foxbat's brewdays

[matt76]

Random question for you @foxbat , you use a giant hop bag in the boil, right?

When you add your Irish moss (whirlfloc in your case?) do you throw it in the bag with the hops or directly into the kettle?

(I'm not sure it would make much difference, just an idle thought that meandered through my mind)

 

[foxbat]

Random question for you @foxbat , you use a giant hop bag in the boil, right?

When you add your Irish moss (whirlfloc in your case?) do you throw it in the bag with the hops or directly into the kettle?

(I'm not sure it would make much difference, just an idle thought that meandered through my mind)

Yes I use a large hop bag in the boil and the whirlfloc tablet goes outside it.

 

[foxbat]

Today's brew is a bitter that will be fermented with the Fullers 1845 yeast that I cultured last week. With the weather forecast showing possible snow this afternoon and me wanting to use the patio for washing up I got up early at 6am to hopefully finish before the weather changed.

Here's the recipe.

Recipe: Never felt bitter
Style: Best Bitter

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size (fermenter): 24.00 L  
Estimated OG: 1.045 SG
Estimated Color: 26.2 EBC
Estimated IBU: 33.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.6 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Water profile: Ca:80 Mg:13 Na:10 SO4:128 Cl:78

Ingredients:
------------
Amt         Name                                             Type         %/IBU
29.72 L     Tesco Ashbeck                                    Water        -        
3.50 g      Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash)                  Water Agent  -        
2.50 g      Calcium Chloride (Mash)                          Water Agent  -        
2.50 g      Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash)                        Water Agent  -        
0.50 ml     Lactic Acid (Mash)                               Water Agent  -        

4.50 kg     Maris Otter (Crisp) (7.9 EBC)                    Grain        94.6 %   
0.19 kg     Caramunich II (Weyermann) (124.1 EBC)            Grain        3.9 %    
0.07 kg     Carafa II (Weyermann) (1150.0 EBC)               Grain        1.5 %    

0.70 g      Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Sparge)                Water Agent  -        
0.50 g      Calcium Chloride (Sparge)                        Water Agent  -        
0.50 g      Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Sparge)                      Water Agent  -        
0.20 ml     Lactic Acid (Sparge)                             Water Agent  -        

20.00 g     Hallertau Magnum [11.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min       Hop          24.9 IBUs
12.00 g     Brewer's Gold, UK [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min       Hop          3.0 IBUs 
16.00 g     Brewer's Gold, UK [4.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min       Hop          3.0 IBUs 
1.00 Items  Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 7.0 mins)                 Fining       -        
22.00 g     Brewer's Gold, UK [4.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min        Hop          2.2 IBUs 

1.0 pkg     Fullers Ale (bottle cultured from 1845)          Yeast        -        

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 4.76 kg
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash In           Add 24.72 L of water at 71.3 C          65.5 C        60 min       

Sparge: Dunk sparge with 5L

The grains were ready and waiting for me to grind as I'd weighed them out last night.

I've been wanting to brew a Brewer's Gold beer for a couple of years and haven't got around to it until now. One of my favourite beers when I'm out up in Nottingham is BG Sips by the Blue Monkey brewery that's only got Brewer's Gold in it. If I can get anything like the flavour that they do then I'll be well happy.

Brew day went fine all the way up to the point where I turned the tap on to my immersion chiller and water started spurting from the inlet where the jubilee clip hadn't quite gripped the hose to the chiller tight enough. The water was missing the wort and in hindsight I should have turned the tap off before trying to address the leak by tightening the clip. My fiddling around made the hose pop off the end of the chiller causing a small water fountain, a few flying drops of which landed in the wort. Doh! At least it was clean water from the tap through a hose that's only used for this purpose and the wort was at boiling point so probably no harm done. Kicking myself though.

Cooling, when I fixed my hose, was quite quick in the freezing weather and I collected 24 litres of amber/tawny coloured wort at an OG of 1.050. That's 5 points more than I expected which I think is mostly down to the great extraction that I get from Crisp Maris Otter compared to the Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner that I usually use because the water volume and grain weight is almost identical to the recipes where I've used the Weyermann malt.

I guess this will be an ESB then and if anyone asks I'll tell them that I meant it all along :) The wort from the sample jar tasted fine and not at all of hosepipe.

I'll pitch the decanted 1845 starter this evening when the wort is at 19C. I've no idea how much the yeast will attenuate so it'll be a learning experience I guess. Hmmm. I think @peebee has brewed with this yeast before based on his posts over at Jim's; maybe he can offer some advice?

 

[Manxnorton]

Hallow m8.
Really neat brew day.
I like your recipe and as i not fiddle with water treatment for a long time, its good to get the grey matter moved.
@strange-steve had a mare coaching me on water treament, bless his cotton socks.
Bri

 

[matt76]

Today's brew is a bitter that will be fermented with the Fullers 1845 yeast that I cultured last week. With the weather forecast showing possible snow this afternoon and me wanting to use the patio for washing up I got up early at 6am to hopefully finish before the weather changed.

Here's the recipe.

Recipe: Never felt bitter
Style: Best Bitter

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size (fermenter): 24.00 L 
Estimated OG: 1.045 SG
Estimated Color: 26.2 EBC
Estimated IBU: 33.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.6 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Water profile: Ca:80 Mg:13 Na:10 SO4:128 Cl:78

Ingredients:
------------
Amt         Name                                             Type         %/IBU
29.72 L     Tesco Ashbeck                                    Water        -       
3.50 g      Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash)                  Water Agent  -       
2.50 g      Calcium Chloride (Mash)                          Water Agent  -       
2.50 g      Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash)                        Water Agent  -       
0.50 ml     Lactic Acid (Mash)                               Water Agent  -       

4.50 kg     Maris Otter (Crisp) (7.9 EBC)                    Grain        94.6 %  
0.19 kg     Caramunich II (Weyermann) (124.1 EBC)            Grain        3.9 %   
0.07 kg     Carafa II (Weyermann) (1150.0 EBC)               Grain        1.5 %   

0.70 g      Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Sparge)                Water Agent  -       
0.50 g      Calcium Chloride (Sparge)                        Water Agent  -       
0.50 g      Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Sparge)                      Water Agent  -       
0.20 ml     Lactic Acid (Sparge)                             Water Agent  -       

20.00 g     Hallertau Magnum [11.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min       Hop          24.9 IBUs
12.00 g     Brewer's Gold, UK [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min       Hop          3.0 IBUs
16.00 g     Brewer's Gold, UK [4.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min       Hop          3.0 IBUs
1.00 Items  Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 7.0 mins)                 Fining       -       
22.00 g     Brewer's Gold, UK [4.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min        Hop          2.2 IBUs

1.0 pkg     Fullers Ale (bottle cultured from 1845)          Yeast        -       

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 4.76 kg
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time   
Mash In           Add 24.72 L of water at 71.3 C          65.5 C        60 min      

Sparge: Dunk sparge with 5L

The grains were ready and waiting for me to grind as I'd weighed them out last night.

I've been wanting to brew a Brewer's Gold beer for a couple of years and haven't got around to it until now. One of my favourite beers when I'm out up in Nottingham is BG Sips by the Blue Monkey brewery that's only got Brewer's Gold in it. If I can get anything like the flavour that they do then I'll be well happy.

Brew day went fine all the way up to the point where I turned the tap on to my immersion chiller and water started spurting from the inlet where the jubilee clip hadn't quite gripped the hose to the chiller tight enough. The water was missing the wort and in hindsight I should have turned the tap off before trying to address the leak by tightening the clip. My fiddling around made the hose pop off the end of the chiller causing a small water fountain, a few flying drops of which landed in the wort. Doh! At least it was clean water from the tap through a hose that's only used for this purpose and the wort was at boiling point so probably no harm done. Kicking myself though.

Cooling, when I fixed my hose, was quite quick in the freezing weather and I collected 24 litres of amber/tawny coloured wort at an OG of 1.050. That's 5 points more than I expected which I think is mostly down to the great extraction that I get from Crisp Maris Otter compared to the Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner that I usually use because the water volume and grain weight is almost identical to the recipes where I've used the Weyermann malt.

I guess this will be an ESB then and if anyone asks I'll tell them that I meant it all along :) The wort from the sample jar tasted fine and not at all of hosepipe.

I'll pitch the decanted 1845 starter this evening when the wort is at 19C. I've no idea how much the yeast will attenuate so it'll be a learning experience I guess. Hmmm. I think @peebee has brewed with this yeast before based on his posts over at Jim's; maybe he can offer some advice?

This is really interesting on a couple of counts @foxbat ;

First I'll be really interested to hear what you think of the Fuller's yeast compared with other English ale yeats you've tried. Not tempted to try and harvest the yeast cake at the end? Or have you overbuilt enough already to use in subsequent brews? Regarding how it attenuates, now what you really need is a Tilt hydrometer so you can analyse the fermentation characteristics in detail

Second, likewise I'm keen to have a crack with Brewer's Gold myself. It came to my attention particularly because I think Scott Janish had highlighted it as being particularly high in survivables, especially since it's an old school UK hop rather thn a trendy new US hop. I note you've gone for your 1.0:1.4:2.0 hop ratio again at 15, 10 & 5mins. I tried this with my Hoppy Amber v1 - not totally sold yet but something I'm interested to keep experimenting with versus, say, adding hops 1 & 2, then 2 & 3, then 1 & 3 for a more layered approach

 

[peebee]

…
I'll pitch the decanted 1845 starter this evening when the wort is at 19C. I've no idea how much the yeast will attenuate so it'll be a learning experience I guess. Hmmm. I think @peebee has brewed with this yeast before based on his posts over at Jim's; maybe he can offer some advice?

Nope, not me! Though I may have talked about White Labs WLP002 which is reputed to be Fuller's yeast ( ). I use it a lot and it isn't down as a high attenuator (seems White Labs have downgraded it recently to 63-70% ?). As for 1845, love the stuff but have used Safale S-33 yeast for clones of that. Hang-on though … a deep memory stirs, I'll need to search hard for this …

… Wow! This is digging deep (I'm probably still off work when brewing this, following the accident the previous year … accidents, I collect them!). Pre-dates useful WWW, and forums! My estimation of Wychwood's (long dead) "Old Devil". Quite wrong (SG1.064!), but there it is, "Fuller's 1845 yeast (5 day starter)". This would have been, drink most of the 500ml bottle, 2/3rd fill with malt solution and leave until it's frothy (5 days apparently). Would have been vastly under-pitched, but was going in 18 hours after pitching and probably finished in 5-7 days. Looked like it finished high and the end result was appreciated (three stars!).

Blimey, all that hand writing. Couldn't do that now, even after retraining to write left-handed (the more recent accident!).

 

[foxbat]

Nope, not me! Though I may have talked about White Labs WLP002 which is reputed to be Fuller's yeast ( ). I use it a lot and it isn't down as a high attenuator (seems White Labs have downgraded it recently to 63-70% ?). As for 1845, love the stuff but have used Safale S-33 yeast for clones of that. Hang-on though … a deep memory stirs, I'll need to search hard for this …

View attachment 40127
… Wow! This is digging deep (I'm probably still off work when brewing this, following the accident the previous year … accidents, I collect them!). Pre-dates useful WWW, and forums! My estimation of Wychwood's (long dead) "Old Devil". Quite wrong (SG1.064!), but there it is, "Fuller's 1845 yeast (5 day starter)". This would have been, drink most of the 500ml bottle, 2/3rd fill with malt solution and leave until it's frothy (5 days apparently). Would have been vastly under-pitched, but was going in 18 hours after pitching and probably finished in 5-7 days. Looked like it finished high and the end result was appreciated (three stars!).

Blimey, all that hand writing. Couldn't do that now, even after retraining to write left-handed (the more recent accident!).

Brilliant, I love that write up. You even wrote down how you lost 2 pints on the floor! I see you fermented at 19-21 which makes good sense for an English yeast. I think I'll go and turn my fridge up to 20C.

 

[foxbat]

This is really interesting on a couple of counts @foxbat ;

First I'll be really interested to hear what you think of the Fuller's yeast compared with other English ale yeats you've tried. Not tempted to try and harvest the yeast cake at the end? Or have you overbuilt enough already to use in subsequent brews?

The next half-dozen or so brews are all going to be lagers of some shape or form so I'm not keeping this yeast around in a jar or anything for later because it'll be at least 6 months before I come back to it. If it works well and I want to use it again for a bitter then I'll just buy more 1845 and make more - it's no hardship to drink that beer I can tell you. Lovely stuff.

Regarding how it attenuates, now what you really need is a Tilt hydrometer so you can analyse the fermentation characteristics in detail

You're not helping you know!!!

Second, likewise I'm keen to have a crack with Brewer's Gold myself. It came to my attention particularly because I think Scott Janish had highlighted it as being particularly high in survivables, especially since it's an old school UK hop rather thn a trendy new US hop. I note you've gone for your 1.0:1.4:2.0 hop ratio again at 15, 10 & 5mins. I tried this with my Hoppy Amber v1 - not totally sold yet but something I'm interested to keep experimenting with versus, say, adding hops 1 & 2, then 2 & 3, then 1 & 3 for a more layered approach

I like Scott's writing but must have missed that one. I'll go and have a look and see what he's saying about Brewer's Gold. I've kept my usual hopping ratio because in the extra-pales that I do it's always done well. I've fiddled with the timings and weights a bit in the past but haven't really noticed much difference the outcome.

 

[foxbat]

Hallow m8.
Really neat brew day.
I like your recipe and as i not fiddle with water treatment for a long time, its good to get the grey matter moved.
@strange-steve had a mare coaching me on water treament, bless his cotton socks.
Bri

Thanks Bri, I read your brew-day write up in your thread as well. It's great to see you back and brewing again. The water treatment in this one was aimed at bringing up the mineral levels from the very low level in Tesco Ashbeck to levels more appropriate for an English bitter. I use the Bru'nwater spreadsheet for this and it's really easy. You change the amount of an additive in one cell and just watch the spreadsheet change the outcome for you then keep fiddling until you get the numbers that you're looking for.

 

[Manxnorton]

Things coming back slowly..lol as you know my brain deosnt fire in all cylinders.
Mind i havent brewed a dark beer for ages.
just found my notes from steve..lol both for dark beer and IPA's...my lager scippling is...well utter **** lol.
your page and pics etc are looking professional, and a joy to look at.
keep safe pal.
I'll catch you during the week.
Bri

 

[matt76]

I'm not keeping this yeast around in a jar or anything for later because it'll be at least 6 months before I come back to it.

FWIW, the WY1318 I've used recently came from a jar of slurry I had in the fridge. Bearing in mind I turned my back on liquid yeast well over a year ago I had a look through my notes and I reckon it had been in the fridge at least a year, maybe even 18 months.

I threw it into some spare wort just for a laugh to see what would happen and to be honest it took right off with no encouragement from me.

So I've no doubt you could easily keep it 6 months if you wanted to. Though I do agree, that would kinda miss the fun of drinking some more of that 1845 (must try it myself!)

I like Scott's writing but must have missed that one. I'll go and have a look and see what he's saying about Brewer's Gold.

Thinking about it, I reckon it was on an episode of Experimental Brewing that it came up - certainly a podcast rather than in print. But probably an interview with Scott, though he's been on all the podcasts recently promoting his book.

By the way, I've tweeted Scott a couple of times and he's been very helpful - don't know the man but seems like a good guy

 

[Tommo 2]

By the way has anyone Got an all grain clone recipe for BG SIPS, from the blue monkey brewery, it’s a lovely drop and had forgotten all about it till reading this thread, would have to live three more life times to brew everything I’ve got planned but would make sure to have a crack at this one , cheers in advance guys.

 

[foxbat]

By the way has anyone Got an all grain clone recipe for BG SIPS, from the blue monkey brewery, it’s a lovely drop and had forgotten all about it till reading this thread, would have to live three more life times to brew everything I’ve got planned but would make sure to have a crack at this one , cheers in advance guys.

Nice isn't it? Have a look here:

https://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=60963
Personally I'd like the recipe for 'Infinity'.

 

[foxbat]

Well, the 1845 yeast that I pitched yesterday started bubbling at around 9:00am this morning. About 17 hours for the lag phase so not too bad guesswork for the amount of yeast that needed to be built up.

 

[matt76]

Of course, if you got yourself a Tilt then you'd have data points every 15 mins, or even less, to see exactly what was going on during those first few hours of fermentation

 

[Brewnaldo]

As an avid reader of this thread, and the work of the Foxbat, I have quite literally just noticed and purchased a bottle of 1698 Kentish Ale, because I though that was what you were culturing up and thought I'd give said ale a try.

Now that I see it's actually 1845, I feel a bit thick

 

[matt76]

As an avid reader of this thread, and the work of the Foxbat, I have quite literally just noticed and purchased a bottle of 1698 Kentish Ale, because I though that was what you were culturing up and thought I'd give said ale a try.

Now that I see it's actually 1845, I feel a bit thick

Try growing it up anyway - you wouldn't be the first person in this thread to cultivate a bottling strain

 

[foxbat]

As an avid reader of this thread, and the work of the Foxbat, I have quite literally just noticed and purchased a bottle of 1698 Kentish Ale, because I though that was what you were culturing up and thought I'd give said ale a try.

Now that I see it's actually 1845, I feel a bit thick

Definitely grow that one. @terrym did it in this thread and got a very vigorous fermentation. It looks like a real traditional English top-cropper.

 

[moto748]

Had a pint of two in the Blue Monkey in my time, one of the few half-decent pubs left in Nottingham.

 

[foxbat]

Try growing it up anyway - you wouldn't be the first person in this thread to cultivate a bottling strain

I do enjoy taking one for the team.

Of course, if you got yourself a Tilt then you'd have data points every 15 mins, or even less, to see exactly what was going on during those first few hours of fermentation

Ah but the yeast isn't eating the sugars during the growth phase so your fancy gadget would be sitting there shrugging its virtual shoulders and drawing a flat line!