Dutto's Brew Day

[Dutto]

Not a whole 45g of honey ....you spendthrift!

I saw that and did wonder if he missed off a 4 and meant 454g.

He nabbed a whole pot of honey from a hotel's breakfast buffet.

It should have read "450g of honey" from a 454g jar. I confess that I ate the 4g remaining in the bottom of the jar; which is probably why I weigh so much!

BTW, it's nice to know that people actually read this Thread so "Many thanks!" and this morning's update is that the brew is merrily glugging away!

 

[Zephyr259]

BTW, it's nice to know that people actually read this Thread so "Many thanks!" and this morning's update is that the brew is merrily glugging away!

I have the same feeling on my own (neglected) brew day thread, besides you not many people posted, and keeping track of the "viewed" figure is too much hassle. :-P

 

[Dutto]

Today I racked off the Wilko Lager (with Golden Syrup and Honey) into a second FV, added a rehydrated packet of Saflager S-23 yeast and put it back in the Brew Fridge No.1 with both the heater and refrigeration systems turned off.

The heater in Brew Fridge No.2 was turned off on 11th February after a couple of weeks carbonating a KK full of Partial Mash Mild and today it was sitting at 8.8*C.

By this evening, the Lager had dropped down to 12.5*C, so I will leave it until about Wednesday before switching the refrigeration system on with a Set Point of 10*C; which is at the lower end of the fermentation range for the S-23 yeast.

After a week in the FV the brew was still quite "fizzy", there was about 3mm of trub in the bottom of the FV, the SG was at 1.010 and it tasted nice but a bit "yeasty".

The plan is to leave the brew to lager at the 10*C or below (because I won't plug in the heater) for the next 10 to 12 weeks.

 

[Britannia]

Hi Dutto, liked the sound of your Grapefruit pale ale, it's on the hob as we speak. Couldn't get any chinook so used moasic instead. Going to try and save a few bottles for summer (a forlorn hope). Let you know how it turns out.

 

[Dutto]

.......... Let you know how it turns out.

Well? TBH mine tasted more "Bitter" than "Grapefruit" so using the Mosaic maybe better. I think I may have used too much during the boil and not enough during the 80*C stage!

Just finished transferring the Wilco Cerveza into 2 x 10 litre growlers and 3 x 650ml bottles.

Amazingly, it was still "fizzy" in the syphon pipe from the FV after 11 weeks of fermentation and an FG of 1.004 meant that the brew was very clear.

Here are the essentials:

• OG = 1.042
• FG = 1.004
• ABV = 4.99%
• Kcal per litre = 396Kcal
• Attenuation = 90%

It tasted superb! I drank the usual 100ml sample but managed to resist pouring another pint. At nearly 5% ABV it should keep but somehow I don't think that will happen!

 

[marshbrewer]

Welcome back to blighty Dutto!

 

[Clint]

Huzzah! Sensibility restored...it's all been kicking off here...Strange Steve has knocked up a right monster...

 

[Dutto]

Huzzah! Sensibility restored...it's all been kicking off here...Strange Steve has knocked up a right monster...

I noticed ...

... 138 Posts about Stout (which is a brew that I'm not all that keen on)!

The "5% Chocolate" in the recipe got my taste-buds cramping up but also inspired me to try out a bottle of the "Mars Bar Beer" that started life as a "Barley Wine".

It's got a lot better, but for some reason it leaves an "oily" coating on the tongue, so I'll leave it for another few months and try again! Ever the optimist eh?

 

[Dutto]

SWMBO has tidied up the house and I have started tidying up the garage after a lot of soul-searching!

I've been tasting some of my older brews and they have been rank. I presume that the high temperatures from last summer (it reached over 25*C overnight in the garage) have been the cause; because anything brewed before last August has tasted just fine!

I have 100 litres of "bulk" storage available (2 x 25 litre and 2 x 10 litre PB's with 3 x 10 litre Growlers) without using bottles and the decision to stop making AG brews has resulted in the following surpluses:

1. All 500ml bottles, caps and capper.
2. Most of the 650ml flip-top bottles, flip-tops and seals.
3. Mash Tun.
4. Boiler, Hop Spider and Hop Dropper.
5. Immersion Cooler.
6. Grain Mill.

The decision to stop making AG brews has come about for a number of reasons but the main ones are the ease of making an Extract Brew coupled with the fact that my taste-buds are so shot that I can hardly taste any difference! There are also an awesome number of "Extract Recipes" available and I can still pimp the brews with a variety of Hops and Adjuncts so I will keep on brewing and drinking the product of my endeavours. (Inshallah!)

The above will be advertised on Shpock next week, but if anyone cares to visit Skegness, make an acceptable offer for everything and pick up the items above then please PM me.

One bit of "Good News" is that a check on the bottles that have gone rank on me has shown that they almost all have some yeast stuck to the sides of the bottle! To ensure that the bottles are clean before sale I have made myself a new bottle washer out of a stainless steel bicycle spoke, four small tie-wraps and a bit of chamois leather. It works a treat!

 

[An Ankoù]

I'm sorry to hear your beer's gone off in the heat. I keep half of mine in the garage, too, and I hope it'll survive temperatures above 25C over the summer. If you've still got the hardware (not the bottles) next time you're around these parts, I could be interested if you PM me a photo and an indication of what you would consider fair. All the best. (And that would give you a good length of time to change your mind, too!)

 

[-Bezza-]

I've been tasting some of my older brews and they have been rank. I presume that the high temperatures from last summer (it reached over 25*C overnight in the garage) have been the cause; because anything brewed before last August has tasted just fine!

Is this Dutto, the advocate of not needing any sort of cooling because the average ambient temperature in the UK are so low?

Sorry for your loss though. It's a bit crappy to lose a load of beer, whatever the reason.

Also, worth holding on to your kit for a while, until you're sure you don't want to do AG again?

 

[Dutto]

Is this Dutto, the advocate of not needing any sort of cooling because the average ambient temperature in the UK are so low?
..........

Yep! That's me!

The problem was that I had over 180 litres of beer to keep cool!

I moved all of the PB's and Growlers to the floor on the "shaded" part of the garage and they were fine; but I just didn't have the space (or the inclination) to move the 200 odd bottles down from the shelves.

Ah well "Live and learn!" as they say so this year I will stick to PB's and Growlers!

BTW, I still think that there's no need to have a fridge that actually works as a fridge!

 

[Dutto]

Incredible! The last Post was way back in February and I didn't do anything as stupid as "Signing the Pledge"!

However, I have been drinking my stocks as a prelude to:

1. Moving home.
2. Going back to Kits and Extract Brewing.

Yesterday I made my first "Own Recipe Extract Brew" (a Cherry Pale Ale) as follows:

EXTRACT CHERRY PALE ALE
22ndJune 2019
Started with 1.5kg Coopers Pale LME + 400ml of Lowicz Cherry Syrup.
Brought to boil with 10 litres of water.
Boiled with 25g EKG Leaf for 50 minutes.
Flameout
Cooled brew to 80*C by adding water then steeped 20g of Cascade Leaf for 10 minutes.
Poured brew into FV and added:

• Water to 21 litres.
• Yeast nutrient.

Cooled to 25*C, took OG and pitched rehydrated American PA Yeast.
Fermenting at 22*C in Brew Fridge 1.

The OG was at 1.028 which should return an ABV of about 2.5% by the time it has finished fermenting.

It is bubbling away merrily and the OG Sample tasted as bitter as buggery; which bodes well for a quaffable summer Pale Ale with a hint of Cherry Flavour.

Here's hoping; as usual!

 

[Dutto]

Yesterday, after three days cold-crashing the Extract Cherry Lager at 10*C, I transferred it to 2 x 10 litre Growlers with 2 x 9g of sugar; and forgot to add the hop tea! Bugger!!

The FG was at 1.010 (the sample tasted fine) which gives an ABV of 2.4% (ideal for drinking on a hot afternoon) and the Growlers are currently carbonating on the workbench at ambient temperature.

Today, I started:

WILKO LIGHT GOLDEN LAGER
4thJuly 2019
Started with Wilko Light Golden Lager Kit and 1.5kg of Coopers Pale LME.
Made as per instructions to 23 litres.
Added Hop Tea made from 15g of Cascade Leaf. (This was in response to my previous memory lapse!)
Added yeast nutrient.
Cooled to 24*C, took OG and pitched kit yeast.
Fermenting at 18*C in Brew Fridge 1.

The OG was at 1.041 which should ferment out to an ABV of +/- 4%.

The sample tasted quite bitter so looking forward to tasting the end result.

 

[Dutto]

Hiya,

I'm back! Sorry for the absence but I've been nipping over to France, attending funerals, getting things cut out of my face, moving house etc etc; but I've still managed to make a few notes and put a few brews on as follows:

The "Extract Cherry Pale Ale" (mentioned above) disappeared rapidly despite being carted to France (and back as we had to return after four days to attend a funeral). The Cherry flavour stayed with the brew so it was a success!

The "Wilko Light Golden Lager" came in at a FG of 1.014 (ABV 3.54%) but despite the introduction of Cascade Leaf Tea to each of the Growlers, the finished brew lacked the citrus flavour that I had hoped to instil. It still disappeared at a rapid rate of knots though!

The new brews are as follows:

WILKO HOPPY COPPER BITTER
29th July 2019
Started with Wilko Hoppy Copper Beer Kit and 1.5kg of Coopers Pale LME.
Made as per instructions to 23 litres.
Added yeast nutrient.
Cooled to 22*C, took OG and pitched kit yeast + Packet of Wilko Ale Yeast
Fermenting at 19*C in Brew Fridge 1.
12th August
Increase Temperature to 20.5*C.
13th August 2019
Checked SG at 1.014 – IncreaseD temperature to 22.5*C
16th August 2019
Took FG at 1.012
Started cold-crash to 10*C.
22nd August 2019
Added 250ml Hop Tea made from 10g of EKG and 24g of sugar to Wilko Keg.
Carbonating on worktop as off to France.
DETAILS
OG = 1.041
FG = 1.010
ABV = 4.07%
Kcal per Litre = 395 Kcal
The brew was finally finished in early December! A superb brew. Definitely one of my "Go To" brews!

Our trip to France was cut short as we had to return to attend a funeral; then we finally sold the house and moved. As a result I didn't brew anything until:

WILKO HOPPY COPPER BITTER
1st December 2019
Started with Wilko Hoppy Copper Beer Kit and 0.5kg of Muntons Beer Enhancer.
Made as per instructions to 20 litres.
Added yeast nutrient.
Cooled to 20*C, took OG and pitched kit yeast .
Fermenting at 20*C in Brew Fridge.
6th December 2019
Power off on fridge. Temperature down to 15*C!
Fermentation ceased! So introduced sachet of Wilko Ale Yeast (rather than do a FG) and increased temperature to 20*C.
8th December 2019
Still no sign of life, so checked SG at 1.010
Started cold-crash to 10*C.
10th December 2019
Transferred to Growlers C & D.
Added 250ml Hop Tea made from 15g of EKG Leaf to Growler C.
Added 250ml Hop Tea made from 15g of Cascade Leaf to Growler D.
Started CO2 Carbonation at 15psi
DETAILS
OG = 1.034
FG = 1.010
ABV = 3.15%
I started drinking this brew about a week later as I had run out of everything else! Taste was "drinkable and getting better"; but Growler C will probably be empty by tomorrow!

It was about this time that I had a few pints of Batemans Gold and also saw a litre of natural "Grapefruit Juice" in Tesco. As already explained, I was disappointed with the lack of citrus flavour in the last brew I had tried with Cascade so ....

WILKO LIGHT GOLDEN LAGER WITH GRAPEFRUIT
11th December 2019
Started with Wilko IPA Kit and 0.5kg of Muntons Beer Enhancer.
Added 1 litre of Tesco Grapefruit Juice to fermenter.
Made as per instructions to 21 litres.
Cooled to 20*C, took OG and pitched kit yeast .
Fermenting at 19*C in Brew Fridge.
20th December 2019
Checked SG at 1.010
Started cold-crash to 10*C.
28th December 2019
Transferred to Wilko Keg
Added 15g of carbonating sugar.
Added 2 litres of Hop Tea made from 25g of Cascade Leaf.
Carbonated in fridge at 19*C.
30th December 2019
Moved from fridge to condition after checking carbonation underway.
DETAILS
OG = 1.038
FG = 1.010
ABV = 3.68% (*)
(*) ABV less due to addition of Hop Tea.
First taste of FG Sample is that the Grapefruit flavour is still there! YAY!

I am still trying to build up some stocks so that I can follow my normal 2+2+2 criteria; but at the moment everything is a bit of a rush!

I hope that in the future I will be able to take more of an interest in the Homebrew fraternity. At the moment I'm happy that we've got a new log cabin (AKA The Brewery) and that I've managed to restart the brewing.

I've included a photograph that you can use to scare your kids with. Back in the summer I went to see a Dermatologist about a cancer on the bridge of my nose. After making the diagnosis, explaining that it was slow growing and that there was no hurry (he cut it out last month) he said "You have a lot of sun damage to your face!" As I have worked in some of the hottest and sunniest parts of the world, that was no surprise so I agreed to rub some cream on my face. Please note that the photograph is of the CURE; the sun damaged cells are the red bits, that fall off.

BTW, apparently some ladies pay enormous amounts of money to get the kind of facial skin that I now possess!

 

[An Ankoù]

Good to see you back in action, Dutto. Happy New year.

 

[Clint]

Welcome home D.

 

[marshbrewer]

Great to see you back @Dutto .

 

[Banbeer]

Yey, welcome home @Dutto.

 

[BarnBrian]

And there was me thinking you’d gone to the great FV in the sky. Nice cosmetic surgery