AG#2 : Go Ahead Punk, IPA

[MacKiwi]

This brewery project is a joint venture between myself and a friend. Sadly, due to personel reasons, he hasn't been able to participate in the build or first brew, but we had a window of opportunity yesterday evening, so a brew was schedulued at the last minute. Things were a bit rushed, and we didn't get too many photos, but I'll write up what I can remember for the record...

The recipe was the Deuchars IPA clone from Wheeler's book. So mostly pale malt, with a little crystal and wheat malt. Hops were Fuggles for bittering and Styrian Goldings for aroma. I used S04 yeast, instead of Nottingham, as that was what I had to hand.

I heated 50L of water in the HLT and used 10L of that to pre-heat the MT. I suspected that I lost a lot of temperature from the MT in the first brew because I didn't preheat it. At this point disaster struck - my "backup" digital thermometer (really a plumbing pipe thermometer with a probe) packed in. WTF? Three digital thermometers die on me in the space of two brews??? What am I doing wrong? So I ransacked the kitchen and found, in the back of a drawer, an old analogue dial-type thermometer that you use to check if your roast is cooked. It measured the temperature range I needed, so it would have do...

My friend arrived with the ingredients so we immediatly weighed out the grain and underlet into the MT. The resulting temperature was a too low (so much for pre-heating the MT) so a jug of boiling water was deployed to get up to 68 degrees. Then a 90 minute wait, during which we sampled a few Fyne Ales (first time I've tried them from bottle, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were as good as on tap - top beer). Returned to find the MT had lost nearly 10 degrees :shock: So pre-heating is a waste of time, I've got much bigger problems to sort out regarding insulation!

Sparging was a lot easy with two people. I could focus on getting the runnings out nice and slow, and my friend operated the pump to keep the water level correct. We stopped after collecting 25L as the runnings were getting a bit thin. So 25L at 1032 went into the boiler.

Collecting the runnings...

After the boil it was nearly midnight, so I drained into a fermentation bucket and left over night to cool. Yeast was pitched this morning. I had replaced my stainless braid hop filter with a length of copper pipe with holes drilled in the bottom, hoping to remove a lot of dead-space. But this failed (incredibly slow at draining), so I ended up draining the lot manually through a sieve. Also, I lost nearly 10L to the boil, so I topped this up with hot water from the HLT to bring the contents of the FV up to 22L.

Old school! Yee Olde meat thermometer in action

 

[PD]

well done.
All these missed targets is a case of learning your equipment and sorting out the little build problems, it takes a few brews. I'm sure you will get drinkable ale none the less.
I'm also having difficulty keeping a steady mash temp with my cool box tun, I've got it wrapped in a hot water cylinder jacket,numerous blankets its standing on several layers of towels etc and still the temp drops too much... :?
I find doing a fly sparge is a little problematic when on your own so have gone onto the batch sparge system which I find easier to control.

 

[MacKiwi]

Yeah, I think I'm going to give batch sparging a go next time. The PWM control for my pump is rubbish so I can't control the flow accuratly enough. It's fine if someone is helping and can switch the pump on/off, but it is too much for my wee brain to handle on my own

 

[Rich747]

Can someone explain 'fly sparge' and 'batch sparge'?
Thanks.

 

[PD]

very quickly
Fly sparge is where you run warm water through the grains and out of the mash tun at the same in one go.

Batch sparge is where you fill the mash tun with certain amount of water let it mash for 60 mins and then add a little more warm water stir let it sit for 15 mins and drain out. Then add your final amount of water stir leave 15 mins and drain off.

 

[MacKiwi]

I'm totally the wrong guy to attempt this, as I'm just trying to figure it all out myself, but here goes...

Fly sparge is when you add hot water to the top of the grain bed as you drain runnings off from the bottom. I'm following one of the how-to guides on forum, whereby you initially mash for 90 mins with 2.5L of water per kilo of grain. Then you put a layer of tinfoil (perforated with holes) over the grain bed and add more water as you drain wort out the bottom (or if you are fancy you can have a sparge arm or manifold to sprinkle the water over the grain bed, and hence avoid the need for the tin foil). The aim is to keep 1 inch of water covering the grain bed, as you drain at about 1L/min. I found this pretty hard to acheive on my own, in part because I have trouble regulating the flow from my pump...

I haven't tried batch sparging yet, but my understanding is that you do the initial mash as per the above, and then drain it all at once (no water added) and transfer to the boiler (or some other vessel). You then add more water to grain and give it a good mix up, and then drain all that in one go. This sounds easier, as at no time are you trying to add water and remove wort at the same time.

As for the respective pros and cons, I have no idea, beyond batch sparging sounding easier...

 

[Rich747]

Tip top. Thanks!

 

[VSat]

You can lose a lot of heat through too much headspace in the MT, and underneath. If you don't already, sit your MT on a blanket and put foil over the mash with bubble wrap or polystyrene to retain heat in the mash, and then cover with blankets etc.

 

[MacKiwi]

Good points there Vsat - there is a lot head space as I'm doing small trial brews in a system designed to handle a lot more. I'll try and get my hands on some polystyrne and give this a go...

 

[PD]

I think its a head space problem with my set up... also brewing in the middle of the garage in close proximity to the garage door does not help.
Its one of the reasons I do batch sparging, as after 60 mins I can top up with a little water at a higher temp

 

[sub82]

The batch sparging sounds really good. We've only been "fly sparging" so far and have found it difficult to judge when to stop collecting. We found that, towards the end, the wort would start to run clear but would then darken again!

Will defos give batch sparging a go...

 

[tazuk]

was your punk ipa like this ??????

Punk IPA clone
(5.0 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
0G=1.060 FG=1.014
IBU = 62 SRM = 8 ABV = 6.0%
Ingredients
12.5 lbs. (5.7 kg) Maris Otter pale malt
16 AAU Columbus hop pellets (90 mins)
(1.5 oz./43 g at 11% alpha acids)
8.0 AAU Ahtanum hop pellets (0 mins)
(1 .0 oz./28 g at 8.0% alpha acids)
1.0 oz. (28 g) Amarillo hop pellets
(dry hop)
White Labs WLP007 (Dry English Ale)
yeast (1-qt./1-L yeast starter)
1 cup corn sugar (for priming)
Step by Step
Mash grains at 149 °F (65 oq for 1 hour,
and sparge to collect about 6.0 gallons
(23 L) of wort. Boil for 90 minutes with
Columbus hops at start and Ahtanum at
knock-out. Cool, and add yeast as a 1-
quart (1 L) starter prepared 2-3 days earlier.
Oxygenate well and let ferment for
3-5 days. Rack into a secondary fermenter
and add Amarillo hops in a sanitized
muslin bag. Rack after one to two
weeks, and bottle or keg as desired.
Punk IPA clone
(5.0 gallons/19 L,
extract with grains)
0G=1.060 FG=1.014
IBU = 62 SRM = 8 ABV = 6.0%

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ingredients
2.0 lbs. (0.91 kg) Maris Otter pale malt
3.0 lbs. (1.4 kg) Muntons Extra Light
dried malt extract
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) Muntons Extra Light
liquid malt extract (late addition) .
16 AAU Columbus hop pellets (90 mins)
(1.5 oz/43 g at 11.0% alpha acids)
8.0 AAU Ahtanum hop pellets (0 mins)
(1 oz/28 g at 8.0% alpha acids)
1.0 oz. (28 g) Amarillo hop pellets
(dry hop)
White Labs WLP007 (Dry English Ale)
yeast (1-qt./1-L yeast starter)
1 cup corn sugar (for priming)


Step by Step
To get an acceptable level of hop utilization,
and the correct amount of bitterness
in your beer, you must be able to boil at
least 3.5 gallons (13 L) of wort. In a large
kitchen pot, steep crushed pale malt in
3.0 qts. (2 .8 L) of water at 149 oF (65 oq
for 45 minutes. While grains are steeping,
begin heating 2. 75 gallons (1 0 L) of water
in your brewpot. Lift grain bag, place in a
collander and slowly rinse grains with 1.5
qt. (1.4 L) of water at 169 oF (76 °C}. Add
"grain tea" from steep and dried malt
extract to your brewpot to make at least
3.5 gallons (13 L) of wort. Boil wort for 90
minutes, adding Columbus hops at the
start and Ahtanum hops at knock-out.
Stir in liquid malt extract for the final 15
minutes of the boil. (Keep a pot of boiling
water handy and add water if brewpot
volume drops below 3.5 gallons/13 L).
Cool wort, transfer to fermenter and top
up to 5.0 gallons (19 L) with cool water
Add yeast from 1-quart (1-L) yeast starter
prepared 2-3 days earlier. Oxygenate well
and let ferment for 3-5 days. Rack into a
secondary fermenter and add Amarillo
hops in a sterilized muslin bag. Rack after
one to two weeks, and bottle or keg
as desired.

 

[MacKiwi]

Nope It's a simple Deuchars IPA recipe. I'm taking the **** out of the BrewDog beer with my name. I've nothing against their beer, but the whole "hip, counter-culture" marketing is a bit tiresome...

At the risk of exposing how **** my graphics skills are, here is the label I am working on (you won't see it in the "labels" thread any time soon...)

 

[Dr Mike]

Nope It's a simple Deuchars IPA recipe. I'm taking the **** out of the BrewDog beer with my name. I've nothing against their beer, but the whole "hip, counter-culture" marketing is a bit tiresome...

Couldn't agree more ! How's this for one of their beer descriptions (from their website)

"Taste the hops, live the dream. Learn to speak beer, love fruit and never forget you come from a long line of truth seekers, dreamers and warriors… the outlaw elite.
Ride toward anarchy and caramel craziness. Let the sharp bitter finish rip you straight to the ****. Swallow hard – this **** bites."

 

[PD]

I'll buy one I'll buy one...!! am sold.

where do these advertisement people come from.

 

[tazuk]

at the end of the day some people like brew dog some people dont but you got to take your hat of to the guys there is some radical brewing going on at brew dog :thumb:

 

[Frogfurlong]

where do these advertisement people come from.

From the land of "Ice" and "Snow"

 

[tazuk]

have a look at this vid they did for brewing mental for sunk punk :thumb:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLtHgT9l ... re=related

 

[MacKiwi]

No arguement - as I say, I have nothing against their beer. To my taste most of it is a bit over-blown (a bit like their marketing), but I had a bottle of their Trashy Blonde the other night which I thought was well balanced and most agreeable. Each to their own.

Their marketing, on the hand, is just asking to be mocked

And I do take my hat off to them - the more people doing decent brewing in Scotland the better...

at the end of the day some people like brew dog some people dont but you got to take your hat of to the guys there is some radical brewing going on at brew dog :thumb:

 

[mikep42]

Hmm, we seemed to have turned this into a Brew Dog thread, but that's the internet for you!

I'm only chipping in because a mailing list I'm on was recently trying to organise an xmas party at a fairly major local venue, and was essentially told that there was no real ale sold by the venue, and they couldn't organise getting real ale, and the party couldn't even bring their own real ale and have the venue sell it back to them with their normal markup.

Basically, no real ale. End of.

A few years ago, I remember reading an article comparing the advertising spend on commodity lager versus real ale - and the differential was something like 100:1, if not more. Basically, real ale was being marketed out of the market.

Fast forward a few years and - not being a great TV viewer or consumer of advertising - I started seeing the youngsters in our group drinking cider with ice in it. "What's all that about", I asked myself - only to figure out a while later that a whole breed of ads had come out showing bright young things drinking cider with ice in. So that's what they were doing.

My point ? Controversially, I think people like Brew Dog might be on the right track with their marketing. It may be over the top, but we live in an over the top world so it seems. We've all seen the real ale in local pubs curl up and die, and we've all seen those same pubs then curl up and die themselves. If using over the top, in your face marketing to get the upcoming generation drinking proper beer, I have to say I'm all in favour, because it means when I go to a pub, I might find something in there that I would like to drink.

The alternative is that all the tasteless fizzy pop commodity lagers dominate the landscape, and real ale becomes a thing of the past.

And I remember my grandad telling me that part of their pay as farm workers was in ale.... how times have changed.