I brewed. I never quite figured out what happened
Thanks for watching! Missing the mark on beers can be frustrating but don't let it keep you from brewing!
Great video and overview of what can happen with the heritage malts. I'd like to try that someday (and also mess it up to see what a proper dose of DMS tastes like, just maybe not with 5 gallons of it). Great T-Shirt as well, thanks! The only thing that possibly needs work for next time is your tactical roll. Cheers!
Thanks James! Its a great shirt - I'll work on not rolling directly into a huge pile of my brewing equipment for next time lol
I did a sweet potato ESB with English yeast, the exact same thing happened. I did a starch test, which passed, but when the temp raised up to sparge it continued to break starch off of small pieces of potato that werent broken down enough. The starch stayed in the beer forever, and the beer felt thick and heavy. Didn't dump it, but we drank most of it hoping it would clear up 😅
Yeah its a bit of a tough one to get that full conversion on a sweet potato beer for sure! High starch content can be a pain.
I would say to move on and come back to it in six months or something. Thanks for showing what could possibly go wrong and maybe someday we will see how it can be corrected. Cheers Steve!
Yeah it wont be an immediate rebrew for sure, I've got a bunch of Belgian beers to make! But I think late summer or early fall would be a nice time to make this beer. Cheers!
Is it true, I couldn’t believe my eyes, I don’t believe it, the infamous BEER NINJA!!!! I remember hearing stories, while sitting around the local brew pub and I read about them on the bathroom walls. Lol!!!!!!! that was awesome man hahahaha
👍🏻👍🏻🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
Captured for the first time on camera!!!
Great video its a shame the beer didn't turn out. I'm really glad you did post this because it let's everyone know that these things happen to everyone. I will have to try this malt, I'm going to give growing barley a go this fall and malting my own and learning how to treat under modified malts will be helpful.
Thank you! Best of luck with malting your own barley, that is a lot of work but worth it!
I really appreciated this video. Often we learn more from our mistakes than our successes. I agree with the others, rebrew!
You mentioned it in the video, and I see other comments about step mash. That could possibly help reduce DMS going into the boil. Also, I have read that a covered boil can slow down the reduction of DMS during the boil. Though I have also read that this theory had been debunked, so I can't say I am convinced one way or another. But, as a fellow Clawhammer 120V brewer, I do know that to hold a boil on that system, the kettle needs to be 'mostly' covered to maintain a boil. I now also have the 240V system and find that the boil is much more vigorous (or at least can be if you want it). With that I have been leaving the cover either completely off or covering about 1/2 the kettle. You do steam off much more so more volume reduction and bigger gravity delta pre to post -- and perhaps more DMS reduction if it is there to start. And as most other comments, I'd like to see English Pale Ale the sequel. Great video, Cheers!
The step mash would certainly help with starch conversion, but I am not sure how that would reduce DMS. The old theory is that DMS is boiled off with a long boil, but that came around from commonly accepted knowledge 40 years ago, when the malts were produced differently. The main factor with DMS ending up in your beer is really the malt. Nowadays every single malt (except ones made "traditionally") have negligible levels of the precursor chemicals that eventually become DMS and hence the 30 minute boil is a thing, so its rare to have it in a beer unless its a situation like this one. I've done many pale beers with pilsner malt (often with a 60 minute boil or less) and DMS has never been a problem for me on the 120V system, until now haha. Thanks for watching and I will definitely be brewing a new version of this some time!
Heh, not to sound inconsiderate but... I love the fact that the batch's been a failure. It made for an interesting episode. Love the fact that you still decided to show it all. Cheers!
I agree! Nobody is perfect and everyone can still learn from it. Cheers!
hello from southern Victoria Australia, looks like you've just made a keg of drain cleaner, been there many times, I wouldn't use that Heritage malt again, you probably should have done a full step mash with it, it just goes to show you how good we have it now days with all the great base malts available, I was watching I think it was Glen from Homebeerbrewrey from Holland in one of his old videos and he said once if you are into brewing spirits you can put a beer which you don't like into the vessel and distil all the alcohol out of the beer then you can dump the rest and you'll end up with a litre or so of pure alcohol, I'm not sure if this is 100% correct but it sounds like it would work, I'm thinking about getting into spirit making just for that reason, on the odd occasion I'll brew a beer which I don't like or like one just the other day I brewed a lager, under pressure and was full of sulphur, yes I did recycle my yeast cake, so it could have come from there, cheers to more better beers 🍺
If home distilling alcohol for consumption was legal here I would probably try something like that! Cheers!
Even the pros screw one up once in a while. I remember when Dogfish Head had to dump an entire batch of 120min IPA, Sam was pretty upset...although the only mistake was that the FG finished a few points too high lol...but that's why they're still around. Good lessons on this episode.
I think a go around would be good to settle this attempt out. don't feel bad my first Kolsch I just made a few weeks ago was pretty bad (first attempt ever at making beer) I plan on making it again to get it right.
Actually I think a rebrew would be the best. Let's learn here! If I may suggest, A09 pub has been my go to English and ferments nice at 64. I think it might be a less funicky yeast. Also i always crank up temp on English yeast by about 2F a day past mid point. You'll attenuate better and clean up. Simething else to try? I like the step mash idea.
I may look into switching up the yeast for the rebrew. I actually originally ordered the London ESB strain for this beer but they had to make a substitution due to what was in stock, but I've heard good things about Pub, and I'm turning into an Imperial fanboy haha. Thanks for fermentation schedule suggestions too!
Ouch. I've only brewed one English and it was also with Chevallier. I didn't even know what Heritage meant, so I mashed 60min and boiled 60min. In conjunction with some Light munich and light crystal and single hop fuggle. It was one of the best beers I've ever made. Oh used Nottingham from Lallemand. Give it another go Steve! I'm getting ready for my second English, going to throw in the EKG with the fuggle this time. Man I'm thirsty now.
Will do!
I think you should give it another shot, but use a more modified English base malt.
I'm very interested in you going back and remaking the beers that you thought needed improvement
That seems to be the consensus of the comments section, so I'll try this one again.
Love to see the Blackfoot River Brewing pint glass!! Montana represent
Nice!! Picked it up in Helena last year, they had outstanding beer!
@@TheApartmentBrewer I'm not a huge IPA guy but Blackfoot IPA is the bomb. One of Helena's few redeeming qualities in my opinion haha
Thanks for the informative video! Sometimes you learn more from a mistake then you do a success.
As someone who as never used it- What is it about east Kent goldings that makes it your favorite English hop?
Also keep up the great work! Your videos inspired me to get a brew system earlier this month and I’m 2 beers in and the second one was brewed with the patriotic hop T-Shirt
EKG is just a really nice combination of earthy flavors with a nice herbal spice. Its hard to describe, but it has that "je ne sais quoi" that cascade has. I'm super pumped that you started brewing, don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions! Thanks for buying a T-shirt!
Give it another go, addressing the mistakes. I’m sure it will be good next time!
Despite your obvious disappointment in the resulting brew, this was a great video! Brew it again! Get back on the horse that threw ya’ as they say. You’ve got good notes to work with, so you should be able to nail it next time!
Steve, I think you should re-brew with the heritage malts and let's see the good version!
Sounds like a plan!
Would love to try your beer here in Lewiston, New York 🍻
Great video as always.
Thank you!
Very informative.
And yes, if like to see you give this one another try. 👍
Sounds like a plan!
You could ditch the wheat and crystal and go with just Chevalier and around 10% cane sugar(inverted if you don't mind a ~20min extra step the night before brewing).
Keep the OG and IBU the same but up the late boil hops and a bit of dry hop.
Voila! You brewed yourself a late 1800's-early 1900's AK, the precursor of interwar-modern day Standard and Best/Premium Bitter.
You're in the Boston area now!? I'm there often, we should meet up at a brewery sometime. Cheers Steve!
I had a cabbage smelling and tasting beer a few months back, it was a dumper for sure.
Hell yeah! I'm just outside the city now so I'd definitely be down.
Respect for the honesty. I think you have to do it agsin with the corrections
That's the plan!
Sorry to hear that this beer was not as successful as your other ones you've done in the past. You are correct you just don't want to show the successes but the failures as well. Not only do you learn but so do we watching your channel and I think that's awesome. If you brew this again I will say better luck on your next attempt. Have good one.
Thank you! I'm pretty excited to give it another go.
Brew again for sure!
Okay so I did like three homebrews so far so take this with a grain of malt (pun intended), but I recently went to a brewing conference where a chemistry teacher talked about the chemistry of brewing and he strongly advised to make sure to really have a "rolling" boil to avoid DMS. Maybe skomething to look into?
He is right, a rolling boil will help reduce DMS, since the stronger the boil the better the volatilization rate. However whether DMS ends up in your beer has significantly more to do with the malting process than the brewing process. The malting process is responsible for creating the precursor chemical to DMS, and it used to be very tough to make pilsner or pale malt without generating a ton of DMS precursor, so the idea came around that if you were to brew using mostly these types of malts, you needed to have a strong, 90-minute boil or longer to boil off the DMS. But nowadays (basically half a century later) modern malting techniques reduce DMS precursor to near-negligible levels in every type of malt. Hence you are now able to do things like a 30 minute boil and not end up with DMS. I've personally brewed many beers with pilsner or pale malts and less than 60 minute boils and I've never had an issue with DMS, until now, where the only variable I changed was the selection of a malt made with an older malting style. It's interesting stuff! Thanks for watching, sorry the response ended up so long, I just get upset that so many new brewers are still taught that DMS is going to end up in every beer unless they boil forever
I think you can learn more from failures than successes. Have you played around with sort-of pressure fermenting? I just did an english IPA under about 5psi at 63 and it came out great. Maybe something like lallemand kolsch at 63 for an in between us-05 and s-04 fruitiness. Also, my english friend alerted me to over carbonating my English IPA and said basically none is the proper amount -- like 1 volume of CO2. Thanks for the videos -- can't all be winners! :)
I've pressure fermented a bunch of lagers but only tried it with an ale once, in a NEIPA. I enjoy the subtle esters of English yeast (when fermented right) and I feel that pressure fermentation would make it too bland, but maybe I'll try it one of these times! Oh for sure this was overcarbonated!
@@TheApartmentBrewer My un-scientific research has been 3-5psi is pretty close to no pressure, but you can usually go a few degrees more on your temp. 5-10 psi will restrain most esters, but they are in the background. 10+ psi is super clean, but I still got some yeast production out of some strains -- Verdant was one of them.
I say brew it again with the changes you think caused the problem. You’ll feel better about yourself knowing you conquered the beer demons. Good luck in your new location.
Thank you! It's going to get rebrewed probably in the fall!
Love the intro!
Thanks!
I’m confused... didn’t you just complete your brewery setup in the basement? Is that basement at the old apartment or the new location?
I brewed this at my old apartment a few months ago, before I moved everything to the basement at the new house. I just spent a long time hoping the beer would improve but no luck.
Yep , you are right. The suggestion from Crisp is to step mash Chevalier.
Good to know!
That's definitely got some haze there! Call it a New (Old) England Pale Ale!
Lol that could work
If the beer looked and tasted good going into the keg, I wonder if something else was the cause. Also, having a clear beer turn cloudy seems odd. A Craft Beer & Brewing article on DMS says "infection-related DMS will probably taste more like cabbage, celery, or even shrimp". Might be something related to the transport and exposing the keg to warm temps? In any case, thanks for sharing and good luck next time!
It was odd for sure. I don't think its an infection since it's flavor never really changed ever since it got cloudy (which was pretty much over the course of a single day - since it got agitated during the moving process and just never clarified after that. Either way it was definitely frustrating.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Maybe if you move this beer between different taps, it will scare off your beer thief! I had a NEIPA recently that turned out "off." Some knowledgeable friends said Acetaldehyde, my girlfriend said "citrus rind", and I got a bit of a menthol vibe. I still have not quite figured out the source of the issue, but, yeah, sometimes beers just don't turn out quite right and hopefully it is a good learning opportunity.
I'm fixing to brew an English IPA using Chevalier for steeping grains. Do you recommend increasing the time and/or temp for steeping, and do you still recommend a longer boil? Also do you know if the Thames Valley strain from Wyeast will have any of the same issues as the strain you used?
This isn't really as big of a deal with steeping grains. I would recommend pitching and fermenting cool, around 63 F
Definitely make it again. You can beat this thing.
You almost have to rebrew it and show the changes actually do make that big of a difference. I’d like to see the rebrew vid
I get a ton more from videos like these vs the "Martha Stewart" no mistakes made ones. 🍻
Haha, yeah I understand and agree fully. Thank you for watching!
Redo the beer with your corrections. Love to see the difference.
Will do!
I do want to see you try this again... but I would say wait a little...I bet you have other beers you are more excited to brew coming up
Oh for sure, I have a lot planned for the next few months, but I think I will do it over again later in the year. Thanks!
Yeah, please rebrew. I'd love to know if it works out.
Regardless you'll see it here! Probably sometime later this year
Sorry it didn't work out. Chevalier is one of my favorites. I've done a dozen or so brews with Chevalier as well as with Crisp's floor malted #19 Maris Otter. Have had zero problems with DMS with either. I never do more than a 60 minute boil. All of these were with Lallemand Verdant IPA yeast as opposed to Nottingham, and at a range of fermentation temperatures from 70-85F, and a range of different mash temps. I don't use yeast nutrient with Verdant - the only time I've done that it ripped through in 24 hours and I had major fusel alcohol flavors for weeks. The major difference between Chev and MO is the bigger earthy biscuity flavor. Give it another shot!
I'd second the vote to see a rebrew.
Love to learn about the mistake of other XD The look is really terrible i can taste it for here. haha Anyway keep going your really nice informative video i really like it :P Maybe use good quality Modern malt for your next english pale ale. Historic English pale ale supposed to be a bit more darker. I made a receipt of Best Bitter at 11SRM and its so drinkable, easy beer, 4.8abv really well balance of sweet, roast and floral, herb. Thin beer, low abv but full flavor. One of my recipe ill do forever.
Lol it was not my best beer. Glad you could learn from my mistakes though!
Kind of random question, but my wife and I will be visiting New England in a couple weeks. Boston for a few days, then driving up to Maine with stops in Portland and Acadia National Park. Any hidden gem type breweries we should visit?
Can't go wrong with Treehouse, Trillium and Bissell Brothers. But I would not consider them "hidden". Cambridge Brewing Company, Vitamin Sea Brewing or Barrel House Z would be closer to hidden gems in the Boston area.
Enjoy Acadia! I lived in Maine for 6 years and I loved it. The above breweries are great - my personal favorite in the Boston area is Mighty Squirrel. When in Portland be sure to check out Allagash as well. If you've got the time I would highly recommend stopping in Portsmouth, NH as well. You'll be driving right past it anyway and it's one of my favorite towns in all of New England.
@@TheApartmentBrewer ha! My wife and I booked one night in Portsmouth on the way back to Boston. Thanks for the suggestions!
@@rustbox70 thanks for the suggestions. There was no way I’d miss Tree House. There is a Trillium location near Fenway, so we’re going to go there before a baseball game. Cheers!
Haha great video. Had to dump a brew recently too. Never fun
It always hurts a little, thanks for watching!
I would actually love to see a side by side of this brew to a new(corrected) brew so we can see the differences.
Would have been a good idea, but it's already been dumped!
@@TheApartmentBrewer sorry, I meant brew-wise not tasting-wise. but, I think you could still use existing footage interspersed with new stuff to get a similar effect.
@@magnetomage gotcha, no thats a very good idea!
Damn these beer ninjas! lol
They're getting smarter every day!
Would adding enzymes help convert this?
Adding amylase would have probably helped a lot in this case
You should rebrew it. I'd save a couple of bottles of the failed beer and do a comparison to the rebrew when it's finished. I think that'd make for another good video.
A rebrew I think will definitely work out well. I unfortunately already dumped the whole thing lol
@@TheApartmentBrewer LOL! Totally understandable. I've, unfortunately, had a few of those myself.
Apricate the video! Sometimes beers just don't turn out like they should, stuff like this can happen to the most experienced brewers.
Thanks Matt! Yeah its frustrating but it is always a good learning point. Cheers!
Sounds like an infection. DMS + permanent haze are clear indicators. Not sure how starches would contribute to DMS?