Anna's Brewdays

[DocAnna]

Watch out for boil over with the lid part on! It LOVES to do it as soon as your back is turned…

I’ve tweaked the wattage to make sure it doesn’t get there but yes checking regularly!

 

[jof]

I often boil (with my simple kit) using just the 900w element & the lid partially on to save power.
It is a bit of a balancing act to adjust the lid overlap against boil over, especially when you down have any fancy PWM power control (that's fancy variable power)

In fact I have only recently started boiling on the bigger element on sunny days when it can be powered by solar panels.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I know it’s not the done thing to post selfies here. Just about to get to the boil, dancing around the ‘Brewery’ to Måneskin and having adapted my youngest daughter’s headphones to Bluetooth and replaced the padding things … I get my own personal brewery disco at a volume I like with embarrassing the children or worrying about the neighbours!
… back to brewing the prebuilt Brix seems far higher than expected. I think that slow mash has extracted more sugars than expected.
Based on the HW course and the boil module - I am boiling with the lid partly on giving me a far more vigorous boil at half the wattage = happy Anna . This will give me the temperature effect needed from the boil, will clear the volatiles and is more efficient- in other words yummy stuff.
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I do the same, retain heat but allow venting. Sometimes brewing outdoors it’s the only way to get a good boil on.

 

[dave_77]

I notice you have the Grainfather electric Mill. How are you finding it?
I like the fact it has numbered adjustment, worth the money?

 

[Agentgonzo]

For the Dubbel later this week though I will go for a considerably higher strike temperature as I want to avoid those pesky beta amylases chopping up the dextrins and drying out the taste.

Aren't dubbels generally very "digestible" (ie highly attenuated)?

and even some of the 'low temperature' enzymes can work pretty fast. I'm frequently surprised how fast the wort starts getting sweet even at 40-50 degrees.

Can you remember doing that experiment in school where you chewed a bit of bread for about 30-60s and it started to become sweet due to the saliviry amylase operating in the 30° range?

I am boiling with the lid partly on giving me a far more vigorous boil at half the wattage = happy Anna

I've been doing this for a while now. Happy with the reduced electricity bill and the fact that my utility room doesn't turn into a sauna! Though it ruffled some feathers

 

[DocAnna]

Sort of regretting the selfie in the heat of the moment, my hair was a mess, smiling squint in a sort of awkward way and hardly any makeup... sheesh you can tell I'm a wee bit older than the social selfie generation... ho hum. Right beer is tucked up in the fridge at a cool 9°C, I will let it rise to about 11 over the next day. 1.050 so a smidgeon over target but efficiency about 5% over expected as my boil off volume was lower.

I notice you have the Grainfather electric Mill. How are you finding it?
I like the fact it has numbered adjustment, worth the money?

I love it if for two main reasons, it's no fuss ie no dust, works without lots of maintenance, and it can merrily chew through whatever I through at it. Secondly it means I can buy and stock whole grains which have a much better shelf life than premilled grain and take up lots of less space. It does though benefit from the technical addition of an A4 sheet of paper in the hopper so I can pour grain in without it spilling over the back of it.

Aren't dubbels generally very "digestible" (ie highly attenuated)?

Yes but more body and residual sweetness than a lager! Given that the beer I've just made has come out at a lot higher efficiency, I want to preserve some of that body. (sounds like my constant efforts not to look my age!)

 

[jof]

Difficult call with the selfie.
Why not go back & edit the post to remove it.

On one hand it's nice to see normal people doing stuff.
But on the other it's got your picture directly linked to your user.
(At the museum where I volunteer, we avoid naming the people that appear in the pictures)

 

[Brew_DD2]

Sort of regretting the selfie in the heat of the moment, my hair was a mess, smiling squint in a sort of awkward way and hardly any makeup... sheesh you can tell I'm a wee bit older than the social selfie generation... ho hum.

Havers! You do you. Good to see you back on the brewing wagon. I had a fairly lengthy stint out myself (no particular reason, just life getting in the way), but it can be quite invigorating.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Can it mill corn?

 

[dad_of_jon]

I wouldn't fret about the selfie you look deep in study. - My last photo taken for an ID badge looked like someone had unexpectedly shoved a pineapple up where the sun doesn't shine. I did point this out to security they said not to worry , we'll put a pinapple to one side in case someone queries your ID.

I need to get brewing as well, a return to work and hols i've not put one on for almost 2 months and I have a goodrich brewery beer garden open tap day in June

 

[MashBag]

Watch out for boil over with the lid part on! It LOVES to do it as soon as your back is turned…

Welcome back Anna.

The selfie is your choice alone. Very studious

If you are using a extractor to manage the steam. Get a lid that stops the boil over.

Full power. Pop the lid on. Walk away knowing it won't boil over.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

I think your selfie looks great - exactly the way I imagine you

 

[DocAnna]

Second brewday of the week A Dubbel - which started off being v2 of my previous Dubbel but I’ve tweaked so much that it’s going to be quite different. I milled the grain yesterday so had the water in to heat earlier this morning and now on for a stepped mash. Ignore my comment from earlier in the week about going in warmer with the strike water. After I’d read my notes you are absolutely right @Agentgonzo - so this is getting a slow stepped mash starting with a protein rest.
I do love the colour of this mash, a burnished gold . Photo to show the difference in core mash and water temperature. I’m not recirculating at this step so as not to warm the mash further.

 

[DocAnna]

1kg of Dark muscovado sugar added - I changed my mind to add it at the start of the boil and it smells heavenly. Given the colour and strength this is heading into Trippel territory .

 

[DocAnna]

Well that was a more eventful brewday than I'd have liked... again . I really have to find a way to mount my chiller as twice the pipes dislodged spraying warm sticky wort over the floor and lot else. The boil with the lid though compensated for the volume loss, but did mean the OG was a teeny bit under at 1.070. (using the small colourful hydrometer as my big accurate one only goes up to 1.060.

It’s a lovely colour though .

The lager has been taken out of its chilly 10 deg and will be at garage ambient for a week 12 to 13°C, and the fermenting fridge swapped round to keeping warm the dubbel. Interesting tasting the wort from the sample tube, first time I've genuinely though hmmm that's nice on it's own .

Observations today... my brew space is a mess!! Agghhh bikes and all sorts have gradually inveigled their way back into my space, I knocked things over and had to mop the floor twice! I also find the full clean up a right royal pain. It is done though now, and I'm going to take the rest of the day a bit easier

 

[Buffers brewery]

Sounds like you need another fridge doc. According to a recent thread, five (including "domestic" fridges) is the magic number .

 

[DocAnna]

Sounds like you need another fridge doc. According to a recent thread, five (including "domestic" fridges) is the magic number .

Oh dear... we already have 5 , one in the kitchen, one in the garage that is sort of overflow and for my eldest daughter to use as she cooks for herself at the weekend, and two for my brewing - one a kegerator, and one as a fermentation fridge. It will fit two 30-35 litre fermenters but I'm using the newer 60 litre fermenters which is just one at a time!

EDIT - just realised that’s only 4…doh… I was counting the freezer in the garage too!

 

[MashBag]

Did you miss the thread on freezers... 5 seems to be bang on the money!

 

[Buffers brewery]

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/bought-myself-an-easter-present.104645/

No pressure

 

[RoomWithABrew]

If it's cold weather you only need controller and heat belt.