The Fall stayed warm for quite a while, so it wasn’t until December that the house was reliably staying below 70 degrees, which is where I want it to be for making beer. I found some cheap dried malt extract on Amazon that I could add to my two remaining batches of Mr. Beer Classic American Lite that I had bought in May 2019 (expires in September this year), but after I ordered Amazon cancelled the order saying it was a pricing error. I didn’t want to pay a lot for extra malt and hops since it didn’t seem to make a lot of difference. But I didn’t want weak beer either, which Mr. Beer usually is by itself. With limited time left until warmer weather, I thought maybe I could just use both cans in one batch, which is sometimes done by people to get a stronger, more flavorful beer. Then I decided that since these came with booster (sugar that adds alcohol, but not taste) I would just make a regular batch. By doing only 2 weeks of fermenting instead of 3 or 4, I should be able to get the second batch in. I think the main reason to ferment in the barrel is to let all the carbon dioxide escape and let the trub settle out. But the activity drops off so quickly, that I don’t think those are big problems after two weeks. The beer will continue to ferment and age in the bottle for another couple of weeks. So I just made a regular batch and it seemed to go pretty smoothly, but this morning there wasn’t much activity. I put the yeast packet in the refrigerator for the last 18 months, but it is pretty old. Maybe it will just take a little while to get going.
There was never a ton of activity, but there were definitely consistent bubbles, so I think the yeast did just fine. In the last day or two, there were no more traces of bubbles on the surface and only a few coming up, so I decided to taste it and see if it was sweet, which Mr. Beer says is the sign to let it ferment longer. It was more bitter than anything, so I think I could probably bottle any day now, even though it is just over a week. This batch hasn’t been as cloudy as some in the past either, so maybe that is a good thing.
I went ahead and bottled last night. I tried the beer again and it didn’t seem sweet (still has a little champagne taste that I have gotten on every batch), but I like sweets, so maybe I don’t notice. Still, pretty clear and not much activity, so it seemed like time. There is a little danger that if you bottle too early, before all the malt is digested by the yeast, that you will get excess carbon dioxide and the bottles will leak or explode. I keep them in an unused shower under a towel in case that happens, but I need all the bottles for the next (and probably final) batch. I will wait a few weeks to start that batch so that I will have time to drink all of the beer before I need to bottle again. It will be two more weeks of bottle conditioning before I drink any, then whatever time it takes to drink 8 quarts of beer.
I put the first of the eight bottles in the refrigerator Friday afternoon and tried it that night. It was good, but has that champagne taste that I always seem to get. The next day I tried the last bottle, which I had used a coke cap on instead of the original cap which I lost. The cap seemed tight, but it must have leaked because there was almost no pressure and the beer was flat. I think maybe the lack of carbonation made it taste sweeter, but this is also fairly young beer. The third bottle I tried was like the first. Not bad, and not much trub in any of them. Maybe because the malt was a little older, the beer was darker than I remember, which is nice. With three down, I think I can go ahead and make the last batch, but I want to get some new yeast this time and see if that makes a difference.
I went to the homebrew store nearby today and got some yeast and hops. The hops aren’t that expensive ($2.25), so I figured I would try some Centennial hops. When I got home one source said Centennial hops are considered too high in acid to use for dry hopping, but that some people still use them. Then tonight I went ahead and made my last batch of wort. Things went pretty well I think. I pitched the new yeast on top. The hops will wait a few days until the activity settles down some. I think I will boil the bag by itself to sanitize it, then add the hops and maybe something to weigh it down so it will sink. Then throw that in the keg.
I got some impressive activity with the yeast I bought, so that was good. I boiled the bag and a shot glass to act as a weight and then put the hops in the bag with the shot glass and put that in the keg. Unfortunately with the size of the bag, part of the bag was still at the surface, but maybe it will help a little. That is today, day 4. I think I will bottle at 2 weeks.
Only 3 bottles left of the last batch, so that should work out fine. The second to the last bottle from the last batch was also a little flat, similar to the last bottle which used a coke cap. So either the cap was loose or the last bit just wasn’t as active. (later on I remembered that in an effort to shake some water out of the empty bottles, I shook bottles I had already measured sugar into, so I shook out some or most of the sugar by accident before realizing what I was doing)
I bottled today. I stopped seeing bubbles coming up a couple of days ago and it looked fairly clear, so I figured it was time. I tried a little and there was no champagne (or cider) taste, so I think the problem was Mr. Beer’s yeast. Also, it smells quite hoppy, so the dry hopping worked great. Even though you are only supposed to get aroma and not taste from dry hopping, it seems like you should still be able to taste some of the hops. Worried about the replacement cap on one of the bottles not making a seal, I used a 32 ounce growler bottle this time to replace that bottle. You aren’t supposed to use growler bottles to make beer because they aren’t designed for the pressure, but the 32 ounce bottles seem pretty robust and if it does break, I only lose one bottle. By the time I got to the last bottle I had to lean the keg to fill it, so that one may be a little iffy, but hopefully it just means a little more trub in the bottom of the bottle. I will bottle condition for at least two weeks, which puts me at March 21.
I went ahead and tried a bottle today. I was a little nervous about the pressure building up in the glass growler bottle, so I drank it first. Despite the improved smell from the hops, and a better head on the beer when pouring (I guess from the yeast), the beer still has the same Mr. Beer taste I usually get, though without the champagne flavor, happily. Admittedly, this beer is pretty young, not even 4 weeks old total, so I may leave the rest of the bottled for a couple of more weeks. Despite some warmer weather, it has stayed between 65 and 70 degrees in the house, but as that temperature goes up, I will move the bottles to the fridge, which will stop (or dramatically slow) any further aging.
What was the end result ? When your dad and his roommates tried to make beer, they were waked up with pop pop pop as all of the caps were forced off and beer was all over the kitchen. I don’t remember the rest of the story but wonder if they ever got to drink any of it?
I wonder how they made their beer? It isn’t hard to make it from malt extract (powder or liquid), which is how Mr. Beer works, but some people will actually buy malted grains (you could even malt them yourself I guess, but that would be more trouble) and then boil those to extract malt. If I know Dad and there was any beer left in those bottles, he probably would have at least tried it.
My beer turned out okay. I think it still had a little champagne taste, hidden by the hop flavor. If I ever want to try brewing again, I would try to get a good used setup for homebrew (a 5 gallon batch) because buying all new equipment would cost hundreds of dollars. With that kind of setup, I would also want to extract the malt myself because buying malt extract is an expensive way to go. In the end, there are so many varieties of beers available now that making it yourself doesn’t make much sense unless you just enjoy the hobby (or maybe if you drink a ton of beer the economics could work in your favor).