AG#1 - Galaxy Blonde (1st BIAB) - Photos Added

[Pinchy]

1st AG brewday coming up this weekend :party:.

And this is what the posty has just delivered



The Recipe:
So i was looking for something similar to Morlands Old Golden Hen but with a few alterations for my own preferences

Here it is:



Galaxy Blonde

Recipe Overview

Brewer:
Style: Blonde Ale
Source Recipe Link:

Original Gravity (OG): 1.049
IBU's (Tinseth): 23.8
Bitterness to Gravity Ratio: 0.48
ABV%: 4.42

Efficiency into Boil (EIB): 76.1 %
Efficiency into Fermentor (EIF): 68.6 %

Times and Temperatures

Mash: 90 mins at 66 C = 150.8 F
Boil: 90 min
Ferment: 10 days at 18 C = 64.4 F

Volumes & Gravities
(Note that VAW below is the Volume at Flame-Out (VFO) less shrinkage.)

Total Water Needed (TWN): 34.95 L = 9.23 G
Volume into Boil (VIB): 32.73 L = 8.65 G @ 1.04
Volume of Ambient Wort (VAW): 25.53 L = 6.74 G @ 1.049
Volume into Fermentor (VIF): 23 L = 6.08 G @ 1.049
Volume into Packaging (VIP): 21.3 L = 5.63 G @ 1.015 assuming apparent attenuation of 70 %

The Grain Bill (Also includes extracts, sugars and adjuncts)

92.2% Pale Ale Malt Grain 5111 grams = 11.27 pounds
3.9% Crystal Malt 218 grams = 0.48 pounds
3.9% Wheat Malt 218 grams = 0.48 pounds


The Hop Bill (Based on Tinseth Formula)

9.8 IBU Challenger (6.1%AA) 18 grams = at 90 mins
13.8 IBU Galaxy (13.4%AA) 25 grams = 0.731 at 15 mins
0 IBU Galaxy (13.4%AA) 25 grams = 0.527 at 0 mins
0 IBU Galaxy - Dry (13.4%AA) 25 grams = at 14 Days (for 6 days)

Mash Steps

Mash Type: Pure BIAB (Full Volume Mash) for 90 mins at 66 C = 150.8 F
Water Held Back from Mash: 10 L = 2.64 G

Mashout for for 1 mins at 78 C = 172.4 F
Water Added After Final Lauter: 10 L = 2.64 G


Miscellaneous Ingredients

Irish Moss (Boil) 15 Mins - Clarity


Chilling & Hop Management Methods

Hopsock Used: Y

Chilling Method: Wort Chiller (Employed 0 mins after boil end.)


Fermentation& Conditioning

Fermention: Safale us 05 for 10 days at 18 C


Maxi-BIAB Adjustments

Water Held Back from Mash: 10 L = 2.64 G

Water Added After Final Lauter: 10 L = 2.64 G

 

[Pinchy]

The grainbill








Mashout!






Chiller in!


A bit of aditional cooling after the waterbut was filled up from the chiller.


Decided to go for the Safale US-05 in the end. I hope it was the right decision!

 

[Duxuk]

I know you've seen my thread on today's brew. If you're using similar equipment and methods your water volume required will be like mine, not a computer programmes.

How can I be sure this is true????????????????
As comic Max Boyce used to say "I know, 'cos I was there" It was funny when he said it but the fact remains, I lost 5l of water to absorption and evaporation and added 3l to liquor back to 23l.
I would start with a much smaller volume than your software suggests. You can always add more later, but you can't take it away. Also I've found that 25l in a 32l pot is the limit. When you addd the grains that's more volume and you don't want to be spilling any of the precious sauce. :drink:

 

[Pinchy]

Hi Mate,

This 1st brew was always going to be a bit of trial and error with the water quantities et. so I can get used to my system & equipment.
So I was going to start lower on the boil and build up to a quantity that looks safe haha. I am determined to get the full 23L brew bottled out of this lot :drink:. But your right! I certainly don't want to end up with 30L of watered down beer :nono: .
So for this brew I'm seeing it as a learning process and going to keep note of all the volumes etc. for next time.

As always thanks for the advice :thumb: . Can't wait until sunday now!

 

[booosh]

Good luck with it and have a fun day. I did my first BIAB last Saturday and had a great time. Don't worry about numbers etc.

The beer will be awesome! :

 

[Baldbrewer]

Don't forget , you can dry hopping this one with 20g Galaxy in a muslin bag for 5 days or so post primary fermentation.
Man I love this beer , worse thing about having it in a corny is every damn time I go in the garage I have a cheeky Schooner just waiting for the enviable spluttering foam
Enjoy! :

 

[Pinchy]

Enjoyed a relatively drama free brew day! And ended up with 23L(ish) of lovely smelling wort which is now fermenting. Everything seemed to go to plan! Took plenty of pictures that I will upload tomorrow :thumb:

Cheers,
Pinchy

 

[Pinchy]

Photos added :thumb:

 

[Duxuk]

Looks like you had a cracking day :thumb: What sort of gravity and efficiency did you get? ( Not that it really matters, the taste of the beer is most important!)

 

[Pinchy]

Well.... I sort of bodged it a bit to be honest. I added boiling water as i went without measuring trying to keep the wort at a level that looked about right! In hindsight I should have kept track. So it was by pure fluke that when i measured the gravity it was 1.048 instead of 1.049!! I will have to keep track of it next time but I think I must have added close to 8L probably before and during the boil. My main goal was just to make sure I brew the correct volume of beer really I assumed if I got that right the strength etc. couldnt be too far out .

So not to sure about efficency or even how to work it out haha.

Also thanks everyone who helped out and gave advice. Wouldnt have gone anywhere near as well without! :

 

[Duxuk]

I just do this. The number 295 can be changed to take account of different grains but I use it for all grains since most of it will be Maris Otter.

You multiply 295 By your grain weight and divide by the volume you achieved.

295*5.547/23=71.15

Then you want to take the last 2 numbers of your gravity ie. 48 in this case and multiply it by 100 to get a percentage.

Divide this by the number you got above.............71.15/4800

...............and the answer is.........67.47%

Well done. Many believe that chasing higher efficiency does nothing for quality, so you got the best 67.47% of the ingredients there :thumb:

 

[Pinchy]

Thanks mate gives me something to try and improve on for next time :thumb:

 

[Pinchy]

Hydrometer reading Yesterday (Day 10).



Ready for secondary FV and Dry Hopping :party: .

One quick question though... Although fermentation is complete there is loaaaads of the foam on top of the beer still. I think this is called the krausen or yeast cake isn't it? Would it be OK to just scoop this off before siphoning to the secondary?

Cheers,
Pinchy

 

[anthonyUK]

One quick question though... Although fermentation is complete there is loaaaads of the foam on top of the beer still. I think this is called the krausen or yeast cake isn't it? Would it be OK to just scoop this off before siphoning to the secondary?

Cheers,
Pinchy

I have also found US-05 forms a solid 'crust' on the top. I just carefully scoop it off or syphon through it :thumb:

 

[Baldbrewer]

Just leave it on the surface , put your autosyphon or what ever you use into the brew and get it transferred.
The less you interfere with a fermented beer the less chance of introducing unwanted bacteria.
:

 

[Pinchy]

Good advice cheers guys. Think I will siphon through it im sure anything that gets transfered to secondary will drop out eventually.

So tonight I will transfer on top of finings (geletine) and add my dry hops in a weighted muslin bag :thumb:

Cheers :

 

[Pinchy]

Bottled on Saturday. Can't wait until its ready it smelled great!

Sanitising bottles and bottling bucket


I batch primed this with 100g of beerkit enhancer (50% DME 50% Sugar).


Siphoning to my bottling bucket


And heres one bottled! :

 

[Pinchy]

Here’s a quick update:

As I have posted elsewhere unfortunately and there is no reasonable explanation of this; the beer has a soapy after taste to it.
I opened a bottle at the weekend (3/4 weeks after the soapy taste was first discovered) and luckily it seems to be fading a bit! But only time will tell. Might open another couple over the Christmas period. At least behind the soapy flavour there seems to be what could be a very nice beer! :) I will remain optimistic!

Also the colour is far from being a blonde ale. Not sure where I went wrong there. Maybe my Pale Crystal wasnt so pale afterall?

 

[nobyipa]

Soapy flavors can caused by not washing/rinsing your glass very well
check causes here
http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

 

[Pinchy]

Thanks bud but theres no chance that could be the cause. I've scoured the web for answers haha.

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