Clibit Brewday

[pluckthechicken]

Haha yes, I've been starting to think that! I quite like brewing an APA but I think I've developed some bad habits with them. Time to sort out my best bitters and such... I'll give 21 a try :)

 

[clibit]

Haha yes, I've been starting to think that! I quite like brewing an APA but I think I've developed some bad habits with them. Time to sort out my best bitters and such... I'll give 21 a try :)

Whitelabs says 18-21C, but looking on brewing forums most people seem to reckon 20C is ideal.

 

[clibit]

Bottled the Citra demijohn today, after 5 days in the fridge - it's beautifully clear. Managed to get about 4.6 litres into various size bottles. Tasted good. :thumb:

 

[pluckthechicken]

Good work, need to get my hands on some citra, I've heard too many good things about them. What do you reckon on cararye? I'm just crashing an american amber which had a healthy dose of cararye but never used it before. Does the rye flavour come through?

 

[clibit]

I use British crystal rye, and I really like it, in pale and dark beers. What do you mean by a healthy dose?

 

[clibit]

Having varied the hops this time, I may split my next brew after the boil - make a full SmaSH batch and use the same hops in the boil and then vary the malts by using steeping grains to create three or four different brews that use the same hop(s).

Maybe end up with a pale ale, a brown or red ale, a porter and a stout. Add crystal or caramalt to one, crystal
/choc to another, crystal rye/Roast barley/black/roasted rye to another, that kind of thing.

Probably use an American hop like Chinook, Centennial, Simcoe or Columbus, all hops with good bitterness and flavour that should work well in all the styles involved. I also have Admiral and Challenger that would be worth trying in this. I need to work on the malt profiles first, it's time to search through my recipe database for likely suspects...

 

[pluckthechicken]

I use British crystal rye, and I really like it, in pale and dark beers. What do you mean by a healthy dose?

I think my cararye is weyermann, so I guess its German. I used it in 8% of grist, mostly based on its SRM contribution. I have no experience with rye so wondered how much flavour would carry. Did I overshoot?

 

[clibit]

I think 8% will provide plenty of flavour, it is a good amount.

 

[clibit]

Having tasted the English hops version of this brew after a week in the bottle, and been disappointed, I last night tried a bottle of the batch I adapted into a brown ale by adding pale chocolate and Crystal rye. And it is lovely. I'm pretty sure the pale chocolate is making a significant difference, and has a lovely, smooth flavour. I've not used it before. And the Cluster hops work really well in this beer. I'm going to be patient with these brews, but I may try to adapt the other three by rebottling them and adding some fresh wort using roast grains. Faffy, but will do it if I'm not happy with the beers as they are.

 

[Tony1951]

I'm coming around to the conclusion that there is a lot to be said for making these smaller brews like clibit is doing. If you make four and a half or five gallons of a brew you really don't like, there is a lot of nose holding to do as they get drunk. I'm thinking I should settle on a small range of recipes I really like with hops I can be sure I will enjoy and let the rest go hang...

 

[clibit]

Small batches of new recipes, larger batches of previous brews that have gone down well, perhaps? I don't drink enough to make full batches, and I like variety. And I always want to try new things.

 

[Covrich]

I wonder why they are disappointing? when I started out AG I made up a small batch with just bits and pieces (as a way to try getting my efficiency up) Mine had mostly munich malt in.. not munich larger malt I think anyway. I assume its possibly just the brand.

Could it be the grain is just a bit boring? Orit could be the opposite, The munic malt I used was pretty powerful in maltiness.

 

[clibit]

It was only one bottle after a week, and wasn't very carbonated. I decided to hold off for a while. Time could well sort it out. And the Citra and Amarillo versions are as yet untasted. The brown ale is great, the addition of pale choc, Crystal rye and brown sugar transformed it. But it was three weeks in the bottle, which could explain some of the difference. More carbonation, though still not enough.

 

[pluckthechicken]

Definitely agree on bottle time... Some of my brews change every time I drink them from 1-3 weeks in the bottle but they always end up better than they start. Pretty amazing what those little yeasties do for us!

 

[clibit]

I had a small bottle of the Amarillo version last night, and it was really nice. :thumb:

Still not as carbonated as it should be though, despite being in the bottle 3 weeks, wondering whether to add some sugar to each bottle or just keep waiting.

 

[pluckthechicken]

I used to have that problem quite frequently... I think crashing the beer hard doesn't leave enough yeast to prime fully in 2 weeks so I've started adding 1ml of yeast at bottling time. Always carbs up quickly and doesn't affect clarity :)

 

[clibit]

I've not had this for ages. I maybe went a bit light on the priming sugar.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I've not had this for ages. I maybe went a bit light on the priming sugar.

I err on the side of over carbonation as far as bottles are concerned you can always super chill the bottle to reduce the fizz and if the beers a little too cold just let it warm up a bit.

yet if you undercarb you can't heat the beer up to make it more fizzy. It's pour from a height or use myqul's syringe trick ;-)

 

[clibit]

I may open the bottles and add a little sugar if they don't carb up any more!

 

[LarryF]

I tried that once clibit, adding sugar to an under carbonated bottle. As soon as the sugar touched the beer it went off like a rocket and foamed out of the bottle. I ended up mopping up most of it, wish I drank it flat.