what wrong with my home brew?!


Question: What wrong with my home brew?
I am fairly new to home brewing and 6 days ago i put down a batch of Tooheys Dry Lager, and I used liquid glucose and a dry enzyme as well as per reccomendation of the home brew store, and my brew seems to be a darker colour than it should be for a lager, it is a very dark brown, and it also smells funny. It doesnt smell like sulfur as I have read it could, it just smells wierd... Should I bottle this?? can anyone shed any light as to why it is like this???

Answers:

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Really I must say that the Bock style and Dark Lager styles are well, dark. But many people think that any beer darker than straw color (pale yellow) is dark but many beer styles are light red to brown and even black in color.
Why in hell they gave you liquid glucose and a dry enzyme to brew a beginner beer is beyond the scope a reasonable brewing advise. The glucose is better used for bottling dry enzyme for grain in making very light beer. The enzyme helps to break down starches in adjunct grain corn or rice in making light beer. That's it.
The sulfer smell might be from the barley (if you have it) of certain hops commonly smell of sulfer like the Saaz or other noble varities. It is normal foe Pilsner beer but not for most other styles.
Yeah go ahead and bottle it. You want it to share and get advise from other home brewers.

Get the book that Oikos has mentioned and also get Get a copy of Jamil Zainasheff's Brewing Classic Styles. These books and maybe some online reading is all you need to know to be a good home brewer of beer. If you have a home brew club in town then they would have advise too.



If you are new to home brewing, then I wouldn't worry too much about the color. Color can be affected by a lot of different factors and few of them will make the beer undrinkable.

When you say that you put the beer down 6 days ago, do you mean that you racked it to the fermenter? If that is the case then you probably still have a while to go, especially for a lager, before you should consider bottling it.

Let the yeast do their thing. You may not end up with the beer you intended, but if you have good sanitation and fermentation procedures then you'll probably have something drinkable.



Some lager, such as bock, can be quite dark. That is nothing to worry about. I would worry about the use of liquid glucose, rather than malt extract. As soon as you feel confident enough, stop following directions from that home brew store. Papazian has some very good books of recipes. His "New Complete Joy of Home Brewing" would be the best for your level.

In the meantime, finish the brew and bottle. You can't lose much and it might turn out to be quite good.




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