UKSkydiver's Brewdays

AG #28 Old Thumper - Update

This has been kegged for a couple of months now and it's still lovely, despite accidentally using lager malt in strad of ale malt. I will def be brewing this again.

Only about 5 litres left now.

AG #27 Fuggy Helles - Update

Been drinking this for a little while. Thought it had some cabbagey flavours, but feedback from the April? comp was that there we no off flavours. It even scored 38 which I'm pretty happy with.

Nice straight out of the keg in the sun.

AG # 30 - Dampfbier - A hefeweizen beer, but using barley (mostly)

Dampfbuster - Dampfbier​

Weissbier
5.0% / 12.5 °P
All Grain

001 - BrewZilla 35L - 11LitreBatch​

70% efficiency
Batch Volume: 20 L
Boil Time: 30 min
Mash Water: 26.39 L
Total Water: 26.39 L
Boil Volume: 23.13 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1048

Vitals​

Original Gravity: 1052
Final Gravity: 1013
IBU (Tinseth): 12
BU/GU: 0.24
Colour: 12.2 EBC

Mash​

Temperature — 67 °C — 45 min

Malts (4.65 kg)​

2.17 kg (46.7%) — Maris Otter Pale Malt, Maris Otter — Grain — 4 EBC
1 kg (21.5%) — Crisp Vienna Malt — Grain — 7.8 EBC
500 g (10.8%) — Lager Malt — Grain — 3.9 EBC
500 g (10.8%) — Thomas Fawcett Wheat Torrified — Grain — 3.9 EBC
250 g (5.4%) — Amber Malt — Grain — 60 EBC
230 g (5%) — Munich Malt — Grain — 17.7 EBC

Hops (46 g)​

27 g (8 IBU) — Hallertauer Hersbrucker 3% — First Wort
19 g (4 IBU) — Hallertauer Hersbrucker 3% — Boil — 15 min

Miscs​

15 ml — CRS/AMS — Mash

Yeast​

1 pkg — CML Gretel 75%

Fermentation​

Primary — 21 °C — 7 days
Carbonation: 2.4 CO2-vol

Notes
Another user-upper. Having just brewed the Leffe Radieuse which will need to condition for months, and with the Helles and Old Thumper quickly diminishing, I wanted to brew something that could be enjoyed quickly. My mind came back once again to a hefeweizen, but I had no weizen (except a bit of torrefied left over) So a bit of Googling brought me to find a wheat beer with out the wheat. A dampfbier which is a hefeweizen using barley. Result. I had CML Gretel hefeweizen yeast in stock. I had odd and sods of various pale and lager malts, and the recipe appears to be pretty flexible on malts. It also calls for European noble hop (tick) so I had everything I needed.

Pretty uneventful brew process; 45 min mash with an 8 hour over night mash at 55c with a 30-odd minute boil in the morning (Oh - one small change here is that the hops were not pellets, but appears to be vac packed, dried left pellets). Left the wort for a day to no-chill naturally. Sadly I decided to do that on the warmest weekend of the year so far. The yeast goes up to 30c and the temp of the wort was down to 27c on the following day, so good enough. Safely packed up in the brew fridge set to 21c.

I've read reports of suggesting that you want to underpitch to get the right balance of yeast flavours. I've also read other suggestions of not doing the things you would normally do to help the yeast on their way, so as a departure to my normal pitching regimen, I did not aerate the wort and I did not re-hydrate the yeast, although I did pitch a full 10g packet. So I guess the idea with this approach is to make the yeast work a little harder for its dinner.

I hope that this will be done fermenting by next weekend, I plan to transfer to keg and hopefully I can taste the fruit of my labours in two weeks.

AG #29 Leffe Radieuse - Update

Just under three months on since brewing this. First try of the bottled version of the Leffe Radieuse.




First impressions are:

Appearance.
Browner than I had expected. Nice and clear. The sort of head that I would not expect to last very long. Off white/light tan.

Aroma.
Not a lot here. Some sugary/toffee maybe. No hop character.

Taste.
Caramelly
Sweet
Alcoholly (fusels?)

It's not very Belgian-y I don't think. First time using the CML Flushed Nun. Not sure if it's the yeast or the (massive) amounts of sugars added to (accidentally) bring it up to 8.7% that has made the fusels overpower the yeast character.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a beer taste expert. It's drinkable. Probably an acquired taste. Might be better during the long winter months. I should also add that I've never tried a Radieuse, so I have no idea how it's supposed to taste.

Swap?

Oh my goodness I've been such as lazy git. Ive brewed a couple since last time but I've not posted here. Not that anyone cares, but nice to share.

AG #31 New Thumper - Oct 2023
Strong Bitter
5.4% / 12.8 °P
All Grain

BIAB (Small Batch)​

65% efficiency
Batch Volume: 10.5 L
Boil Time: 40 min
Mash Water: 13.72 L
Top-Up Water: 1.28 L
Total Water: 15 L
Boil Volume: 13.13 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1045

Vitals​

Original Gravity: 1052
Final Gravity: 1011
IBU (Tinseth): 30
BU/GU: 0.58
Colour: 32.5 EBC

Mash​

Temperature — 66 °C — 40 min

Malts (2.66 kg)​

2.314 kg (87%) — Maris Otter Pale Malt, Maris Otter — Grain — 4 EBC
154 g (5.8%) — Simpsons Crystal Medium — Grain — 179 EBC
146 g (5.5%) — Crisp Torrefied Wheat — Grain — 5 EBC
46 g (1.7%) — Crisp Chocolate Malt — Grain — 1045 EBC

Hops (31.4 g)​

13.3 g (12 IBU) — Fuggles 4.2% — Boil — 40 min
9.5 g (13 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 6% — Boil — 40 min
5.3 g (4 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 6% — Boil — 10 min
3.3 g (1 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 6% — Aroma — 60 min hopstand @ 80 °C

Hopstand at 80 °C

Miscs​

7 ml — CRS/AMS — Mash
0.27 g — Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) — Mash
0.33 g — Canning Salt (NaCl) — Mash
0.17 g — Sodium Metabisulfite (Na2S2O5) — Mash
0.5 items — Protafloc — Boil — 15 min
2.386 g — Yeast Nutrients — Boil — 15 min

Yeast​

0.5 pkg — CML Midland 79%

Fermentation​

Primary — 19 °C — 14 days
Carbonation: 2.4 CO2-vol



All I can remember about this is that it was a nice brew and didnt last long . Quite similar to the Ringwood Old Thumper. I remembered not to use lager malt this time. I think i preferred the lager malt one if I'm honest.

AG #32 Pippins Porter - March 2024
English Porter
5.0% / 12.4 °P
All Grain

BIAB (Small Batch)​

65% efficiency
Batch Volume: 12 L
Boil Time: 35 min
Mash Water: 11.98 L
Top-Up Water: 4.62 L
Total Water: 16.6 L
Boil Volume: 14.77 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1044

Vitals​

Original Gravity: 1050
Final Gravity (Fixed): 1012
IBU (Tinseth): 29
BU/GU: 0.58
Colour: 60.5 EBC

Mash​

Temperature — 68 °C — 35 min

Malts (3.02 kg)​

1.2 kg (39.7%) — Munich Malt — Grain — 17.7 EBC
1.016 kg (33.6%) — Maris Otter Pale Malt, Maris Otter — Grain — 4 EBC
354 g (11.7%) — Crisp Torrefied Wheat — Grain — 5 EBC
296 g (9.8%) — Simpsons Crystal Medium — Grain — 179 EBC
154 g (5.1%) — Crisp Chocolate Malt — Grain — 1045 EBC

Hops (66.4 g)​

19.7 g (16 IBU) — Fuggles 4.2% — First Wort
30 g (12 IBU) — Hallertauer Hersbrucker 4% — Boil — 15 min
16.7 g (1 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 5% — Boil — 1 min

Miscs​

0.652 items — Protafloc — Boil — 10 min

Yeast​

1 pkg — CML Beoir 75%

Fermentation​

Primary — 18 °C — 14 days

Notes
I have no written notes for this because I am a lazy slob.

Once cooled I used the stainless steel 'copper' boiler as the FV. I just whacked it all in the fermenting chamber. I didn't even bother transferring to an FV. Seemed to work ok though.

I did dry hop with roughly crushed, roasted coffee beans, making this a coffee porter. IIRC i used 180g of beans for 2 days, which I think was plenty - and I'm a fan of big flavours.

Left to ferment for a week and then transferred to the corny.

Probably one of the best brews to date. It ran out rather abruptly, sadly.

Oh - one thing was was lovely; my dad was visiting and so we brewed together. That was nice.

UKSkydiver said:

Oh my goodness I've been such as lazy git. Ive brewed a couple since last time but I've not posted here. Not that anyone cares, but nice to share.

AG #31 New Thumper - Oct 2023
Strong Bitter
5.4% / 12.8 °P
All Grain

BIAB (Small Batch)​

65% efficiency
Batch Volume: 10.5 L
Boil Time: 40 min
Mash Water: 13.72 L
Top-Up Water: 1.28 L
Total Water: 15 L
Boil Volume: 13.13 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1045

Vitals​

Original Gravity: 1052
Final Gravity: 1011
IBU (Tinseth): 30
BU/GU: 0.58
Colour: 32.5 EBC

Mash​

Temperature — 66 °C — 40 min

Malts (2.66 kg)​

2.314 kg (87%) — Maris Otter Pale Malt, Maris Otter — Grain — 4 EBC
154 g (5.8%) — Simpsons Crystal Medium — Grain — 179 EBC
146 g (5.5%) — Crisp Torrefied Wheat — Grain — 5 EBC
46 g (1.7%) — Crisp Chocolate Malt — Grain — 1045 EBC

Hops (31.4 g)​

13.3 g (12 IBU) — Fuggles 4.2% — Boil — 40 min
9.5 g (13 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 6% — Boil — 40 min
5.3 g (4 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 6% — Boil — 10 min
3.3 g (1 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 6% — Aroma — 60 min hopstand @ 80 °C

Hopstand at 80 °C

Miscs​

7 ml — CRS/AMS — Mash
0.27 g — Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) — Mash
0.33 g — Canning Salt (NaCl) — Mash
0.17 g — Sodium Metabisulfite (Na2S2O5) — Mash
0.5 items — Protafloc — Boil — 15 min
2.386 g — Yeast Nutrients — Boil — 15 min

Yeast​

0.5 pkg — CML Midland 79%

Fermentation​

Primary — 19 °C — 14 days
Carbonation: 2.4 CO2-vol



All I can remember about this is that it was a nice brew and didnt last long . Quite similar to the Ringwood Old Thumper. I remembered not to use lager malt this time. I think i preferred the lager malt one if I'm honest.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a nice beer, i'm coming round to EKG but still prefer First Gold and Bramling Cross.

On to today's brew then...

AG #33 Millstream Bitter

Best Bitter
4.2% / 11.3 °P
All Grain

BrewZilla 35L - 20 Litre Batch​

75% efficiency
Batch Volume: 20 L (Kettle)
Fermenter Volume: 18.2 L
Boil Time: 40 min
Mash Water: 24.34 L
Total Water: 24.34 L
Boil Volume: 22 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1038
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1038

Vitals​

Original Gravity: 1046
Final Gravity: 1014
IBU (Tinseth): 26
BU/GU: 0.57
Colour: 24 EBC

Mash​

Temperature — 67 °C — 40 min

Malts (3.58 kg)​

3 kg (79.4%) — Simpsons Pale Ale Golden Promise — Grain — 5 EBC
330 g (8.7%) — Munich Malt — Grain — 17.7 EBC
250 g (6.6%) — Simpsons Crystal DRC — Grain — 300 EBC

Other (200 g)​

200 g (5.3%) — Light Dry Extract — Dry Extract — 15.8 EBC

Hops (55 g)​

30 g (16 IBU) — Fuggles 4.1% — Boil — 40 min
10 g (5 IBU) — Fuggles 4.1% — Boil — 30 min
5 g (3 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 6% — Boil — 20 min
10 g (3 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 6% — Boil — 10 min

Miscs​

9 ml — CRS/AMS — Mash
1 items — Protafloc — Boil — 15 min

Yeast​

1 pkg — CML The Firm / Windsor 70%

Fermentation​

Primary — 19 °C — 14

Notes
Back to a larger batch because my brews haven't been that bad and I'm more confident-er that I'm not going to brew a bag of sh!te.

I wanted something a little lighter then my usual stout / porter / dark ale. So let's call it a malty amber ale.

Completely made up, based on what little I had in stock, a browse through a couple of my books and a rough estimate on hops and bittering levels that I like.

The name comes from a customer site that I used to work at in Windsor, and I'm using Windsor dried yeast for the first time, so Millstream Bitter it is!

Added a bit more calcium chloride (3.5g) as I think it's giving me the sort of brews I like.

Mashed at 67-68 and then left overnight at 55c for 12 hours. It really does improve the BH efficiency, in my not so experienced opinion. Brewfather reporting 83% up from an expected 75%.

pilgrimhudd said:

Sounds like a nice beer, i'm coming round to EKG but still prefer First Gold and Bramling Cross.

Click to expand...

I have to be honest, hops all smell and taste the same to me. And (as I've said before) I don't like hoppy ales, so to me they are much of a muchness.

I know, I'm an uncultured philistine.

Very Interesting.

UKSkydiver said:

Mashed at 67-68 and then left overnight at 55c for 12 hours.

Click to expand...

Do you drop from 67 to 55 and completely omit the 70's

Or do they come later? At what point it the grain removed?

MashBag said:

Very Interesting.



Do you drop from 67 to 55 and completely omit the 70's

Or do they come later? At what point it the grain removed?

Click to expand...

I have a Brewzilla.

Once the standard mash is done (and this would be about 8:00pm) I set the timer for, say, 12 hours at 55c. I then just let the mash (including the grain) naturally cool to 55c and let the BZ heat as required (I also lag the BZ so it doesn't lose heat overnight.)

In the morning, I start to heat the mash for boil. Once it's over 70c or so, I raise the basket and let it drain and continue to the boil as usual.

This is a reverse protein rest then. After the main event. But nothing in the 70's.

Do you have good head retention too?

Is this a known technique or something that you discovered?

Given this some thought. I am not sure this is a protein rest at all.

If we assume Mr Palmer knows what he is on about...



This is a cooler extended beta amylase (only) rest. There is no denaturing in the 70's.

This has piqued my interest, because it is quite "outside the box" imo

Gordon Strong describes a method he calls a “round trip” mash that starts at target conversion temperature, naturally cools down then reheats to mashout. It is meant to be maximally fermentable but I guess this predates temperature controllers that can do a step mash easily.

I've heard of a 'protein rest' but never knowingly done one. I've just read a couple of articles and, of course, a BXMT.

It looks like protein rests are not required for modern malts.

This 'overnight mash' isn't something that I made up or discovered. I think there are a few on here that use this method for splitting the brew length across two days. I like it, plus, as I intimated earlier, it seems to improve the brewhouse efficiency, without other detriment, as far as I can tell.

The reason for 55c, is that above that, it stops lacto forming.

Oh... I was going to point you to a previous thread, but you were already a contributor to that...


EDIT: @MashBag I've re-read you last post and I think, that you think, that is something more than it actually is. This is not some new fangled reverse something or other......

All this is is an overnight mash, to better use the time, and to make sure it doesn't drop to under 55c in order to avoid lacto forming. Nothing more. I hope that helps. Cheers

I am a big advocate of overnighters, been doing it for years. Tbh got one on now,

But I had never heard of it mashed at 67-68 and then left overnight at a lower temperature of 55c for 12 hours.

Previously come across..

A) cold hold @20c for 6/7 hrs then start the ascent in temp to be ready in the following morning.

B) mash at say 67-68 and then hold that overnight.

C) grainfather "delayed start" which doesn't really count. But thats another thread.


Your drop back to 55c. I had not heard of.

MashBag said:

Your drop back to 55c. I had not heard of.

Click to expand...

Ah. I see.

I think I picked it up from the other thread that I referenced. That said it's entirely possible that I misunderstood what I had read. To me, it makes sense logically, as you're not using energy overnight holding at mash temps, and holding above lacto temps. I do, however, appreciate that one would now have to get to boil temp from 55c instead of mash temps.

I have no way of recording power usage with either method, so I can't say which might be more economical.

Cheers

I've been a bit tardy, but been hurling myself at the planet whilst the weather was nice.

Latest Belgian, brewed at the end of July, kegged in Aug. Had a couple of snifters and it tastes very nice.

Bicester Belgian Pale-ish​

Belgian Blond Ale
6.6% / 14.5 °P

75% efficiency
Batch Volume: 20 L
Boil Time: 40 min
Mash Water: 26.78 L
Top-Up Water: 0.46 L
Total Water: 27.24 L
Boil Volume: 23.88 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1052

Vitals​

Original Gravity: 1059
Final Gravity: 1009
IBU (Tinseth): 19
BU/GU: 0.33
Colour: 17.1 EBC

Mash​

Temperature — 65 °C — 45 min

Malts (4.8 kg)​

3 kg (60.6%) — Weyermann Extra Pale Premium Pilsner — Grain — 2.5 EBC — Mash
1.2 kg (24.2%) — Munich Malt — Grain — 17.7 EBC — Mash
500 g (10.1%) — Muntons Wheat Malt — Grain — 4.7 EBC — Mash
100 g (2%) — Simpsons Crystal DRC — Grain — 300 EBC — Mash

Other (150 g)​

150 g (3%) — Light Dry Extract — Dry Extract — 15.8 EBC — Boil — 15 min

Hops (55 g)​

40 g (17 IBU) — Fuggles 4.1% — Boil — 40 min
15 g (2 IBU) — Hallertauer Hersbrucker 4% — Boil — 10 min

Miscs​

12 ml — CRS/AMS — Mash
3.15 g — Canning Salt (NaCl) — Mash
0.21 ml — CRS/AMS — Sparge
0.05 g — Canning Salt (NaCl) — Sparge

Yeast​

1 pkg — Mangrove Jack's M41 Belgian Ale Yeast 85%
0.5 pkg — Mangrove Jack's M20 Bavarian Wheat Yeast 72.5%

Fermentation​

Primary — 18 °C — 14 days

No notes to talk of.... The half packet of M20 was ages old, and I thought this was as good a brew as any to use it up on.

Another overnight mash, so 40-ish mins at mash temp and then overnight at 55c ish to keep the lacto away.

UKSkydiver said:

Latest Belgian, brewed at the end of July, kegged in Aug. Had a couple of snifters and it tastes very nice.

Bicester Belgian Pale-ish​

Belgian Blond Ale
6.6% / 14.5 °P

Click to expand...

This has been in the keg for a couple of months now - I'm actually really pleased with it. If I was served this in a pub I'd be very happy.

With any luck it will last 'til the festive period.

Here is a pic from Sept when it was warmer and drier. The weather, not the beer.

And on to my most recent brew

I really, really like a pastry stout. Big, bold, mostly sweet flavours, of caramel, vanilla, chocolate, coffee, dark fruits, millionaire shortbread, honeycomb, all that jazz. So I thougt I'd try and make something ready for "Christmas".

I got the majority of the recipe base from Secret Level Brewing - and then worked out that I had in stock to try and sweeten it up.

AG#35 Imperial Stout Base​

Imperial Stout
9.6% / 22.2 °P
Recipe by
Secret Level Brewing
All Grain

70% efficiency​

Batch Volume: 9 L
Boil Time: 40 min
Mash Water: 15.57 L
Total Water: 15.57 L
Boil Volume: 12.42 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1078

Vitals​

Original Gravity: 1093
Final Gravity: 1020
IBU (Tinseth): 44
BU/GU: 0.47
Colour: 124 EBC

Mash​

Temperature — 67 °C — 40 min

Malts (4.055 kg)​

1.857 kg (45.8%) — Simpsons Pale Ale Golden Promise — Grain — 5 EBC
619 g (15.3%) — Oats, Flaked - Breakfast — Grain — 2 EBC
413 g (10.2%) — Crisp Low Colour Chocolate Malt — Grain — 550 EBC
412 g (10.2%) — Munich Malt — Grain — 17.7 EBC
274 g (6.8%) — Simpsons Aromatic Malt — Grain — 60 EBC
274 g (6.8%) — Simpsons Crystal DRC — Grain — 300 EBC
165 g (4.1%) — Crisp Chocolate Malt — Grain — 1045 EBC
41 g (1%) — Crisp Roasted Barley — Grain — 1200 EBC

Hops (66 g)​

35 g (26 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 4.25% — Boil — 40 min
22 g (16 IBU) — Fuggles 4.1% — Boil — 40 min
9 g (2 IBU) — Hallertauer Hersbrucker 4% — Boil — 10 min

Miscs​

4 ml — CRS/AMS — Mash
0.9 g — Canning Salt (NaCl) — Mash
0.08 g — Sodium Metabisulfite (Na2S2O5) — Mash

Yeast​

1 pkg — CML Four 73%
0.5 pkg — CML Midland 79%

Fermentation​

Primary — 19 °C — 14 days

Notes

Brewhouse efficiency was really down on this one. Was pitching for SG of 1078 / 10% ball park, but pre-ferment SG was 1060 so we might end up with 7-8%

Hops (EKG) were marked on the www site as 6.0% which would be about right, but when they turned up they were marked 2.6% which sounds a bit low. So it's not clear whether they were actually 2.6 or whether it was a labelling issue.

Had planned to cold steep the dark grains, but as I decided to brew late, I didn't have the time to do this, so instead I added them halfway through the mash @ 20 mins.

The ferment didn't produce the krausen that I had expected. There was definitely some CO2 being released, but pretty much zero foam, so I had expected that this would finish very high, but less than two weeks in it had dropped to 1020 which was a surprise. I had a quick taste and I'm very happy with it at this stage.

I added a tincture of 3 teaspoons of vanilla paste in about 50-60mls of vodka about 9 days in.

I then 'dry beaned' with 150g [EDIT: I only had 120g in the end] coarse crushed roasted coffee beans for two days.

I might also add some lactose to sweeten it up even more, but having read a bit, it seems you can add this anytime, even after it's been in the keg.

Should be a good 'un.