Not especially but we did have a 2-week holiday, a short-break, and a couple of long weekends away so my own beer got a bit of a reprieve!
Hazelwood’s Brewday Part 2
- Thread starter Hazelwood Brewery
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^^^ this is absolutely true for me, too.
In practice brewing is just one of several hobbies for me (to say nothing of the curious nature of being retired that one's always incredibly "busy"); so when I've got some full cornies I tend to switch to other things. Part of the fun is that it's then an unexpected pleasure to come back to brewing and remember how much I enjoy it :-)
I find I’m spending more and more time at pub lunches, beach walks (always with fish & chips), exploring tap rooms, and wandering from one pop-up bar to another on Folkestone sea front. Gotta have a hobby!
Today I brewed that Best Bitter but things didn’t wholly go according to plan.
The first upset was when milling the grain, I used up the last 100g from a bag of crystal 225 and then discovered the other bags of crystal 225 were actually crystal 113. Ah well, I’ll use twice as much for the colour and hope the extra crystal doesn’t affect flavour too much.
The mash went fine and then on to the sparge. My sparge pump failed immediately I switched it on and I don’t have a spare. Not to worry, I’ll batch sparge and maybe not lose too much efficiency (I dropped 2 gravity points pre-boil).
The boil went fine and then the postman knocked to collect a parcel. While chilling down I noticed half a protofloc tablet. Damn! I’m sure it’ll be fine with no finings.
So not my usual uneventful brewday and perhaps not quite the beer I’d intended but sometimes these things turn out for the best so I’m looking forward to seeing the results
21 litres in the fermentation cabinet, OG was a couple of points higher after a more vigorous boil so my gravity at least is corrected.
The first upset was when milling the grain, I used up the last 100g from a bag of crystal 225 and then discovered the other bags of crystal 225 were actually crystal 113. Ah well, I’ll use twice as much for the colour and hope the extra crystal doesn’t affect flavour too much.
The mash went fine and then on to the sparge. My sparge pump failed immediately I switched it on and I don’t have a spare. Not to worry, I’ll batch sparge and maybe not lose too much efficiency (I dropped 2 gravity points pre-boil).
The boil went fine and then the postman knocked to collect a parcel. While chilling down I noticed half a protofloc tablet. Damn! I’m sure it’ll be fine with no finings.
So not my usual uneventful brewday and perhaps not quite the beer I’d intended but sometimes these things turn out for the best so I’m looking forward to seeing the results
21 litres in the fermentation cabinet, OG was a couple of points higher after a more vigorous boil so my gravity at least is corrected.
Today I brewed another batch of my Pirate Pale. I made a small change by increasing the hops from 30g to 40g just to see if it is better or not as good as my previous couple of batches.
Tomorrow I’m brewing another batch of Pipster Pale. Grist is prepared and the water is blended, treated and in the boiler on a timer for the morning.
I might also brew a Schwarzbier on Wednesday but it depends on a delivery of hops.
Tomorrow I’m brewing another batch of Pipster Pale. Grist is prepared and the water is blended, treated and in the boiler on a timer for the morning.
I might also brew a Schwarzbier on Wednesday but it depends on a delivery of hops.
Another brewday in the bag with just short of 21 litres of Pipster Pale in the FV.
Tomorrows brew prepared, Schwarzbier.
Tomorrows brew prepared, Schwarzbier.
I've slightly adjusted my latest batch of Pipster. I'll let you know how I get on when it's ready.
What change(s) did you make?
Today I added another 5g of Magnum for a touch more bitterness.
Notes are indoors...just evened out the late hop and dry hop additions so I use full or half packs and this time I've used Verdant yeast as I had some!
It’s a good recipe already so your changes might well make it equally nice but just a touch different.
You’ll have to let me know if it’s better so I can update the recipe
I'm pleased you like it H! You shall be the first to know!
I got that Schwarzbier brewed today so that’s the end of this tranche of brews because for now there’s no room at the inn.
The next tranche will include a Czech lager, Weissbier, Belgian, and of course another batch of bitter.
The next tranche will include a Czech lager, Weissbier, Belgian, and of course another batch of bitter.
Not sure I have any brewing capacity for a few months, but could you share your Schwazbier recipe, please?
Impressive that H! Seems weird seeing the Pipster pale in there.
My ordinary bitter is chugging away and I've spent a few hours bleaching and scrubbing bottles....a dreadful time. Kegs are calling!
My ordinary bitter is chugging away and I've spent a few hours bleaching and scrubbing bottles....a dreadful time. Kegs are calling!
Hi YF! Sure, I’ll publish the recipe tomorrow and tag you.
Pipster pale is always welcome in my fermentation cabinet.
Yeah, kegs are so much less of a chore. Highly recommended.
Today I started by cleaning 4 empty kegs ready for the current batch of fermenting beers. Then I kegged that troublesome batch of bitter and as expected, because I forgot the kettle finings, the beer is nowhere near my usual clarity. I’ll just rely on keg fining and we’ll see how that gets on, it should be fine.
Having kegged a brew I had a space in the fermentation cabinet so today I brewed a Weissbier and have 20 litres tucked up in the fermenter.
My only brewing job for tomorrow is dry-hopping the Pirate Pale and the Pipster Pale.
Having kegged a brew I had a space in the fermentation cabinet so today I brewed a Weissbier and have 20 litres tucked up in the fermenter.
My only brewing job for tomorrow is dry-hopping the Pirate Pale and the Pipster Pale.
Sorry bud, I forgot to upload the recipe. Done now, link below…
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/media/schwarzbier.971/full
I dry hopped those beers this morning. I have in the past used leaf hops for dry hopping but these days I opt for pellet hop when it comes to dry hopping.
The rationale for pellets is that they break up into very fine particles which gives maximum surface area to get those oils into the beer. They also introduce less oxygen because they don’t have trapped air between the petals. Other problems with leaf hops include them floating on the surface so some don’t even get into the beer and if they do they soak up your beer leaving less for you to drink.
Anyway, back to the hops. The hops on the right are Ernest for the Pirate Pale. The hops on the left are a blend of Citra, Centennial, and Cascade for the Pipster Pale. The aroma is sooooo good!
The rationale for pellets is that they break up into very fine particles which gives maximum surface area to get those oils into the beer. They also introduce less oxygen because they don’t have trapped air between the petals. Other problems with leaf hops include them floating on the surface so some don’t even get into the beer and if they do they soak up your beer leaving less for you to drink.
Anyway, back to the hops. The hops on the right are Ernest for the Pirate Pale. The hops on the left are a blend of Citra, Centennial, and Cascade for the Pipster Pale. The aroma is sooooo good!
A few days ago I carried out a caustic clean on my plate chiller and found it to be very much better than my usual sodium percarbonate (oxy) clean. As I don’t have a brew day today I thought I’d take the opportunity to do a full caustic clean of my boiler, grain basket, taps, filters, hoses, and the plate chiller again. Not much muck this time round but a renewed sense of cleanliness and a brighter shine on my kit. I ran the caustic cycle for 4 hours, rinsed, ran an acid cycle for an hour, and then a couple of rinses to finish.
I don’t know if this will have any impact on my beers but maybe time will tell.
I don’t know if this will have any impact on my beers but maybe time will tell.
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