geigercntr's brews!

[geigercntr]

Well it seems that every blighter needs their own brewday thread, so here's mine :)
Having a bash at a scaled down for 10l BIAB version of Greg Hughes' 60 minute IPA.
3kg pale malt and approx 3.5g each of amarillo, chinook & cascade @60, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 & 0min.

10l water added to grains and mashed at ~66C. Popped in the oven for 60min, sparged with 5l water at ~76C and boiled with hop additions outlined above
Due to my small volume kit, I ended up with 9l in the FV, hitting 1.058 OG (recipe says 1.055). Cooled to 21C using sanitised frozen water bottles & pitched rehydrated us-05.

Popped FV into coolbag with attached heat belt & frozen water bottles & competition-won Inkbird controller set to 18C

 

[geigercntr]

Day 2: ghetto fermentation chamber working nicely :)

 

[geigercntr]

Bottle day: added 45 g table sugar into the ~8 l of beer/wort & filled 21 x 330 ml bottles.

appearance: cloudy & light. Smells great. fg: 1014 (~5.8% ABV)

Even remembered to pop some into a plastic bottle to keep an eye on carbonation (13 brews in: 1st time I've remembered...)
Hopefully it'll clear up a bit during bottle conditioning

 

[Manxnorton]

nice thread pal.
i was supposed to make 60-minute IPA monday...turned into milk stout.
then today my brew turned into Guinness clone:whistle:
catcya lata m8
Bri

 

[geigercntr]

Cheers Bri!

Need to try out a milk stout soon. Hope yours turns/turned out well! :drink:

 

[Manxnorton]

Cheers Bri!

Need to try out a milk stout soon. Hope yours turns/turned out well! :drink:

Should be ok....but I'm a bit of experimental type of bloke lol
Done milk choc, milk, caramel milk choc stouts for the last few years...cutting my teeth so to speak.
Now I'm hooked lol
Bri

 

[geigercntr]

1 week in the bottles and clearing/carbing nicely :)

Might have to sample a tester o'er the weekend...

 

[geigercntr]

A few weeks ago, did a Rye IPA recipe loosely based on Denny Conn's recipe:

16l water input. Finished with ~10 l after evaporation, fermentation trub losses etc
Grist
3 kg Pale malt
150 g Wheat malt
950 g Rye malt
140 g Carapils malt
90 g Crystal malt
Hops
27 g Hallertauer Mitt + 23 g Colombus @60 min
13 g HM @30
24 g HM @0
18 g Colombus dry hop for 7 days

Pitched 1 sachet US05 & fermented at 18C, gradually rising to 20.5C after 4 days

OG - 1068
FG - 1014
ABV - 7.1%

Turned out pretty decent. Nice rye spice, but not too overpowering

Would likely brew again

 

[geigercntr]

A few firsts for me today. Trying out my DIY picnic cooler tun for the first time to make my first gose using the no sparge method (also for the first time!)

Grist:
1.2 kg wheat malt (50%) - 105 min mash
0.8 kg Pale malt (33%) - 105 min mash
0.4 kg acidulated malt (16.7%) - 45 min mash

strike temp of 75C cooled to 68C initially. After 1 hour I added the acidulated malt and temp dropped to 64C, so a glug of hot water sorted that out. 45mins later stuck it in the boiler

Hops/other additions
10 g Saaz (alpha = 3.4%) @60min
1/4 whirlfloc @15
15g crushed coriander seeds @10
7g sea salt @10

OG: 1044

 

[geigercntr]

Primed with ~75 g table sugar (aiming for 2.7 vols CO2) Bottled into 20 x 330 ml bottles.

FG = 1.012
ABV = ~4.2%

Had a sip & seems to have gone pretty well. Salty, but not too much. Some hint of coriander & grapefruit, but not overpowering. Looking forward to a carbed, chilled version :thumb:

 

[geigercntr]

Batch size: 10l
Recipe:
Grist:
1350 g Pilsner malt (54.5%)
700 g Wheat malt (28.3%)
350 g Vienna malt (14.1%)
80 g table sugar (3.1%)

Mashed in 13 litres water @64C

Hops:
7 g Nugget @60 min
10 g Saaz @10 min

Target OG: 1.052
Achieved OG: 1.034!
Yeast: MJ French Saison pitched at 21C and will leave to self-regulate temp itself

No idea how I missed target grav by so much. Any ideas? Was using my new DIY picnic cooler MT (2nd outing: worked ok last time). Will likely boil up some DME this eve to give the grav a little boost.

Planning on splitting the 10 l into 2. Bottle Batch A. Add some Orval dregs to Batch B and pop into a DJ for a few months.

edit: added ~350g DME to up the OG a bit. Bit worried as I only had medium DME so will probs have too much body for a saison. Planning on splitting the batch after primary & chucking some Orval dregs into one. The brett should munch up unfermentables in the DME(?)

 

[geigercntr]

Well bottling day came with 10l in my FV.

I transferred 5l to a glass DJ with 500g of mixed blackberries & cherries. Splashed in the dregs from a bottle of Orval and added bung/airlock. Bubbling away as I type

The remaining 5l I primed for bottling and then promptly spilled all over the kitchen walls & floor! FFS

Managed to save only 3 x 330ml bottles.

Bah

Update edit: despite being very much a cursed brew, I took it to my local brewklub where it finished a reasonable third out of twelve. This is a moot point however as I'll never be planning to recreate this brew/fermentation again

 

[geigercntr]

A fairly generic 10 litre stout

Grist:
1900 g Maris Otter (75.2%)
225 g Roasted barley (8.9%)
50 g chocolate malt (2%)
250 g torrified barley (9.9%)
100 g flaked oats (4%)

Water
7l mashed at 73C
drained & batch sparged with 10l @ 75C

Hops etc
120 min boil
20 g EKG @ 120 min (FWH) (35 IBU)
1/4 whirlfloc @ 15 min

Yeast
Rehydrated & pitched 1 sachet US05

OG: 1.054
Target FG: 1.011 (~5.6%)

All went well on brew day. 2 hour boil with aim of creating a thick tarry stout. Hydrometer sample thick & tarry!

Krausen after ~16 h @18C

 

[geigercntr]

Stab at a sour for a long fermentation. Loosely based on The Rare Barrel's recipe. (Recommend the Sour Hour podcast)

10 l batch into 2 glass DJs

Grist:
Pilsner malt - 1500 g - 70.6%
Wheat malt - 375 g - 17.6%
Vienna malt - 125 g - 5.9%
Flaked oats - 125 g - 5.9%

Mash:
6 l water heated to 72C, mashed @68C*
Sparged with 12 l water @78C

*higher temp will hopefully give the Brett something to gorge itself on(?)
Boil:
90 min boil
0.7 g EKG @60 min ~1 IBU

FV
1 pack Wyeast 3278 at ambient temp
Split into two 5 l glass DJs & added small cube of oak to each
DJ A - added dregs of Oude Geuze Vielle Oud Berrsel + Wyeast
DJ B - Wyeast only

OG: 1.046
IBU: 1 (just to keep ruffian bacteria at bay)
Planning to ignore it for at least 6mo (hopefully 1 year...?)

 

[geigercntr]

Update: I sort of assumed that this wouldn't give too active a fermentation (assuming that the mixed culture wouldn't be as vigorous). I was wrong. Went off like a rocket. Had to clean the kitchen again! As some of the more pioneering yeasts powered through the airlocks of both DJs...

 

[geigercntr]

Winter Warmer brewed for a Christmas Brew comp at my brewclub. Based on Greg Hughes' recipe

aim for 10 litre to bottle

Grist:
Pale malt - 2.55 kg (72.9%)
Chocolate malt - 50 g (1.4%)
Crystal malt - 100 g (2.9%)
Torrified wheat - 50 g (1.4%)
Wildflower honey - 250 g (7.1%) (added with 5 min boil left)
Flaked oats - 500 g (14.3%)

Mash:
9 l water mashed at 67*C. Added CaSO4 & CaCl2 (0.45 g ea.) & NaCl (0.23g) & 1/2 Campden
Sparged with 8.5 l @75*C. Added 1.25 g citric acid & CaSO4 & CaCl2 (0.43 g ea.) & NaCl (0.2 g) & 1/2 Campden

Hops & sods:
Fuggles - 6.2%aa - 10 g @90 min
EKG - 6.8% - 7 g @10 min
Styrian Goldings - 4.8% - 5 g aroma steep (added after cooling to 79*C)
Whirlfloc - 1/4 tab @15min

Yeast:
Danstar Windsor rehydrated & pitched at 20*C
Fermented at 19*C

OG: 1.068
Target FG: 1.012
Target ABV: 7%
IBU: 18.3

 

[geigercntr]

Follow up to #18 Stout. Got best in show at my local brewclub, so happy enough with that. Feedback summary:
Pros: good fruitiness & depth of flavour
Cons: lacking some body

 

[geigercntr]

Golden Sour split batch update.
Been in DJs for about 4 months. Fermentation rather slow in both, SG currently at 1.010 in both (~4.7% ABV).
DJA was inoculated with wyeast 3278 lambic blend with bottle dregs added throughout (mostly gueuzes). Flavour profile beginning to show some complexity, but no huge amount of thirstquenching sourness
DJB had the wyeast blend only. Fairly sour tasting, quite refreshing if a bit 1 dimensional.

Planning to give them a few more months before resampling

Pic below DJA (left) & DJB

 

[geigercntr]

Mixed Fermentation Wild Beer. Brewed using the Brewlabs Megablend assorted wild yeast. Look at/join the Great Brettanomyces Facebook group for more information. [https://www.facebook.com/groups/345970172401465/?ref=bookmarks]

Quite simple recipe mashed fairly high (73C) to produce lots of complex sugars for long term munching...

20l brewlength

Grist:
Pilsner malt - 70.2%
Wheat malt - 17.5%
Vienna malt - 6.15%
Flaked oats - 6.15%

Mash:
Mashed at 73C. Water profile adjusted to approximately match the 'Yellow full bodied' profile in BrunWater
Sparged @75C.

Hops & sods (120min boil):
Hops from 2015, kept unsealed in freezer
Williamette - ca. 1.7 IBU @FWH
Perle - ca. 10.3 IBU @FWH
Whirlfloc - 1/4 tab @15min

Yeast:
1 pkt rehydrated Mangrove Jack's M29 French Saison
1.2 l starter of Megablend microbe slurry (approx 1 week starter)
Dregs from 1 bottle each of Orval, Cantillon Gueuze 100% lambic, Time &Tide Echo Saison

OG: 1.061
IBU: 12

Airlock breached after 24hr. Cleaned up and replaced. Bubbling away nicely after about 48h (subsided to 1 bubble every 3 seconds)

Plan is to forget about it and let it ride for about a year then take about half the beer out for bottling, fruit additions etc and refill the half empty carboy with fresh wort.

Basically creating a mini solera style thing... http://www.alesoftheriverwards.com/p/solers-project.html?m=1

 

[geigercntr]

Not been able to brew since March(!), so quick update on my Sour Corner brews...

L-R:
A. 12 month old golden sour using wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic blend. Rather dull to be honest. Planning to bottle a couple of bottles worth and pop the rest on some apricots for a while. OG 1.046 SG 1.008. ~1IBU
B. Same as A. but with various mixed fermentation bottle dregs added over time. Rather tart. Rather drinkable. OG 1.046 SG 1.006. ~1IBU
C. 'Jarg lambic' made with DME and fermented with US05 and LOTS of mixed fermentation dregs. Think it got unintentionally burned, hence copper colour. Tastes good. Tart with some caramel, no hint of astringent 'burned' character (think I got lucky!). Brewed Dec 2017. OG 1.060 SG 1.012. ~8IBU
D. 'wild ale' brewed Feb 2018. Fermented with a mixed culture gathered by loads of brewers and collected together at London's Brew Con last year. Also added a load of bottle dregs. Rather tart, but def drinkable. OG 1.061 SG 1.004. ~12IBU.

Might get around to bottling these sometime before Christmas...