Cushyno Brewdays etc..

[cushyno]

I had planned a wheat beer - a Hefeweizen - for AG39, going so far as to work out the multiple decoctions needed for the perfect German wheat beer. Then sense prevailed, I just didn't have enough time or patience this week to cover the 225 minutes of mashing and sparging needed to do it justice.

Realising an opportunity to brew during an online seminar today, a recipe was hastily devised to use the Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire recently purchased and sitting dormant in the fridge.
A Timothy Taylor Landlord clone was the obvious choice. So I scanned a few recipe options online and opted for a little crystal (for the hint of caramel) and a slug of Fuggles in with Goldings for a smooth bitterness. Of course, this is all topped off with my latest favourite hop - Celeiea - Styrian Goldings. The final hop charge being a hopstand at 75degC for 25 minutes.

AG39 TT Landlord
Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L):           23.0
Total Grain (kg):         4.313
Total Hops (g):           86.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.045  (°P): 11.2
Final Gravity (FG):       1.014  (°P): 3.6
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  4.07 %
Colour (SRM):             6.5   (EBC): 12.8
Bitterness (IBU):         33.5   (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 78
Boil Time (Minutes):      60

Grain Bill
----------------
4.200 kg United Kingdom - Golden Promise (97.38%)
0.100 kg United Kingdom - Crystal 50L (2.32%)
0.013 kg United Kingdom - Black Patent (0.3%)

Hop Bill
----------------
30.0 g East Kent Goldings Pellet (6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.3 g/L)
16.0 g Fuggles Pellet (5.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/L)
20.0 g Styrian Goldings Pellet (3.6% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
20.0 g Styrian Goldings Pellet (3.6% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)

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

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with West Yorkshire 1469

I had thought to reduce the pulverizing setting of my Corona grain mill to less than full on flour setting (managed that, looks like a fine crush instead), so estimated a slight drop in efficiency. Once again efficiency was well up on estimate by about 3 points before boil. Vigorous boil also took an effect so that post-boil gravity was at 1.049 , though I had boiled off nearly a litre more than expected.

Liquoring back with 1.8L of campden treated water helped arrive at 24L of 1.046 wort.

The only way I'm going to get close to an authentic TT Landlord is with the right yeast strain. Happy to invest in the 1469 and can see me doing a few brews with this after top-cropping and saving the yeast.

For the first use I just smacked the pack, waited 3 hours and pitched ( for a somewhat impromptu brew you understand).

Brew day went quite well despite multiple inconvenient work related disruptions.

 

[cushyno]

Not much left of this barrel (I wonder why?)
Golden delicious, or a variant of it will definitely be brewed again.

Might try to empty this barrel for the AG39 TT Landlord clone currently bubbling away in ferm fridge.

 

[531Man]

Not much left of this barrel (I wonder why?)
Golden delicious, or a variant of it will definitely be brewed again.
View attachment 46310
Might try to empty this barrel for the AG39 TT Landlord clone currently bubbling away in ferm fridge.

Many thanks for the recipe suggestions @cushyno .
My attempt at AG36 Golden Delicious (Pale), started 12 April, bottled 29th see below, so still a little young yet but I just had to test sample.
Pure Maris Otter pale, Admiral, First Gold and EKG hops.
Wonderful smooth malty mouth feel taste followed by honeyed apple.
Frankly my best brew yet.
Even SWMBO'd agreed, "it's your closest to something like beer so far".
Praise indeed!
I have the alternative as discussed with you

hop mixture maturing in its polypin now.
Admiral, First Gold then Saaz and Citra.
The comparison test should be interesting.
That's if I can stop myself consuming any more 'samplings'.

 

[cushyno]

Great job @531Man ! That looks a similar colour to mine and yours has cleared really quickly.

What a coincidence to get this post, the same day I drew the last drop of mine from the PB. I shall definitely be making another batch soon.

 

[cushyno]

Last Sunday (09 May) while building my keezer, this recipe was brewed...

Inspired by a google search that found me a Cashmere and Azacca Kveik pale ale called "Wild One" by Sacred Waters Brewing - OUR BEER - Sacred Waters Brewing Company. Never had it, but it sounded good, so made up a recipe that could be similar.

AG40 Wild Thing
American Pale Ale

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L):           23.0
Total Grain (kg):         5.450
Total Hops (g):           120.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.058  (°P): 14.3
Final Gravity (FG):       1.012  (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  6.08 %
Colour (SRM):             4.4   (EBC): 8.7
Bitterness (IBU):         39.0   (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 79
Boil Time (Minutes):      60

Grain Bill
----------------
2.200 kg United Kingdom - Golden Promise (40.37%)
2.000 kg BESTMALZ Pilsner (36.7%)
0.500 kg BESTMALZ Vienna (9.17%)
0.500 kg United Kingdom - Wheat (9.17%)
0.250 kg German - Carapils (4.59%)

Hop Bill
----------------
10.0 g Azacca Pellet (11.9% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)
20.0 g Cascade Pellet (7.3% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
15.0 g Azacca Pellet (11.9% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/L)
20.0 g Cashmere Pellet (7.9% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
25.0 g Azacca Pellet (11.9% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil) (1.1 g/L)
30.0 g Cashmere Pellet (7.9% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil) (1.3 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
2.5 g Protofloc Tablet @ 5 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 32°C with Kveik Voss Lallemand (3.3g)

Hit the gravity spot on at 1.058 and slightly under volume at around 22.7L. Process was spot on and provided very predictable efficiency.
Some of the pilsner malt has been sitting around for a while, but seemed ok. However it did seem to leave a lot of graininess in the wort, but my constant recirculating of the wort reduced any element scorching to a minimum.

Cashmere and Azacca hops smelled wonderful out of the packet, particularly the Cashmere!

The wort was cooled quickly to 35°C but had fallen to near 25°C by the time the yeast was pitched. Only 3.3g of Voss Kveik was pitched and it was visibly starting to work straight away!. My first brew with any type of Kveik so I was intrigued to see how fast this would ferment out.

The FV was tucked away in the ferm cupboard with heating only - both a tube heater and brew belt to keep the temperature up at 32°C, which they managed but had to work hard at it.

I can report that the Kveik was done and dusted by this morning - 2.5 days after pitching. Quick! So I have unplugged the heating and will leave the FV to cool naturally (no space in the fridge as currently crashing the AG39 TT Landlord clone) . Not yet tested the FG as I won't disturb this until ready to crash to 1.5 degrees in a day or two.

 

[cushyno]

Just kegged the AG39 TT Landlord clone. There was enough, practically to the ml to fill a 5L easy keg and a 19L corny. Plus of course, the obligatory trial jar sampler.

Final gravity after cold crash for 2 days at 1.5°C measured 1.011 so adjusting for temperature I make that 1.010 FG.

The West Yorkshire WY1469 yeast has either done really well or I have a remnant of another yeast lurking somewhere in the FV. Doing a little reading of past reports it seems that the yeast typically out-performs the suggested attenuation. WYeast state up to 72% whereas I make it more like 78%.

That unmistakeable Styrian Goldings aroma is there, a dryness, possibly more than wanted, can't really tell much of the flavours as it is so cold! Slight biscuit tones coming through from the malt. Can't wait to see what this is like in a couple of weeks.

 

[Galena]

looks good to me, not had any TT landlord in a while, not likely to either until I venture into a local pub. I'm interested in brewing this at some point in the future so let us know how it turns out.

 

[cushyno]

It's been a busy couple of weeks, so not got round to writing up this recent brew day (maybe I should spend less time in the snug).

AG41 Bohemian Pilsner (16/05/2021)

Bohemian Pilsener

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L):           23.0
Total Grain (kg):         4.280
Total Hops (g):           68.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.046  (°P): 11.4
Final Gravity (FG):       1.012  (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  4.40 %
Colour (SRM):             3.9   (EBC): 7.6
Bitterness (IBU):         37.3   (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 79
Boil Time (Minutes):      60

Grain Bill
----------------
4.000 kg German - Pilsner (93.46%)
0.180 kg German - Melanoidin (4.21%)
0.100 kg German - Carapils (2.34%)

Hop Bill
----------------
17.0 g Hallertau Blanc Pellet (9% Alpha) @ 75 Minutes (First Wort) (0.7 g/L)
16.0 g Magnum Pellet (10% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/L)
35.0 g Saaz Pellet (3.5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (1.5 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
30ml CRS to treat 30.5L
2g Calcium chloride to treat mash only

Single step Infusion at 65°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 10.5°C with Bohemian Lager MJ84 (1.5 sachets)

Fairly smooth brew day although it took a while to bring wort up to the boil. There seemed to be an excess of grainy trub in the wort. I wanted to avoid scorching so dialled my element down to about 60% power and recirculated the wort over the element to avoid settling. Due to the long lead up to boil the FWH hops may have imparted a little more bitterness but it won't be excessive.
Final hop addition at 0mins just before chilling to 75°C and holding for 20 minutes.
Post boil gravity ended up at 1.048 which should give around 4.6% by the time it's fermented out.

I set the fridge to 9°C and left overnight to cool. Next morning the 1.5 packs of yeast were pitched but it took three days for visible signs of life from the airlock, which I've since read is fairly typical of this yeast. All good now as it continue to bubble away regularly 6 days since the first signs of life. I'll likely leave this at 10.5 for another couple of days before ramping up to 18°C and leaving for a week to clean up.

Looking forward to having this on tap to share with neighbours who are mostly lager drinkers. They politely try my other brews but I'm sure they just think the malty dunkelweizen, dry saison and friuty IPA's are a bit weird!


An update on the other beers in reverse order -

AG40 Wild Thing has really impressed me. It was done fermenting in 3 days making it grain to-glass in 4 days. The Voss kveik performed really well, predictably and cleanly. This brew is just so drinkable and fruity from the Cashmere and Azacca hops and has smoothed out after a couple of weeks in the keg.

AG39 TT Landlord clone has been a bit slower to condition but is starting to come together. Letting the temperature rise after pouring brings out the flavour and aroma so much more. I'm going to have to keep this keg outside of my keezer and use a party tap.

AG38 Easter Oatmeal Stout has been sat on its own in the barrel since end of April. The true character is becoming apparent. It is an easy drinking beer with hints of vanilla and subtle dark chocolate that tastes smooth to start with a long dry and slightly bitter finish. Just the job!

AG37 'Out in the fields' Saison is now 8 weeks since brewing and has had 5 weeks conditioning in a keg. I think it's needed every one of those days to start reaching its potential. This will continue to get better but is tasting pretty good now. I'm loving the blend of Saaz and Mittelfruh which gives a spicy, dried grass aroma and taste.

 

[cushyno]

Do you know what?
I fitted in an early morning brewday today, mostly before work.

I'll write the recipe up in more detail later, but thought I'd mention this little point...

My little solar pump, used for recirculating the wort while bringing to boil and during chilling, packed up on me. So I went old school and vorlaufed the be-jeesus out of the mash and the sparge to remove as much scorchable material from the wort that I could. I didn't want the element to scorch the wort while bringing to the boil.

What happened?
Nice clear wort into the kettle and the FV. But, surprise surprise! An increase in efficiency from 79% to a ridiculous 86% according to Brewer's Friend. All because of the vorlauf and lautering that I usually skip with my dump and go batch sparge. OK, so it probably added 45 minutes to the process (for which I worked later tonight to compensate), but there was something satisfying in boiling what looked like beer rather than looking like turbulent sewage.

 

[cushyno]

Finally writing this one up after a week away from home and busy week at work.

AG42 Black Sheep

AG42 Black Sheep
Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L):           25.0
Total Grain (kg):         4.247
Total Hops (g):           55.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.041  (°P): 10.2
Final Gravity (FG):       1.009  (°P): 2.3
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  4.19 %
Colour (SRM):             8.9   (EBC): 17.6
Bitterness (IBU):         29.4   (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 79
Boil Time (Minutes):      60

Grain Bill
----------------
3.000 kg United Kingdom - Golden Promise (70.64%)
0.600 kg BESTMALZ Munich (14.13%)
0.425 kg Torrified Wheat (10.01%)
0.180 kg Simpsons Crystal Medium 175EBC (4.24%)
0.030 kg Simpsons DRC 300EBC (0.71%)
0.012 kg United Kingdom - Black Patent (0.28%)

Hop Bill
----------------
20.0 g Challenger Pellet (6.1% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.8 g/L)
10.0 g East Kent Goldings Pellet (6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)
10.0 g Fuggles Pellet (5.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)
15.0 g Fuggles Pellet (5.6% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.6 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
2.5 g Protofloc Tablet @ 5 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 70 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with West Yorkshire 1469

Notes
----------------
Grain weights based on Wheeler.
Main malt should be Maris Otter, so included Munich to bring Golden Promise up to colour and add more malty flavour.
50% more black malt here than GW recipe, maybe because crystal malts are a guess.
Lowered boil hops slightly and increased 10 minute hop as I usually do a hop stand which imparts more bitterness.

CRS = 31ml
Gypsum = 2.5g
Calcium Chloride = 2.45g

This had a couple of hiccups, but nothing to derail the brewday much. Not enough torrified wheat left so used 265g of malted wheat to supplement the 160g of torrified wheat I had available. I had already decided to lautering and invest time in vorlauf rather than my usual approach of tipping whatever comes through the grain bag into the kettle.

Vorlaufing through the grain bed and bag inside the coolbox mash tun with the grain bag tucked tightly down the sides and grain fully covering the pickup. I usually work with a fairly loose mash, so drained off enough liquid to let the grain bed settle before vorlaufing through the grain bed while lautering into another vessel. This was done after mash and after the batch sparge and resulted in much clearer wort and an increase in efficiency.
Fortunate that I had already done this as the solar pump usually used to recirculate wort and avoid scorching packed up after a few seconds. Therefore wort was brought to boil slowly on low power and the odd stir here and there.

An adjustment of cold water to bring down the mash temperature also meant a little longer boiling off the water before adding late Fuggles hops.

25L into the FV, I had an inkling that it was too much. Within 12 hours I was proven correct as the "West Yorkshire" yeast climbed straight out of the airlock. Blow-off tube was fitted and the brew has been sat at 20°C in fermenting cupboard for the last 2 weeks, looking after itself.

A note on water treatment: I recently noticed an error on my spreadsheet for water adjustments. This coupled with upping the Calcium to help the mash and reducing the residual alkalinity further and further over recent brews means I've pushed up my use of CRS from around 16ml to 31ml for a couple of recent batches. I think it is helping with mash conversion and giving a smoother finish to the beer.

Probably time to put this in a keg this coming weekend.

 

[cushyno]

A recent purchase of another 3 corny kegs meant cleaning time earlier this week. Previously I had cleaned the first three kegs and used StarSan prior to packaging a AG37, AG39 and AG40, but a couple of the batches had tasted a little metalic initially, with one I'm still not happy with (AG40). Not taking any chances this time, I thoroughly oxy cleaned and scrubbed all three kegs, rinsed and drained thoroughly, then made up a 5x strength StarSan solution and gave the kegs a good dousing including draining out through the dip tube and beer out port. The kegs were left to air dry to passivate. Next day the kegs were once again thoroughly rinsed with cold water.

First of the new kegs was then given another wash and shake with normal strength StarSan and filled with AG41 Bohemian Pilsner. While the passivation was a lot of effort to go through, a small sample taken from this latest keg after a couple of days gives no metallic taste, so I think it has been worth the effort.

The Bohemian Pilsner has plenty of body thanks to the carapils and melanoidin. I expect this will reduce a little as it lagers and clears. It does taste good already, so I'm happy with the result so far and worth leaving the beer in FV for a third week to clean up at 18°C.

 

[cushyno]

Oh dear, not much action here recently. I have a series of beers to write up and a couple of updates.

Updates first:


AG37 'Out in the fields' Saison was a good brew. Fermented long, several weeks to properly condition, kegged and drank steadily and slowly. It wasn't a "sipper" but did have enough alcohol that warranted steady savouring. Gone but not forgotten, I'm planning the next one...

AG38 Easter Oatmeal Stout Just keeps getting better. I drink this from a half pint glass to savour.

AG39 TT Landlord clone Sadly this was a bit of a dud. Quite acidic and lacking in richness of flavour that I had hoped for. The FG was very low so I suspected a Diastaticus infection from the previous Saison, but I managed to work back and identify that I didn't use the same FV. It's possible that it was a lactobacillus infection from grain dust through me not being careful enough and brewing in the same area the grains were milled - the dust would still have been in the air and on surfaces. In this beer and the later AG42 Black Sheep the West Yorkshire yeast showed some of its character, more so in the Black Sheep. I hope to use it again but it will be a new smack pack as I reckon the saved slurry is contaminated. Now gone.

AG40 Wild Thing A very easy beer to make, quick fermentation and drinkable within a week, this didn't last long at all. Gone.

AG41 Bohemian Pilsner I'm taking my time with this one. It is slowly clearing in the keg and seems to be getting more characterful, more layers of flavour coming through which I wasn't expecting from a lager. The reason for the maltiness maybe that I doughed in at a slightly higher temperature than planned and had to add cold water to bring it back down. The high temps may have denatured some of the beta-amylase and resulted in more body. The head is good and so is lacing. I'm interested to see how the malt flavour continues to change. Tastes a little greener than I would expect fromSaaz as a lone late hope, maybe the grape flavours from Hallertau Blanc are carrying through?

AG42 Black Sheep Made with Golden Promise instead of Maris Otter, so I added some dark crystal to compensate for the maltiness and colour. Should have used light crystal instead! The Medium crystal and touch of DRC have made this a rather more caramelly tasting drink than planned, still a decent beer, just more fuller flavour than anticipated. Body is about right, colour maybe a shade dark. The yeast flavour comes through but same as with the Landlord clone this beer is hugely over attenuated by about 6 points. 5% rather than 4%. Kegged and kept at ambient temperatures (currently 16degC in the garage).

 

[cushyno]

AG43 Wild Woods was brewed on 12/06/2021

AG43 Wild Woods
American Pale Ale

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L):           26.0
Total Grain (kg):         5.240
Total Hops (g):           116.50
Original Gravity (OG):    1.046  (°P): 11.4
Final Gravity (FG):       1.007  (°P): 1.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  5.12 %
Colour (SRM):             8.1   (EBC): 15.9
Bitterness (IBU):         40.1   (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 73
Boil Time (Minutes):      60

Grain Bill
----------------
2.000 kg BESTMALZ Pilsner (38.17%)
2.000 kg United Kingdom - Golden Promise (38.17%)
0.500 kg BESTMALZ Vienna (9.54%)
0.500 kg United Kingdom - Wheat (9.54%)
0.200 kg Simpsons Crystal Medium 175EBC (3.82%)
0.040 kg Simpsons DRC 300EBC (0.76%)

Hop Bill
----------------
24.5 g Magnum Pellet (9.9% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
7.0 g Northern Brewer Pellet (7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.3 g/L)
20.0 g Amarillo Pellet (8.6% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.8 g/L)
5.0 g Challenger Pellet (6.1% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 g/L)
15.0 g Northern Brewer Pellet (7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.6 g/L)
25.0 g Amarillo Pellet (8.6% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop) (1 g/L)
5.0 g Challenger Pellet (8.5% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop) (0.2 g/L)
15.0 g Northern Brewer Pellet (7% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop) (0.6 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
5.0 g Yeast Nutrient (bakers yeast) @ 10 Minutes (Boil)
2.5 g Protofloc Tablet @ 5 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 33.5°C with Kveik Voss Lallemand

Notes
----------------
CRS = 31ml
Gypsum = 2.5g
CaCl = 0.5g

A bit experimental with the hop choice. I must have bought the Amarillo to go with Cashmere and Azacca and forgot to factor them in to AG40 Wild Thing, so decided to mix up the orangy Amarillo with something piney, woodsy. The closest I had to a dank piney hop was Northern Brewer. Added a little Challenger to try to accentuate the woodsy taste with a bit of spicy cedar. From taste tests so far this combo seems to have worked! Not bad at all.

What on earth happened to the efficiency? This should have given me 1.051 OG but ended up 5 points down Really not sure how that happened. The bulk of the ingredients is the same as the Black Sheep clone and that ended up 1.046 too - several points higher than expected, so I can only either blame it on the Pilsner malt or on some shoddy brewing process. Still, the Kveik over-performed at 85% attenuation so rescued the beer to a degree.

The Kveik slurry used (1 tablespoon) took a while to get going. Wort had been well aerated, so I can only think that lack of nutrients and a low SG cause the Voss to be sluggish. Even at 33.5°C it took around a week to ferment out. Once again, when it was done, it was done.

This beer having been kegged since 19/06 has still not cleared but the flavour is improving. It's growing on me. Looking at the crystal malts used in this recipe in comparison to the AG42 Black Sheep they're very similar by proportion, yet this doesn't tast too heavy on the crystal. That's odd.

 

[cushyno]

AG44 Five Points Best Bitter brewed on 24/06/2021

AG44 Five Points Best Bitter
Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L):           25.0
Total Grain (kg):         4.280
Total Hops (g):           112.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.041  (°P): 10.2
Final Gravity (FG):       1.011  (°P): 2.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  3.92 %
Colour (SRM):             7.0   (EBC): 13.8
Bitterness (IBU):         30.5   (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 78
Boil Time (Minutes):      60

Grain Bill
----------------
3.600 kg United Kingdom - Golden Promise (84.11%)
0.250 kg BESTMALTZ Red X (5.84%)
0.185 kg Simpsons Crystal Light 100EBC (4.32%)
0.170 kg United Kingdom - Wheat (3.97%)
0.075 kg United Kingdom - Brown (1.75%)

Hop Bill
----------------
12.0 g First Gold Pellet (9% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (First Wort) (0.5 g/L)
15.0 g Fuggles Pellet (5.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (First Wort) (0.6 g/L)
25.0 g Fuggles Pellet (5.6% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (1 g/L)
60.0 g Fuggles Pellet (5.6% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (2.4 g/L)

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

Single step Infusion at 67°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 19°C with London Ale III 1318

Notes
----------------
CRS = 21ml
CaCl = 1.5g
Gypsum = 1

Not quite as heavy on the hops as the real 5 points, and instead of the recommended Maris Otter and Amber Malt I subbed in Golden Promise (all I had as a suitable base malt) and Red X with Brown malt as an alternative to the required Amber. To avoid using half a tonne of Fuggles, bittering duty was given over to First Gold.

Normal service was resumed on the efficiency front and hit the temperatures spot on (that probably helped). 1 point over at 1.042 SG.
When smacking the Wyeast pack I mustn't have managed a good enough smack and shake as the pack hadn't swollen after 3 hours. I opened it anyway, it smelled fine and looked like it had started fermenting, so pitched it anyway. It was off and chugging away after 18 hours so seems fine. This yeast smells like proper beery yeast when fermenting!

I ended up kegging this last night in a bit of a hurry. It measured 1.011 but may still have another point to drop, which will be fine in the keg. First impressions are promising. Bitterness is there, plenty of flavour and colour looks good. I'll give a further update once it has settled and conditioned.