That is a thing of beauty!
What are you drinking right now?
- Thread starter Ozarks Mountain Brewery
- Start date
Our Oktoberfest
It turned out super well, in my opinion. One of the better beers I’ve made.
Edit- how much older is my brother based on this pic?
Edit- how much older is my brother based on this pic?
I'll say 5 years?
2 1/2 younger I mess with him about it.
Vienna Lager. Have some left in the fermentation keg.
Munich Lager
Beautiful
LA Summer Blonde. Had to pour pretty hard to get that head, and it still didn't last.
![IMG_3058[1].JPG](https://www.brewersfriend.com/forum/attachments/img_3058-1-jpg.22389/ "IMG_3058[1].JPG")
Not sure what's going on lately but having a tough time getting my latest beers to present a decent head. Still taste good, but not sure what I'm doing wrong. More carbonation needed? I cut back slightly on the carbing sugar a little because I had a few batches with a volcano tendency. Right now, I do 1 oz/gallon corn sugar for carbing. I dissolve the 5 oz (about 1 cup) in about the same amount of water for heat sanitizing (boil it), put that in the (sanitized) bottling bucket to cool it down, then rack the fermenter in on top of it with the end of the line submerged to avoid aeration. Steady stream of bubbles comes up from the bottom of the glass, so I know it's carbed. 'Dirty' bottles? Nothing spoiled, just no head. Maybe bump back up to 5.5 - 6.0 oz per 5 gallon batch? I could stand it a bit fizzier, but it's pretty unpredictable when I open a bottle. I've opened a bottle, had time to walk away for a glass, and came back to find it all over the countertop. Very delayed eruption. That one sure made me scratch my head. Others, I've had to open very slowly to bleed the head pressure off to keep the entire bottle from turning into foam (with very little of it being in the glass). I've grown accustomed to opening bottles over the sink to make sure I don't piss off the missus when one pukes all over her kitchen.
This had a LOT of hops in it compared to most of my other brews (Magnum, Cascade, and Centennial), mostly to get the bitterness I think. Probably would have been better off to bitter with Warrior and dry-hop with the last stage of Centennial and Cascade. Not bitter at all, in fact not even bitter enough for me, and very citrusy/tropical. I think the boil possibly wiped out the 2nd stage (Centennial and Cascade). Built with US-05 yeast, new packets. Rather complicated step mash that might not have lent anything (IMO) but a lot of trouble to the brew. I think the hops and yeast and multiple flavoring grains are smothering all the extra effort. It was a good learning batch, though. Gotta read up some on the Magnum hops and see how that compares to Warrior. Not quite as high AA, but still 13+. I'm just not getting 'bitter' from this beer at all. The malt lingers, though. Light taste, but it hangs around a while.
Suggestions?
Not sure what's going on lately but having a tough time getting my latest beers to present a decent head. Still taste good, but not sure what I'm doing wrong. More carbonation needed? I cut back slightly on the carbing sugar a little because I had a few batches with a volcano tendency. Right now, I do 1 oz/gallon corn sugar for carbing. I dissolve the 5 oz (about 1 cup) in about the same amount of water for heat sanitizing (boil it), put that in the (sanitized) bottling bucket to cool it down, then rack the fermenter in on top of it with the end of the line submerged to avoid aeration. Steady stream of bubbles comes up from the bottom of the glass, so I know it's carbed. 'Dirty' bottles? Nothing spoiled, just no head. Maybe bump back up to 5.5 - 6.0 oz per 5 gallon batch? I could stand it a bit fizzier, but it's pretty unpredictable when I open a bottle. I've opened a bottle, had time to walk away for a glass, and came back to find it all over the countertop. Very delayed eruption. That one sure made me scratch my head. Others, I've had to open very slowly to bleed the head pressure off to keep the entire bottle from turning into foam (with very little of it being in the glass). I've grown accustomed to opening bottles over the sink to make sure I don't piss off the missus when one pukes all over her kitchen.
This had a LOT of hops in it compared to most of my other brews (Magnum, Cascade, and Centennial), mostly to get the bitterness I think. Probably would have been better off to bitter with Warrior and dry-hop with the last stage of Centennial and Cascade. Not bitter at all, in fact not even bitter enough for me, and very citrusy/tropical. I think the boil possibly wiped out the 2nd stage (Centennial and Cascade). Built with US-05 yeast, new packets. Rather complicated step mash that might not have lent anything (IMO) but a lot of trouble to the brew. I think the hops and yeast and multiple flavoring grains are smothering all the extra effort. It was a good learning batch, though. Gotta read up some on the Magnum hops and see how that compares to Warrior. Not quite as high AA, but still 13+. I'm just not getting 'bitter' from this beer at all. The malt lingers, though. Light taste, but it hangs around a while.
Suggestions?
Maybe a little Dextrine malt to help with the head? If I'm bottle conditioning, I like the Cooper Carbonation Drops...had some gushers and flat beers using sugar.
Short answer: it is in the proteins.
Scramble an egg in a bowl sometime, cook the eggs in the pan but then, fill the (nominally empty) bowl with water from the sink. You'll see that there's a lot of foam on top of the bowl. That's the protein from the eggs.
Beer is a lot the same way*. The more protein that's in the beer, the foamier it's going to be and the longer the foam will last. Your beer doesn't have a lot of protein left in it because of your brewing process.
The short answer here is that mashing at about 145°F will produce more proteins in the beer. The long answer is that you shouldn't take my word for it, read up on that part of the process (protein and beer) and come to your own conclusions.
Maybe we can talk about it this Saturday late afternoon?
A couple of these, my Festbier. Shame I have little left but I guess that was the point with others drinking it too. The buddy I brew with came over tonight since he missed my Oktoberfest Saturday.
Wheat malt or flaked barley something with some protine content to help in retaining the head also maybe incorporating a dextrin rest into your mash schedule could help.
I am working Josh!
