Cushyno Brewdays etc..

[cushyno]

A few things to do in the coming week, so despite having had my parents around for a garden BBQ this afternoon and full of food and a few drinks, I have decided to bottle the Munich Helles. I think it's had long enough cold crashing, about a week now.

Got the bottles washed, sanitised and primed. Feel rather "can't be arsed" tonight. Ah well, started so I must finish.

 

[cushyno]

45 bottles of Helles done and dusted. Forgot to take a snap of the resulting beer.
Finished higher than expected at 1.013, but it tastes crisp and dry enough.
A few weeks carbonating and conditioning to follow. Early signs are ok, it's gonna be a crisp lager with no hint of Diacetyl, and a delicate hop presence with little bitterness.

 

[user 18729]

AG29 Fuller's London Porter

Having a range of lighter ales and lagers in the store cupboard I'm thinking ahead for the end of summer. I came across this recipe recently when reading up on brown malt. BYO did an article on brown malt, and the recipe was there and looked good. So plugging the numbers into Brewer's Friend app, I found that the grain quantities listed for a 19L batch exactly matched what I would need for a 23L batch at my predicted BH efficiency, only the hops needed adjustment to get the right IBU's.

Other tweeks: Crystal to match what I had in stock (might be on the dark side), a dash of Special B as a user-upper, plus First Gold hops for some of the bittering to keep the Fuggles to a nice 50g total.

Brew day was yesterday and went nice an smoothly out of the way in my garage, while keeping on top of other family things.

Recirculating the wort at approximately 1600W power from the element while bringing up to boil takes a while, but certainly avoids scorching. I have had no problems with this method for the last couple of brews, so threw caution to the winds and did no vorlauf or lautering except for lifting the mash bag out of my cooler and giving it a healthy squeeze. All liquid was then jugged straight into the boiler.

Batch Size: 23L
Efficiency: 75%
Original Gravity: 1.049
Target Gravity: 1.011
Ingredients
Grain
3.400kg Bestmalz Pale malt
0.680kg Crisp Brown Malt
0.320kg Crisp Chocolate malt
0.250kg Crystal 40L
0.200kg Crystal 122L
0.100kg Belgian Special B

Hops
16g First Gold (7.5% aa) @60 mins
29g Fuggles (4% aa) @ 60 mins
21g Fuggles (4% aa) @ 15 mins


Yeast
St Austell, healthy starter grown from a bottle of AG25 Tribute Tribute (originally from Proper Job), ~78%AA

Water adjustments to approximate Fullers London Porter water
Ferment at 20°C

OG came out 1 point high, but bang on target after pitching about 1L of starter. Crashing the starter wasn't finished by pitching time, so decanted off as much as I dared of the clearest liquid from the top.

I have high hopes for this dark beauty.

That looks a really nice recipe

 

[cushyno]

Packaged the AG29 Porter. I think I'll rename it 'Dirty Job'.

A good 24L packaged. 9x 500ml bottles with the rest in a PB. Carbonated with 85g of light brown sugar.

Tasting the brown malt. That stuff is pervasive.

 

[cushyno]

After a month off from brewing and packaging, I thought I'd better get back to it this week.

Having some lengthy online workshops booked for afternoons throughout August, I put some thought into multi-tasking my afternoons.
I set up on Wednesday night milling grains and treating water. Then on Thursday, about 11am switched on the boiler, doughed-in over my lunch break, then baby sat the mash and boil periodically during comfort breaks in 4 hour afternoon session.

This worked a treat. It was one of the smoothest brew days yet and by necessity was done at a relaxed pace.

I had looked for a simple recipe from Graham Wheelers BYOBRA and alighted on Hop Back Summer Lightning, a beer I have never tried before, but the recipe looked simple and straightforward and with the weather being so warm and stormy, seemed an appropriate choice. With the beer being a favourite of a few forumites and this thread popping up last week, I had to give it a try.

AG30 Hop Back Summer Lightning

Hop Back Summer Lightning
Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Recipe Specs

Batch
---------------

Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.205
Total Hops (g): 61.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.048 (°P): 11.9
Final Gravity (FG): 1.011 (°P): 2.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.83 %
Colour (SRM): 4.1 (EBC): 8.0
Bitterness (IBU): 36.6 (Tinseth)

Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 79
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
---------------

4.000 kg German - Pale Ale (95.12%)
0.200 kg Cane Sugar (4.76%)
0.005 kg United Kingdom - Black Patent (0.12%)

Hop Bill
---------------

12.0 g Admiral Pellet (13.3% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
25.0 g Challenger Pellet (6.1% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.1 g/L)
10.0 g Styrian Goldings Pellet (2.9% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)
5.0 g East Kent Goldings Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 g/L)
9.0 g East Kent Goldings Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Hop stand @ 80°C) (0.4 g/L)

Misc Bill
---------------

16.0 g CRS @ 0 Minutes (Mash)
1.0 g Calcium Chloride @ 0 Minutes (Mash)
2.0 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) @ 0 Minutes (Mash)

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 19°C with Safale -English Ale Yeast S-04

A few notes:

1. The water additions are to reduce alkalinity and give a 2:1 Sulphate to Chloride ratio to accentuate the few hops that are in there.
2. Subbed out about 600g of malt and put in 200g sugar to make for a slightly drier beer.
3. The tiny amount of black malt is just for colour correction.
4. As often is the case I didn't have enough of the correct hops so subbed in a portion of Admiral instead of all Challenger for bittering. Saved what I could of my remaining EKG for the flameout hop and subbed in some Styrian Goldings (it's still Goldings in name) for the 10 minute addition.
5. Mash pH was 5.29. Pleased with that.
6. As I had plenty of time at the end of the brew I decided to do a hop stand at 80degC with the EKG flameout addition.
7. I didn't have a sachet of S-04 but had a small jar of saved yeast from a previous starter in the fridge, so grew this up to 1.5L on a stir-plate earlier in the week, cold crashed and decanted off the spent wort.

It's happily chugging away at 19.5degC in the brew fridge today.

 

[cushyno]

A quick picture from yesterday of the wort. Should be just about right.

 

[cushyno]

AG30 Summer Lightning did indeed end up with a final gravity of 1.011, bang on. Racked off to a PB this afternoon with 80g of sugar. Sample was so good straight from the FV I must have "sampled" about a pint and half .

Looking good, tasting good!

 

[cushyno]

Ok, so I kegged it only yesterday. Such a simple and easy drinking recipe, I had to check if the PB was building any pressure tonight, so poured a half. Plenty of fizz in there already. Result!

 

[cushyno]

One week after brewing, I'm writing this up. It has been a busy week at work, so only catching up now.

This one is based on Wheeler's BYOBRA Old Hooky recipe, trying to keep closely to the depth of colour and bitterness, though a fair dose of Red X in the grain bill should make for a redder rather than tawny colour.

5th September 2020
AG31 Hook Norton Old Hooky
Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.035
Total Hops (g): 48.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.042 (°P): 10.5
Final Gravity (FG): 1.008 (°P): 2.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.40 %
Colour (SRM): 15.1 (EBC): 29.8
Bitterness (IBU): 30.5 (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 74
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
1.700 kg BESTMALTZ Red X (42.13%)
1.500 kg United Kingdom - Pale 2-Row (37.17%)
0.305 kg Flaked Corn (7.56%)
0.245 kg United Kingdom - Dark Crystal 80L (6.07%)
0.225 kg Cane Sugar (5.58%)
0.060 kg United Kingdom - Black Patent (1.49%)

Hop Bill
----------------
31.0 g Challenger Pellet (6.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.3 g/L)
5.0 g First Gold Pellet (7.5% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 g/L)
12.0 g Fuggles Pellet (4.5% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 21°C with St Austell

The recipe above was the plan. However, a few things happened to intervene meaning the following changes occurred on the fly:

• Crystal 66L was used instead of Crystal 80
• Boiled for 70 minutes, meaning the 10 min addition became 20 min.
• So added a 8g Fuggles hop steep at 80°C for 20 mins so as to get a bit of aroma.
• Used half white sugar, half soft brown.

Yeast was built to 1L starter during the few days before from remaining PB dregs from my Tribute Tribute batch. I've increased the fermenting temperature to 21°C to see if the St Austell yeast gives a more fruity character.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Hello mate, wondered if you had your ag14 brown porter recipe to hand. I'm on my phone and find it dificult to search on my phone compared to laptop!

 

[cushyno]

@pilgrimhudd it's almost the GH Brown Porter recipe.
I didn't use target for bittering so it was either magnum or first gold to achieve the same IBU's.

 

[cushyno]

Time to bottle the AG31 Old Hooky tribute.

St Austell yeast worked wonders again at 86% attenuation, giving me just north of 4.8% ABV if my calcs are correct.

This is one moody looking brew just now, though I expect it to clear nicely and show that redish hue from the Red-X malt. Why can I never stick to a recipe? Old Hooky isn't supposed to be red, I just have the urge to tinker!

Still it tastes pretty good out of the FV. After cleaning about 60 bottles on Wednesday I'm a little worried I didn't rinse well enough. There's a slight smell of bleach in the air. Rinsed a few bottle again and I can still smell it, so hoping I'm imagining it.

45 bottles done and dusted.

 

[cushyno]

I've been somewhat absent from this forum since October, sometimes going weeks at a time without so much as a glance.

Pressures of work have been higher than average plus long periods in front of a screen kind of puts me off spending hours reading forums, I'm afraid.

A good successful stretch at getting my running fitness back also meant several hours a weekend have been dedicated to time outdoors. Then there's family, jobs around the house and garden, etc..

Ok, enough excuses!

Since October I have done a few brewdays.

December saw a decent brewday. That was a @foxbat Fuggleduck-ish effort, which has been a decent drink, though would have benefited from a more characterful yeast than Notty that I had in stock.

Brewing became a necessity after avoiding brewing during the cold spell as I brew in a cold and draughty garage. Stocks were dwindling, so a couple of made up brews to keep using old stocks of malt have kept me busy over the last few weekends.

AG32 ESB was going to be a best bitter but a super efficient brewday ~82% BH Eff. meant another batch around 5%. Using Bramling Cross and a lesser dose of Challenger, along with MJ M36 'Liberty Bell' fermented at 21°C has resulted in a rather fruity and very drinkable batch. Colour is great too with about quarter the malt being Red-X.

AG34 Cascade Pale, again using up what I had in stock is half pale malt, half light Munich. Bittering to 39IBU with Magnum at boil and late hops of 80g Cascade with most of that after flame out for 20 minutes at 80°C. Fermented with re-pitched MJ M36 slurry (250g) and fermented at 18°C. That will get bottled today and should be around 5.2% mark.

Need to get another brew on. Fancying an oatmeal stout, but know I also need to do a quick Kölsch before the heatwaves come (fingers crossed!)

It's been inspiring reading some great new content on here recently. I'm looking forward to those long lazy brewdays and warm summer evenings...

 

[foxbat]

Welcome back!

I used WY1728 in my Fuggle Duck which has a certain pleasant richness to its character but other than that it's neutral, though not as plain as Nottingham I expect.

How do you find the Bramling Cross in your AG32? The reason I ask is that I'm just starting to drink an ESB that's hopped with the similar tasting (supposedly) Brewer's Gold and it tastes great but at first the blackcurrent flavour from the hops is a bit weird and definitely non-traditional.

 

[cushyno]

Welcome back!

I used WY1728 in my Fuggle Duck which has a certain pleasant richness to its character but other than that it's neutral, though not as plain as Nottingham I expect.

How do you find the Bramling Cross in your AG32? The reason I ask is that I'm just starting to drink an ESB that's hopped with the similar tasting (supposedly) Brewer's Gold and it tastes great but at first the blackcurrent flavour from the hops is a bit weird and definitely non-traditional.

Thanks for the yeast advice.

The ESB has only been carbing and conditioning a couple of weeks so there's still a little sweetness from the priming sugar which could skew things, and the yeast is providing plenty fruity esters through which the hops haven't yet fully broken through. I expect that to change over the next few weeks. I don't get much blackcurrant tbh. There's a hint of lemon and something like a sharp citrus taste you expect from blackcurrant but without much blackcurrant flavour if that makes sense. I am a fan of Challenger so add some to give a bit of bite.

Hop schedule:
20g Magnum @60min
10g Bramling Cross @10m
5g Challenger @10m
20g Bramling Cross @5m
5g Challenger @5m

I have read somewhere that you need a heavy hand with Bramling Cross to bring out all the flavours.

It's different, fruity which I wanted, but suspect the yeast is playing a big role here.

 

[cushyno]

AG35 Belgian Blonde Ale

5kg Chateau pale
500g Vienna
250g Biscuit malt
200g Carapils
100g Caramunich II
500g Clear Candy Sugar

10g Magnum 9%AA @60m
13g First Gold 9%AA @60m
5g First Gold 9%AA @10m
15g Styrian Goldings 4.5%AA @10m
20g Styrian Goldings 4.5%AA @0m
65degC 60min Mash, 60min boil
CML Belgian Ale yeast at 22degC

Aimed for 21.5l with OG of 1.073, ended up with 23.5l in the fermenter at 1.072. Happy with that. Pretty consistent BH Efficiency for me now. It should give about 7.5% ABV if the yeast works ok.
This was with malt bought in 2018 which I never got around to using. It'll be fine

A decent straightforward brewday apart from the mash needing raising a couple of degrees which was done with a quick decoction.

 

[cushyno]

AG36 Burton Bridge Golden Delicious

Managed to get a quick one in today between various meetings and admin. I went for a lower ABV recipe than usual, partly to eek out the remaining malt I have before placing another order, partly to have a pale session strength beer in one of my PB's as we head into spring.

AG36 Burton Bridge Golden Delicious
Standard/Ordinary Bitter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L):           23.0
Total Grain (kg):         3.450
Total Hops (g):           29.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.038  (°P): 9.5
Final Gravity (FG):       1.008  (°P): 2.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  3.95 %
Colour (SRM):             3.4   (EBC): 6.6
Bitterness (IBU):         29.6   (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 79
Boil Time (Minutes):      45

Grain Bill
----------------
1.300 kg United Kingdom - Pale 2-Row (37.68%)
1.000 kg German - Pilsner (28.99%)
1.000 kg German - Vienna (28.99%)
0.150 kg Golden Syrup (4.35%)

Hop Bill
----------------
15.0 g Admiral Pellet (13.5% Alpha) @ 45 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/L)
5.0 g Challenger Pellet (8.5% Alpha) @ 45 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 g/L)
9.0 g Styrian Goldings Pellet (5.5% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 50 Minutes.
Fermented at 19.5°C with Mangrove Jacks M36 Liberty Bell

Notes
----------------
Designed around Graham Wheeler's recipe.
Grain bill should be all pale malt with a resulting colour of 6 EBC.  Used bits of what I had left while saving enough for maybe a saison, or stout.
Should be 100% Challenger hops at boil.
Originally 90 minute boil and 90 minute mash.

This isn't a beer I've tried before, so no idea what to expect. Wheeler says it should be fruity with a noticeable bitterness, which means I can use some saved M36 to get the fruitiness.
The mixture of malts should balance each other out colour and flavour wise. Boil hops went in as FWH to maximise the bittering while aiming for a rounded bitterness. Emptied the end of the packet of Styrian Golding, so actually 11g in at 10 minutes rather than 9g as planned.

It looked like the pre-boil gravity was good so I reduced golden syrup from 150g to 100g, however I must've made a mistake with the refractometer as the overall gravity came out a little low at 1.036. Still, it shouldn't be far off the original Burton Bridge Golden Delicious 3.7% ABV so long as the yeast attenuates at its usual rate.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

AG36 Burton Bridge Golden Delicious

Managed to get a quick one in today between various meetings and admin. I went for a lower ABV recipe than usual, partly to eek out the remaining malt I have before placing another order, partly to have a pale session strength beer in one of my PB's as we head into spring.

AG36 Burton Bridge Golden Delicious
Standard/Ordinary Bitter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L):           23.0
Total Grain (kg):         3.450
Total Hops (g):           29.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.038  (°P): 9.5
Final Gravity (FG):       1.008  (°P): 2.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  3.95 %
Colour (SRM):             3.4   (EBC): 6.6
Bitterness (IBU):         29.6   (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 79
Boil Time (Minutes):      45

Grain Bill
----------------
1.300 kg United Kingdom - Pale 2-Row (37.68%)
1.000 kg German - Pilsner (28.99%)
1.000 kg German - Vienna (28.99%)
0.150 kg Golden Syrup (4.35%)

Hop Bill
----------------
15.0 g Admiral Pellet (13.5% Alpha) @ 45 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/L)
5.0 g Challenger Pellet (8.5% Alpha) @ 45 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 g/L)
9.0 g Styrian Goldings Pellet (5.5% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 50 Minutes.
Fermented at 19.5°C with Mangrove Jacks M36 Liberty Bell

Notes
----------------
Designed around Graham Wheeler's recipe.
Grain bill should be all pale malt with a resulting colour of 6 EBC.  Used bits of what I had left while saving enough for maybe a saison, or stout.
Should be 100% Challenger hops at boil.
Originally 90 minute boil and 90 minute mash.

This isn't a beer I've tried before, so no idea what to expect. Wheeler says it should be fruity with a noticeable bitterness, which means I can use some saved M36 to get the fruitiness.
The mixture of malts should balance each other out colour and flavour wise. Boil hops went in as FWH to maximise the bittering while aiming for a rounded bitterness. Emptied the end of the packet of Styrian Golding, so actually 11g in at 10 minutes rather than 9g as planned.

It looked like the pre-boil gravity was good so I reduced golden syrup from 150g to 100g, however I must've made a mistake with the refractometer as the overall gravity came out a little low at 1.036. Still, it shouldn't be far off the original Burton Bridge Golden Delicious 3.7% ABV so long as the yeast attenuates at its usual rate.

That sounds very different, interested to hear how this one turns out!

 

[cushyno]

That sounds very different, interested to hear how this one turns out!

I'll keep you posted!

 

[cushyno]

AG37 Saison "Out in the fields"
Last year's Saison was a huge hit, so there'll be at least one batch in 2021.
Prepping tonight to mill the grains and treat water. I'll set the timer for a suitable hour tomorrow and let HLT do its thing.

Same hop combo as last year, though backed off the bittering addition by 5g to 15g. I do like the extra perception of dryness that the bitterness gives, though I've tried to go closer to style this time. Also, replacing last years Carapils with Munich Light and Caramunich II to give more maltiness and darken the colour. Golden syrup swapped in for the white sugar, although the sugar did seem to aid the fruitiness when drank young.

Reduced the grain bill to give around 6.5% rather than the potent stuff that last years recipe was at 7.5%. If this yeast attenuates as well as previously FG will be down at 1.003

AG37 Saison "Out in the fields"
Saison

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L):           23.0
Total Grain (kg):         4.800
Total Hops (g):           55.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.052  (°P): 12.9
Final Gravity (FG):       1.004  (°P): 1.0
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  6.30 %
Colour (SRM):             5.2   (EBC): 10.3
Bitterness (IBU):         25.5   (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 78
Boil Time (Minutes):      60

Grain Bill
----------------
1.800 kg German Pilsner 3.2 EBC (37.5%)
1.700 kg Weyerman Pale 6 EBC (35.42%)
0.500 kg German Vienna 8 EBC (10.42%)
0.250 kg BESTMALZ Light Munich 15 EBC (5.21%)
0.250 kg United Kingdom Wheat 3.9 EBC (5.21%)
0.200 kg Golden Syrup (4.17%)
0.100 kg German CaraMunich II 90 EBC (2.08%)

Hop Bill
----------------
15.0 g Admiral Pellet (13.3% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/L)
5.0 g Admiral Pellet (13.3% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 g/L)
15.0 g Styrian Goldings Pellet (2.9% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/L)
15.0 g Saaz Pellet (3.5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/L)
5.0 g Styrian Goldings Pellet (2.9% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 64°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 22°C with Belle Saison cultured from a bottle of 2020 vintage.

Notes
----------------
CMS - 30ml
Gypsum - 1.5g
Calcium Chloride - 3.5g

Piching Temp 22°C
Ferment at 22°C for 4 days then raise 0.5°C per 12 hours up to 28°C