Andrew's brew days

[Ajhutch]

My wife was out tonight so I took the opportunity to brew. When sorting my equipment I couldn't find my grain bag, so abandoned my usual no sparge BIAB method for a more traditional approach. I mashed in my boil kettle, heated sparge water on the stove and ran off into an FV. It made for a slow brew day as the wort took a long time to come to the boil after all that messing around. But I improved my efficiency, which had been awful recently up to around 71% which is positive. I'm looking to have a go to drink out of this batch as well as trying out Hallertauer Blanc for the first time.

2kg Maris Otter
1kg Munich
500g Flaked Rye
300g Crystal 60
200g Crystal 90

Mashed for 1 hour and 47 minutes (kids tea, bath and bedtime and a quick dinner for me) at 66-68C. Mash out at 75C and a batch sparge. Being the first time I've done this I ran very slowly.

60 minute boil with the following additions:

8g Magnum @60 mins
Irish Moss @10 mins
25g Hallertauer Blanc @5 mins
25g Hallertauer Blanc @0 mins

Pitching US05 and dry hopping with more Hallertauer Blanc after fermentation is complete.

17 litres into the FV at 1.050. This is 71% efficiency, I did the recipe at 65% which expected 16 litres at 1.048


I have to say the sparge method was slower than my normal brew day of course but in many ways more enjoyable, there's more involvement and it was quite hands on. I've got the clearest wort I've ever made, which I suspect is something to do with the method, and I feel like I'm back on track after a couple of pretty ordinary brew days from an efficiency and mistakes perspective. Fingers crossed I get a nice clean ferment as I feel good about this beer.


Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkView attachment 11677

 

[BeerCat]

Looks good, a German style lager ale. Don't worry about your efficiency, mine used to be lousy

 

[Zephyr259]

Sounds really tasty with the munich and crystal malts, what was the idea behind this brew? I'm interested in trying out Hallertauer Blanc as well, looking forward to hearing how this comes out.

 

[Ajhutch]

The grain bill is pretty similar to the Brewing Classic Styles recipe for American amber. I added the rye because I like it, no more reason than that! The hop is supposed to be quite new world-y, I had considered a Belgian IPA for it but that's just going to slip too far down the brew list so I decided to use it in this one. Fermentation is off and running nicely, I started it cool and will let it rise.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Duxuk]

I've used Hallertauer Blanc many times. I wasn't too impressed with it as a late/flameout hop because it is lightly flavoured. As a dry hop I have found 50g in a 23l brew really enhances the high %AA hops such as Citra and especially Chinook. A typical brew for me might be Maris otter with 250g crystal to give 23l @ OG1050. I'll bitter with whatever hop I have and wait until flameout, cool to 80C and add 100g of Chinook. Cool, ferment with Nottingham yeast then 50g of HB dry hop for a couple of days before bottling. I've got one bottle of this left from the last time I brewed it. Might have to have that tonight.

 

[Ajhutch]

I've used Hallertauer Blanc many times. I wasn't too impressed with it as a late/flameout hop because it is lightly flavoured. As a dry hop I have found 50g in a 23l brew really enhances the high %AA hops such as Citra and especially Chinook. A typical brew for me might be Maris otter with 250g crystal to give 23l @ OG1050. I'll bitter with whatever hop I have and wait until flameout, cool to 80C and add 100g of Chinook. Cool, ferment with Nottingham yeast then 50g of HB dry hop for a couple of days before bottling. I've got one bottle of this left from the last time I brewed it. Might have to have that tonight.

I tried the first of these last night and I agree with you, it's a pretty lightly flavoured hop. It was a tasty beer and probably technically one of my better efforts but not quite where I was aiming. Given I used it like a new world hop with late, steep and dry hop additions I didn't get a lot of flavour. Good call on blending it, I'll try that one day.

 

[Ajhutch]

Brewed an NEIPA last night. Eukanot, Mosaic and Amarillo hops though most of them will be dry hops as you can imagine. I had a vial of Vermont that was BBE December 2017 so I made a small starter and it seems fine, it's off and running nicely. I got 15 litres at 1.054, mainly pale malt and a little bit of carapils and malted oats. My efficiency was a bit down on my last batch, I think I doughed in too quickly.

 

[Ajhutch]

A rare mid week day time brew today. Going for a Brown Ale of the British persuasion rather than American.

3kg Maris Otter
500g Biscuit malt
500g Crystal 60L
500g Flaked Barley

Mashed at 68C for 75mins

Challenger to 25 IBU for 60mins
25g EKG for 5 mins

CML real ale yeast to be pitched after a no chill.

Mid boil at the moment, hit my pre boil numbers nicely. Aiming for 20 litres at 1.048

 

[Ajhutch]

Today I did an extract lambic style beer inspired by this blog from the Mad Fermentationist https://www.themadfermentationist.com/2015/11/extract-lambic-recipe.html?m=1

He uses maltodextrin to provide the complex sugars that can’t be fermented by standard brewers yeast so providing food for the Brett and Lacto.

I did a 15 litre batch at 1.054. 10 points from maltodextrin and 44 from dry wheat extract (which is a 50/50 mix of wheat and barley). Fermenting with WLP655 Belgian Sour Mix I.

 

[geigercntr]

Nice! I've had a version of that same recipe sat in a glass carboy since start of December. I used 1.5 kg each of wheat and 'light' malt, plus 200g maltodextrin. Pitched US-05 and added some dregs from a selection of funky bottles (1 bottle each of Orval, Boon Mariage Parfait & Little Earth Project 2016 Saison). Over time I've added more dregs. Will probably also add some oak cubes (partly to flavour, but mostly to give the bugs somewhere to hitchhike to I can repitch them in a future mixed fermentation batch)

Took a sample out a couple of days back to test SG (1.016 from 1.061) and it smelled & tasted great, so the recipe works!

One 'issue' with mine was that I think it was going through it's Pediococcus phase, as it was very thick and almost ropey. Hopefully that will pass as the Brett get munching. My biggest issue with sours is my own impatience

I'd be interested to hear how your version turns out

 

[Ajhutch]

AG #19 - Weissbier v2

2kg Weyermann Pale Malt
2kg Weyermann Wheat Malt
100g Acid Malt

60 mins mash at 66C
60 mins boil with Hallertauer to 8 IBU

Nice brewday. My efficiency was the best yet which is pleasing. Today’s mistake was not adjusting my boil off for the warmer air temperature, I had changed my settings after having to dilute a couple of batches post boil in winter. I was wary of over boiling a very light beer, so ended up with 22 litres at 1.044 instead of the targeted 18 litres at 1.046.

Pitched a pretty fresh vial of WLP300 made into a small starter. It’s a slight underpitch according to the Mr Malty calculator and I’m letting it run warm to try and drive the banana ester. We shall see.

 

[Ajhutch]

The other change for today was I used a false bottom in my mash tun / kettle instead of the bazooka. I’d been getting trouble with the bazooka blocking up with break material and hop pellets and then the resultant scraping letting loads of crud through. It looks like it worked pretty well, certainly a huge layer of break spread evenly across the false bottom. I’d hope this would work well with a big pellet flameout addition too if they ended up on top of the break material, I think if the break wasn’t there pellets would get through still.

 

[Ajhutch]

Glad I put this one in the bath in the spare room. I popped in to have a look at it this morning and was greeted with an overpowering banana aroma as I opened the door. It’s gone, well, bananas. Up through the airlock and into the bath. Did a bit of a cleanup but it’s still going so will need to wait until it dies back a bit to clean up properly. No visitors using that bathroom until next weekend fortunately! Next bit of kit I need to set up, a blow off tube!

 

[BeerisGOD]

A rare mid week day time brew today. Going for a Brown Ale of the British persuasion rather than American.

3kg Maris Otter
500g Biscuit malt
500g Crystal 60L
500g Flaked Barley

Mashed at 68C for 75mins

Challenger to 25 IBU for 60mins
25g EKG for 5 mins

CML real ale yeast to be pitched after a no chill.

Mid boil at the moment, hit my pre boil numbers nicely. Aiming for 20 litres at 1.048

How did this one turn out?

 

[Ajhutch]

How did this one turn out?

Pretty nicely. Ended up at 1.048-1.014 I think so right around 4.5%. At first it had quite a pronounced bitterness and what I thought of as an earthy flavour which I think was hop derived. That’s faded out a bit now though so it’s pretty much a malt forward brown ale, plenty of sweetness and a bit of biscuit. I would definitely brew the recipe again.

 

[MrT]

Today I did an extract lambic style beer inspired by this blog from the Mad Fermentationist https://www.themadfermentationist.com/2015/11/extract-lambic-recipe.html?m=1

He uses maltodextrin to provide the complex sugars that can’t be fermented by standard brewers yeast so providing food for the Brett and Lacto.

I did a 15 litre batch at 1.054. 10 points from maltodextrin and 44 from dry wheat extract (which is a 50/50 mix of wheat and barley). Fermenting with WLP655 Belgian Sour Mix I.

How did this one turn out so far? How long are you planning on leaving it? Bottling? Would love to see some pics!

 

[Ajhutch]

How did this one turn out so far? How long are you planning on leaving it? Bottling? Would love to see some pics!

So it’s been about two months in primary in a plastic bucket. That seems to have been fine and for the first month especially it was pretty vigorous so I wasn’t worried about oxygen pickup. I need to find a bit of free time to rack it into DJs. I’ll get some pics up once I’ve done that :thumb:

Edit: I think it will need a long time. There’s a high proportion of maltodextrin which I believe only Brett will eat, so it could be some time. I’m planning to do an annual series of sours for blending with at least some of this, the rest will get different fruits. Wouldn’t imagine I’ll be drinking it within the next year or so, but we’ll see.

 

[BeerisGOD]

I'm looking forward to my next batch. Like you its with East Kent goldings and I may dry hop the rest of the pack

I still remember a well hopped challenger or ekg beer two years ago and I still remember the aroma and flavor. Awesome hops for dry hopping

 

[Manxnorton]

nice thread my pal,
Bri

 

[Ajhutch]

Today I did an extract lambic style beer inspired by this blog from the Mad Fermentationist https://www.themadfermentationist.com/2015/11/extract-lambic-recipe.html?m=1

He uses maltodextrin to provide the complex sugars that can’t be fermented by standard brewers yeast so providing food for the Brett and Lacto.

I did a 15 litre batch at 1.054. 10 points from maltodextrin and 44 from dry wheat extract (which is a 50/50 mix of wheat and barley). Fermenting with WLP655 Belgian Sour Mix I.

After 3 and a half months this is down to 1.008 and the sourness is developing nicely. I racked some into an 11.5 litre plastic carboy, diluting with water down to an effective OG of 1.045 or so. As a bit of an experiment I blended the rest into a DJ: 3.5L of the beer and 1L of organic cloudy apple juice. Both tucked away for the long haul now, but so far so good.