AG#2 Perle bitter

[Pakman]

Another brew day that proves us men are good at multitasking.

I decided I wanted to try a beer using Perle hops as my favourite beer from our local independent brewery uses them - Vale VPA.

Recipe was done on Beer Engine
Pale Malt - 4kG
Sugar - 100gm
Perle 28 gms for 90 mins
Golding 15gms for 10 mins
Irish moss (I remembered this time :thumb: ) for last 10 mins.

Filled up the boiler and set it off heating up.

As I was going to do BIAB in the boiler I lagged it whilst I waited for it to reach 70 degrees.

Thought I had blown up the boiler as it didn't want to get very hot until I realised I still had the STC set up for fermenting - Oooooooooooops. Re-adjust temp setting and off it went. Here is the grain shot - boring as there is only one type.

Once up to temperature I stirred in the grain ensuring no clumps existed. Wrapped it up and went to load the car up for a dump run.

When the timer indicated 90 minutes had passed I hoisted the bag up and let it drain while I had lunch.

Dumped the bag into a receptacle, on top of a colander, and then batch sparged with cooled boiled water, adding the recovered wort to the boiler again. The pre-boil SG was 1.040 at 50 degrees so that's about 1.049. Then I reset the temperature on the STC (see - I'm learning) and set it off towards a boil. :whistle: I took a picture of the Perle hops sat on top while I waited.

Once a nice running boil was going I added the Perle hops and then took a load of carp to the dump.

Arrived back with 20 mins still left on the timer so I continued the re-loading of WinXP on a neighbours computer, I'd been doing this in steps all morning between brewing and clearing tasks. When the timer sounded again, 80 minutes was up so I added the Goldings and Irish Moss and continued the battle with Microsoft.

Time's up so it's off with the power and let it cool whilst I finished the pooter and tidied up around the boiler - our patio has a roof over it, legacy from when I used to smoke, and so I do my brewing out there where I cannot get moaned at about the state (and smell) of SWMBO's kitchen.

So - I've brewed my beer (just waiting for it to cool so I can get the SG and pitch my yeast starter) cleared out the shed and the garage and dumped the rubbish and mended a neighbours PC. Who says men can't multitask?

 

[Brett]

Just one question.............. what did you do with the carp??
:wha:
:lol:

 

[joe1002]

: looks like a successful brew day. :thumb:

 

[Hobbins]

I like the look of this beer. Keep us informed of the results. a covered patio also sounds ideal.

 

[WelshPaul]

Which yeast are you using?

 

[Pakman]

WelshPaul asked " Which yeast are you using? "

Unfortunately I cannot answer that easily. My reserve of brewery yeast didn't want to work in the starter I'd prepared earlier so I opened a sachet of ale yeast I had purchased on my last visit to Aldershot and created another starter. I do not know which one it was and I binned the empty sachet. Sorry

 

[Pakman]

Brett asked " what did you do with the carp?? "

I distributed it around the various skips at our local dump. Must get a new spillchucker :rofl:

 

[BrewDan]

Nice easy post to read. Just a couple of questions, I will be doing my first all grain over Christmas, and will probably do a biab in an old baby burco.

Can I just ask firstly, what material did you use for your grain bag? And secondly, I also have a temp controller I bought from a forum sponsor, I was thinking of hooking it up to the burco, from memory the end of the stc prob is just a stub of plastic on a wire...is yours the same, if so did you just stick it in the wort? I would think looking at mine, I'd end up ruining it

Cheers, look forward to the updates

 

[wilsoa1111]

for grain bag can use crystal voile off the ebay-works a treat-havent even sown it up just got a load and drape it on top every go- makes rinsing easy aswell

 

[Pakman]

BrewDan asked " Can I just ask firstly, what material did you use for your grain bag? And secondly, I also have a temp controller I bought from a forum sponsor, I was thinking of hooking it up to the burco, from memory the end of the stc prob is just a stub of plastic on a wire...is yours the same, if so did you just stick it in the wort? I would think looking at mine, I'd end up ruining it "

1. It's some form of cotton, SWMBO sorted it - might have been an old pillow case. Takes a while to drain so a a larger weave fabric might be better but I'll upgrade in time as I get better at the brewing bit.
2. My temperature sensor is the same plastic one, I just fitted it into a bit of 8mm copper left over when I made my hop strainer. It desensitizes it a bit but makes it easier to place in the boiler or brewbag. I also use it through the grommet in the top of my FV to keep the brew at 19 degrees during fermentation.

 

[BrewDan]

Brilliant, thanks for the info :thumb: bet you can't wait for this to condition

 

[Pakman]

An update on Perle bitter

OG when the yeast was added was 1.046 and yesterday when it was moved into the conditioning cask it was 1.011 which gives about 4.6% by my calculations. The colour is very pale yellow, a bit what it'll look like a couple of hours after drinking it :drink: and in it's raw state was nice and hoppy. Now all I've got to do is leave it alone for enough time as I'm realising that I start consuming my brews too early - they get better well after I've started drinking them :wha:

My eldest delivered a late fathers day present when he came home for Xmas, two Caxton kits, so I've chucked one of them into the FV to help build up stocks.

 

[Aylesbrewery]

Hi Pakman,
I found your post whilst Googling for a Vale VPA recipe.

Hoe does it compare to VPA? I absolutely love that beer and would like to attempt to make it.

The Hop Pole in Aylesbury don't have it on the pump as a permanent beer anymore and it's been ages since I've drunk it.

Another Vale Brewery ale I'd love to have a go at is Gravitas. I am fairly new to all grain brewing so wouldn't know where to start to attempt a clone.

 

[Buster]

QUOTE:- 2. My temperature sensor is the same plastic one, I just fitted it into a bit of 8mm copper left over when I made my hop strainer. It desensitizes it a bit but makes it easier to place in the boiler or brewbag. I also use it through the grommet in the top of my FV to keep the brew at 19 degrees during fermentation.


Is this the temp probe that came with the STC1000 or a different one as I didnt think they were water proof. Please could you provide a pic of it if possible,including your copper pipe mod.

 

[Pakman]

Hi Aylesbrewery

It turned out a lot darker and hoppier than VPA (which I was supping last night in the Cross Keys) but I've still not managed to obtain the recipes for that or Gravitas :hmm: I then did another Perle bitter which tastes better than the first but flatly refuses to clear. :wha: I can recommend empty Black Swan bottles as the labels come off so easily :thumb:

Buster

I used the original black rubber sensor to go inside the copper pipe - however that sensor stopped working :electric: so I've replaced it (and pipe) with a new one from ebay which I've not mounted in a pipe yet. I quite fancy trying a length of plastic tube with the sensor araldited into the end as it wont conduct as much heat out of the mash as the copper did.

Graham

 

[Aylesbrewery]

Thanks for the reply Pakman.

So the hunt for a VPA clone continues! How do you know they use perle hops? Have you spoken to the brewery? All they say on the website is "hops from across the the Atlantic"

Cheers! :

 

[Pakman]

I am member of their Beer Club. : All you have to do is keep asking the right questions when visiting an event to slowly gather information. :hmm:
Graham

 

[Aylesbrewery]

I've just got hold of a copy of "The home brewers recipe database" from Amazon. It lists the ingredients from 1000s of beers.

...and it's listed VPA :) but only the hops which are Amarillo and Challenger. "Source: JD Whetherspoonsnews". This makes sense of their description of "hops from across the Atlantic..."

It unfortunately doesn't give much else away but its a start. Don't suppose you happen to know what the IBUs are for this beer?