foxbat's brewdays

[An Ankoù]

I used to get it from Geterbrewed but it's now vanished from their site so I've switched to Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner which seems to be well liked by all those that have tried it.

Thanks. I was sure it was Geterbrewed and couldn't understand why it wasn't showing. I have been using Bestmalz Heidelberg from The Homebrew Company, which is equally light, but they've stopped doing it.

 

[matt76]

I kegged my Kristall Pilsner lager today after 3 weeks in the fermenter. I did 6 days at 10C before it became obvious that fermentation had passed its peak. I then gently raised the temperature to 16 for the remainder of the 3 weeks for an extended diacetyl rest. I got a full corny and 3 bottles out of this one, the extra volume coming from the litre of starter wort that I pitched.

FG was, as I predicted, an entirely unsurprising 1.006 giving an ABV of 4.9%. The keg was fined with Kwik Clear, purged with CO2, set at 15 psi-ish and I'll now leave it to carbonate and condition for a couple of weeks before trying it.

Been meaning to ask you @foxbat , how are you taking your photos? They're always well lit and you seem to use a very short focal length/wide aperture - is it just a smart phone with a blurry background feature, or are you doing it with a proper DSLR?

 

[samale]

Best photos on the homebrew site. My beer looks like soup when I try and take a snap with my phone compared to his.

 

[chrisb8]

Been meaning to ask you @foxbat , how are you taking your photos? They're always well lit and you seem to use a very short focal length/wide aperture - is it just a smart phone with a blurry background feature, or are you doing it with a proper DSLR?

Yes I am always jealous of his photos

 

[foxbat]

Been meaning to ask you @foxbat , how are you taking your photos? They're always well lit and you seem to use a very short focal length/wide aperture - is it just a smart phone with a blurry background feature, or are you doing it with a proper DSLR?

It's a Canon DSLR with the standard 'kit' 18-55 lens that comes with them. I have a basic cheap tripod for stability and so that I can put the camera anywhere and be hands-free which really helps with the brewday shots. I position the camera so that I'll be somewhere in the middle of the zoom range where the lens gives the best image quality, set it to about f/5.6 so there's some background blur at close range and use the 2-second timer for the shot.

Lighting is not a setup, it's just the LED spotlights in my kitchen. With them being placed all around the ceiling they fill out all the shadows really well giving a nice even look to the photos and the colour temperature is fairly natural - they were bought from AliExpress as 'warm white' but they're definitely on the 'daylight' side of 'warm'.

All that sounds like a lot but it's really just seconds. I almost never take the camera off the tripod so I just grab it, pull out the legs, twist the ball-head to the right angle and press the shutter. Job done!

 

[matt76]

It's a Canon DSLR with the standard 'kit' 18-55 lens that comes with them. I have a basic cheap tripod for stability and so that I can put the camera anywhere and be hands-free which really helps with the brewday shots. I position the camera so that I'll be somewhere in the middle of the zoom range where the lens gives the best image quality, set it to about f/5.6 so there's some background blur at close range and use the 2-second timer for the shot.

Lighting is not a setup, it's just the LED spotlights in my kitchen. With them being placed all around the ceiling they fill out all the shadows really well giving a nice even look to the photos and the colour temperature is fairly natural - they were bought from AliExpress as 'warm white' but they're definitely on the 'daylight' side of 'warm'.

All that sounds like a lot but it's really just seconds. I almost never take the camera off the tripod so I just grab it, pull out the legs, twist the ball-head to the right angle and press the shutter. Job done!

Nice one, thanks

I was thinking your pics seemed a bit better than what you'd expect from a smartphone (good though they are these days)

Must remember to have my DSLR on standby next time I'm brewing or having a first tasting

 

[BeerCat]

They do all come out that clear so it must be parts of my overall process that are coming together to get the overall clarity. Of the stuff I do that I think might be helping, there is:

• Protafloc tablet in the kettle at 7 mins.
• Chill to the mid 20's quickly - takes about 30 mins for me.
• Healthy and thorough temperature controlled fermentation with a flocculant yeast made up with a starter.
  
• Kwik-Clear two-part finings in the corny keg at kegging time.

Good points. How long does it take to clear in the keg and do you get much waste? I always add finings in the fv so curious. I like to have as little sediment in the keg as possible in case i have to move it. I do have to open the fv to add the finings which is annoying but since switching to blow of tubes i have eliminated suckback.

 

[foxbat]

Good points. How long does it take to clear in the keg and do you get much waste? I always add finings in the fv so curious. I like to have as little sediment in the keg as possible in case i have to move it. I do have to open the fv to add the finings which is annoying but since switching to blow of tubes i have eliminated suckback.

I wait 2 weeks and it's clear in the keg by then. I tap off 1/4 pint of trubby stuff at the beginning then it's fine from then on. When I open it at the end there's a little pool of trub in the dip tube area. I guess what's happened is the first pull draws out the trub from a circle around the dip tube then the beer comes through. There's not a lot of trub left at the bottom - I'll try to take a photo next time a keg runs out.

 

[foxbat]

It's brewday this Sunday which makes today yeast-starter day. I boiled and chilled a two litre starter to which I've added what should be about 100bn cells of Wyeast 2308 saved back from the last lager:

No overbuilding the starter this time as the next-but-one brew is going to need a different strain. As for this coming weekend, I'm planning an unorthodox lager with Galaxy and Motueka hops. Adnams do a really tasty Galaxy hopped lager and that's where the inspiration to try something along those lines has come from.

 

[matt76]

It's brewday this Sunday which makes today yeast-starter day. I boiled and chilled a two litre starter to which I've added what should be about 100bn cells of Wyeast 2308 saved back from the last lager:

No overbuilding the starter this time as the next-but-one brew is going to need a different strain. As for this coming weekend, I'm planning an unorthodox lager with Galaxy and Motueka hops. Adnams do a really tasty Galaxy hopped lager and that's where the inspiration to try something along those lines has come from.

Interesting..... was just having a look at this on the Adnam's website (noticed they also do an Earl Grey lager now!).....

Do you see this as being quite restrained, more like a traditional lager but with the added twist of less conventional hops? Or a more full on Intensely hopped Lager (like Camden Show Off, which while nice didn't immediately strike me as much different from an AIPA)?

Will be interested to hear how this pans out - having come into homebrewing as more of an IPA man I seem to be quite into brewing various lager styles at the moment (having done a few malty styles like Helles recently I'm currently planning a couple of more bitter Pilsners).

 

[foxbat]

Interesting..... was just having a look at this on the Adnam's website (noticed they also do an Earl Grey lager now!).....

Do you see this as being quite restrained, more like a traditional lager but with the added twist of less conventional hops? Or a more full on Intensely hopped Lager (like Camden Show Off, which while nice didn't immediately strike me as much different from an AIPA)?

Will be interested to hear how this pans out - having come into homebrewing as more of an IPA man I seem to be quite into brewing various lager styles at the moment (having done a few malty styles like Helles recently I'm currently planning a couple of more bitter Pilsners).

The plan is for it to be more restrained but with the tropical fruits flavour of Galaxy and Motueka. My prototype recipe only has 10g of each at 10 mins, 14g each at 2 mins and 10g of Magnum at 60 mins to make it up to 26 IBU for a 24l batch. Malts are just Pilsner and the Ireks version of Carapils.

I've never tasted that Camden lager. From your description it sounds like what people are calling an IPL these days whereas the Adnams lager is balanced, crisp and very moreish.

 

[foxbat]

The Wyeast 2308 2 litre starter has finished after 48 hours. Easy to tell with this yeast because it flocculates into chunks like an ale yeast when it's ready and you can see them all spinning around. Within seconds of switching off it's all fallen to the bottom of the flask.

On a related note, my base malt for the weekend and the next 5 brews or so after that arrived today from Geterbrewed:

 

[foxbat]

This morning was brewday for my experimental lager with New World hops that I'm adding to my Outback range by calling it Outback Lager. Here's the recipe:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Recipe: Outback Lager
Batch Size (fermenter): 24.00 L  
Estimated OG: 1.042 SG
Estimated IBU: 28.6 IBUs
Estimated Mash Efficiency: 75.6 %
Estimated Color: 6.2 EBC
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Finished water profile: Ca:28, Mg:3, Na:9, SO4:10, Cl:44

Ingredients:
------------
Amt        Name                                  Type         %/IBU  
29.49 L    Tesco Ashbeck                         Water        -      
3.00 ml    Lactic Acid (Mash)                    Water Agent  -      
3.82 kg    Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner (4.0 EBC)  Grain        90.0 %  
0.42 kg    IREKS Crystal Maple (3.5 EBC)         Grain        10.0 %  
1.20 g     Calcium Carbonate (Mash)              Other        -      
0.30 g     Calcium Carbonate (Sparge)            Other        -      
0.20 ml    Lactic Acid (Sparge)                  Water Agent  -      
12.00 g    Magnum [11.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min      Hop          15.6 IBUs
10.00 g    Galaxy [15.60 %] - Boil 10.0 min      Hop          6.7 IBUs
10.00 g    Motueka [7.30 %] - Boil 10.0 min      Hop          3.1 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 7.0 mins)      Fining       -      
14.00 g    Galaxy [15.60 %] - Boil 2.0 min       Hop          2.2 IBUs
14.00 g    Motueka [7.30 %] - Boil 2.0 min       Hop          1.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg    Munich Lager (Wyeast Labs #2308)      Yeast        -      


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 4.25 kg
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash In           Add 24.49 L of water at 69.1 C          66.0 C        60 min      

Sparge: Dunk sparge with 5 L of water at 75.0 C

I ground my grains and did the water treatment while the water heated up and then got the mash on for an hour at 66.1C.

First time out for my new BIAB bag. The usual one was beginning to look a bit ragged around the seams so I thought it best to pre-empt disaster by replacing it.

The iodine test proved that conversion was complete, though it's never really in any doubt.

Pre-boil gravity was a point above predicted. Near enough, and looks suitably pale. The wort-soup appearance is due to my bag-squeezing after the sparge. Doesn't matter, what doesn't come to the top of the boil as crud that I skim off falls to the bottom when the Whirlfloc goes in.

This recipe will use up the last of my Galaxy and Motueka from Brew UK. Motueka's not hard to find, but Galaxy can be so I've got another couple of bags of the 2019 crop in the freezer. Wouldn't want to be without Galaxy. That would never do.

Boil done and I collected 23.6 litres into the fermenter. A good result that will get me a full corny and a couple of bottles post-fermentation.

An OG of 1.041 all said and done and very pale it is too. Assuming I get my usual 85%-ish attenuation from the yeast and it finishes at 1.006 then it'll be a nice easy 4.6% lager.

The fermenter's now tucked up in the brewfridge working its way down to near 10C when I'll pitch the yeast. I'm expecting that to be tomorrow morning.

 

[foxbat]

An update on the Outback Lager. I pitched the yeast the morning after brewday at 11.5C before going off to work. 36 hours later it's just starting to show activity. This is in line with the lag I see with my previous lagers. It'll stay at 10C now until the peak of activity is past and then it's up to 16C for a total of 3 weeks in the fermenter.

 

[foxbat]

Today was kegging day for my Outback Lager. It's been in the fermenter for a total of 3 weeks, having spent the first 5 days at 10C, the next week at 16C and then the last week at 19C just to give it a final push over the finishing line, so to speak. FG was, as expected, 1.006 for an ABV of 4.6%.

With an EBC of less than 4 it's very pale. I got a full corny and 3 bottles. Kwik-clear was added to the keg, the headspace purged with CO2 and it's now on at tad less than 20psi for the next 3 weeks of conditioning and carbonating at 6C. All the flavours of Galaxy and Motueka were there in the sample jar when I tasted it so hopefully this experiment in non-traditional lagers is going to come good.

 

[matt76]

Out of interest, was that pic taken after you added finings and/or cold crashed?

My two pilsners are nothing like that clear in the sample tube!

 

[foxbat]

Out of interest, was that pic taken after you added finings and/or cold crashed?

My two pilsners are nothing like that clear in the sample tube!

No cold crashing (doesn't seem to make a difference for me so I don't do it) and no finings in the sample. This is straight from the fermenter.

 

[matt76]

No cold crashing (doesn't seem to make a difference for me so I don't do it) and no finings in the sample. This is straight from the fermenter.

Do you use Irish Moss or similar at the end of the boil? If so which one/which brand? I'm thinking this is something else to try changing, starting to wonder if the protofloc I use isn't all that great.

 

[foxbat]

Do you use Irish Moss or similar at the end of the boil? If so which one/which brand? I'm thinking this is something else to try changing, starting to wonder if the protofloc I use isn't all that great.

Yes I do, and it makes a visible difference really quickly. I can almost stand and watch all the gunge coagulate and settle out to the bottom of the kettle... where I promptly kick it all up again by pouring it all into the fermenter - maybe its presence in the fermenter is helping everything settle out at the end? Don't know.

I buy tubes of 10 Whirlfloc from Geterbrewed. I think GEB are buying them in bulk and repacking them because they come in a plain clear tube with no labelling. I add one whole one to the kettle for a 24l batch.

 

[foxbat]

My Kristall Pilsner German Pils is now a month in the keg and is tasting just as good as the first time I brewed this. I'm serving this at 6C from my keezer tonight:

Shame the condensation on the glass messes with the picture because this is now perfectly crisp and clear. Pilsner malt + Tettnang hops + Wyeast 2308 is a great combination.