AMyd666 Brewday

[AMyd666]

Hi All

AG#3 Coffee, Chocolate, Bourbon Imperial Stout. 10 litres.

2000g Pale Malt
200g Maris Otter
250g Munich Malt
200g Chocolate Malt *
200g Roasted Barley *
200g Crystal Malt *
1000g Wheat DME
250g Lactose
75g Dark Chocolate 95% Cocoa

Mashed the first three in 8 litres of water at 68°C for 90 minutes.
Steeped * in 2 litres of water at 40°C for 30 minutes and then drained the bag, but not squeezed. In this pot once cooled, I infused 50g of freshly ground dark roast coffee in a cotton bag for 30 minutes, again drained not squeezed.

I then placed the mash bag in a colander over the boil kettle and sparged with 4 litres of 78°C water for close to an hour, slowly pouring a jug at a time and stirring the mash bag every now and then (PITA!). Left colander and bag sat on another pot.

Brought the wort to a boil and added 50g EKG at 90 minutes. At boil end I added the steeped grains/coffee, the DME, the chocolate and lactose, giving all a good stir.

Chilled to 40°C and pitched 11g CML Kveik Voss. It's now wrapped in a yoga mat and pillows. I'm excited to see how the Kveik goes as this is my first time using it!

OG = 1.092.

I'll add 100g of Tennesee Bourbon Oak Chips (from Still Spirits) in a hop bag after fermentation and will taste test over a few days.

For sh*ts and giggles: I noticed I had about 1 litre of run off from the mash and approx 100ml steepings, so I combined them, added my trial jar contents from the first brew, then squeezed the utter sh*t out the mash bag to get 2 litres. Boiled this for 20 mins with a small handful of used hop mush, then topped up to 3 litres.
Pitched a wee amount of MJ M42 New World Strong Ale Yeast at 20°C. OG = 1.032.
See how this brown ale goes!

 

[AMyd666]

Hi guys, help me out here please. Is this a pellicle, or a yeast raft on my beer? That's a week in the FV now. Trial jar sample say the gravity is 1.030, which points to 8.3% ABV. Tasted nice enough, so I don't think it's infected.
Thought kveik was meant to clean up sooner too?

 

[cushyno]

Looks like a healthy head of yeast to me.

 

[AMyd666]

Agreed . I expected the Kveik to clear up quickly, hence my doubts (impatience too!). Maybe it's slower as this is a stronger beer?

 

[AMyd666]

That's another week past and it appears that the yeast cake solidified into a crust of sorts. I gave the FV a shake, which broke up most of it, although there are parts about an inch wide that are still floating. Hmm . Still smells nice though.
Has anyone had a solid layer on top before?

 

[AMyd666]

What do you think? Ignore the hop bag. This could be a PITA when bottling.

 

[AMyd666]

FG = 1.032, equals an ABV of 8%. Lost efficiency again, but practice makes perfect. Hopefully I'll see an improvement once I get my Robobrew-brewzilla-microbrewery.
The 100g Tennesee Bourbon Barrel Oak Chips have been in for a week now, but need a bit longer. Maybe another week, then I'll add 50ml good vanilla essence in at bottling stage and then store until Xmas.

 

[AMyd666]

Brew No. 10.

Pimped a Mad Millie Lager Kit to I what think will be more like a Pale Ale: -

2 x 1.3kg pouches of hopped LME.
100g Munich Malt - steeped in 67°C water with 500g light DME, then brought to the boil for 30 minutes.
10g Cascade at start of boil.
Combined in the FV and topped up to 20 litres.
OG via refractometer = 1.047.
5g CML Kveik Voss rehydrated added at 26°C, as I want to promote the more orangey flavours. First time trying at a lower temperature.
Should work out around 5% ABV.
Will dry hop after a week with 40g Cascade for four days, then bottle.

 

[AMyd666]

View attachment 29711

What do you think? Ignore the hop bag. This could be a PITA when bottling.

Well that's 15 x 500ml bottles sorted, but I forgot about the vanilla extract
Lovely chocolate and bourbon aroma.
Lots of bits floating about and those little yeast rafts clogged the tap.
Leave them for a few months now.

 

[AMyd666]

Brew No. 10.

Pimped a Mad Millie Lager Kit to I what think will be more like a Pale Ale: -

2 x 1.3kg pouches of hopped LME.
100g Munich Malt - steeped in 67°C water with 500g light DME, then brought to the boil for 30 minutes.
10g Cascade at start of boil.
Combined in the FV and topped up to 20 litres.
OG via refractometer = 1.047.
5g CML Kveik Voss rehydrated added at 26°C, as I want to promote the more orangey flavours. First time trying at a lower temperature.
Should work out around 5% ABV.
Will dry hop after a week with 40g Cascade for four days, then bottle.

Took a reading today: 1.018. Not quite there yet after a week fermenting. Leave it another week yet.
Note: kveik takes time at 22°C.
I'll add a hop tea instead later this week methinks.

 

[AMyd666]

For sh*ts and giggles: I noticed I had about 1 litre of run off from the mash and approx 100ml steepings, so I combined them, added my trial jar contents from the first brew, then squeezed the utter sh*t out the mash bag to get 2 litres. Boiled this for 20 mins with a small handful of used hop mush, then topped up to 3 litres.
Pitched a wee amount of MJ M42 New World Strong Ale Yeast at 20°C. OG = 1.032.
See how this brown ale goes!

Drinking what is now an unspectacular, low abv brown ale at four weeks old. Plenty of carbonation, but low on taste. Kind of like a black lager to be honest but will be pleasant on a hot day. An interesting on the hoof experiment for a second runnings brew!

 

[GerritT]

Your batches al always 10 L?

 

[AMyd666]

Hi GerritT. Yes since I moved to AG; it's a PITA dealing with the grain bag as it is, let alone for any larger batch! Bottling time is a wee bit quicker too.
However that should change once my Robobrew-brewzilla-microbrewery arrives!
What about you?

 

[GerritT]

16 L, and since I tend to brew for less ABV the grain bag tends to be more manageable. I have looked into the all-in-one brewmachines, but somehow my trusty 20 L pot still suffices. I tried my hand on 10 L batches (started out with the 4 L Brooklyn Brewshop set) but 16 L is easier calculating with hops and stuff. And it's exactly 2 crates, so that's something.
Part of your recipes is still extract (nothing wrong with that!), any particular reason for that?

 

[AMyd666]

Just to boost the abv on this one without the faff of extra grain. My other stout and Californian Common were both 12 litre AG. I've got a 15l pot and 7 litre pot with mash bag, which was fine enough in itself, but hated the sparge/ squeeze cycle. I put a lot of thought and research into doing my own two pot stack/sparge system like cerbera84 posted but again too much faff. Same with the coolbox mash tun idea. I realise that I'm lucky I can get the Robobrew though. One system, with a smaller footprint had me sold after watching a few videos.

 

[GerritT]

It took me a bit of convincing to get the 20 L pot into the house, a robobrew would be impossible! But yeah, easy upping the gravity with extract, works like a charm. If you have either to wiggle 5 wet kilos of grain around, or 3 kilos with a few pounds of extract, the choice is easy. And the occasional heavier brews come within range, in a few months it'll be Christmas and more demand for heavier brews.
But a robobrew (there seem to be 4 different names for the same machine) has a capacity of at least 30 L, are you also gonna keg, or bottle it, of just use it for 10 L brews?

 

[AMyd666]

I've ordered the 35l unit to give me flexibility in volume. My Cali Common was exhausted in a blink so I might do a few more 20 litre batches! I'll still do small batches for stronger brews like RIS though. I currently use PET bottles and 5l party kegs with the Party Star CO2 tap. Will invest in more bottles as I can see me brewing more frequently.
I just wear down the wife by incessantly boring her about beer stuff
I'd like to force carb via a proper keg but I'd have to bore a lot more!
Have you thought about kegging, in their different guises?

 

[GerritT]

Kegging: I understand the plus side, but it's inconvenient here. No extra fridge, no extra storage space, bottles is the only realistic way. But I don't really mind, cleaning and filling is all part of the game, and as long as there are no calamities it's quite zen actually. I guess I have now about 150 fliptops.
If you're ordering via Aliexpres, it might be smart to order some spare electronics for a few bob, if anything shorts it's easily replacable. That's the tip that I got back when I mentioned that I was into homebrewing, not sure whether the spare parts for your device are of the kind that need replacing often, or can be purchased easily online.

 

[AMyd666]

Good tip thanks. Angel Homebrew have all the replacement parts and circuits so should be sorted

 

[AMyd666]

Measured the gravity of the pimped Mad Millie kit and it's now at 1.010. Now hop tea time. 40g of Cascade into 500ml of 76°C water and left for 30 mins to cool. Poured through my filtered funnel, then gave the closed FV a shoogle to mix it up.
Tell you what though, that FV has been gurgling away constantly for the last few hours. I've never even heard it fart once throughout the entire fermentation until this point!
It's been a slow week and a half at the 22°C to 26°C range, with only an inch krausen early doors overnight, cos I never even saw that, just the tide line afterwards.
Surely it must be near the end now?

Another point about the Kveik; it's not clearing. I reckon this'll be a hazy pale. The trial jar samples have shown a pleasant fruity hit, almost orange, so the lower fermentation temp is proving what they say about Voss.