Dutto's Brew Day

[The Idiot]

Today I brewed a Pale Ale with an expected final ABV of +/-5%. This is the recipe:

NGREDIENTS
4.50kg of Maris Otter Malt
0.25kg of Cara Malt
0.25kg of Crystal Malt
0.20kg of Flaked Oats
25g EKG leaf
15g Saaz leaf
25g Hallertau leaf
Wilco Ale Yeast
Protafloc Tablet

PREPARATION
Mill 4.50kg of Maris Otter.
Mill 0.25kg of Cara Malt
Mill 0.25kg of Crystal Malt
Weigh 0.20kg of Flaked Oats (Tesco Best!)
Prepare 1 x 25g EKG and 1 x 15g Saaz Bittering Hops
Prepare 1 x 25g Hallertau Aroma Hops.
Put out 1 x Protafloc Tablet.
Put out 1 x Wilco Ale Yeast & Yeast Nutrient.

MASH METHOD
Strike Water = 3.0 litres per 1kg of grain = 16.0 litres at 85 degrees
Mash at 70 to 75 degrees for one hour - DO NOT exceed 75 degrees. (Actually 72 degrees!)
Run off wort and circulate using TWO vessels until wort runs CLEAR.
Heat SPARGE water to 80 degrees.
Sparge at one litre per minute. Stop sparge when runnings reach SG1.008 / SG1.012.
Started with 30 litres, finished with 22 litres, recovered to FV 20 litres and added 3 litres of cold water to bring to 23 litres.

BOIL METHOD
Boil with 25g of EKG and 15g of Saaz Bittering Hops for 60 minutes.
Add Protafloc tablet and boil for 10 minutes.
Add 25g of Hallertau Aroma Hops for 5 minutes.
Cool to 24 degrees, run off into FV and add Yeast Nutrient.
Pitch yeast and ferment at 22 degrees on worktop with Heating Pad assist.

The Day was very "Ho, hum!" with the usual cock-ups!

1. I ran out of Hop Bags so lumping both Bittering Hops together is definitely "Plan B"! :whistle:

2. I ran the Mash Water to the ground by leaving the Mash Tun valve open when fillet it from the water heater. This added an hour to the day!

3. The Mash Tun started leaking at the valve halfway through the mash! Job for tomorrow.

4. When SWMBO asked "Do you know that the gas ring windbreak is on fire?" I answered "Yes. Of course!" and put it out with the spray I use for the BBQ. Must make a bigger windbreak tomorrow! :whistle:

5. The hose connection from the Immersion Cooler blew off at the start of the cooling. Didn't affect the efficiency BUT another job for tomorrow!

The rest of the day went really well. The new gas ring worked a treat and had the wort boiling in about 20 minutes.

The improved cooler had the wort down to 24 degrees within thirty minutes which is fantastic given the ambient temperature. :thumb:

The wort tasted really sweet when I sampled the OG sample. As it's almost certainly "non fermentable sugars" (due to the high mash temperature) it bodes well for a session beer come Christmas.

All in all a happy day but totally knackered so "Nite Nite!" :thumb:

Business as usual, then?

 

[Dutto]

What a difference a day makes! (You could write a song about it!) :whistle:

Today everything went perfectly so I am duly amazed!

I decided to have another go at the Vienna Lager and used this recipe and system.

VIENNA LAGER - VERSION TWO

INGREDIENTS

4.50kg Maris Otter
0.25kg Caramalt
0.25kg Crystal Malt
50g Hallertau Leaf
Mangrove Jack's Californian Lager Yeast (M54)
Protafloc Tablet
Yeast Nutrient

PREPARATION
Mill 4.50kg of Maris Otter Malt
Mill 0.25kg of Caramalt
Mill 0.25kg of Crystal Malt
Prepare 1 x 40g of Hallertau Hop Leaf
Prepare 1 x 10g of Hallertau Hop Leaf
Put out 1 x Protafloc Tablet
Put out Mangrove Jack's Californian Lager Yeast (M54)
Put out Yeast Nutrient

MASH METHOD
Strike Water = +/-2.5 litres per 1kg of grain = 12.5 litres at 70 degrees
Mash at 60 to 65 degrees for one hour. (Actually 62 degrees!)
Run off wort and circulate using TWO vessels until wort runs CLEAR.
Heat SPARGE water to 70 degrees.
Sparge at one litre per minute. Stop sparge when runnings reach SG1.008 / SG1.012.
Overfill boil kettle to 27 litres so that there is no need to add more water later.

BOIL METHOD
Boil with 40g of Hallertau Hop Leaf for 60 minutes.
Add Protafloc tablet and boil for 10 minutes.
Boil with 10g of Hallertau Hop Leaf for 5 minutes.
Cool to 24 degrees, Whirlpool and run off into FV.
Add 1tsp of Yeast Nutrient, Pitch yeast at 24 degrees and ferment in fridge at 20 degrees.
When fermentation finished:
o Rack off into Bottling Bucket, bottle in 500ml bottles and carbonate in fridge at 22 degrees for one week.
o Cold Crash at 2.5 degrees for one week.
o Condition at ambient for +/-12 weeks.

STYLE DETAILS
OG = 1.048 (minimum to be within “style”!) (Actually 1.051.)
FG = 1.010 to 1.014
ABV = 4.4% 60 5.5%
SRM = 9 to 15
IBU = 18 to 30

From start to finish a new record of FIVE HOURS which included tidying up everything afterwards! :thumb:

The new paella gas ring brought the 30 litres of wort to boiling in 40 minutes. i.e. 20 minutes after I had finished sparging.

The modified immersion cooler dropped the wort temperature from boiling to 24 degrees in 40 minutes; a situation that should improve dramatically come the winter! (The difference in time to yesterday is that I had a few litres more in the boiler; and actually timed the event!)

The low temperature (62 degrees) mash seems to have produced plenty of fermentable sugars so that's an improvement on the last attempt.

Also, I'm using Mango Jack's Californian Lager Yeast instead of Youngs Lager Yeast. The MJ yeast is apparently happy to ferment at up to 24 degrees so next time I might use it and ferment the brew of the worktop instead of the fridge.

Well, that's it. "Another day and another dollar!" as my American friends say. I didn't spill anything, I didn't burn anything, nothing broke or decided to commit suicide ... :thumb:

... so right now I am worrying about what I may have missed!

 

[Ajhutch]

Nice one, you got all the kinks worked out on day one then smashed day two out of the park!


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[Leon103]

No vienna malt?

 

[Dutto]

No vienna malt?

Call me a peasant, but I brew to what I have in the garage and it fits the "Style Requirements" then it's okay. :whistle:

The description is here ...

https://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category3.php#style3A

... and it makes interesting reading. :thumb:

Call it by any name, it's very "moorish". The photograph shows the demise of MKs No.9 to No.6. It was taken on the 10th of July! :whistle:

Enjoy. :thumb:

 

[Clint]

....get to bed!

 

[Dutto]

....get to bed!

Okay Mother. Nite, nite! :thumb:

 

[Gerryjo]

Good to see you you're back on form....

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[Clint]

Ha...I'm PAF. ..

 

[Gerryjo]

Ha...I'm PAF. ..

PAAF.....

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[pvt_ak]

PAAF.....

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And this morning is a HOF ....


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[Gerryjo]

And this morning is a HOF ....


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Sorry was referring to @Clint.I was tee total last night but shall make up for it tonight.

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[pvt_ak]

Sorry was referring to @Clint.I was tee total last night but shall make up for it tonight.

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I know , I was suggesting @Clint this morning is a hung over fart !! HOF ha ha .


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[Gerryjo]

I know , I was suggesting @Clint this morning is a hung over fart !! HOF ha ha .


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Aye ****** As A Fart PAAF.Hope he enjoyed it[emoji481]

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[Dutto]

At the moment I'm a KOF (knackered old fart) who has been doing everything but brewing today.

I blame Clint!

I was so early to bed last night that I was up and about at 7am today instead of my usual 9am.

As a result SWMBO found me loads of things to do, none of which involved making or drinking beer!

 

[Clint]

....I was up at ...13:30...and haven't done very much at all! Yes...a wasted day.

 

[Gerryjo]

....I was up at ...13:30...and haven't done very much at all! Yes...a wasted day.

Wasn't the only thing that was wasted I bet[emoji12]

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[Dutto]

The Vienna Lager looks as if it will be a "Non-Event" brew with nary a bubble out of the air-lock ...

... but as I can see a line of scum at the top of the wort I've decided that all is well and the FV must be leaking! :thumb:

Hey ho! Only another 12 days to go and I will check the SG and find out what is (or isn't) happening! :lol:

 

[Dutto]

The Vienna Lager looks as if it will be a "Non-Event" brew with nary a bubble out of the air-lock ...

... but as I can see a line of scum at the top of the wort I've decided that all is well and the FV must be leaking! :thumb:

Hey ho! Only another 12 days to go and I will check the SG and find out what is (or isn't) happening! :lol:

And then I noticed that there was brown stuff oozing out of the bottom of the fridge!

Taken off like a train! :thumb:

 

[Dutto]

Checked the Pale Ale today (weekend visitors!) and discovered that it was stuck at 1.022! Thrashed it like mad with a paddle and threw in a packet of Wilco Ale Yeast. It was fermenting happily about two hours later!

I then checked the Vienna Lager and it was down to 1.010 so I decided to bottle it in 650ml Flip-Tops. This was well before my normal "2 weeks fermenting" time, but I needed to get another brew on by the weekend and visitors throw everything out of kilter!

I then spent the next half hour cleaning out the fridge to get rid of the "overflow" from when the brew went mental about a week ago! I should have cleaned it up when I noticed the overflow but .... :nono: :nono:

... spent nearly half an hour on the job instead of five minutes!

I then decided that I still had an hour or so to spare before tea so I stuck on a Wilco Hoppy Copper Bitter. With a bit of luck it should be fermented out and ready for kegging in two weeks; which coincides with our next trip to France.

Plan "A" for France is that the SMASH with EKG will be finished by the time we leave, so we will take a 23 litre King Keg of SMASH with Saaz and 2 x 10 litre kegs of Hoppy Copper Bitter with us to keep the thirst at bay!

Here's hoping! :thumb: