19th Feb - SAmarillo

[markp]

I'm just making my liquor adjustments to brew this tomorrow

SAmarillo
For 40 litres at 75% efficiency

6.05 kg Lager Malt (2.0 SRM) Grain 90.98 %
0.40 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (70.0 SRM) Grain 6.02 %
0.20 kg Wheat Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain 3.01 %
50.00 gm Amarillo [8.90 %] (60 min) Hops 27.3 IBU
30.00 gm Amarillo [8.90 %] (15 min) Hops 8.1 IBU
1 starter English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.039 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 3.62 %
Bitterness: 35.4 IBU
Est Color: 6.5 SRM

I love brew days :lol:

 

[Mark1964]

Looks like a decent brew good luck we are brewing sunday this week :thumb:

 

[markp]

Cheers mark - have a good one yourself.

Just running through salt treatment for tomorrow... if anyone couldd comment I'd appreciate an opinion.

Using forum calculator and inputting my water values, i get the following additions for a bitter and pale ales.
The recipe is is a light coloured bitter, so I'm not sure if I should treat it as a bitter or a pale.

Additions for pale ale from forum calculator
Mash
Gypsum 3.4g
Boil
Gypsum 10.4g

Additions for bitter from forum calculator
Mash
Gypsum 3.4g
Boil
Gypsum 9.8g
Table Salt 3.9g
Epsom Salt 2.5g
Calcium Chloride flakes 5.37g

The wide variation is salt additions for the boil have got me a confused as to what I should do.
I usually only treat with mash and boil gypsum after testing and adjusting alkalinity.
Thanks for any suggestions

 

[luckyeddie]

Mmmmm. I'm a huge fan of Amarillo hops - so versatile.

 

[rickthebrew]

I did an all amarillo pale last year - fantastic hops :thumb: Have you used wlp002 before? I`m looking to use a liquid yeast that will let the hops shine with my next pale ale - any reccomendations?

 

[markp]

I've used WLP002 in a couple of brews before.
It leaves the beer a little sweet, but nicely balanced IMO. It is an excellent flocculator

Here are a few pics from brewday.
In the end I went with my usual gypsum only treatment for the mash and boil.
I also altered the finishing hops slightly - 40g for 10 mins.

Grains

More grains and gypsum

 

[markp]

Mash on.........hit my temp bang on

Hop to it!

 

[markp]

Missed my volume by half a litre, but was 3 points up on gravity.
I didn't bother to liquor back to 1039.....but would have done if this was going to be entered in to the Spring Thing.

ATB folks

 

[gurtpint]

Nice one mark! I'm currently fermenting with WLP002 too... First time for me. How thoroughly have you aerated the wort before/after pitching when using this one? Seems like the stout I'm brewing needs some stirring/swirling every now and then to keep the fermentation going. I wrote to White Labs and they told me this might well be needed with 002 as sometimes it tends to fall out of suspension a bit too soon (fast and friendly response from them, by the way). I wonder if the ferment would have been faster/more vigorous had I splashed around a tad longer in the beginning. I try not to interfere with the fermentation too much as a rule of thumb due to obvious infection paranoia, but this seems to need more attention than the yeasts I have used previously. Maybe not the best kind to use if you plan on, say, leaving house for a couple of days just after your brewday?

 

[markp]

Hi Gurt,

The yeast is incredibly flocculant.
I made a White Labs vial in to a 3 litre starter and I had difficulty getting it back in to suspension after it had worked out and then been put in to the fridge for 2 days.
Same with the two starter bottles that I pitched.

I probably don't aerate as much as many folk do, but I don't seem to have any problems with lag or attenuation.

The only time I find I have to rouse is if the temperature gets a little cold......but you could say that of mostly all ale yeasts I suppose........I really must try to figure out why I can't get my TC10 to work :wha:

I think the WPL002 produces a lovely flavour profile though.....very similar to WLP005.
The 005 attenuates better though and gives a slightly drier beer.

I inderstand what you mean about interferring with fermetation though....I'm also relucatant to fiddle.
I tend to keep an eye on my airlock though and take a gravity reading once activity ceases.....only then, if I'm way short of target FG will I rouse. I do a quick attenuation calcuation first though :lol:

Thanks for stopping by and good luck with your brew

 

[gurtpint]

^ Cheers Mark! Flocculant it is - as a metter of fact one of my first thoughts after ogling the vial was "oh my, has this one gone off..." Love the taste profile too - have been keeping an eye on the OG (now down to 1.015 so getting ready to bottle) and it taste luverly already! Having seen the pi of oyur hydrometer I also realized that I'd better get a new one as mine is a lot less accurate. Where did you get yours?

Have you transferred your 002 brews to a secondary prior to bottling/kegging? I have always done that with my brews so far but I think I'll leave this one in the FV for a week or two more and skip that. Yeast this flocculant should clean up after itself quite well and it seems like a secondary isn't as necessary as it used to be due to yeasts available to homebrewers getting better.

:

 

[markp]

Hello again gurt.

I got the hydrometer from Hampstead Homebrew.
If you decide to get one, you will also need a 250ml trial jar.
The Stevenson Reeves ones I had were terrible.....a lot smaller and harder to read. One of them was 2 points out, the other was 4 points out

I usually use a secondary.....well actually, I syphon from my 60 litre FV in to 2 x 25 litre. The smaller ones I can get in my fridge and this is useful for getting yeast to drop and any fining I sometimes want to do.

 

[gurtpint]

Thanks Mark. My local hb shop was out of hydrometers the last time I asked so I'll have to see if they have re-ordered them + how accurate they are...