2for1 brewday: A mild and an NA experiment...

[jMac]

Moving this to it’s own thread as I’d like to post updates.

Al fresco brew day yesterday!

Brewed my mild:

Nu River Mild - 3.7%
46 EBC
Dark Mild
Type: All Grain
IBU: 18 (Tinseth)
Color: 46 EBC
Carbonation: 2.2 CO2-vol
Pre-Boil: 1.027
Original Gravity: 1.038
Final Gravity: 1.010

Fermentables (4.29 kg)
3.2 kg - Mild Ale 6.9 EBC (74.6%)
350 g - 5 min - Boil - Invert Sugar 20 EBC 300 g - CaraPils 3.9 EBC (7%)
220 g - Chocolate 1050 EBC (5.1%)
220 g - Crystal DRC 300 EBC (5.1%)

Hops (35 g)
60 min - 20 g - Goldings (Kent) - 4.9% (11 IBU) 30 min - 15 g - Goldings (Kent) - 4.9% (7 IBU)

Miscellaneous
15 min - Boil - 5 g - Irish moss

Yeast
1 pkg - Mangrove Jack's Empire Ale Yeast M15

Standard
Batch Size : 23 L
Boil Size : 31.04 L
Post-Boil V.: 26.04 L
Mash Water : 12.33 L
Sparge Water: 22.36 L
Boil Time : 60 min
Total Water : 34.69 L

Brewhouse Efficiency: 64.2%
Mash Efficiency: 69.8%

Mash Profile
Batch/Fly
75.3 °C - Strike Temp 69 °C - 60 min - Strike

Fermentation Profile
20 °C - 14 days - Primary 20 °C

As usual I hit all my water measurements and ended up with 23L in the fermenter. However, I was a couple of points down on pre-boil gravity (easy enough fix to adjust my mash efficiency next time). But (and I had this problem in my last brew) was 5 (!) points down at the end of the boil. No idea how to fix that one, so any suggestions greatly appreciated.

I also had my first ever boil over. I literally looked away for 30 seconds!

The interesting bit...⬇
Anyway, all that’s by the by. The interesting thing I did with this brew was to reuse my mash to make an even smaller beer. As if a 3.something mild wasn’t small enough, I’ve made an attempt at a sort of parti-gyle NA (or at least very low ABV) ale.

Rather than mash out I sparged as per a usual full length brew at just above mash temperature until I’d collected enough wort for my main brew and then continued to add an additional 7L of water to the spent(ish) grain. I capped this remash with a little Munich and DRC and let it remash for 10-15mins. I then collected 5L of 1.015 wort while FWHing with a more subdued blend of my standard APA hops (Simcoe, mosaic & Citra). I was actually hoping for even lower, so then diluted this down to 1.011.

A short 10min boil followed by more of the hop blend at flameout and I have 5L of 1.011 wort. Fermenting this with a quarter pack of S04 and hoping to get it to drop to a FG to give me a 0.5ish ABV ‘NA’ beer. The OG sample I took showed promise (not much malt character obviously, but the hops were good). It actually tasted rather like flat Nanny State (and I know that may not be a good thing in everyone’s book!). Am hoping the S04 is able to add a little yeast character with the little work it now has to do.

Will keep you updated.

jx

 

[jMac]

Well, overnight there’s been some sign of activity in my test NA batch. No Krausen to speak off, just a fine coating of foamy bubbles - but probably what I’d expect from such a low gravity wort.

The brew remains as clear as mud, much more so than I’d normally expect, but that might also be expected from final runnings from a reused mash. Will have to see if the murk drops with the yeast.

The unfermented sample I took for the OG reading yesterday didn’t seem to exhibit any graininess or astringent tannin character. Just a very muted maltiness. All of this may be masked by the probably excessive hopping however.

If anyone’s interested in a kind of recipe for this (and for the record), here it is...

7L 70° water added to spent mash after full sparge of initial mild brew.

Capped with:
100g Munich
50g Crystal 100
50g DRC (Crystal 300)

Stirred and mashed (sorry, didn’t take actual mash temp) for 15mins.

Take runnings (no sparge) onto first wort hops:

4g Simcoe
3g Mosaic
3g Citra

This should produce 5ish L of 1.015 wort. Top up with 1.8L water to lower to 1.011.

Boil 10mins
2.5g Irish moss at start of boil

Add aroma hops at flameout:

5.5g Simcoe
5.5g Mosaic
3.7g Citra

Cool to pitching temp.
Pitch with 1/4 pack S04 yeast.
Ferment 14 days at 20°Cish.

Dry hop 3 days before racking:

4.5g Simcoe
5.5g Mosaic
4.5g Citra

 

[jMac]

I must have blinked and missed the Krausen rise and fall. This is fermenting a lot better than I’d expect from a 1.011 OG. Been airlock snffing too, and it smells like... beer !

I’m going to raise the temp up to 22° ish to try and get some character from the yeast. Not that there can be much left for the yeast to play with!

I’m getting far more excited about this than the final product probably deserves...

 

[jMac]

It’s all gone a bit farmhousey here.

I hadn’t anticipated the mini heatwave over the past couple of days, and didn’t have an adequate cooling plan. I haven’t done much brewing since moving house (and having twins!) so don’t have a great deal of experience of the temperature fluctuations in my garage - my previous fermenting space was a cellar that never got above 18°.

So... both brews may have got a little warm (up to 26°!) a couple of days into fermentation. The experimental NA batch will be what it is, but I think the mild will be interesting - I’ve heard some good reports of M15 fermenting at higher temperatures (exhibiting some good esters), but will have to see.

jx

 

[jMac]

To allay my fears I took a couple of samples this morning.

The NA batch is down to 1.007 (so currently at 0.5%, but there’s still signs of slow activity so may still drop a couple of points and with the priming might be nudging 1% so maybe not truly NA). It’s thin with not much body, but that’s not unexpected and is the same in commercial NA beers. It’s also overly bitter, but this will hopefully mellow and may be masked with the dry hop. There’s also a definitive off-flavour at the moment, but I couldn’t identify it with a single sample.

The mild though... is decidedly promising, despite the temperature peak. It’s at 1.011, so hovering around 3%, but I’ve read that M15 can be slow to finish attenuation after an initial fast start, so hoping to eke a few extra points from this as well. The malt flavours are great, maybe a little harsh burnt bitterness from the chocolate at the moment. The hopping is perfect to my taste. There’s also some nice plummy/stone fruit flavours that I imagine must be coming from the yeast .

 

[jMac]

Took another sample of both beers today.

The mild is still at 1.011, still tasting good. The malts seems to have blended better already, the chocolate is not quite as assertive. I made an invert sugar from soft light brown cane sugar for this recipe, only needed 350g, but made a kilo, so will probably use some of this to prime as well when the time comes, to see what it brings.

The NA batch is now down to 1.005, which should be final gravity. This will make it 0.8%ABV, so will do a larger kettle top-up next time I try this to achieve sub 0.5%. As it’s only a small batch, I’ve worked out that I only need to dilute my priming sugar charge in 130ml of water for it to not add any additional points, so will at least be below 1%.

This is tasting better as well, still probably too bitter, but didn’t notice the off flavour from my previous sample just a couple of days ago. The excessive/imbalanced bitterness is an issue with commercial examples of NA beers in the APA/AIPA style, in my opinion, so if I do this again, I’ll take down my FWH additions a lot further. I’m going to dry hop this today and prime and bottle it on Friday.

 

[jMac]

Just dry hopped the NA batch. It is a lot clearer now, though the SO4 hasn’t compacted as I’d expect and there’s still largish (ie. a few mm) yeast particles thrown into suspension if I jog the DJ. Also some of the yeast trub seems to have settled on the sides of the DJ, which I’m thinking is probably a consequence of it sitting in a water bath to bring the temp down in the hot weather last week (?).

 

[NPi]

Great thread @mclaughlinj , had you thought of adding any non fermentable grains to your second running batch and gone for a second higher temp Mash? Could release a bit of extra body you are looking for? Possibly Dextrine malts?

Look forward to seeing the end result. I did hear rumours that a NA category may be added to next year's competition calendar...

Nick

 

[jMac]

Great thread @mclaughlinj , had you thought of adding any non fermentable grains to your second running batch and gone for a second higher temp Mash? Could release a bit of extra body you are looking for? Possibly Dextrine malts?

Definitely something I'll look at as I develop this. I started this process partly because I wanted to try an NA brew but didn't want to go through devoting a full brewday to it. This way I get to reuse what's left of the mash of a full brew and can do the short capped mini mash, short boil, cool and pitch all while my main brew is still boiling away. I figured a LA/NA is always something good to have on hand.

 

[jMac]

I cold crashed the NA overnight and bottled it today. Had a small spillage at one point, so only got 12 330ml bottles of 0.8% ale out of it.

I tried a sample of the half bottle at the end of racking, and it was surprisingly good - it did have the priming sugar in, which may have given me a misleading impression of mouthfeel, however. Still a little bitter at the back sides of the tongue, but am hoping this will mellow with conditioning and carbonation.

I’m feeling pretty confident of this brew now and will repeat the experiment when I next do a suitable full length brew.