foxbat's brewdays

[matt76]

The 300ml Brewlab Yorkshire starter has been chilling since it fermented out on Friday and I'm quite impressed with how much yeast grew from just those few cells.

I made up the second stage 1.5 litre starter wort tonight. 500ml will go back in the fridge for the next brew and 1 litre will go into this Sunday's wort.

I decanted most of the spent 300ml starter beer into a glass and had a taste. It's certainly big on esters, fruity and somehow strangely familiar. So I had another sip, trying to place it. Nope. Another sip then. I'm sure it's from a brewery that I know and still it elludes me which is mildly annoying because now I've drunk all the starter beer. I'll have to wait until the main beer's done then!

It's now in the brew-fridge at 20C on the stir plate.

Out of interest, when you pitch your starter, do you pitch the lot or do you crash the yeast out and decant off the beer so you only pitch the actual yeast?

 

[foxbat]

Out of interest, when you pitch your starter, do you pitch the lot or do you crash the yeast out and decant off the beer so you only pitch the actual yeast?

Crash and decant leaving only enough to swirl up the flocculated layer.

I have pitched the lot a few times when I was running behind schedule and not noticed any weird flavours but I try not to make a habit of it.

 

[foxbat]

It seems to be doing well this morning. Ale starters are much more entertaining than lager starters.

 

[matt76]

I'm currently agonising over what to do with the pouch of A-09 I'll be using in my next brew - next 2 brews actually...

(I already know exactly what you'd do! )

It's over 4 months old and according to the Brewers Friend calculator dead as a doornail with 0% viable cells! I don't believe a word of it, I'm 100% confident if I pitch it it'll be reet, especially in my smaller 12L batches.

I've a slight concern that I don't want to massively overpitch if it is still very viable, and likewise don't want to underpitch either.

Even a lazy-*** brewer like me knows it'll be a safer bet to wake it up with a starter. So, shock-horror, I might actually do it your way for once! Overbuild it, then I can scoop out a few carefully calculated and calibrated tablespoons of thick flocculated yeast for brew #1 and leave the rest behind for brew #2

 

[foxbat]

This was the scene at T+21hrs. I don't recall ever having a 1.5 litre starter climb out of my 3 litre flask before. Next time it's getting the 5 litre flask. Let's see it climb out of that!

I sanitised a new foil cap and replaced the one that had got all yeasty and dislodged.

 

[foxbat]

I'm currently agonising over what to do with the pouch of A-09 I'll be using in my next brew - next 2 brews actually...

(I already know exactly what you'd do! )

It's over 4 months old and according to the Brewers Friend calculator dead as a doornail with 0% viable cells! I don't believe a word of it, I'm 100% confident if I pitch it it'll be reet, especially in my smaller 12L batches.

I've a slight concern that I don't want to massively overpitch if it is still very viable, and likewise don't want to underpitch either.

Even a lazy-*** brewer like me knows it'll be a safer bet to wake it up with a starter. So, shock-horror, I might actually do it your way for once! Overbuild it, then I can scoop out a few carefully calculated and calibrated tablespoons of thick flocculated yeast for brew #1 and leave the rest behind for brew #2

Go on get that starter on the boil; you know you want to. Then of course you'll enjoy the beer and have a lovely fresh sample in the fridge ready to build up again. And so the cycle begins.



Carefully calculated and calibrated my...

 

[foxbat]

Today's recipe is a simple one using Weyermann Pilsner Malt and Archer hops. The idea is to showcase this new yeast without too much else going on with the malt and hops. The Brewlab notes for the Yorkshire strain state that it likes a minerally wort so I've added a fair bit to the Ashbeck water to get the sulphate and chloride levels up.

Here's the recipe.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Recipe: SAA (Simple Autumn Ale)
Date: 3 Oct 2021
Batch Size (fermenter): 24.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 6.4 EBC
Estimated IBU: 31.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.6 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Finished water profile: Ca:122, Mg:22, Na:9, SO4:227, Cl:108
Ingredients:
------------
Amt         Name                                        Type          %/IBU         Volume 
6.10 g      Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash)             Water Agent   -             -           
4.90 g      Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash)                   Water Agent   -             -           
3.70 g      Calcium Chloride (Mash)                     Water Agent   -             -           

4.22 kg     Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner (4.0 EBC)        Grain         95.0 %        2.75 L      
0.22 kg     Weyermann Carapils (3.9 EBC)                Grain         5.0 %         0.14 L      

1.30 g      Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Sparge)           Water Agent   -             -           
1.00 g      Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Sparge)                 Water Agent   -             -           
0.80 g      Calcium Chloride (Sparge)                   Water Agent   -             -           

20.00 g     Magnum [11.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min            Hop           25.2 IBUs     -           
12.00 g     Archer [3.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min             Hop           2.4 IBUs      -           
16.00 g     Archer [3.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min             Hop           2.3 IBUs      -           
1.00 Items  Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 7.0 mins)            Fining        -             -           
22.00 g     Archer [3.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min              Hop           1.8 IBUs      -           

1.0 pkg     Brewlab Yorkshire (Brewlab #Yorkshire)      Yeast         -             - 

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 4.44 kg
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In           Add 24.51 L of water at 70.9 C          65.0 C        60 min 
Sparge: Dunk sparge with 5L of 75C water.

Brew day went off without a hitch and I collected about 24.5 litres of extra pale wort:

The OG was 1.043, just one point shy of my target of 1.044.

I was pleased to be able to use my new Klarstein 12 stainless steel wort chiller today. I was able to run the cooling water faster with this chiller and as such it only took me 15 minutes to chill to 24C using 55 litres of water which was all collected for later use during the washing up.

The yeast has been pitched and I'll be fermenting this one for 2 weeks at 20C in the brew fridge. As usual the CO2 produced during fermentation is being used to purge the keg that will hold this beer once it's done.

 

[foxbat]

@foxbat

Have you ever considered compiling the recipes from this thread? Wouldn't half make it a bit easier for us mere mortals to choose which of them to do next.
Here's hoping

Cheers Tom

OK so I pressed some buttons, pulled some levers and my recipes website creaked into life. Here it is. Forever a work in progress, much like all the internet to be fair, but it'll do for now.

 

[samale]

OK so I pressed some buttons, pulled some levers and my recipes website creaked into life. Here it is. Forever a work in progress, much like all the internet to be fair, but it'll do for now.

Just had a quick look but it's very impressive

 

[Rodcx500z]

Hi Foxbat very impressive i for one will be having a good look at later

 

[foxbat]

An update on the Simple Autumn Ale. I checked in on the brew fridge the morning after pitching; fermentation had started and during the day it was obviously ramping up. By the evening it was probably at full speed.

Today, the morning of day 2, it's still going at what looks like full pace and there is evidence of krausen marks at the top of the fermenter in the part where the plastic blow off tube attaches to a tri-clamp hose barb. That makes this the most active top fermenting yeast that I've ever used by some margin. It's definitely not the same as Wyeast 1469.

I'm keeping the temperature between 20 and 21 to try to coax out the best of the esters from it that I can.

 

[Brewnaldo]

@foxbat are you still holding out on tasting the Perle pils? I only ask as I was putting in an order for some lager malt from CML and decided on Perle to go with it for my next lager. What I didnt do was order any seperate bittering hop, so I will either use some Perle early on, or some Herkules I still have in the freezer

 

[foxbat]

@foxbat are you still holding out on tasting the Perle pils? I only ask as I was putting in an order for some lager malt from CML and decided on Perle to go with it for my next lager. What I didnt do was order any seperate bittering hop, so I will either use some Perle early on, or some Herkules I still have in the freezer

Hi, I had a couple of pints last weekend. Perle has turned out to be a very good flavouring hop. It has a bright, pleasant and fresh taste. I'm not sure I get the mint from it that the official notes suggest. I used Magnum for bittering in mine.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Hi, I had a couple of pints last weekend. Perle has turned out to be a very good flavouring hop. It has a bright, pleasant and fresh taste. I'm not sure I get the mint from it that the official notes suggest. I used Magnum for bittering in mine.

Cheers. I'm just trying to keep my ferminator busy and get to grips with it so just chose something that sounded interesting. Was actually onto your recipe build website looking at Phoney Peroni but German is more my flavour so opted to (sort of) copy your Perle Pils. Its also a first chance for me to use Crafty Maltsters lager grain and see how I like it....

 

[foxbat]

Cheers. I'm just trying to keep my ferminator busy and get to grips with it so just chose something that sounded interesting. Was actually onto your recipe build website looking at Phoney Peroni but German is more my flavour so opted to (sort of) copy your Perle Pils. Its also a first chance for me to use Crafty Maltsters lager grain and see how I like it....

We had some nice weather down here today so I took the chance to pull a pint or two of the Perle Pils:

It's looking and tasting good. Perle to me tastes bright and fresh, easy drinking and herbal, green like Mittelfruh. It's definitely one that I'll come back to in the future.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Thats a mighty fine looking pint

 

[matt76]

We had some nice weather down here today so I took the chance to pull a pint or two of the Perle Pils:

It's looking and tasting good. Perle to me tastes bright and fresh, easy drinking and herbal, green like Mittelfruh. It's definitely one that I'll come back to in the future.

What temperature do you keep your kegs at @foxbat ? Even when my beer does come out clear the glass is quickly covered in condensation which I notice is generally not the case in your pics

(so I'm pretty sure it's all a scam, #fakebeer etc )

 

[foxbat]

What temperature do you keep your kegs at @foxbat ? Even when my beer does come out clear the glass is quickly covered in condensation which I notice is generally not the case in your pics

(so I'm pretty sure it's all a scam, #fakebeer etc )

6C in the keezer for me. Obviously I wouldn't rub the glass up and down with a paper towel before taking a photo to clear the condensation

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

OK so I pressed some buttons, pulled some levers and my recipes website creaked into life. Here it is. Forever a work in progress, much like all the internet to be fair, but it'll do for now.

Oh fantastic! Bookmarked

 

[foxbat]

This Brewlab Yorkshire strain isn't in any hurry to finish. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks in the fermenter and it's still bubbling about every 30 secs.

I think I'll let it ride another week as I'd rather it drop sediment in the fermenter instead of the keg. I think I'll lower the temperature in the fridge to encourage it to finish.