Christmas beer.

[PD]

Started one of my Christmas beers off tonight

Robinsons Old Tom from the Wheeler book.
Hoping for about 8-8.5% abv so it needs a fair bit of time to be right.
6.5 Kg of Pale Malt is about the biggest I've done so far...it looks a lot of grain in my bucket... :grin:
Mash started tonight at 67C and I'll do the boil tomorrow morning after its had a good long time in the thermopot.

Hops I've altered slightly from Wheelers suggestions, as I havent got any Whitbread Goldings to hand.
So I'm using 2 additions of EKG split with a Fuggles addition.

Hlt on timer to come on tomorrow morning while I have breakfast.... :clap:

 

[abeyptfc]

nice one B. hope it goes well.

 

[ArmChair]

Hop all goes well :

 

[PD]

HlT has come on and raising the temp of the water while I have a coffee and slice of toast.... :grin:

No pictures today as the daughter has gone on a " Hen Do " to a health Spa and taken her camera ! ( and I noticed 2 big bags of crisps in her bag ! )
because its a fairly big beer and lots of grains, my mash water together with the space under the false bottom came to 25 litres, brewmate says I only need 34 litres of wort before boil so it doesn't give me much room to play with, with mash water.
Have decided to do first batch with around 8 litres and then drain off and see what volume collected, then will probably fly sparge the rest to get to my required amount....

Beautiful morning as well..... :party:

 

[PD]

Mash done and the boil is on.
got around 36 litres in the boiler and 3+ litres left in a jug gravity on that is 1010..... :)

will add the extras to the boil and might boil a bit longer than my normal 60 mins to reduce it a little more.

Smells wonderful.

 

[PD]

all done and chiller on.
most of cleaning up done as I went along, grain dug out and disposed of. FV soaking in sanitiser and yeast starting to bubble in its flask.

Will do the numbers game later re volume and gravity.

 

[PD]

Well i was spot on with my volume and a little down on gravity...lol
ended up with 23Lt. at 1072 ( aimed for 1080)

Hopeful it will still give me an 8% ( depending on final FG )which I'm happy with.. I think I could have got more sugars out of the mash and boiled a bit longer, but hey ho lessons learned.

Sa-04 added and all cleaned up ...time to sit in the sun.

 

[graysalchemy]

Well Done :thumb: :thumb:

Did you get special compensation to brew such an iconic brew that side of the big hill. :whistle:

(I couldn't say a lancashire/yorkshire as it is a cheshire brew technically :lol: :lol: )

 

[PD]

I guess I might have to pay the subsidy in due course........

 

[PD]

4 day into fermentation and the brew has settled down from its vigorous ferment. I've removed the Krausen ring from the Cooper's fermenter and put the lid on completely.
Gravity at the moment is 1026 which is about 6.8% abv with still around a week to go...tastes warming...lol.

 

[mattrickl06]

I am doing my Old Tom this Sunday to be ready for xmas hopefully.

This is what i am going along with - any comments suggestions gratefully received.

Brewer: Matt
Batch Size: 5.28 gal Style: Old Ale (19A)
Boil Size: 8.23 gal Style Guide: BJCP 2008
Color: 46.7 SRM Equipment: My Setup (10 Gal/37.8 L) - All Grain
Bitterness: 35.2 IBUs Boil Time: 90 min
Est OG: 1.080 (19.2° P) Mash Profile: Single Infusion, Full Body
Est FG: 1.016 SG (4.1° P) Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
ABV: 8.5% Taste Rating: 30.0


Ingredients Amount Name Type #
12 lbs 0.2 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 1
1 lbs 1.6 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 2
1 lbs 1.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3
10.6 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 4
1 lbs 1.6 oz Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Grain 5
1.4 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.0%] - Boil 90 min Hops 6
0.9 oz Styrian Goldings [5.4%] - Boil 90 min Hops 7
1.00 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15 min) Misc 8
0.9 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.0%] - Boil 10 min Hops 9
1 pkgs Trappist High Gravity (Wyeast Labs #3787) Yeast 10

 

[PD]

:thumb: seems ok, although I've gone off Black Malt as apart from the color I don't think it contributes much to a beer imho.
the color can be adjusted with crystal or Roasted barley much more beneficially.

 

[PD]

Had a quick LOOK ( no taste cos I'm strong willed ! ) at this brew today, 10 days into the ferment and has gravity reading of 1020 ( so approx abv of 7.6% so far )
Its settled down and fermenting nicely at a temp of 18C. Smells very nice indeed.
Still got a fair way to go fingers crossed. I'll leave well alone now for another week when I might just be temped into a taste....

On the down side I've still got around 20 small Budweiser bottles to get... even son is finding it hard.

 

[graysalchemy]

LAst time I was in Pizza Hut people seemed to be drinking it in abundance, may be worth a look. They also stock Magners as well. :thumb: :thumb:

 

[mattrickl06]

I got SG of 1072 too - 21.5 litres though as i scaled down the batch at the last minute to make sure i could fit the grains in the mash-tun.

I took your advice and ditched the black malt and chucked in a bit more chocolate :clap:

Fermentation went mental after 24 hours and blew the airlock out of the FV after getting clogged up overnight.

Agree with you though PD it smells lovely and should make a cracking xmas bevvy!!