matt76's Brewdays

matt76 · Sep 24, 2024

AG#139 "Waxing Gibbous" American Stout

Have made this a few times before, it's always a bit of a mish-mash of whatever American hops I have on hand at the time.

Nothing too radical, though I added some hops in the mash to see if it has any impact on metallic flavours - not normally a problem but arguably faintly there in the background sometimes.

15L tap water, 1.25ml lactic acid 80%, 2g CaCl, half a Campden tablet, giving:
Calcium 154
Chloride 99
Sulfate 41
Alkalinity 261

2000g Maris Otter
125g Roasted Barley
125g Chocolate Malt
125g Chocolate Rye Malt
125g Carared
175g Dark Crystal Malt 80L
125g Simpsons DRC
75g Special B Malt
2.875kg Total

Also added 10g Chinook 12.6% to the mash.

10.5 hour (overnight) full-volume no-sparge mash @ 67degC

Boil 30mins:
10g Chinook 12.6% AAU 30mins
20g Simcoe 13.3% AAU 10mins
20g Centennial 7.6% AAU 5mins
1/4 Britewort tablet 5mins

Pitched a vitality starter made the day before with 500ml tap water, 50g light DME and half a pack (5.75g) of US-05.

OG = 1.057
SRM = 43.0 (Very dark!)
IBU = 43 Rager / 45 SMPH

Should end up around 1.021 and 4.6%.

Appleton Brews · Sep 24, 2024

matt76 said:
AG#139 "Waxing Gibbous" American Stout

View attachment 104165

Have made this a few times before, it's always a bit of a mish-mash of whatever American hops I have on hand at the time.

Nothing too radical, though I added some hops in the mash to see if it has any impact on metallic flavours - not normally a problem but arguably faintly there in the background sometimes.

15L tap water, 1.25ml lactic acid 80%, 2g CaCl, half a Campden tablet, giving:
Calcium 154
Chloride 99
Sulfate 41
Alkalinity 261

2000g Maris Otter
125g Roasted Barley
125g Chocolate Malt
125g Chocolate Rye Malt
125g Carared
175g Dark Crystal Malt 80L
125g Simpsons DRC
75g Special B Malt
2.875kg Total

Also added 10g Chinook 12.6% to the mash.

10.5 hour (overnight) full-volume no-sparge mash @ 67degC

Boil 30mins:
10g Chinook 12.6% AAU 30mins
20g Simcoe 13.3% AAU 10mins
20g Centennial 7.6% AAU 5mins
1/4 Britewort tablet 5mins

Pitched a vitality starter made the day before with 500ml tap water, 50g light DME and half a pack (5.75g) of US-05.

OG = 1.057
SRM = 43.0 (Very dark!)
IBU = 43 Rager / 45 SMPH

Should end up around 1.021 and 4.6%.

Isn’t 62% a very low attenuation for US05?

matt76 · Sep 24, 2024

Appleton Brews said:
Isn’t 62% a very low attenuation for US05?

If you were asking it to ferment a wort made from 100% Maris Otter then yes it would be.

If you were asking it to ferment a wort made from a grist that contains 30% essentially unfermentables then I would argue strongly no.

(my reasoning is in this thread from 2022)

matt76 · Oct 8, 2024

AG#140 "Fifth Time Lucky" Lager

Riffing on various lagers I've made over the years. I'm feeling too lazy to whirlpool at the moment so simpler hopping and fewer hops overall for a maltier beer.

I'm also feeling too lazy to make a proper starter, plus liquid yeast is getting really expensive now so it's time to give W-34/70 another go - I've made decent beers with it in the past so let's see.

15L tap water, 5ml Lactic Acid 80%, 2g CaCl, half a Campden tablet, giving:
Ca: 156 Cl:102 SO4:41 HCO3:103

1000g Maris Otter
500g Vienna Malt
250g Amber Malt
250g Carapils
2.00kg TOTAL

Overnight 10hr full-volume no-sparge mash @ 67degC

Boil 30mins:
45g of Saaz 3.1% AAU for 30mins
1/4 Britewort tablet 7.5mins
20g of Saaz 3.1% AAU for 5mins

Pitched a vitality starter made the day before with 500ml tap water, 50g light DME and a full pack (11.5g) of W-34/70. In the brew fridge at 15°C.

OG = 1.041
SRM = 6.4 (Pale Gold)
IBU = 21.6 Rager / 21.4 SMPH

Should end up somewhere around 1.008-1.010 and 4.1-4.3%.

Twostage · Oct 9, 2024

matt76 said:
AG#140 "Fifth Time Lucky" Lager

Riffing on various lagers I've made over the years. I'm feeling too lazy to whirlpool at the moment so simpler hopping and fewer hops overall for a maltier beer.

I'm also feeling too lazy to make a proper starter, plus liquid yeast is getting really expensive now so it's time to give W-34/70 another go - I've made decent beers with it in the past so let's see.

15L tap water, 5ml Lactic Acid 80%, 2g CaCl, half a Campden tablet, giving:
Ca: 156 Cl:102 SO4:41 HCO3:103

1000g Maris Otter
500g Vienna Malt
250g Amber Malt
250g Carapils
2.00kg TOTAL

Overnight 10hr full-volume no-sparge mash @ 67degC

Boil 30mins:
45g of Saaz 3.1% AAU for 30mins
1/4 Britewort tablet 7.5mins
20g of Saaz 3.1% AAU for 5mins

Pitched a vitality starter made the day before with 500ml tap water, 50g light DME and a full pack (11.5g) of W-34/70. In the brew fridge at 15°C.

OG = 1.041
SRM = 6.4 (Pale Gold)
IBU = 21.6 Rager / 21.4 SMPH

Should end up somewhere around 1.008-1.010 and 4.1-4.3%.

34/70 is one of my favourite yeasts.

matt76 · Nov 11, 2024

AG#141 Hurricane Porter

Early start again after an overnight mash. Slight tweak to the crystal malts used, a bit short on Northdown so addeded some EKG as well and fermenting this time with Lallemand Verdant IPA which has served me well in the past. On a whim I decided to ferment this one open.

15L tap water, 2g CaCl, half a Campden tablet.
Ca:156, Cl: 102, SO4:41, Alkalinity 317

2000g Maris Otter
375g Brown Malt
375g Chocolate Rye Malt
125g Carared
125g Dark Crystal Malt 80L
125g DRC Malt
3.125kg Total

Full-volume no-sparge overnight mash, 10hrs @ 67degC

Boil 30mins:
15g EKG 4.8% AAU 30mins
15g Northdown (leaf) 5.76% AAU 30mins
15g Northdown (leaf) 5.76% AAU 10mins
1/4 Britewort tablet 4mins

Pitched a vitality starter of Lallemand Verdant IPA. Will ferment at 20°C and with the FV open for the first few days until it looks like the krausen is about to drop.

35 SRM
25 IBUs Rager
OG 1.060

Expect it to end up around 1.022 and 4.9% ABV.

matt76 · Nov 30, 2024

AG#142 "Call Of Fruity" APA

Third time of brewing this, just some minor tweaks - first effort was awesome, second effort good but not quite so good, so fingers crossed for the third effort.

15L tap water, 3.75ml Lactic Acid 80%, 2g gypsum, half a Campden tablet, giving:
Ca: 151 Cl:38 SO4:115 HCO3:157

1000g Maris Otter
500g Vienna Malt
250g Flaked Oats
250g Carapils
2.00kg TOTAL

Overnight 10hr full-volume no-sparge mash @ 67degC

Boil 30mins:
I'm using a hop blend of equal parts:
Azacca 10.% AAU
Citra 12.9% AAU
Mosaic 13.0% AAU

1/4 Britewort tablet 8mins
30g of Hop Mix for 5mins

Whirlpool (90 -> 80ºC):
60g of Hop Mix for 20mins

Dry hop:
30g Hop Mix 48hrs after pitching
30g Hop Mix at the end of fermentation

Drained the kettle to a clean FV and pitched half the yeast cake from my AG#141 Hurricane Porter (maybe 100ml thick Lallemand Verdant IPA slurry).

OG = 1.041
SRM = 4.1 (Pale)
IBU = 32 Rager / 60 SMPH

Should end up around 1.008 and 4.3% ABV.

matt76 · Dec 11, 2024

AG#143 London Bitter

Earlier in the year I tried a London Pride/ESB partigyle but I just don't have the energy to try that again so I'm going for a more straightforward brew, which should otherwise be pretty darn close to London Pride (it certainly was when I did it before).

Main change from previous efforts, as noted elsewhere the other day, is I've cultured up the real-deal Fuller's yeast from a couple of bottles of 1845.

15L tap water, 3.75ml Lactic Acid 80%, 2g gypsum, half a Campden tablet, giving:
Ca: 151 Cl:38 SO4:115 HCO3:157

2000g Maris Otter
150g Dark Crystal Malt
5g Chocolate Malt
2.155kg TOTAL

10hr overnight full-volume no-sparge mash @ 65degC

Boil 30mins:
20g Target 10.0% AAU for 30mins
1/4 Britewort tablet 7mins
10g Challenger 6.5% AAU for 3mins
5g EKG 4.8% AAU for 3 mins
10g Northdown 6.4% AAU for 3mins

All straightforward. Drained the kettle to an FV and pitched my yeast. Fermenting open with the lid ajar in the brew fridge following the Fuller's fermentation profile.

Haven't decided yet, but once the krausen drops I might transfer it to a keg with spunding valve to carbonate naturally.

OG = 1.044
SRM = 9.4 (Amber)
IBU = 31 Rager / 31 SMPH

I think it'll end up somewhere around 1.012 and 4.2% ABV, but we'll see.

Colindo · Dec 11, 2024

matt76 said:
150g Dark Crystal Malt

Any reason why you did not go for Crystal 150? It's pretty much the signature flavour regarding the malt contribution.

The rest looks great. Will be damn close anyway, I'm sure.

How much yeast did you pitch for your around 10L of wort? I'd probably have gone for a 0.75L to 1L starter.

matt76 · Dec 11, 2024

Colindo said:
Any reason why you did not go for Crystal 150? It's pretty much the signature flavour regarding the malt contribution.

The rest looks great. Will be damn close anyway, I'm sure.

How much yeast did you pitch for your around 10L of wort? I'd probably have gone for a 0.75L to 1L starter.

I forget now if Fuller's use Simpson's or Crisp crystal malt - it's documented somewhere, I just can't recall of the top of my head.....

Anyway, I'm using whatever they use, it's just that my LHBS repackage it as "Dark Crystal Malt".

Yeast is very hard to judge since I've little way of knowing how much was in the 1845 dregs to start with.

But if I assume after the first starter I had 5ml slurry at 1bn cells per ml (both quite conservative numbers IMO) then after the second step, according to the Brewers Friend calculator, I have about 175bn cells.

The calculator says I only need 100bn for 12L at 1.044, though I recall the Fuller's pitching rates are surprisingly hight, not far off lager pitching rates.

In short, if it ferments well and makes a tasty beer then I've pitched enough yeast!

Colindo · Dec 11, 2024

Agree with what you said. Fuller's uses Crisp Crystal 150 which they also call "Light Crystal", hence my confusion.

matt76 · Tuesday at 1:06 PM

AG#144 "Waxing Gibbous" American Stout

Made this recently, only a couple of months ago, but fancied getting another dark beer on for the winter months. Main change is I've upped the hops a bit to try and encourage more of a piney-resinous note.

15L tap water, 2g CaCl, half a Campden tablet.
Ca:156, Cl: 102, SO4:41, Alkalinity 317

2000g Maris Otter
125g Roasted Barley
125g Chocolate Malt
125g Chocolate Rye Malt
125g Carared
125g Dark Crystal Malt 80L
125g Simpsons DRC
2.750kg Total

Also added 10g Chinook 12.6% to the mash.

10.5 hour (overnight) full-volume no-sparge mash @ 67degC

Boil 30mins:
20g Chinook 12.6% AAU 30mins
25g Simcoe 13.6% AAU 10mins
25g Centennial 7.6% AAU 5mins
1/4 Britewort tablet 5mins

Pitched a vitality starter made the day before with 500ml tap water, 50g light DME and half a pack (5.75g) of US-05.

OG = 1.054
SRM = 41.0 (Very dark!)
IBU = 65 Rager / 59 SMPH

Expect it to end up somewhere around 1.018 and 4.8%.

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