Adventures in brewing - Day 2 (AG#2)

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Notlaw

Notlaw

Dubbel Dragon
Joined
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Mashing now with about half an hour to go, so grabbing a cuppa and updating you fine brewers.

Belgian Pale "Split Lip and Crooked Halo"

10 litre batch
1.8kg Pilsner malt [EBC 3]
0.2kg Caramunich [EBC 90] (God, this stuff smells good)
17g Goldings @ 60m
6g Saaz @ 10m
17g Saaz @ FO
Danstar Belle Saison yeast

Strike water to 72 targeting mash temp of 66...hit it bang on the money.

Quick question, could I just use the full sachet of yeast (11g)? It won't keep and seems a shame to chuck some away.
 
Firstly, i should say as you know I'm a complete novice, but I think you can keep it a short while.

I used half a packet on my first brew, and the second half on my 2nd brew two weeks later.

I just kept it in the sachet in a small tupperware tub in the fridge. It worked perfectly for me.
 
Belgian yeast gives a very specific flavour profile, the esters are normally fruity, spicy or bananary.
Getting these esters nicely pronounced is linked to pitching rates. I think it would be worth pitching half to give you the best chance of getting the flavours right.
Judging by the grain bill of two kilos it's not high gravity? If so you won't need to pitch extra to deal with this.
 
It'll keep in the fridge, sellotape it up. Or bung it all in and save some slurry when you bottle.
 
Coming up to the boil now. Got just over 11.5l with a pre-boil gravity of 1.040, which is a bit lower than I'd expected, but we'll see where we end up.
 
Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I lost nearly 2.5 litres to boil off and my OG has come in at 1.068. Target was 1.061, but as my pre-boil gravity was down, I expected OG to also be down. Am I boiling too vigorously? Is that about right, or am I doing something else wrong perhaps?

Any assistance welcomed.
 
We all lose different amounts to boil off, you need to use more water as your boil off is high. Which is fine. Top it up, I'd add enough water to achieve your target OG I think.
 
clibit said:
We all lose different amounts to boil off, you need to use more water as your boil off is high. Which is fine. Top it up, I'd add enough water to achieve your target OG I think.
Click to expand...

Duurrr, I never thought of that :doh: I've pitched and put to rest now anyway, if it come in a bit strong, so be it. That's how we learn I guess. So that boil off isn't excessive then?

Things to work on:

1) straining the wort from the grain. I didn't use the muslin today; I tried using a sieve.

2) water... It was bloody everywhere before I'd even started.!

3) getting to know my boil off and accounting for it.

4) a cool box mash tun might be an idea, and I've found a cool box in the garage :thumb:
 
Something seems wrong with the math here?

you had 11.5L pre boil @ 1040?

and ended with 2.5L less, so 9L?

I make it that @ 9L post boil it should be 1051, not 1068?

1068 would be about 6.75L post boil
 
cheapbrew said:
Something seems wrong with the math here?

you had 11.5L pre boil @ 1040?

and ended with 2.5L less, so 9L?

I make it that @ 9L post boil it should be 1051, not 1068?

1068 would be about 6.75L post boil
Click to expand...

I'm not sure where I've gone wrong. I'm wondering now if I've read the hydrometer wrongly; I was making the kids tea at the same time.! It's been about 15 hours since I pitched the yeast, is it worth nicking a sample to recheck now?
 
As long as you spray everything down with sanitizer including your hands. Grab a sample and see.
If you got a refractometer that's the best. Uses very little wort and don't need to have large objects coming in contact with your beer. If don't have one, it's worth getting one.
 
Broke my own rule and peeped under the lid. I couldn't see a krausen through the bucket, so had to have a peep to be sure... sure enough, it looks fine. Smelled lovely too, that saison yeast certainly smells different to the gv12.
 
Just checked and this one is now at 1.008, maybe a midge's dick lower in fact. So I've whacked it outside to cold crash and I'll bottle it... sometime in the next day or two. AG3 was planned for today, but a list of jobs has postponed that for a day or two.

Tasted the trial jar and it was damned fine. It had a better mouthfeel than AG1 did at the same stage and certainly a more complex flavour. Can't wait to try one properly.
 

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