Anna's Brewdays

[Pennine]

Time to be a bit more organised about my brewing schedule this year. I need to extract the digit and get on with some brews for competition as well.
My thinking is
January:
Clementine & Passion fruit Gose : done before and would like to tweak a little. Will also use the Heritage grain I’m due to collect.
A larger batch of my Core-F lager with a bit more bitterness, a 60litre single batch. This can cold condition in the back garage so won’t tie up my temperature controlled fridge - need to get this on first.so need to order the extra pale MO for it.

February
I’d like to make a Belgian Dubbel having never made one before it’s worth a go. I’m away some of Feb working so probably just plan a single brew.

March
A juicy NEIPA - has to be done , always good to have on tap. Is a ‘precious flower’ of a beer so will need lots of attention for about 3 weeks.
I’d like to try to squeeze in another go at Tribute, but also want to make a beer that showcases the Heritage malt…. Either my Perle pilsner, or ‘Twinnie’ the Bohemian Pilsner I’ve done before.

April
Likely to have no spare kegs based on the above, so let’s make this a packaging month and try to clear out as much as possible.
Also keen to try to set up a cask style beer pull, probably the time to do so if I’ve managed to make some Tribute.

May
Coming into Summer - time for a user upper aiming for an English IPA style.

That’ll do for now, let’s see if I can remotely stick to this!

Are you thinking a beer engine or a rigged pump for the pull?

 

[DocAnna]

I need a new word for that feeling of 'annoyance/disappointment/vague hope' that accompanies planning just that wee bit too late for a brew day and discovering you are just a few ingredients short but you might just have time for an order to be delivered. How about contemaltplation, or apprebrewhension .. either way not as organised as I should be.

I chanced an order with Ben @KegThat last night since he has some really super good prices on malt at the moment. I normally prefer to order whole malts but since these are for use almost straight away, I reckoned premilled grain was ok. I did though find a couple of wine kits I was planning a side by side test of sorbate/no sorbate which I never got round to. So I'm going to put both kits in one fermenter (the 60 litre one) and use half quantities of all the chemicals instead, and do closed transfers for racking as well.

 

[DocAnna]

Are you thinking a beer engine or a rigged pump for the pull?

Oh I'm thinking full on beer engine with a quarter pint piston pull

 

[Buffers brewery]

I need a new word for that feeling of 'annoyance/disappointment/vague hope' that accompanies planning just that wee bit too late for a brew day and discovering you are just a few ingredients short but you might just have time for an order to be delivered. How about contemaltplation, or apprebrewhension .. either way not as organised as I should be.

Annabollockastic?

 

[DocAnna]

Annabollockastic?

Hmm... not sure b0llocks quite applies , I am though really quite impressed by both Ben @KegThat and Hamstead brewing who have both sent me dispatch notices already with delivery expected for today or tomorrow! I like the 'WoblyGob' cider kits that Hamstead make themselves and have had very good results with them in the last few years.

If Ben's dispatch turns up on time then it won't quite have the romance of glass slippers but I will get to go for the brew day after all . I might might just even consider a double brew day but that's dangerous thinking, particularly as I'm making double batches. Oh hmm, might not have enough fermenters to do that, and temperature control is difficult for that many at this time of year. Ok just the one split batch then.

A x

 

[Brewnaldo]

Homebrewing is a very fortunate community in that we are well served by some genuinely good companies and people who really make the effort.

I had cause to email GEB with a problem this afternoon. Someone was on the phone about 10 minutes after I sent it and had resolved the matter.

Perhaps it's subliminal that you perform above in beyond when you find yourself in a role that affects the supply chain of beer....

 

[DocAnna]

Back from work at the hospital tonight ... to find a lovely @KegThat parcel waiting for me..... brilliant . CML came through with some extra hops. I now have all the ingredients for making both batches.... ooo a double brew day is awfully tempting!

 

[DocAnna]

First up today is a double batch base beer for my sours that has a hefty wheat and oat addition to the base barley. I’m using MO this time rather than Pop’s Pale ale malt this time just because it’s what I had but it’s going to be interesting if it makes any difference to the taste.

Not anywhere near where I want to be on timing as I had hoped to have the mash done by the time I got back from dropping my daughter off at a school thing today. Sadly it took so long to heat up I wasn’t even close and so only now getting up to the boil.

On my quest for the best way to infuse hops I’m using my new hop spider with the wider mesh (Christmas present to myself ). The tea balls AKA the ‘@Tess Tickle method’ was working ok but I still wasn’t sure I was getting the best out of infusing hops late in the boil.

This recipe doesn’t use much in the way of hops but I thought it was worth a trial run . My last hop spider was in useless, far too fine a mesh and would block quickly. One of the things I like already has s that I can see the boil continuing in the hop spider itself.

 

[DocAnna]

Due to the late start I haven’t tried to do a double brew day which is almost certainly a better idea than stressing myself trying to fit cooking dinner round a brew.

Really chuffed with the numbers SG spot on at 1.043 - though will be higher once I add the fruit purées. Volumes split in two with 46 litres in the two fermenters,

The cold water temperature was a mixed blessing as it took longer to heat everything up but crikey it chilled fast .
Lots of tidying and cleaning too so my brew space feel a bit more ‘me’ again. I’m now celebrating with an appropriately named beer for a successful brew .

 

[Clint]

I've lost my brewing mojo...more house "work" looming. At least its upstairs.

 

[DocAnna]

Since I didn’t get the second brew on today, I’m going to try to prep tionight and put the mash on during the time taken for the church service tomorrow- yep I know hardly a ‘Sunday day of rest’ but this is the Scottish Episcopal church we’re talking about which is entirely pragmatic about such things
My brew space is tidier but still far too messy!

 

[NormanHurst]

Perhaps the sermon will be the miracle of Jesus turning water into a DIPA after a nightmare brewday where he forgot the 2nd hop addition, flooded the garage when trying to attach the chiller and realised last minute he'd run out of StarSan.

 

[DocAnna]

I almost dare not say this … but so far this has been the lowest stress brew day ever .

Last night I measured out both the strike and sparge water, with a smidgeon of metabisulphite. Then first thing this morning, switched on the main boiler to heat to strike temp. Up and a leisurely breakfast, mash in just before heading out to church, then after a drive to pick up my youngest from school (more of the training from yesterday). Called my eldest at home to get her to switch the HLT on so I arrived home to all nice and hot ready to sparge.
Getting to the boil too a while but hops all measured out.

And now the least stressful hop stand ever by recirculating through the new hop spider

I managed a quiet lunch with the OH during the boil too! Ok I’ve still to tidy and clean up but there’s not that much mess either. The only slight hitch is that the OYL-111 starter is showing little inclination to settle out but I can wait a bit for that, the time will help to get the wort to a lower pitching temp too.
@NormanHurst - oh it would have to be a stable flooded at this time of year, and particularly for this Sunday, a fourth gift of New World hops along with the usual gold and bits and bobs.

(Apologies if any offence caused to those of a more traditional leaning)

 

[Wynne]

@DocAnna, a couple of questions, if that’s OK. 1.Where did you buy your new hop spider? The mesh on mine is too fine and it clogs up very quickly so is useless. 2. When using a late hopstand, do you reduce the early bittering hop addition? Thanks.

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

I almost dare not say this … but so far this has been the lowest stress brew day ever

Snap with my second go at Rye IPA today!

 

[DocAnna]

Well pride before a fall. Way over on SG at 1.056 over target of 1.046 and volumes under by about 4 litres, hurumph. I'm going to top up with cooled boiled water to make a total of 23 litres and bring the SG down to 1.051. I'm hoping that the SG is not wholly representative since it was the last of the runnings I took the measure from, however the preboil gravity was where I was expecting the post boil to be. I think somewhere my water calculations were off a bit.

@DocAnna, a couple of questions, if that’s OK. 1.Where did you buy your new hop spider? The mesh on mine is too fine and it clogs up very quickly so is useless. 2. When using a late hopstand, do you reduce the early bittering hop addition? Thanks.

I'm using brewfather to estimate the bittering from the hop stand and aiming for 75-80 deg at least at the start of the hop stand, taking the temperature from within the hop spider rather than the temperaure quoted on the boiler since that's from the lowest part of the boiler. The hop spider is a bit of a treat as it's more expensive than most, it's the Mangrove Jacks one AKA Grainfather hop spider Mangrove Jack's Grainfather Hop Spider : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen Amazon are a little less than Maltmiller and since I have Prime, delivery was free. It's worth it in my view, though I also like the tea balls which have the same size of mesh. I'm thinking of using the tea balls for early hop additions and the spider for late but that's maybe just making life complicated for me.

Snap with my second go at Rye IPA today!

Brilliant - I hope you were closer to target SG than I was !

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Well pride before a fall. Way over on SG at 1.056 over target of 1.046 and volumes under by about 4 litres, hurumph. I'm going to top up with cooled boiled water to make a total of 23 litres and bring the SG down to 1.051. I'm hoping that the SG is not wholly representative since it was the last of the runnings I took the measure from, however the preboil gravity was where I was expecting the post boil to be. I think somewhere my water calculations were off a bit.


I'm using brewfather to estimate the bittering from the hop stand and aiming for 75-80 deg at least at the start of the hop stand, taking the temperature from within the hop spider rather than the temperaure quoted on the boiler since that's from the lowest part of the boiler. The hop spider is a bit of a treat as it's more expensive than most, it's the Mangrove Jacks one AKA Grainfather hop spider Mangrove Jack's Grainfather Hop Spider : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen Amazon are a little less than Maltmiller and since I have Prime, delivery was free. It's worth it in my view, though I also like the tea balls which have the same size of mesh. I'm thinking of using the tea balls for early hop additions and the spider for late but that's maybe just making life complicated for me.

Brilliant - I hope you were closer to target SG than I was !

I was 2 points over but 1.4L down. I don't like to faff topping up so I just left it

 

[DocAnna]

Bit of an update and a useful lesson. After top up with about 1.7 litres of boiled water (the max fill line on my kettle!) and letting it stand for a while, the new SG is 1.046, this is way way closer and doesn't fit with it just being a dilutional thing, so the SG I took before from the last of the boiler must have been quite a bit thicker. I'm a much happier little engine now .

 

[Wynne]

Well pride before a fall. Way over on SG at 1.056 over target of 1.046 and volumes under by about 4 litres, hurumph. I'm going to top up with cooled boiled water to make a total of 23 litres and bring the SG down to 1.051. I'm hoping that the SG is not wholly representative since it was the last of the runnings I took the measure from, however the preboil gravity was where I was expecting the post boil to be. I think somewhere my water calculations were off a bit.


I'm using brewfather to estimate the bittering from the hop stand and aiming for 75-80 deg at least at the start of the hop stand, taking the temperature from within the hop spider rather than the temperaure quoted on the boiler since that's from the lowest part of the boiler. The hop spider is a bit of a treat as it's more expensive than most, it's the Mangrove Jacks one AKA Grainfather hop spider Mangrove Jack's Grainfather Hop Spider : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen Amazon are a little less than Maltmiller and since I have Prime, delivery was free. It's worth it in my view, though I also like the tea balls which have the same size of mesh. I'm thinking of using the tea balls for early hop additions and the spider for late but that's maybe just making life complicated for me.

Brilliant - I hope you were closer to target SG than I was !

Thank you @DocAnna.

 

[DocAnna]

Time for the fruit
The two batches of sour beers are 72 hours in so time for the fruity additions
3 litres of Clementine juice and 1.4 litres of passion fruit purée to one, and the other … well that was supposed to be a raspberry and passion fruit sour but OUCH the price of frozen raspberries so instead it has 1.4 litres of pomegranate, 330g raspberries, and 0.6 litres of passion fruit in it.

I’m going to add the corriander and Himalayan salt tea to the Clementine one after fermentation is complete as I don’t want the salt to mess up the attenuation rate.

So yes those are not quite the simplest of beers but I’m hoping they’ll taste good.