Anna's Brewdays

[Hop_it]

A bit late on the update from this week’s brewing, despite it being a week of annual leave I’ve been really busy out in the garden so haven’t had the opportunity to post. There’s been quite a bit going on so will split up the updates a bit.

The Everything Stout brew day was more eventful than planned and I didn’t manage a double brew day which now seems for the best as I needed my brew fridge for finishing off my lagers.

In the beginning was about 8 kg grain which mashing in was HUGE and left overnight, managed to balance recirculation though and ended up with a thick inky black wort ... oh and a stuck sparge , I feel I’ve now properly qualified on the brewzilla having never had this before - it took about an hour to drain enough, even with adding an extra litre of fluid. I left the mash pipe to drain in the pot I use for sparge water and topped up the boil every half hour or so with any more still draining.

Sadly the other qualification is now my first boil over -just slight though and was after I added the 3kg of LME which was left till the second hour of the boil - Thankfully caught almost immediately but a bit messy. Added protofloc at 10 min before the end of the boil, and an interesting change not to have any aroma or whirlpool hops.

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Finally left with just about the right volume of thick black wort that looked positively gloopy. Sadly the pump had blocked again for cooling so just gave the coil a bit longer. (Seriously thinking about ditching the immersion cooling and switching to a counter flow chiller). Drained into my old Coopers fermenter with the krausen collar since I’ve read too many accounts of stouts overflowing once fermentation is going well. (good job too as it was just a wee bit foamy!)
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OG right where I was hoping at 1.110 and this was a bit warm so it may be just a little higher. This is the most dense black liquid I’ve ever attempted to brew! I’d estimated 75% efficiency for a 1.112 OG which seems pretty good for such a thick mash, I’m sure the overnight mash helped.

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Two 11g packs of Safale US-05 later and it’s tucked up in the office next to the rest of the gasworks, and even with the collar as a precaution I’m still keeping it on a rubber mat! With the stuck sparge, and fitting in other household things in the day a second brew in the day was clearly not going to happen. I had a lot of fun brewing this!

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My home office is kept fairly steady 20-21 deg, with fermentaters typically showing about 22 deg on their stuck on temperature displays. Thanks to @Pennine for the inspiration and recipe to try this. Next is to soak the oak chips and cacao nibs in whisky....

Anna

You may already know it and/or someone else may have already suggested it, but the most effective way to avoid an overflow when the wort comes up to the boil is to stir constantly and spray a fine mist of cold water onto the rising foam. You may have to do it several times, but it does seem to calm things down.
Also worth mentioning is your issue with the blocked pump, and your idea to switch to a counter-flow chiller. It's worth bearing in mind that the same things (grains and hops) that blocked the pump might also block the chiller pipework . . . . . and it will be a lot harder to clean out.

 

[DocAnna]

Put together a label for my definitely not a NEIPA but should have been. Tastes not bad now it's had a few weeks in the keg. Sadly far less left than expected after my son and a couple of friends drained about half the keg while in the back garden last week!

You may already know it and/or someone else may have already suggested it, but the most effective way to avoid an overflow when the wort comes up to the boil is to stir constantly and spray a fine mist of cold water onto the rising foam. You may have to do it several times, but it does seem to calm things down.
Also worth mentioning is your issue with the blocked pump, and your idea to switch to a counter-flow chiller. It's worth bearing in mind that the same things (grains and hops) that blocked the pump might also block the chiller pipework . . . . . and it will be a lot harder to clean out.

Thanks, generally I find the easiest way to avoid a boil over is switch the elements off for 30 secs to let the boil die down and then switch them on again, this does rely on me actually watching while I'm boiling at first - and I was catching up on Facebook at the time of this boil over ...so my own fault!

I'm hoping to fix a helix filter to my outflow aka the @foxy method, before draining through a counterflow chiller to I hope avoid the blocked chiller problem.

Anna

 

[Brewnaldo]

Right onto the whisky, toasted oak and cacao nibs which were mixed together yesterday and already smells a heady deep chocolate and oaked whisky mix, the smell is worth bottling alone:

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The cacao nibs have swollen since first added, I'm a wee bit nervous about using oak chips than cubes and hoping that it doesn't overdo the oak flavour. I'm going to add these after a week top 10 days and hope the aroma won't be blown off in the fermentation, since it is positively mouth watering.

Anna

Keep me in mind if you are looking for bottle swaps when this is ready to go. A big stout, and experimenting with oak, are high on my to do list

 

[DocAnna]

Lots and lots of bottling today , yes I know I have kegs but this is for the cider for my eldest daughter and a bit for me, and the kit ‘Hammer of Thor’ for my son as it was his kit but he never got round to brewing it. Also it’s the big day of trying to force carb in the bottle. A few more photos later but I’ve the protective kit ready - a bit eek.

Also just tasted the Bohemian Pilsner that has finished just a little higher than expected at 1.013 but it tastes really rather yum - a nice 4.6% so I’m looking forward to this for the Summer.

Ok, onwards and deep breath ...

Anna

 

[DocAnna]

Bottles before and after sanitising and covered with clingfilm. Sadly managed to break my bottle washer sort of by pushing a bottle through the plastic bowl, it still works if put in a pyrex jug but it's annoying and I'm upset at being so careless.

 

[DocAnna]

Day 11 for the Everything Good in the World Stout...
Looks like fermentation mostly settled, krausen collar removed yesterday so the head space is a bit less and it's looking a bit cleaner . Tasted, checked OG and added 200g of Maple syrup today. Based on the OG of 1.112, it's now at 1.032 before the maple syrup. Taste wise it's dark rich, chocolate and bonfire toffee, even the few drops tasted have an alcohol warmth that is a bit bonkers, but at the moment it looks to have already reached 10.1% ABV, and that's before the maple syrup and the whisky chocolate concoction.

Speaking of which, the aroma from the whisky is transforming, the chocolate has receded, with a more complex vanilla oak aroma that is intoxicating all of its own .

I'm so happy to have tried making this, I'm just really hoping the yeast has a bit left in it to ferment the added maple syrup, and crikey maybe even carbonate a little. I'm holding off adding the whisky for a couple of days to give the stressed wee beasties a chance to munch on the maple syrup .

Anna

 

[DocAnna]

Came home from work tonight and added the whisky/nibs/oak concoction to the stout, Brix was 14.9 just before adding so had dropped a little despite adding the maple syrup. I'm thinking that the ABV with the whisky added is about 11.4%. Pennine got the FG down a fair bit lower by leaving this a bit longer, I'm a bit doubtful about the US 05 getting there but I'll give it the rest of this week to see what it gets to. I've still to add the cold brewed coffee, more maple syrup and the vanilla at bottling.

So question - do I cold crash the stout before bottling - I've never made a stout before and to be honest it's so inky thick and dark the concept of 'clearing' seems a bit unlikely. However it would be good to drop the yeast out a bit on the basis of taste. I've been stirring it with each addition which I'd hoped it might in part rouse a little more from the yeast.

Anna

 

[Pennine]

Day 11 for the Everything Good in the World Stout...
Looks like fermentation mostly settled, krausen collar removed yesterday so the head space is a bit less and it's looking a bit cleaner . Tasted, checked OG and added 200g of Maple syrup today. Based on the OG of 1.112, it's now at 1.032 before the maple syrup. Taste wise it's dark rich, chocolate and bonfire toffee, even the few drops tasted have an alcohol warmth that is a bit bonkers, but at the moment it looks to have already reached 10.1% ABV, and that's before the maple syrup and the whisky chocolate concoction.
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Speaking of which, the aroma from the whisky is transforming, the chocolate has receded, with a more complex vanilla oak aroma that is intoxicating all of its own .

I'm so happy to have tried making this, I'm just really hoping the yeast has a bit left in it to ferment the added maple syrup, and crikey maybe even carbonate a little. I'm holding off adding the whisky for a couple of days to give the stressed wee beasties a chance to munch on the maple syrup .

Anna

That combination is such and amazing smell.

One note about cold crashing, I am not sure if I wrote it up but I added a bit of F2 yeast to ensure it carbed in the bottle. @strange-steve mentioned a story about his strong stout never carbing and it seemed prudent considering the cost of this recipe.

So you could cold crash and then add yeast at bottling, although I wonder if some flavour compounds may precipitate out in the cold?

 

[DocAnna]

Life has been a bit busy this week and there was that rather nice surprise weekend away last weekend, which does mean I'm a bit behind in my brewing schedule. Sadly I'm too late to enter the lagers into the competition this month, but the Festbier is one of the most delicious things I've yet made, I am so so chuffed with it . It has that lager and noble hop taste with some proper layers and a bit of nuttiness to the flavour. I think it could be even better for at least another week at 0.2 deg which my fridge is set at for the moment. So I'm going to leave it there till I next have a chance to put another brew on. The Bohemian pilsner tastes good too, a clean Czech like lager without being too boring, it could do with a wee bit more bitterness for my taste and I think also needs a bit longer lagering so I'm leaving that in the fridge too. Overall really really pleased with these!

Ok the Everything good in the world stout needs bottled. I've not added the cold brewed coffee yet, which was a bit of a revelation in itself. Crikey that is good stuff and woah so potent punch of caffeine too.

Ok update tomorrow on the stout.

Anna

 

[DocAnna]

Secondary additions for the Everything stout … realised I needed an extra 250ml of whisky as Pennine had added the rest of the bottle with a small bottling volume, also toned down the vanilla further to 70ml. Added 2g of F2 yeast - this is super interesting stufff and I hope it can cope with the fermentation, final brix was 13.4 before priming - though that was with the original 700ml whisky added at secondary.
ignoring the whisky at bottling a simple FG version gives 11.4% alcohol, with the extra and the priming sugar it’s about 12% … eek, maybe a wee bit more.

 

[DocAnna]

Hmm this is just as complex as the one I remember even before bottling. Inky black , rich cocoa, solid stout malt, hint of vanilla, dry oak and whisky warmth. Right now I’m thinking @Pennine is a genius but that may be the affect of the samples I’ve been tasting as I’ve been going along today! Feeling a wee bit light headed already.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Secondary additions for the Everything stout … realised I needed an extra 250ml of whisky as Pennine had added the rest of the bottle with a small bottling volume, also toned down the vanilla further to 70ml. Added 2g of F2 yeast - this is super interesting stufff and I hope it can cope with the fermentation, final brix was 13.4 before priming - though that was with the original 700ml whisky added at secondary.
ignoring the whisky at bottling a simple FG version gives 11.4% alcohol, with the extra and the priming sugar it’s about 12% … eek, maybe a wee bit more.

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I hope it all goes well for you Anna

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Hmm this is just as complex as the one I remember even before bottling. Inky black , rich cocoa, solid stout malt, hint of vanilla, dry oak and whisky warmth. Right now I’m thinking @Pennine is a genius but that may be the affect of the samples I’ve been tasting as I’ve been going along today! Feeling a wee bit light headed already. View attachment 46724

It’s just possible I have the only surviving bottle in the world of the original. Where shall we start the bidding?

 

[Pennine]

Hmm this is just as complex as the one I remember even before bottling. Inky black , rich cocoa, solid stout malt, hint of vanilla, dry oak and whisky warmth. Right now I’m thinking @Pennine is a genius but that may be the affect of the samples I’ve been tasting as I’ve been going along today! Feeling a wee bit light headed already. View attachment 46724

I am pretty sure I am not a genius but occasionally I manage to have a good idea. I noticed that too how much it changes every time I drank it. I actually liked it best right out of the fermenter I felt the cocoa was the most prominent then. Are you going to try one once a month? I would love to hear how it evolves.

 

[Pennine]

It’s just possible I have the only surviving bottle in the world of the original. Where shall we start the bidding?

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You saving it for Christmas?

 

[foxbat]

It’s just possible I have the only surviving bottle in the world of the original. Where shall we start the bidding?

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Once you've tasted it all thoughts of selling rapidly turn into thoughts of brewing.

 

[DocAnna]

Well yesterday was a bit of a marathon, 44 x 330ml bottles and 15 x 500ml bottles of the stout, moved 100 bottles from warm conditioning to cold, racked the Sauvignon for the first time and did tea for the family. Annoyingly and somewhat surprisingly I found I'd run out of 330ml bottles and had to use some of the 500ml ones which for a 12% imperial stout isn't ideal, however I can't change it now.

I am pretty sure I am not a genius but occasionally I manage to have a good idea. I noticed that too how much it changes every time I drank it. I actually liked it best right out of the fermenter I felt the cocoa was the most prominent then. Are you going to try one once a month? I would love to hear how it evolves.

That's a really good idea, I think I might open and reseal one of the 500's under CO2 pressure for tasting a little each month, though I'm not planning on trying any more for about 5 weeks (3 warm and 2 cold). Yesterday I had the last of a dark 9% bitter I made over a year ago and it tasted so much better than in the first few months and I now wish I'd put more aside to save. I'd like to send some of the stout for others to try but would really like to leave that at least a couple of months.

Anna

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

You saving it for Christmas?

Not for Christmas but for a day when it doesn’t matter if I can’t get up in the morning!!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Once you've tasted it all thoughts of selling rapidly turn into thoughts of brewing.

...or sleeping!

I’m fortunate to have received two of these, the first went immediately, this one has been put on a pedestal.

 

[DocAnna]

Eldest son has just texted asking nicely if I can refill his keg.... beginning to realise I need to be a bit more organised with a brew schedule If I'm going to keep him and his friends supplied. Think I might do something reasonable straightforward as well that doesn't need closed transfer, rather than the rather nice beer I made for him last time. Hmm.. I can see a GH recipe perusal coming on .

Anna