Hazelwood’s Brewday Part 2

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’m just cleaning my beer lines and while I’m up at the bar I’m having a taste of my first tranche beers; the Baltic Porter, DIPA, Schwarzbier, Black IPA, and Altbier. They are only a week conditioned so nowhere near ready although the Schwarzbier and the Altbier taste quite nice already.

The second tranche of beers will be kegged, one each day, from Sunday so it’s time to think about the third and last tranche. I think I’ve decided on Brown Ale, Doppelbock, English IPA, Scottish Heavy, and Brut IPA. As always I reserve the right to change my mind

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Today I kegged the Best Bitter (left) and lower alcohol Ordinary Bitter which turned out at 3.0%.

I also discovered this morning that my keg of cider is virtually empty. I have friends coming round in a little over two weeks and one of them really likes cider! A quick trip to the supermarket and I now have another batch fermenting. In the jug is some strong tea to add tannins and the white pot is pectolase to clear the cider.

I also moved the German Lager from the brewshed at 14C into the fermentation cabinet at 19C to encourage the yeast to clean up before kegging.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Not a brewday but I did at least keg one of my overdue beers today. I had a batch of my English bitter, German lager, and Stout to be kegged - I kegged the stout. It tasted really good from the fermenter so I’m looking forward to a few glasses in a week or two. I’m carbonating this one with regular CO2 I think.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Yesterday I decided it’s time to get some more beer brewed but I haven’t brewed since January so I had to do some maintenance and cleaning first.

I changed the deionisation crystals in my RO machine, I replaced the silicon tubing on all my hoses, I gave my plate chiller a caustic flush (actually not mucky at all), and then cleaned and sanitised everything.

Todays brew is a Brut IPA. I’m going to follow this over the next few days with a couple of bitters and an English pale ale.

The Brut looks like this after 40 minutes in the mash. Gravity at this point is 1.026 and the pH is 5.30. The gravity is low because there’s a high proportion of sugar in a Brut IPA and I won’t be adding that until later.

 

[matt.]

Yesterday I decided it’s time to get some more beer brewed but I haven’t brewed since January so I had to do some maintenance and cleaning first.

I changed the deionisation crystals in my RO machine, I replaced the silicon tubing on all my hoses, I gave my plate chiller a caustic flush (actually not mucky at all), and then cleaned and sanitised everything.

Todays brew is a Brut IPA. I’m going to follow this over the next few days with a couple of bitters and an English pale ale.

The Brut looks like this after 40 minutes in the mash. Gravity at this point is 1.026 and the pH is 5.30. The gravity is low because there’s a high proportion of sugar in a Brut IPA and I won’t be adding that until later.
View attachment 97814

Excellent. May I ask about the sheet you are using to keep notes?
Thanks

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Excellent. May I ask about the sheet you are using to keep notes?
Thanks

It’s a recipe sheet I put together in Word. On brewday I print the sheet and make notes on it through the brew if things are different or if I just decide to make changes, then update the electronic version at the end. I also update the electronic version if necessary at kegging and after some tasting.

 

[Clint]

If you are not very good on computers like what I am there's a great brew day sheet you can download and save/print on the Brewers Friend website.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Heating the wort for the boil now. This is the wort at the end of the mash.

Hops in this brew will be El Dorado, Sladek, and Godiva with a handful of Citra going into the keg at packaging.

El Dorado will give me tropical flavours; Sladek will give peach, passion fruit and grapefruit; Godiva will give me tangerine, white grape and a little spice.

 

[Twostage]

Heating the wort for the boil now. This is the wort at the end of the mash.
View attachment 97815

Hops in this brew will be El Dorado, Sladek, and Godiva with a handful of Citra going into the keg at packaging.
View attachment 97816

El Dorado will give me tropical flavours; Sladek will give peach, passion fruit and grapefruit; Godiva will give me tangerine, white grape and a little spice.

Why the Citra ?

I think I'd be worried that it would mask the others.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Why the Citra ?

I think I'd be worried that it would mask the others.

Because I like it!

As a keg addition it’s more about aroma than flavour so although it will add flavour I’d expect the kettle additions to contribute more.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

The Brut is in the fermentation cabinet now. It was a couple of points below plan because I ended up with over 22 litres in the fermenter rather than 21.

I am wondering though whether I should have fitted a blow-off tube given the high sugar addition

 

[Clint]

You'll be like Henry Cooper splashing all that all over...

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

You'll be like Henry Cooper splashing all that all over...

If only that Brut smelt like this one.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’ve just finished brewing an English Pale Ale (my Pirate Pale) and have 22 litres sitting next to the Brut IPA in the fermentation cabinet. Luckily I noticed I’ve run out of Earnest hops, which I’ll need for the dry hop, and I now have some on order.

Tomorrow’s brew will be my Best Bitter (The Full English). It should be an interesting day because I have someone coming to observe a brew day.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’ve just finished brewing another batch of my “Full English” Best Bitter.

I was going to brew another bitter tomorrow but my wife has decided she’d quite like a pub lunch tomorrow so the brew day is postponed until Wednesday

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Didn't you show her the gap on your fermenting shelf?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Didn't you show her the gap on your fermenting shelf?

You mean try to convince her I don’t want to go to the pub? I’d lose that argument with myself let alone someone else

 

[pilgrimhudd]

You mean try to convince her I don’t want to go to the pub? I’d lose that argument with myself let alone someone else

Hahaha true!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

A couple of posts ago I noted I’d run out of some hops I will need for dry hopping. They arrived today packed in small boxes. I’ve never seen hops packed in small boxes before but I quite like the ease of storage. The one thing missing though is a crop year or best before date. Inside, the hops are vacuum-packed in a plastic bag and a small hop bag is provided.

I have emailed the company (Black Rock Brewing in Dudley) suggesting they add this to their packaging and maybe write the variety of hops on the lid/side of the box for easy identification when they are stacked.

I’m sure these small neat boxes are giving me far more pleasure than they really should

(You know I’d have these arranged alphabetically!)

 

[DocAnna]

A couple of posts ago I noted I’d run out of some hops I will need for dry hopping. They arrived today packed in small boxes. I’ve never seen hops packed in small boxes before but I quite like the ease of storage. The one thing missing though is a crop year or best before date. Inside, the hops are vacuum-packed in a plastic bag and a small hop bag is provided.
View attachment 97961
View attachment 97962

I have emailed the company (Black Rock Brewing in Dudley) suggesting they add this to their packaging and maybe write the variety of hops on the lid/side of the box for easy identification when they are stacked.

I’m sure these small neat boxes are giving me far more pleasure than they really should

(You know I’d have these arranged alphabetically!)

The boxes look quite smart but I'd worry they'd go soggy in the freezer longer term and so would need the label on the hop packet itself - and being black it's going to be difficult to use a sharpie on it! I'd never heard of Ernest hops though, and just looked the history up of it being considered too American in flavour when it was first trialled .