Hazelwood’s Brewday Part 2

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Missed this .

I was worried about the citra going in the keg in case it just swamped the other hops.

In the end I didn’t keg hop at all but I still might. The flavours are all quite balanced but the one that’s more distinctive at a point in time is zesty orange so maybe Amarillo would be a better choice (or one of the other hops known for orange/tangerine).

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

That’s it, all done!

 

[Buffers brewery]

If you do decide to keg hop it, you’ll have go drink it even faster! Cunning plan

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

If you do decide to keg hop it, you’ll have go drink it even faster! Cunning plan

I think I might be half way through the keg already!

 

[Buffers brewery]

I think I might be half way through the keg already!

That good!?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

That good!?

I’m enjoying it anyway! It might in part be because it’s different from anything else I have on tap so the novelty is keeping me going back to it.

 

[Buffers brewery]

Will you brew it again?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Will you brew it again?

Maybe, I’m not sure. It is nice enough but I like to create new recipes other than for a small number of stock beers like my bitter and pale ale.

 

[Leon103]

Thanks BB! It is delish, I’m going to pour a third glass.

I’d say yes to the bottle but I just know I’d drink it!

Send one to me and I will keep it a week and then try

 

[Buffers brewery]

Damn! Why didn't I think of that?!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’ve not posted much on the forum the last couple of days because we’ve been busy so as I have a quiet moment I can give a quick update…

A few days ago I dry hopped my cask version of Pirate Pale and yesterday I kegged it - that’s right KEGGED it. This is because I haven’t quite finished the cask version of my best bitter. It doesn’t matter though because I have a kegged version of Pirate Pale fermenting (I dry hopped that this morning) and the recipe is the same, only the carbonation and dispense are different.

I also cleaned all my beer lines yesterday and selected the beers to put on tap for friends coming round a bit later. This is the selection…

Several of these beers are quite old now, the imperial was kegged in February ‘23, the porter in October ‘23, and several other in January/February this year. The ones that never last long enough to get old are my Pirate Pale and Full English!

 

[Tommo 2]

I’ve not posted much on the forum the last couple of days because we’ve been busy so as I have a quiet moment I can give a quick update…

A few days ago I dry hopped my cask version of Pirate Pale and yesterday I kegged it - that’s right KEGGED it. This is because I haven’t quite finished the cask version of my best bitter. It doesn’t matter though because I have a kegged version of Pirate Pale fermenting (I dry hopped that this morning) and the recipe is the same, only the carbonation and dispense are different.
View attachment 103404

I also cleaned all my beer lines yesterday and selected the beers to put on tap for friends coming round a bit later. This is the selection…
View attachment 103405
Several of these beers are quite old now, the imperial was kegged in February ‘23, the porter in October ‘23, and several other in January/February this year. The ones that never last long enough to get old are my Pirate Pale and Full English!

Can’t beat a full English

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

After having kegged the latest batch of my Pirate Pale I have a free slot in my fermentation cabinet - the other 3 slots are still in use until the end of the week.

As the summer is now officially behind us I’m starting to think about some darker beers and I quite fancy a Belgian Dubbel so that’s what I’m brewing tomorrow. I’m looking forward to this one already! . Pictures tomorrow.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Those pictures…

The grist is mostly Pilsner malt, then there’s a little Munich, Melanoidin, and Special-B.

The mash is well under way here and measured after an hour the mash pH is on target for a first attempt. Next time I might try and drop the pH a couple of points.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

At the end of the mash I use a pulley to help me lift the grain basket out of the boiler and use the clips to support the basket while it drains.

I then put the grain basket in a large bucket, tip my heated sparge water over it and give it a good stir to extract all those sugars sticking to the grain. I hang the basket on the side of the bucket to drain and add the sparge water to the wort in the boiler.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

At this point, just before the boil, the wort pH is 4.93

The wort colour is a nice caramel (this will darker through the boil and darken again when I add the candi sugar).

The gravity at this point is 1.046

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Hops are added at the start of the boil (30g Saaz).

…and again 15 minutes before the end of the boil (30g Saaz).

In the last fifteen minutes I decant some of the hot wort and dissolve the candi sugar into it. This is to avoid the candi sugar sinking to the bottom of my boiler and burning on the element. The sugary wort is added back to the boiler, 1/2 a protofloc tablet dissolved, and the wort then chilled down to about 64F (18C) for pitching.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Once chilled down the post-boil pH is 4.76

The Original Gravity is now 1.059

Filling the fermenter with the cooled wort and the M41 Belgian Ale Yeast you can see the lovely colour. I think this will be perfect for a Belgian Dubbel.

21 litres now in the fermentation cabinet.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Today I put a batch of my Pirate Pale Ale into a king keg with 40g of priming sugar hoping to repeat the success of the cask best bitter.

Tomorrow I have batches of best bitter and porter ready to keg and I’ll then start prepping for three more brews, starting with a repeat of the cask version of my best bitter.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’ve kegged the bitter and porter this morning but won’t be brewing tomorrow because we’re off to another beer festival. Sunday maybe

My Belgian Dubbel smells a bit sulphurous this morning. I don’t think I’ve brewed a Dubbel before but I have used the same yeast (M41) to brew singles, triples, and quads and I don’t remember getting sulphur from them. Mind you my memory is rubbish, I can’t even remember what time I got up this morning!