Ade's Brew Days

[AdeDunn]

Figured it'd be more efficient to put my brew days into a single thread for the future, and just started my next brew day so seems a good time to start.

Today I'll be brewing a sort of golden/pale ale type thing, that we've decided to call Detectives (as in the plural) Ale, you'll see why. So far I've prepped the mashing liquour (22 litres RO filtered water, 3 litres treated tap), on pause now until after lunch so I'm not in the way.

Onto the recipe I've thrown together. Medium body BIAB mash (75 minutes at 67 degrees C, Mash out at 76 degrees C for 10 minutes, dunk sparge at 78 degrees C). Boil will be a full 90 minute boil this time.

Malt Bill

3.5k Crisp Maris Otter
100g Crisp Crystal

Hops

8.6g Magnum (Bittering) 90 minutes boil
11.8g Endeavour 20 Minutes
13.1g Endeavour 10 Minutes
9.3g Endeavour at flame out

I'll be fermenting with Mangrove Jack's M36 Liberty Bell dried yeast.

Will it make nice beer? Not a clue. :UKflag:

 

[AdeDunn]

I should mention that I am aiming for 18 litres into RV.

So far so good though. With a good draining, sparging and a squeaze I have about 28 litres into the boil, Magnum is in rolling away nicely. Touch wood it continues to go well. No Brupaks Anti-Foam used this time, partly because I put it away and can't find it now, but also to see if my trub is better behaved without it... lol

 

[Poochops]

Got something similar in the pipeline 2.75kg MO, 250g crystal and 350g flaked wheat for head retention. Bittering and whirlpool with first gold. Aiming for something similar to 24 carat gold by Liverpool organic brewery. Incredibly cheap brewing!
What OG did you get?

 

[AdeDunn]

I somehow ended with 21 litres into FV at an OG of 1.050.... So all in all a good brew day. Hope yours goes well too. :thumb: I need to start using wheat myself, I like a nice head on my beer and some of mine have had pretty poor head retention.

Much clearer wort this time around too, the whole hops worked a treat in forming a filter bed on the bazooka it seems. Probably how I managed to get 21 litres out of the boiler. Still a ton of trub though, but properly managed so all good. Good job I upgraded the bazooka too though.... lol



I poured the trial jar into a glass, this was from the first bit out of the kettle so does have some trub in there. If it stays this colour I'll be very happy. Full disclosure though, I used a light source over the glass whilst taking the pic... Oh and yeah, I tasted it, as usual nasty... Sweet horlicks type flavour, with added bitterness and a hint of a sort of citrusy flavour maybe? It'll probably come out with more brown in it though.



I rehydrated the yeast, which also went well, it was starting to foam in the jug before even seeing the wort....

So yeah, probably my best brew day yet. :

 

[Dutto]

You recipe looks okay, but why not use BrewersFriend by clicking on Recipes at the top of this page?

The first five recipes are for free and by putting in your ideas you can see what will happen.

It's a load of fun. You can compare what you're thinking of brewing with various known styles to find out what it should taste and look like; and thereby avoid brewing something that is destined for the drain from the moment you had your "bright idea"!

 

[AdeDunn]

I have Beersmith 2 (I used it constructing this, and to the style of a British golden ale) and quite a few books if I want a ready made recipe bud. . My wife and I enjoy experimenting though, it's part of the enjoyment for us. I brew for the heck of it, rather than just for the beer.

I'm fairly sure it'll be nice beer, I just haven't used either hop before, or whole hops for that matter.... Lol

My next brew will be less experimental, planning a fuggles + Maris otter smash on an attempt to clone a local beer (Holdens Golden Glow) although I'm going to be trialling clarity fern in this one (partly to see what effect it had on chill haze, partly to see if my father in law has less problems with a gluten reduced beer). About due really as our last brew was experimental too (a Saison made with heather honey, hopped with Amarillo and Mosaic and dry hopped with Mosaic that we bottled yesterday.). Then Graham Wheeler ones, again local beers in the form of Banks's mild and bitter.

 

[Dutto]

Please re-read my Post. I never mentioned a "ready made recipe"! :headbang:
What BrewersFriend allows you to do is to make up your own recipe and THEN compare it with a known STYLE. :thumb:
Alternatively, you can use this instead of BrewersFriend. Again, no recipes just an explanation of the styles.
https://www.brewersassociation.org/resources/brewers-association-beer-style-guidelines/

 

[AdeDunn]

Please re-read my Post. I never mentioned a "ready made recipe"! :headbang:
What BrewersFriend allows you to do is to make up your own recipe and THEN compare it with a known STYLE. :thumb:
Alternatively, you can use this instead of BrewersFriend. Again, no recipes just an explanation of the styles.
https://www.brewersassociation.org/resources/brewers-association-beer-style-guidelines/

Actually you did, right there in the first paragraph.... Lol

You did however also mentioning using it to construct to a style, a good suggestion, as I mentioned though I already use Beersmith 2 to do this. I'm sure your suggestions will benefit somebody else though, I'm just satisfied with the combination of software that I use now, thanks for your input however.

 

[Dutto]

I said "The first five recipes are free!" I didn't add "ALL the Ready Made recipes are free" because you obviously like making up your own.

 

[AdeDunn]

Fair enough bud, just a case of my reading something into it that you didn't intend, happens sometimes. :thumb1: I'm big enough to say that if I came across as hostile then I am sorry, I didn't intend this either.

You are however spot on with your advice about using some form of software that can give styles guidance. Advice that anybody just starting who wants to have a go at recipe building should follow 100%! Beersmith 2 for example wasn't great for calculating liquor volume, strike temp or the like, but it does have a handy feature where it gives you a visual indication of whether you are within the style you are aiming for (pretty sure it uses BJCP guidelines for the styles too). This combined with the mash and boil timer (I have the Android version on my phone) really does help me to organise my brew day. I use BIABacus to make sure I get my volumes, hop amounts and strike temps right, and since I started using it combined with Beersmith 2 things improved considerably for me. It's how I built my summer ale variation (Greg Hughes style grist, Cascade and citra hops) and my Saison With Avec. The summer ale we're currently drinking, and it's probably the best beer I have brewed to date, the Witbier coming a close second (even if my wife can't drink it now the banana finally came through in the flavour... lol).

I did have a play with desktop version of Brewers Friend, and it wasn't too bad. The biggest cons with it though were I can't carry the timer around with me (like I can with BSmith2 on my mobile), and there's a lot missing from it that you have to add yourself (I even had to add Mangrove Jack's yeast myself when playing). The web version probably has the yeast profiles etc, but the convenience of a mobile app is just hard to beat for me.

Anyway, on the topic of Detectives Ale, that MJ M36 is a monster! I suspect it may even be almost finished! Suspect as I haven't tested SG even yet, I tend to leave that until I am reasonably sure the beer has had a diacetyl rest too, then I do the test 1 day, wait 3, test gain bit to check it's definitely done. As usual I took a video of the activity from the blow of tube (nb. I'm not suggesting this should be trusted as an indicator of yeast activity, but it helps a bit for me), it was actually more active than either the CML Real Ale yeast, or the MJ M29 yeast by a LOT!! The blanket on this occasion is an attempt to keep light off my beer. If you wan't to shorten things a bit, move the video to 1:06 and you can get just as good an idea.

Edited to add: I didn't actually dunk sparge this time around, but rather just poured 3 litres of 80 degrees C water over the grain very slowly, whilst resting on a cake cooling rack over a bucket. Let it drain until it was dripping, gave it a gently squeeze with the boiler lid, then tipped the sparge runnings into the boiler. Didn't seem to negatively impact efficiency.

 

[Dutto]

See the bubbles in your blow-off bottle? I get the same if I use StarSan - and one time the foam "boiled over" so much that I lost the air-lock when the CO2 production slowed down.

I now use a 50:50 mix water and Tesco Thin Bleach. It sanitises the liquid in the bottle and (so far) unlike the StarSan it hasn't created any foam. :thumb1:

 

[AdeDunn]

Yeah, I had the same problem using StarSan in the air-lock, that and it just clear blowing the liquid out anyway, so switched to a tiny bit in the bottom of a 2 litre water bottle. lol I have some baby bottle steriliser, but that'd make me too nervous about suck backs. The 2 litre bottle seems just big enough that the foam bubbles stay in the bottle, it leave a heck of a sticky mess on the outside of the blow off tube though. I'd give cheap vodka a go, but my wife would end up drinking it before I could (half joking...)... lol

 

[AdeDunn]

After testing SG over 3 days (first on 19th, then again today), looks like it's finished fermenting at an FG of 1.014 with 71% attenuation. I'd hazard that the medium body mash may have something to do with this.

Flavour test of the trial jar contents suggests a quite promising beer. Low bitterness, lots of malty flavour with a hint if citrus. I'd say it was a typically British beer flavour profile. Colour is a nice golden shade. The hop flavour is certainly subtle, becoming part of the flavour rather than hitting you full on, this is what I was aiming for though so I'm happy with that.

I have to say, I suspect Endeavour hops would be even nicer in a mild. There subtle flavours really complement a malty flavour profile.

 

[BeerCat]

After testing SG over 3 days (first on 19th, then again today), looks like it's finished fermenting at an FG of 1.014 with 71% attenuation. I'd hazard that the medium body mash may have something to do with this.

Flavour test of the trial jar contents suggests a quite promising beer. Low bitterness, lots of malty flavour with a hint if citrus. I'd say it was a typically British beer flavour profile. Colour is a nice golden shade. The hop flavour is certainly subtle, becoming part of the flavour rather than hitting you full on, this is what I was aiming for though so I'm happy with that.

I have to say, I suspect Endeavour hops would be even nicer in a mild. There subtle flavours really complement a malty flavour profile.

Excellent, been really interested to find out what endeavor hops are like. Going to order some.

 

[AdeDunn]

Excellent, been really interested to find out what endeavor hops are like. Going to order some.

The price, and the name, attracted me. lol

I think the best descriptor for them is subtle citrus.

Let me know what you think of them when you use them. My research before found about 1 postive review in amongst a bunch of negative ones. All related to commercial beers, and all of the negative ones been for IPAs using them. Which is why I made a golden ale with them. lol

When I use them again though I will probably increase the amount used, see what difference this makes. I'll be making a fuggles hopped golden ale next, so will be interesting to compare and contrast the flavours. I'll be using the same yeast, the only change apart from the hops will be that I won't be using any crystal malt at all in it, just Maris Otter malt and Fuggles hops.

I'll give another update once the beer has been bottled and conditioned. :thumb:

 

[BeerCat]

I think i will have to follow you and try a golden ale with 100g. Have heard the liberty bell goes off like a rocket but i have some london ale3 in the fridge. So many beers i want to brew not helped by reading this thread. :)

 

[AdeDunn]

Yeah, it's absolutely insane yeast! Makes even CML Real Ale look sedate. lol

I feel your pain bud, chucking that lovely yeast cake away from the bottom earlier (I racked it to a second vessel whilst it still seems to be giving off some CO2) all I could think about was how I could put another beer onto it... lmao

Been discussing how I can switch things around a bit with my wife earlier. Realised that I don't actually need to mash over by the cooker, only boil there. So I am currently thinking I could mash in my area, lauter by running into a bucket, move my boiler over to by the cooker (I use it there as the big extractor hood is the only thing that'll cope with the steam) and then do the boil. That way I'm blocking off the food prep area for 2 hours or so, rather than 6 or 7...

 

[AdeDunn]

Ill put this here too, as I don't seem to have a brew day thread from when I brewed it, our "Saison With Avec".

I brewed this on New Years Eve. I learned tons doing it, mostly about not doing stuff that wastes time.... lol Also it was the brew that finally made me decide I need to fix my trub problem (now fixed, as recorded in the details about Detectives Ale) as I lost tons of perfectly good beer when I bottled thanks to the huge quantity of trub in the FV, I went from 22 litres in the FV to 16.4 litres in the bottling bucket....

Grain bill

Dingemans Pilsen Malt 2290g
IREKS Pale Ale Malt 1468g
IREKS Light Wheat Malt 256g
IREKS Light Munich Malt 105g

Hops & Other Boil Additions

60 Minutes (start) 5.1g Mosaic pellets

30 Minutes (middle) 6g Amarillo pellets
8.6g Mosaic pellets
2.5g coarsely crushed peppercorns
8.5g lightly crushed coriander seeds

10 Minutes 1/4 Protofloc tablet, and my worth cooler

0 Minutes (flame out) 24g Mosaic Pellets
15.2g Amarillo Pellets
340g Heather Honey

Yeast I used Mangrove Jacks French Saison.

Bottled on 16th. Just shared a sneaky early bottle with my wife. Delicious! Nice, slightly dry and sour, tropical fruit flavour mainly, with a hint of honey and lemon. Good golden colour, short lived white fluffy head. Best Saison I've made yet.

Terrible glass for a photo, as it's blue, but meh.. lol



Just tasted a 2nd bottle, at room temperature this time. Very similar, but could taste a little spice, and the honey & lemon flavour was stronger. Yum.

[edit] corrected call to colour.

 

[AdeDunn]

So, I brewed again today. Trial run of mashing up one end of the room, draining the wort into a bucket, then moving my ACE to the other end of the room to do the boil.

Also tried 3 other changes, but decided they actually reduced my efficiency.

1) I tried to sparge in my big 33 litre pan. This really didn't work well, as my bag is long and narrow, the pan is wide... Only half the grain was covered. So ended up moving to my usual bucket for the sparge, but ended up with runnings with an SG of 1.020.

2) I tried using less reverse osmosis filtered water (13 litres) to more tap water (12 litres). My mass was a fair bit less efficiency unfortunately. My grain bill was almost identical to the Detective ale, but after the boil my OG this time was only 1.044 vs 1.050 from that brew.

3) No point leaving the false bottom in during the boil. A lot of garbage gets sucked down the sides, especially when nearing the dregs whilst transferring. I suspect that the hop filter bed wasn't as good as it could have been if I had removed it before the boil, and relied on the bazooka.

Anyway, onto the brew. Started at 2:45pm, I was pretty nearly done by 8pm. Unfortunately it took it's time cooling. For once though I'm even pretty much cleaned up. Could be I just had the tap turned down too low on my wort chiller. I'll turn it higher in future I think. It felt like a better brew day anyway.

Trying to clone Holden's Golden Glow, which is pretty much a Maris Otter + Fuggles Smash. Medium body BIAB (probably should have gone for light, been a while since I drank Golden Glow to be honest, it's more my wife's kind of thing), so mashed for 75 minutes at 67 degrees C, raising over 7 minutes to 76 degrees C and then resting it there for 10 minutes mash out. Then sparged with 5 litres at 78 degrees (badly).

Grain bill was mega simple, 3.5 kilos of Crips Maris Otter.

Hops I tried to keep simple.
35g Fuggles for 80 minutes (should have been a 90 minute boil, but accidentally shaved 10 minutes off... lol)
35g Fuggles for 10 minutes (should have been 20 minutes, see above...)

Wort came out a lovely golden colour, lovely smell, OG of 1.044. I was going to take a photo of it, but my wife knocked the trial jar over... I reckon secretly she was worried I'd get her to taste it... lol

I did take a couple of pics of the yeast (Liberty Bell again), just as I'd put it on to rehydrate:-



Just before pitching:-


Not quite as lively an awakening as last time, but I forgot to take the packet out of the fridge when I first started brewing, so hadn't had as much time to warm up before I rehydrated it.

The other pic I got was of the wort sat in the FV after been given a good beating with my wine degasser. I know, the excitement.... lol



We've named this one Counterweight, after the Counterweight Continent on the Disc World, which is supposed to be mostly made of gold...

Oh and note to self, double check that the timing for the Protofloc IS set for 10 minutes, as when you get an extra timer alarm it can really confuse things....

 

[AdeDunn]

Detectives Ale Update:-

Just drew another trial jar sample off this (it's currently sat in second FV where I racked it to on the 21st), to check the SG and see how the flavour is doing.

SG has dropped one more point, down to 1.013, giving me 4.9% ABV and an apparent attenuation of 73.1%. Not bad given the rather small malt bill...

Colour and appearance is a lovely, bright, mid gold shade (NB. At some point I will compare it to an actual colour chart, as could be it's more amber than gold. [edit]Just checked, and it's somewhere between gold and deep gold by the chart in John Palmer's How To Brew, about 9.8 EBC guesstimating). No haze visible at all. I took 2 pics, 1 without additional lighting that looks darker, 1 better lit that shows the true shade better.

No extra light



Extra light



Taste, well it tastes as good as it looks (sorry that I sound so big headed here! lol)! A really lovely flavour, notes of biscuit and caramel, a subtle hint of lime/citrus and nice mild bitterness. The mouth feel, well it reminds me of some commercial meads, maybe slightly thinner though. So very very smooth and easy to drink. I seriously am hating the thought of bottle priming this, it'd be much nicer from a pressure barrel, but mine is full of rubbishy kit beer (Bad Cat... lol) from last year . Between the colour, flavour, and mouth feel, it's like the beer version of honey...

So, yeah, I WILL be using these hops again, regularly in fact. They make a really lovely ale.

[Edit] Just bottled this, got a total of 38 bottles/19 litres into packaging.