AG Brewday - "Strong Island Oat Brown Ale" with Pics!

[Ceejay]

Brewing this Southern English Brown today, which is a Jamil Zainasheff Recipe with the addition of toasted oats for that luscious mouthfeel and creaminess. Recipe on brewers friend here:

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Southern English Brown
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 23 liters (ending kettle volume)
Boil Size: 28.5 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.028
Efficiency: 69% (ending kettle)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.035
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 3.2%
IBU (rager): 16.64
SRM (morey): 26.27

FERMENTABLES:
2.6 kg - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (67.1%)
450 g - United Kingdom - Crystal 60L (11.6%)
284 g - United Kingdom - Extra Dark Crystal 120L (7.3%)
170 g - United Kingdom - Chocolate (4.4%)
70 g - United Kingdom - Black Patent (1.8%)
300 g - Rolled Oats (7.7%)

HOPS:
18 g - East Kent Goldings, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 6.9, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 16.64

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 67 C, Time: 60 min, Amount: 13.5 L
2) Sparge, Temp: 76 C, Time: 45 min, Amount: 20 L
3) Infusion, Temp: 40 C, Time: 30 min, Amount: 1.5 L, Beta Glucan Rest - Oats
Starting Mash Thickness: 3 L/kg

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.5 each - Protafloc, Time: 15 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil
9 g - CaCl, Time: 0 min, Type: Water Agt, Use: Mash

YEAST:
Wyeast - Northwest Ale 1332
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (custom): 69%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 18.33 - 23.89 C
Fermentation Temp: 20 C
Pitch Rate: 0.75 (M cells / ml / deg P)

PRIMING:
Method: Batch Prime
CO2 Level: 1.5 Volumes

Prepared the brewing liquor last night, treated with 1 crushed Campden Tablet. I also toasted the oats at 180C until golden brown. Easy to tell when they're done - the whole house starts stinking of oats! HLT fired up at 7.45 this morning.

 

[Ceejay]

Here's the grist:




And the oats, prepared for the Beta Glucan rest, with 100g of Maris Otter:



Beta Glucan rest, 30 mins at 43C, in a saucepan, with the oven set to 50C to keep the temperature up. This breaks down Beta Glucan, which is a protein that causes porridge to be all sticky and gummy and can affect lautering and head retention.

 

[Ceejay]

Doughing in. Strike temp was 76C, aiming for a mash temp of 67C. I forgot to head to heat up the glucan mash to 67C. Consequently, I've missed my mash temp by 1 or 2C, but I think that'll be OK. I don't mind if this ends up attenuating a bit more, as it's quite a chewy beer!

Doughed in:




Foil on - I use wort that's gone up the side to "stick" it on at the sides.





All tucked up. Got my last batch to bottle now, so I'll be mashing this for a couple of hours. Oh, I thought I'd grab a picture of the yeast as well. It's the first time I've used the Wyeast Activator smack packs. They're much bigger than I thought!

 

[Ceejay]

Bottling done. Note to self - Don't bottle on brewday.

Anyhoo, the brown is mashed. Vorlauf, old school style, using a couple of jugs (fnar):




First runnings. Very tasty indeed, with lots of molasses, chocolate, toffee flavours. Yum!



Low tech, but very effective fly sparging:



Oh, and it's been a couple of hours since I activated the smack pack. Check it out :shock:

 

[Ceejay]

Took a gravity sample and stopped sparging at 1.012. I'd collected 24L at 1.045 (Temp corrected), so I'm waaaay over my preboil gravity. That would be because I'm still calculating my brewhouse efficiency at 69% at the end of the boil. Acheived 92% preboil efficiency, which is my highest yet. I can only think that would be down to mash pH, due to the darker brew. I've liquored back a bit to get 30L in the kettle at 1.030, which is 2 points over my target preboil gravity.

Had another taste. Cor! It's super smooth and creamy, almost like a caramel latte! Just how I wanted it to be. A fair bit darker than anticipated too; I think my chocolate malt is much darker than my recipe calc.




Just coming up to the boil now. Time for a coffee stout methinks. :thumb: :drink:

 

[Good Ed]

Looking good CJ :thumb: I suppose this is a bit like a mild ?

 

[Welsh_Wizard]

Wicked pics and explanations.. :clap:

 

[Ceejay]

Cheers guys. Yes, it's very much like a mild. It's a very rare style (which is kind of why I brewed it). The BJCP guidelines describe it as:

"A luscious, malt-oriented brown ale, with a caramel, dark fruit complexity of malt flavor. May seem somewhat like a smaller version of a sweet stout or a sweet version of a dark mild." :drink:

Coming up to boil:



Hot break secured, 18g EKG in for 60 minute boil. I generally brew with Amrican hops, but smelling these EKGs in the kettle just brings all sorts of memeries back from when I used to brew with my Dad. It's such an awesome aroma!

 

[Tomcat]

looks and sounds fantastic, one to add to the 'to do' list let us know how it turns out :

 

[Ceejay]

Cheers. Well, I got 24 litres at 1.036 into the fermenter. Yeast pitched and it's all tucked up in the fermenting fridge at 19.5C, until it's done. The smell of the yeast out of the smack pack was incredible. I think I'll like this yeast. If I do, I'll make it my house yeast and do all my ales with it :thumb:

The wort transfer:




Sample:



In the fridge. Note, I've used a square of jiffy bag to house the temperature probe. Does a good job of monitoring the fermentation temp, instead of the ambient temp.



Obligatory gunge pic, or as I like to call it, "the money shot"



That's all folks. I'm all tidied up already and quite knackered, ready for a roast and a couple of beers. Luckily, I'm not cooking it, which is a bonus!

 

[Ceejay]

Day 3 and it's down to 1.018 already. The sample tastes absolutely delicious; really creamy and mellow. Took the opportunity to top-crop some yeast for my next brew:

 

[nobyipa]

Looking fantastic

Ultra black looking

:hat: :

 

[BillinKC]

Ceejay - I'm impressed with your mild formula and I intend to try it here at my basement brewery. Nice pictures. Did the beer turn out as good as it looks? Your comment - needs more hops...do you mean to increase the hops in a future batch? I see you use Rager IBU calculations. Jackie Rager is a friend of mine here in Kansas City. He and his wife own Bacchus & Barleycorn home brew shop which is the best shop in the area. Jackie is a computer guy with a passion for beer and wine. He got curious years ago about how home brewers could calculate IBUs for their beers. He made a series of beers with ever increasing amounts of hops and compared the Home Brew Units (HBUs) [alpha acid % x ounces] in the beers to laboratory tested IBUs...and he developed his calculations based on the results.

Bill Frazier
Kansas City, USA

 

[iancraig]

Great write-up Ceejay.

I brewed an extract analog of this recipe last night, only without the oats. I'm impressed so far. If turns out well, I'll try it again with the oats.

I'm back in the UK for Christmas, so I'll try to taste a commercial version.

All the best,

Ian

 

[Ceejay]

Cheers guys. Wow, Jackie Rager eh? That's awesome! It's not quite done yet, but I have tested a couple of samples and its really, really good. Mellow, chocolately, slightly raisiny and velvety smooth.

The "needs more hops" thing is actually my signature. I usually prefer hop forward beers like American Pales, West Coast Red and IPA. Sometimes I think I'm addicted to lupulin! :drink: