Mongo Brew

[ivor]

I made my own beer a while back.  First time for me.  The wife says if she were on a deserted island she'd be able to choke it down.  I'm gonna chalk that up as "good."   

[beagle]

You wait till the bottles start exploding in the airing cupboard, then you'll be for it.

[ivor]

I've heard bad things about exploding bottles but I had not one explode.  It's Canadian Lagery but a little sweet cause I put blueberry pie filling in it during brewing.  I think it has alcohol in it but I'm not qute shire.  I'll let you knew.

Edit:
And buckwheat honey...

Tagline for my Blueberry Buckwheat Honey Canadian Lager - "Fortunately you won't remember what it taste like."   

[beagle]

I was only kidding. Don't think the bottles blow up unless you use cheap thin ones or put the brew in while it's still fermenting.

Used to do this in the 80s but gave up as whatever I put in it always tasted the same; sort of like mead.

[ivor]

I'll bet this taste like mead...  Never had it though.  It's kinda sweet.

[Aggie]

I've heard bad things about exploding bottles but I had not one explode.  It's Canadian Lagery but a little sweet cause I put blueberry pie filling in it during brewing.  I think it has alcohol in it but I'm not qute shire.  I'll let you knew.

Edit:
And buckwheat honey...

Tagline for my Blueberry Buckwheat Honey Canadian Lager - "Fortunately you won't remember what it taste like."   

I'll wager it tastes better than (Molson) Canadian...

[beagle]

I figure sweet must mean the alcohol level got high enough to kill the yeast before all the sugar got converted, but I don't know why that would happen.  Maybe that's why Young's sell a special brewer's sugar.

[ivor]

That could be.  I think I'll leave out the honey and blueberries next time. 

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

I figure sweet must mean the alcohol level got high enough to kill the yeast before all the sugar got converted, but I don't know why that would happen.  Maybe that's why Young's sell a special brewer's sugar.

Yeast will go dormant if the alcohol level gets too high, but AFAIK, it's pretty hard to actually kill them with fermentation.

There's another possibility: did you add anything funky to the beer?  There are some unfermentable sugars, such as lactose.  The yeast won't convert them into alcohol, so the finished product is left with a sweet taste.

Or... if it tasted sort of sickly-butterscotchy-sweet, it could have been diacetyl.  Diacetyl can be created naturally by the fermentation process if the conditions are right for it, but it can also be caused by bacterial infection of the beer, which can happen if the fermenter's not sealed with a proper airlock.

[beagle]

There's another possibility: did you add anything funky to the beer?

Only the traditional dead rat...

Not really. Nothing I can think of.

  There are some unfermentable sugars, such as lactose.  The yeast won't convert them into alcohol, so the finished product is left with a sweet taste.

Think it was Tate & Lyle's finest.

Or... if it tasted sort of sickly-butterscotchy-sweet, it could have been diacetyl.  Diacetyl can be created naturally by the fermentation process if the conditions are right for it, but it can also be caused by bacterial infection of the beer, which can happen if the fermenter's not sealed with a proper airlock.

No it wasn't that bad, and everything had been blitzed with the hypochlorite stuff. Probably just put too much sugar in.