dan125's 2018 brewdays

[Leon103]

Mine came down to 1.018 so slightly higher than yours. Only bottled on Monday so haven't tried it yet. May have a bottle tonight though

 

[dan125]

I'm home alone all weekend so having a nice relaxing brewday in the sun.
I'm knocking up an ordinary bitter to enter in the Welsh national comp. I'll put the whole recipe up when its been judged, but its essentially the same as my last bitter a couple of brews ago, with a couple of tweaks.

After 93 brews of faithful service I'm retiring my original grain bag that my good lady made for me its getting a bit worn in places and I don;t want to push my luck with it;

So today I'm test driving a brouland brewbag - which is massive in comparison

 

[Leon103]

Where did you get the back from? Will need one soon

 

[dan125]

The home brew shop was the only place in the UK that I found had them
https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/The-Brew-Bag-47-57L.html
They come in a couple of sizes - I got the bigger oen to suit ny 50L pot.
I've tried a couple of the cheaper grain bags out there and they were wrecked after one brew, so I'm hoping this one will last,

 

[dan125]

Mash pH is exactly what beersmith predicted - with a freshly calibrated meter;

 

[dan125]

I've been pretty impessed with the brewbag today. Its loads more free draining than my old double layered bag, but still feels strong thanks to the webbing straps. The long length makes it easier to handle and keep out of the way when I do my ususal 'sparge' -

 

[dan125]

I didn't pitch the yeast till very late last night, and its just starting to get going - I'm much happier with the colour of the beer on this attempt


With the day's chores done its time to sample the NEIPA I bottled the other day.
It had a few days longer than usual at very cold temps and I kept squirting co2 in to try and get some decent carbonation.
This was a success but so much so that I couldn't get a decent fill on the bottles with all the foam.
I'm happy with the beer though - big tropical fruitiness, silky smooth mouthfeel, and it tastes sweeter than the FG suggests, probably because there's hardly any bitterness. At 3 weeks old I can't see this getting any better from here on in

 

[Leon103]

Was that the one with lactose?

 

[dan125]

Was that the one with lactose?

Yes mate - it looks a bit darker than it is in the photo

 

[dan125]

I kegged/bottled the bitter yesterday - it finished at 1.011 for 3.7%
And today I'm brewing up my 2nd entry for the Welsh National comp. An AIPA which is pretty much a re-brew of the Sevenfold Sheild recipe a few brews back - just a few minor tweaks.

 

[dan125]

The reclaimed yeast is just getting off the mark nicely about 10 hours after pitching.
It was pleasing to hit all my numbers two brews in a row for the competition beers - must finally be getting used to BS3.
I've found that increasing my 'loss to trub and chiller' by 1L allows for the extra losses due to the hops in a very hoppy beer like the AIPA.

 

[dan125]

 

[Leon103]

Silly question but what is th3 white line through the fermenter

 

[Hoddy]

Silly question but what is th3 white line through the fermenter

That's the take off tube that's connected to the floating pipe end. It's wraps around sometimes as it's gotta be long enough to go all the way to the bottom of the HS.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jakeyboi]

I really like the look of the fermentasuaras , would you say it has improved your brewing?

 

[Jakeyboi]

Ps I really like the look of the stuff in the fermentasuaras thingy ma bob

 

[dan125]

I really like the look of the fermentasuaras , would you say it has improved your brewing?

I think the quality of my beers has improved since using the FS (although like any new bit of kit it takes a while to get used to and work out the best way to integrate into your existing set-up).
For me the biggest advantage is being able to pressure transfer and therefore reduce oxygen pick up after fermentation - the bitter I packaged at the weekend had absolutely zero O2 exposure after pitching the yeast. As it wasn't dry hopped the lid didn't come off again until it was empty.
I also really like the ability to remove yeast/trub from the bottom before dry hopping.
The size of the current FS is good for me too as I could increase my batch size to 28L without buying/changing any other equipment.

This first verison of the FS isn't perfect though - my biggest gripe is the small valve at the bottom which doesn't always allow the gloop to settle into the bottle. There is a new improved version 2 due out soonish as discussed here https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/bottling-from-the-fermentasaurus.78151/
They seem to have addressed all of the little issues with the first one so may be worth waiting??

 

[dan125]

PS its also nice being able to see what's going on inside.
1st dry hop went in the aipa last night and for a while I thought it was gonna cause the krausen to escape again. Thankfully the Barbarian yeast isn't as keen to climb out as the Juice strain.

 

[dan125]

Its a lovely day to get a brew on and today I'm going for a 4% pale ale, green hopped with my homegrown cascade that I'm just about to pick.
Using the free Imperial House strain from @Get_Er_Brewed :hat: that I've not tried before.

I'm aiming for 28L in the FS at 1.040 using;
77.1% MO extra pale
9.2% pale crystal
9.2% Simpsons Imperial
4.6% flaked barley

22IBUs of Magnum at 60mins for a bit of background bitterness, than as much Cascade as I pick is going in at the end.

 

[Leon103]

Sounds good. Will have to start the hop growing business