Brewnaldos brewday

[Brewnaldo]

After reading this thread I've just been on crossmyloof and bought myself a packet of wallonia, was thinking of brewing a 'sessionable' saison next month.

Precisely what my intentions were. Some others have already shared their experience of the final gravity you might get, but il obviously update with mine since it can make al the difference re how "sessionable" it is. If it comes out tasting half as good as it smells i'll be pretty chuffed!

 

[Brewnaldo]

Now, far be it from me to declare that victory has been snatched from the jaws of an icy defeat, but I took a wee clarity sample of my Pilsner whilst I was out in the garage unashamedly sniffing an airlock.....

I'd say that considering this is 1 week in the keg and unfined, Brewnaldos freeze conditioning* program has been a right touch.

*

 

[Brewnaldo]

The saison has dropped down to about 1.008 since Tuesday. Think it's safe to say it's a strong attenuator then.... Another few days to see where it gets to then a decision to be made re packaging.... I dont have a keg to put it in, but last saison I bottled had a few gushers presumably caused by the diastatic yeast continuing on...

So it's either bottle my kegged lager, bottle the saison with a bottling strain, or buy a new corny.

 

[Brewnaldo]

I think I can now close the loop on the Wallonia attenuation, given that 100% is the most I am likely to get

CML Wallonia a confirmed monster then.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Kegged the Wallonia Saison today. Got a considerable time cold crashing whilst I waited for the keg to be emptied. I think that, and kegging rather than bottling will allow the yeast forward flavours to be more subtle rather proper in your face, which I like in a Saison, but the aim for this one was subtle flavours and summery, back garden drinkability. Somewhat hindered by the insane attenuation.

That's not a problem per se for me, I'm a lager drinker and haply when they are dry, but theres definitely something there re my mash temps and attentiveness thereof that I am going to work on. Side issue, but my next brew I think I will shoot for a higher mash temp and do some work on getting slightly higher FGs. Not because I need or want to, just a trend one way that I want to be sure I can reverse if needed.

 

[Brewnaldo]

First try of the Wallonia Saison. It was designed to be fresh and drinkable. Brewed to a reasonably low OG....

However, whilst the first goal has been accomplished, the monster yeast took it down to 1.000, so we have a very drinkable 6%er

We all know, too well, how that plays.

This is miles nicer than my only previous Saison, which was GH recipe and one I dodnt end up all that keen on.

Really pleased with this.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Another Lager brewday today. A more traditional platform for the CML Hell yeast this time, and the conclusion of my dry yeast tournament.... I think its between CML Hell or 34/70 for the win.

That said, it's not been entirely scientific as I have used different recipes each time, and there are some changes today... Firstly, I am using Lager rather than Pilsner malt. And I am bittering to a slightly higher level than usual because I have felt some recent brews to be lacking in that department. Only up to like low to mid 30s, but I usually shoot for low 20s. But ultimately, the 34/70 was used in a similar brew, and I am excited to be back to Perle hops for the later additions. 20g at 10, 5 and 0 I think today. Magnum at the start.

 

[St00]

I need to try Perle in my standard Bohemian Pilsner recipe. I swap the hops to the same IBU to the original recipe everytime I brew it. I want to try Barbe Rouge and Tettnanger at some point as well.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Well that was fairly uneventful. No issues other than feral children and having to pitch at 20 degrees because I had already rehydrated the yeast and didn't want to take any chances. The ferminator will have it down to 11 in jig time though.

 

[DocAnna]

Well that was fairly uneventful. No issues other than feral children and having to pitch at 20 degrees because I had already rehydrated the yeast and didn't want to take any chances. The ferminator will have it down to 11 in jig time though.

An uneventful brew day is a win in my view - especially if balancing a brew day with the children out of school !

 

[Brewnaldo]

Oh and as a wee bonus addition, having upgraded my WiFi and got a strong signal in the garage I have now ordered a WiFi plug. This will allow me to fill my boiler and treat the water the night before a brew and have it timed to come on and be at strike temp when I get up. Should be a real time-saver for me.

Am I sad, middle aged man now? That's not for me to say, all I know is, this pleases me deeply.

 

[St00]

As a fellow sad middle aged man, that too would please me greatly. The delayed start ability on the Grainfather is one of my favourite features.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Kegged my latest lager a couple of days ago and tried it lastnight. It had more than 2 weeks fermenting and over a week at 0.5 degrees before kegging. This is my CML Hell brew to round out my dry lager yeast sampling.

It has some conditioning to do I think... but the reason for the post now. Well, it got all the way down to 1.004. I wasn't expecting this. Its now, IMO a bit too dry and strong at around 5.9%.

I'm at a bit of a loss here, I just wonder if I maybe used the same FV as the previous Saison and left some yeast around or possibly an infection

It doesn't look infected but on brewday I recall tipping the stored starsan out of the fv but not shaking it about as I usually would.

Let's see how it conditions out, but I'm not filled with hope here. It will be drinkable, but not what I wanted

 

[Brewnaldo]

I have, for the umpteenth time in the last while, ran out of homebrew with nothing even fermenting. A frequent disaster.

Hoping to brew tomorrow and if that is the case, il be filling my boiler, treating the water and setting my fancy wee WiFi plug to heat my water from 0600, for a mash in before the kids go to school.

The Golden Ale that should have been for the August swap

 

[DocAnna]

I have, for the umpteenth time in the last while, ran out of homebrew with nothing even fermenting. A frequent disaster.

I’ve a spare keg of my Naeb’dy Aboot that I could drop off for you if you’d like - I’d appreciate you emptying it for me as I am otherwise going to need to empty a keg down the drain in a few weeks as I need it for beers I have fermenting!

 

[Brewnaldo]

I’ve a spare keg of my Naeb’dy Aboot that I could drop off for you if you’d like - I’d appreciate you emptying it for me as I am otherwise going to need to empty a keg down the drain in a few weeks as I need it for beers I have fermenting!

That's a fantastically generous offer Anna, much appreciated. But unless you are in the vicinity I would be more than happy to come and pick it up given the generosity on show!

No ones ever told me I'd be doing them a favour by drinking beer before

 

[Brewnaldo]

It's 0830, school run in 15 minutes.... My mash is 45 minutes in thanks to my much vaunted wee wifi plug deely. Not only will I get a mash longer than an hour, which should be good for a wee efficiency bump, it will be done before I have usually even filled the boiler. It's a great day

 

[Brewnaldo]

Interesting results (or what I have perceived to be results with a sample size of 1) from the longer mash.

I won't be adjusting grain bills quite yet but the mash after nearly 2 hours was noticably thinner than usual, with a lot more wort left in the boiler when I took the bag out for the spare. This means I will probably have to pour out a good few litres of sparge liquor.

 

[Brewnaldo]

I think, based on the fact that I got a full 23 litres of the Golden Ale across to the fermenter and an OG 2 points better off than BF predicted, I can safely say getting mash on early doors and letting it go 90-120 minutes is good for me.

High hopes for this one, and the beer tucked up/kit cleaned away by 11:59 as a wee bonus.

 

[Brewnaldo]

I know fermentation samples aren't really a great indicator of finished beer, but at the halfway mark, the combination of late addition Harlequin hops and CML Atlantic in this Golden Ale has predicted something approaching pure pineapple juice.