dan125's 2018 brewdays

[dan125]

After brewing yesterday we took the kids to a pub just up the road with its own zoo! What a brilliant idea, and I reckon we'll be paying a few visits over teh summer:-

https://www.fennbellinn.co.uk/zoo

 

[dan125]

I packaged the Yippee-Ki-Yay P.A. last night in the hope of getting a new brew in the FS at the w/e and here it is 19 days from brewday. I'm a bit disappointed with the hop aroma considering it had over 6g/L dry hops, but the simcoe pellets didn't smell the greatest when I opened them even though they were 2017 harvest - so I'm blaming that
I used only whole leaf hops in the kettle for this, and not only was it much, much easier to drain through the bazooka filter, but I only had to empty 2 bottles of yeasty trub out of the FS before dry hopping.
OG & FG were a tad higher than expected, but still ended up at the predicted ABV of 5.0%.

I tried purging the cornie keg differently this time, by putting the CO2 in through the BEER OUT connection with the release valve open, hoping that it would push out the air from the bottom of the keg, in much the same way as the beergun does in a bottle, and it seemed to work well.

Fingers crossed for a dry brewday Saturday!
:cheers7:

 

[dan125]

Taking a gamble with the weather and just mashed in yet another hoppy pale, but session strength this time, with a big old whirlpool addition. I'm gonna have to try fermenting 28L with a single pack of CML pale ale yeast as its all I've got, so will add some nutrient and give it a really good aerating.
Going for NEIPA style water profile with a high total mineral content to try to avoid thinness/blandness in a low ABV brew. :cheers7:

 

[dan125]

I did a side by side comparison on my yippe-ki-yay PA and an Innovation Brewery APA last night.
I was surprised to see that mine, on the right, was slightly clearer than the commercial brew. They were very similar in colour, body and malt character, and mine seemed as cleanly fermented but the big difference was the hop character which mine was severely lacking in comparison, despite have more than 6g/L dry hops.
Back to the drawing board, although I do think the hops could be partly to blame. I've tried dry hopping with the bottle left off the FS with the latest brew to keep them in contact with the bulk of the beer better, so we'll see how that went later today when I get it packaged to make space for a brewday tomorrow - if the rain stops early enough. :cheers7:

 

[Manxnorton]

wow!
great progress tbh...if I get my slurp as good as yours i'll be chuffed ta bit!
nice on pal.
Bri

 

[dan125]

wow!
great progress tbh...if I get my slurp as good as yours i'll be chuffed ta bit!
nice on pal.
Bri

Cheers Bri
It may look the part, but its sadly lacking in flavour.
I'm hopeful for the beer I kegged today though, as the cheeky sample seemed to have much better hoppiness.
I'm always up for a swap if you want to try one?

 

[Leon103]

Just sampled Dan's APA that he sent.

Poured with a lovely white head of about 1cm that stayed all the way to the bottom. It had lovely carbonation and was just what I needed after running after my 3 year old has he flies along on his bike.

I had an initial aroma of citrus on pouring and tasting but this did fade as it got warmer and was replaced by the pine hops. I think the hops worked well together but I would have like the citrusy hops to have taken centre stage.

For me it felt a bit thin and could have had a bit more body/better mouthfeel.

But nevertheless it was another lovely pint from Dan who never fails to deliver. I may add it was lovely and clear and on entering the room SWMBO said "That looks a nice pint".

Cheers once again pal

 

[dan125]

Just sampled Dan's APA that he sent.

Poured with a lovely white head of about 1cm that stayed all the way to the bottom. It had lovely carbonation and was just what I needed after running after my 3 year old has he flies along on his bike.

I had an initial aroma of citrus on pouring and tasting but this did fade as it got warmer and was replaced by the pine hops. I think the hops worked well together but I would have like the citrusy hops to have taken centre stage.

For me it felt a bit thin and could have had a bit more body/better mouthfeel.

But nevertheless it was another lovely pint from Dan who never fails to deliver. I may add it was lovely and clear and on entering the room SWMBO said "That looks a nice pint".

Cheers once again pal

Thanks Leon, I was really pleased with the way it looked, and agree its the citrus quality that could do with being much bigger. I'm gonna rebrew this one soon and as well as a load more hops I think I'll switch the %'s of the melanoidin & caramalt to hopefully give a touch more body without making it overly malty.

 

[dan125]

The weather forecast is much improved, so its brew on for a 'running bitter' inspired by the 1934 Kidd & Son AK recipe
It won't be exactly the same as its hard to get some of those ingredients, but should be somewhere close I hope.
I'm using Imperial Juice yeast for the 1st time, which is apparently the same strain as Wyeast London III, so should work well in this brew, pitching the pack without a starter should give me about 0.53 million cells/ml/P, so maybe a slight underpitch, but hopefully enough in this low gravity beer.
I'm planning on harvesting some yeast from the FS for the first time to use in a black IPA thats next in the schedule.
Always up for a swap if anyone fancies trying this in a few weeks:

 

[dan125]

Just mashing this in (will add the syrup during the boil) and I took the yeast out of the fridge to warm up as usual only to see that the instructions seem to recommend pitching straight from the fridge. Anyone done this? Could it shock the yeast or will it just wake it up quickly?

 

[Ajhutch]

I’ve heard Denny Conn I think on a podcast where he said he would always prefer to pitch cooler yeast into warmer wort as the opposite way around risks the yeast going dormant. I was a bit surprised when I heard that but the logic makes sense I guess.

 

[dan125]

I’ve heard Denny Conn I think on a podcast where he said he would always prefer to pitch cooler yeast into warmer wort as the opposite way around risks the yeast going dormant. I was a bit surprised when I heard that but the logic makes sense I guess.

Thanks - that does make sense, and it would seem silly not to follow the manfs unstructions. Just seems like a big temp jump to go straight from the fridge into wort.
I haven't got any emergency dry yeast, so fingers crossed it gets going OK.

 

[dan125]

So I hit my target OG at 1.044 but it came out a shade or two darker than I was expecting and I was 2L short of the intended brew length at 26L - maybe due to the longer than usual boil but I thought I'd allowed for this?? Kettle drained a treat again using whole leaf hops only - gonna stick with this approach.

 

[Manxnorton]

Cheers Bri
It may look the part, but its sadly lacking in flavour.
I'm hopeful for the beer I kegged today though, as the cheeky sample seemed to have much better hoppiness.
I'm always up for a swap if you want to try one?

morning pal.
thx replying.
ATM in still fiding my feet (AGAIN LOL) after being smashed again with illness at xmas...a long procees.
my first 1# Fursty is carbed up...but lack hoppines...
once upon a time I didn't like too much hops in anything...but now think its the way ahead.
my 10l 2# fursty that need dry hops may be the decider wether I ever do a bottle swap lol.
got kris @BeardedMag close by me and we share our ideas, brewdays and the results.
so atm I'm just 'Tiny steps' so to speak (for me)
mind with 47l in the fv's maybe I can get success.....
lata m8
Bri

 

[BeardedMag]

Hops in everything mate. Breakfast, Dinner, Tea the lot hahahah!

I'll swing by and pick up a sample :)

morning pal.
thx replying.
ATM in still fiding my feet (AGAIN LOL) after being smashed again with illness at xmas...a long procees.
my first 1# Fursty is carbed up...but lack hoppines...
once upon a time I didn't like too much hops in anything...but now think its the way ahead.
my 10l 2# fursty that need dry hops may be the decider wether I ever do a bottle swap lol.
got kris @BeardedMag close by me and we share our ideas, brewdays and the results.
so atm I'm just 'Tiny steps' so to speak (for me)
mind with 47l in the fv's maybe I can get success.....
lata m8
Bri

, Te

 

[dan125]

Yeast harvesting seemed to go OK. I ditched the first trubby bottle and kept the second leaving some yeast behind (must buy a spare bottle or two). Here it is after a day in the fridge.
It'll be interesting to see how this goes when its pitched at the weekend (hopefully). It was a real top cropper that formed a really thick krausen that hung around for ages.

 

[dan125]

Hoping to get an early start on a hoppy black beer today.
It may be a bit too roasty to be a black IPA, but something along those lines. I wanted to use only black malt for the roast grains and was gonna just chuck it in the mash, but keen to avoid the roasty harshness I've had in the very few black beers I've made before, and inspired by @strange-steve 's brew earlier in the week I'm cold steeping the black malt and plan to add the extract at FO to avoid boiling it, but hopefully kill off any nasties that may be in it. :cheers7:

Brew#96 (AG89) BLACK BEER IN THE HOUR OF CHAOS
Aim: Hoppy black beer, with a smooth roastiness and strong piney/citrus hop flavour/aroma

Water: 42L total – 17L Tap, 25L Ashbeck + 17ml AMS, 1g Gypsum, 14g Calcium Chloride
For; Alkalinity 9, Calcium 135, Sulphate 76, Chloride 211 = S/C – 0.36

5500 grams Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Crisp) 71.4%
1500 grams Flaked Barley 19.5%
100 grams Acidulated Malt 1.3%
600 grams Black Malt (Crisp) 7.8%
+ Few handfuls of oat husks

Mash: Black malt cold steeped for 24hrs in 2.5L Ashbeck (add at FO). Rest of grains; 60 mins @ 66ºC

Boil: 75 mins

25g Simcoe, whole 13.2 % - FWH
25 g Chinook, Whole 12.6 % - FWH
75 g Simcoe, Whole 13.2 % - Steep 30 mins @ 75ºC
75 g Chinook, Whole 12.6 % - Steep 30 mins @ 75ºC
50g Simcoe, Pellet 13 % - DH 1 day after pitching
50 g Chinook, Pellet 11 % - DH 1 day after pitching
50 g Simcoe, Pellet 13 % - DH – 5 days
50 g Chinook, Pellet 11 % - DH – 5 days

Yeast: Imperial ‘Juice’ – approx 250ml harvested from previous brew.
Ferment: 18ºC rising to 21ºC

Final Volume: 28 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.058
Final Gravity: 1.014
Alcohol Content: 5.7% ABV
Mash Efficiency: 70 %
Bitterness: 52 IBU
Colour: 75 EBC

 

[strange-steve]

I love Simcoe and Chinook, sounds like a lovely brew. I'm interested in your sulphate:chloride ratio, how come you went chloride forward?

 

[dan125]

I love Simcoe and Chinook, sounds like a lovely brew. I'm interested in your sulphate:chloride ratio, how come you went chloride forward?

Just about to weigh out my salts and you've got me thinking now - I was hoping it would help smooth out any acridity from the roast??

 

[strange-steve]

Sorry I wasn't trying to put you off, just curious as to your intentions. Personally I'm not a huge fan of sulphate heavy beers, it can come across a little harsh to my taste, so I think that'll work out fine for you.