I didn’t brew yesterday, we had another day at the pub. I did brew today - yay! I brewed a batch of my best bitter for cask. We’re out for lunch tomorrow so my next brew will probably be Wednesday, another NEIPA.
Hazelwood’s Brewday Part 2
- Thread starter Hazelwood Brewery
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Despite what I said 2 posts ago, my final beer in this tranche is going to be another batch of my Full English…
Today we went out for a pub lunch with friends and I was drinking cask ale. My own bitter is very nice and even won a gold award from CAMRA but it isn’t a cask ale and I’d like to see if I can get a bit closer to a cask ale without buying a load more gear so I have a cunning plan.
I’m going to brew the beer just the same as usual but instead of kegging the beer and force carbonating it I’m going to put it in one of the King Keg pressure barrels I’ve been trying to give away for the last two years along with 40g of priming sugar and let it carbonate and condition for a couple of weeks. Then I’m going to put it on a high shelf and connect the tap from the pressure barrel via a length of tubing to one of my keg taps (which will be lower than the base of the pressure barrel). The beer will be dispensed via gravity and a little pressure from CO2 in the pressure barrel which I will replace as the beer is poured by a low pressure CO2 feed.
I’ve no idea if this will work as I hope but I feel that it could. I’ll let you know, I’m brewing the beer tomorrow.
A question if I may @Hazelwood Brewery . Im planning on doing something similar to this with my next attempt at a best bitter.
I’d considered fermenting and transferring to a keg when a few points off FG, allowing to ferment out in keg, eg imitating what commercial breweries do with cask beers.
However, think this might be tricky in practice, so will likely ferment out then transfer to a keg and prime (which I understand you have done).
Did you prime and allow to carb / condition at a ‘serving temperature’ (say 12ish deg) or did you give it a few more days at something closer to fermentation temperature and then move to lower temp?
Cheers!
I did indeed ferment to completion and then primed - 40g sugar (dissolved in a little boiled water) added to 23 litres. This was enough to last until the last 4 or 5 pints and I had then to inject a little CO2.
On this occasion I carbonated, conditioned, and dispensed at ambient temperature which in my garage has been around 18C-20C. Once I’ve made some modifications to my brewshed though I will store/dispense at cellar temperatures - unless I decide ambient is better!
I have been very pleased with the results so I’d definitely encourage you to give it a go if you enjoy cask beers.
My NEIPA brew for tomorrow is on. The water is prepared, I’ve milled the grain, and set a timer to heat the water at 6:00 for an early start.
Great, thanks. Definitely going to give this a go. I love cask beers and have been wondering for a while how best to get close at home with what equipment I have available..
Think I’ll go as you have, but after a week or so in the keg at ambient with priming sugar, hold and serve at cellar temp
Cheers!
That NEIPA (V2) is in the fermentation cabinet. Fingers crossed it turns out more hazy and the haze is longer lasting. The main differences are the addition of some raw oats a a bigger dry hop addition.
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Do you do anything special to try to reduce oxygen pickup when dumping the dry hops in or transferring to the keg?
Not really although I do add hops to the mash and I do add a few grams of ascorbic acid to the keg.
I have an empty slot in my fermentation cabinet so I’m going to get another brew on tomorrow. I’ve decided I’m going to brew a brown ale to fill the gap between my bitter and my porter.
I’m thinking the grist will comprise biscuit, honey, crystal, brown, and chocolate speciality malts in addition to my base malt of Maris Otter. I’ll use Centennial for bittering and First Gold for flavouring and aroma, and I’ll use Liberty Bell as my favoured yeast for estery English ales.
Edit: Tomorrows brewday is confirmed. Water is in the boiler, timer set for an early start, grist prepared.
I’m thinking the grist will comprise biscuit, honey, crystal, brown, and chocolate speciality malts in addition to my base malt of Maris Otter. I’ll use Centennial for bittering and First Gold for flavouring and aroma, and I’ll use Liberty Bell as my favoured yeast for estery English ales.
Edit: Tomorrows brewday is confirmed. Water is in the boiler, timer set for an early start, grist prepared.
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The brew is done and a (hopefully) nice brown ale is now in the fermentation cabinet. That’s it now, no more room for another brew until the Belgian Dubbel comes out on Tuesday.
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