Brewnaldos brewday

[Dorst]

@Dorst

Brewing the recipe you helped me with as we speak. Hit a pre boil gravity of 1.053 which is just above the 1.052 OG you calculated for me.

Hopstand combination smells delightful. Like citrusy sweetshop. Will update once I have finished with actual OG but happy so far.

How did your brewday go? Did you really mean pre-boil gravity? (the gravity after mashing, but before boiling?) In that case you might end up with a higher ABV beer ;-)

 

[Brewnaldo]

How did your brewday go? Did you really mean pre-boil gravity? (the gravity after mashing, but before boiling?) In that case you might end up with a higher ABV beer ;-)

I did! And to add further fuel the fire, what went into the FV was 1.060

 

[Dorst]

That means you have an 86 percent mash efficiency - quite a bit higher than mine. If you really want to get a predictable FG I would advise to look at some brewing software like Brewfather, and dail in your equipment. I think the free version allows you to make up to 10 recipes.

In this case it means that you will have a 6.5 percent ABV beer instead of 5.5. I don't see any big problems there

 

[Brewnaldo]

That means you have an 86 percent mash efficiency - quite a bit higher than mine. If you really want to get a predictable FG I would advise to look at some brewing software like Brewfather, and dail in your equipment. I think the free version allows you to make up to 10 recipes.

In this case it means that you will have a 6.5 percent ABV beer instead of 5.5. I don't see any big problems there

Yeah I dont mind I tend to find I dont want to drink more than 2 or 3 of this style anyway so no worries if it's a bit more bang for buck. I like the slightly stronger end if the scale.

I did consider adding some water in the FV just to eke out another few bottles but decided not to mess with the flavour this time.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Tropical IPA smelling good and not far off FG. It's going to get the full time in the FV though as I have no time to bottle it next week. Dry hopping will happen middle of next week. So far it does taste and smell how I imagined it though.

Next batch of grain ordered for a Heather Ale which will use up the EKG in my freezer making it a cheap brew. Just need to try and find some Bog Myrtle locally....

Lastly, my weissbier. Cracked into that over the last couple of nights and it's good. Firdt one I felt was watery tasting but the Mrs loved it. Remedied that by getting a bit more of the yeast into it. It now has a bit more body and that nice beady banana flavour. Will buy a bottle of Weihenstephaner today for another comparison with the real deal I think but I am haply with it and a bonus that it's ready to drink once carbed.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Tropical IPA bottled lastnight. Looking forward to this one being ready to drink.

Next brew is almost ready to go just need to make a yeast starter. Going for a Heather Ale. Only issue is all the heather round about me is a bit dry looking and it's supposed to be "flowering". Hopefully it still imparts some flavour. Have been unable to locate bog myrtle so will just have to do without that this time

 

[Brewnaldo]

Brewing the Fraoch today.

One observation..... 150 grams of heather is a lot!!! Have stripped the neighbours heather barenof flowers and still need to go back for another 50 grams!!

One question I need help with.... How long should I leave the wort in the boiler for flame out additions to add flavour before transferring to FV for cooling?

 

[Brewnaldo]

Fraoch down to 1.010 after only 4 days for a 6.038% ABV. Despite the warm weather hopefully this means I can knock the heater off and give it a good few days for all the nonsense to settle down to the bottom. Tastes quite nice. I would say more malty than hoppy at this moment and unsire if I can taste the heather itself but we will see.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Brewing a Greg Hughes 60 Shilling today. And as is traditional for my brewday, I have already had a problem. Broke my fermentation jar lastnight so no yeast starter.

Will just have to pitch direct and hope for the best. I am intending this to be less than 4% though so hopefully the yeast will be up to the task. Brewing this as a Father's Day gift for my FIL and feeling less than enthusiastic over it tbh.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Ended up doing two consecutive brews today. 60 followed by Roggenbier.....

The good..... Happy with the performance of my wort chiller. What a time save that was.

The bad.... Welded some proper scorching onto the bottom of my boiler.

Had an absolute mare transferring the Roggenbier. The break material seemed to hang the middle and chased my siphon tube around. Going through a hopfilter into the FV which clogged immediately meaning I had to scrap at it with my spoon to get the liquid through and most of the **** went with it anyway.

Is there a thread on avoiding break material and hops going into the FV because I am at a loss with it.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Quiet couple of week.... Bottled my 60 shilling a few days back and will bottle the Roggenbier tomorrow. Point of interest with that as I am trying Lallemand CBC1 for bottling which I am led to believe will assist clarity. I am also trying to re use one of the wee 5 litre mini kegs I was given.

Next up is a repeat of of my tropical IPA then I am planning to brew a lager at summer temps using either Kveik Oslo or CML Ubbe. Both promise lager performance at ale temps. If anyone has any idea which is better I am all ears but Ubbe at half the price plus free delivery seems like a good place to start.

 

[Brewnaldo]

AG new number 10 for me today and the first time iv really deviated much from a recipe. Iv taken pretty much the grain bill from the GH Mexican Cerveza with Pilsner, Carapils and Maize, and used a Czech lager hop bill of 3 Saaz additions. Also trying to ferment "warm" with CML help yeast to see how clean a lager I can get with no brew fridge. My garage floor will keep it hopefully lower than ambient, currently sitting at 15 degrees. Would be happy to run it at that.

Basically I am aiming for a Heverlee type lager based on nothing g other than knowing it has Maize and Saaz in it.

 

[Brewnaldo]

AG#12 today. Not even sure why I am posting about it really, as this is the first brew I have done where I absolutely cannot be arsed due to a horrendous hangover.

Anyway, it's a lager. First time using Europils malt so I guess we will learn a bit from that, and it will be fermenting at 30+ degrees with WHC Ubbe. Big deal for me with no brew fridge as this would put lager on a year round schedule.

As an aside, my last brew with CML hell came out pretty clean tasting and it ran about 15 to 16 degrees the whole way.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Been a wee while my my usual standards. Brewing a wa-iti hopped lager today using europils, munich, northern brewer for bittering and 100g of wa-iti late in the boil.

Ubbe yeast which turned out a pretty good lager last time round.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Brewed another pilsner the other day, CML Hell yeast, which after 3 days had shown no airlock activity, so I took a sample and it indeed had not moved.

However, once indoors the sample jar started fermenting away nicely.

To remedy this I have run the temp up to 19.5 from 15, and stirred the yeast up. There must have been some yeast in the mix but when I took the lid off, it looked like lots of it was still sitting on top of the foam that hadnt really fallen back.

Obviously I will continue to monitor but can someone just let me know, have i done right to get it moving?

 

[Brewnaldo]

Got 2 batches of grain waiting to brew and just ordered another 3 in preparation of a long few weeks coming up, and homebrew shops getting busy again

 

[Brewnaldo]

Not really used this thread much of late but allow me to vent over my current brew. A czech pilsner in my pressure FV which so far; has lost all pressure, has suffered a heater failure and is now at 2 degrees, has so much trub in it that the inlet to the collection bottle is choked solid, and I have no gas bulbs so cant even sample it to see if it's at least finished so I can allow it to cold crash and try to carb it in the keg.

What a disaster this has been. Really need to get a big gas bottle and get these FV leaks run down. But also going to have to consider a different heating solution. This just isnt good enough currently.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Just to follow this up with better news, I managed to get a sample with the turkey baster and it's at 1.008! That's after about 4 days at 14 degrees with MJ Bohemian Pilsner dry yeast. I am amazed at it going that fast. Means ince my CO2 bulbs arrive tomorrow I can fire it across to the keg and start it clearing/carbing. The yeast has let me off with one here.

 

[Brewnaldo]

For no other reason than to record my nightshift addled thougts really.... I have just ordered a grain kit from GEB to formulate my own recipe for an APA type deal. Pale and Vienna malt, varying random quantities of Tomohawk, Azacca, Amarillo and Galaxy from which I will formulate a hop bill. I need to learn how to do this so I used a hop profile sheet ot pick things that on the face of it, probably cant fail to produce some sort of tropical deliciousness. Just need to be very careful with bitterness after my **** up with the Amarillo Single Hop.... Loads of 80 degree and dry hop with just the tomahawk for bittering and maybe small late additions

 

[Brewnaldo]

Lager brewday today. Some big changes to my brewday, with today marking the start of much more rigorous note taking, and actually making some attempts to calculate things like efficiency, which incidentally has come out at 70%. Calculated both for the mash itself, and for the pre boil collected volume of wort.

Also following on from what I think was DMS in my last lager, I will boil this one down strong and liquor back if needed as I believe a good long boil is what I need.

Previous Helles style lagers have been maybe a touch hoppy for the style so I am down to 40g bittering and 25g flavour at 10 mins, both Mittelfruh. CML Hell yeast into the pressure FV and will once again try to run it at 15 or 16 degrees then finish off up at 18 a week or so later.