Hopefully, tomorrow I too will be kegging a Hazelwood Brewery bitter!
Hazelwood Brewday
- Thread starter Hazelwood Brewery
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Is that your second batch?
Yes it is! I got the proper darker crystal this time and I think I changed the yeast..maybe to Liberty Bell...yes,just checked. I used pale malt in my first,Maris otter in the second batch,added 100g extra torrified wheat and upped the mash temp a bit. Going to try it kegged and c02 gassed like you do rather than bulk priming and waiting. It can go straight out in the shed then.
Another brew-day completed with sunny, dry, calm, weather to cheer me on.
While the brew (Goofie Saison) was mashing I kegged my English Bitter - code name “Hazelwood Best”. The yeast attenuated a little more than expected giving me a beer with ABV of 4.7% rather than 4.5%. No matter, I’m a home brewer so the taxman isn’t going to bother me over the 0.2%.
The interface between yeast and beer was really clean - there’s no cold crash here, it’s just come out of the fermentation cabinet at 20C.
This beer is going into one of my King Kegs and is looking great already.
While the brew (Goofie Saison) was mashing I kegged my English Bitter - code name “Hazelwood Best”. The yeast attenuated a little more than expected giving me a beer with ABV of 4.7% rather than 4.5%. No matter, I’m a home brewer so the taxman isn’t going to bother me over the 0.2%.
The interface between yeast and beer was really clean - there’s no cold crash here, it’s just come out of the fermentation cabinet at 20C.
This beer is going into one of my King Kegs and is looking great already.
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The beer I brewed today “Goofie” Saison is named after the beer that inspired it, Goose Island Sofie.
I used the same water profile as for my Czech lager: Cl=24, SO4=84, Ca=48.
“Goofie” Saison 5.3%
4Kg Pilsner malt
600g Vienna malt
400g Malted wheat
100g Acidulated malt
Mash at 150F for 90 mins
10g Magnum AA=15.3% 60 mins IBU=20
1/2 Protofloc tablet at 10 mins
30g Nelson Sauvin AA=12.3% IBU=11
At 0 mins reduce temp to 165F
30g Nelson Sauvin AA=12.3%
180g thinly sliced orange peel
(I used a potato peeler for this)
Hold at 165F for 30 minutes
23 litres in FV, OG=1044
1 pack Belle Saison yeast
Keg after 12 days in FV, FG=1003
I used the same water profile as for my Czech lager: Cl=24, SO4=84, Ca=48.
“Goofie” Saison 5.3%
4Kg Pilsner malt
600g Vienna malt
400g Malted wheat
100g Acidulated malt
Mash at 150F for 90 mins
10g Magnum AA=15.3% 60 mins IBU=20
1/2 Protofloc tablet at 10 mins
30g Nelson Sauvin AA=12.3% IBU=11
At 0 mins reduce temp to 165F
30g Nelson Sauvin AA=12.3%
180g thinly sliced orange peel
(I used a potato peeler for this)
Hold at 165F for 30 minutes
23 litres in FV, OG=1044
1 pack Belle Saison yeast
Keg after 12 days in FV, FG=1003
Now ready for tomorrow’s brew which will be another Saison - the cardamom saison.
Water is collected and treated, grist is prepared, timer is set to heat the mash water at 6:15.
I’ll also be kegging my first attempt at brewing something similar to Sharps Sea Fury. I hope it’s similar at least, I like a drop of Sea Fury.
Time for a beer!
Water is collected and treated, grist is prepared, timer is set to heat the mash water at 6:15.
I’ll also be kegging my first attempt at brewing something similar to Sharps Sea Fury. I hope it’s similar at least, I like a drop of Sea Fury.
Time for a beer!
Phew! I'm tired just reading your recent exploits...I'll be off to work on nights soon. I'll get a rest there....
The schedule is a bit busy just now but will not be for much longer. It could be worse - this could be my job!
Pennine
Landlord.
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Do you ever use coriander? It's really nice with orange peel.Tomorrow I’ll be kegging my best bitter and will be brewing another batch of my “Goofie” saison. I’ll be making a couple of changes to the recipe (as always), I’m ditching the Amarillo hops, increasing the amount of fresh orange peel, and I’ll be adding just a tad of acidulated malt. I’ll put up the recipe tomorrow.
I’m planning on using the same water profile as that for my Czech lager, low level of minerals overall with a higher proportion of sulphates.
I’ve now kegged my first attempt at something like Sea Fury.
First impressions are interesting. The beer is clear and it has about the right colour as far as I can remember (at the moment I don’t have any of the genuine article to compare it against), it has a similar aroma though mine is a little more fruity, and the taste is kind of in the ball-park as far as I can tell although mine also tastes more fruity at this point. It is just out of the fermenter though so all of the above will change over the coming days and weeks.
I cultured some yeast from Sea Fury and it attenuated from 1046 to 1009, so about 80%, giving me 4.9% ABV which is just shy of the genuine article at 5%.
Now sitting next to my own bitter for company.
First impressions are interesting. The beer is clear and it has about the right colour as far as I can remember (at the moment I don’t have any of the genuine article to compare it against), it has a similar aroma though mine is a little more fruity, and the taste is kind of in the ball-park as far as I can tell although mine also tastes more fruity at this point. It is just out of the fermenter though so all of the above will change over the coming days and weeks.
I cultured some yeast from Sea Fury and it attenuated from 1046 to 1009, so about 80%, giving me 4.9% ABV which is just shy of the genuine article at 5%.
Now sitting next to my own bitter for company.
Also now got today’s batch of cardamom saison in the fermenter. OG is 1045 as expected and the Belle Saison yeast should bring that very close to 1000. What wasn’t expected - I didn’t check the condition of my cardamom pods and they’re really not fresh so I’ve had to improvise a little and made a cardamom tea from a small handful of cardamom pods. Not sure what the outcome will be - but a lesson learned.
The wort is nice though so I should get a nice saison - with or without cardamom flavour!
The wort is nice though so I should get a nice saison - with or without cardamom flavour!
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Out of interest do you dilute back to achieve 23 litres. I have the same boiler and I normally hit 21 litres in the fermentor. I have been brewing indoors so maybe I have a higher boil off
I mash with 20 litres and sparge with another 10 so 30 litres in total.
Today will be a easy day in the brew schedule, I only need to make a starter for the Belgian Tripel I’ll be brewing on Saturday. After that, a Russian Imperial Stout on Tuesday will conclude batch 2.
Batch 3 will comprise a Doppelbock, another batch of Summer Breeze (it doesn’t last long), an English Pale, a Plum Porter, and an Apple Cider.
Batch 3 will comprise a Doppelbock, another batch of Summer Breeze (it doesn’t last long), an English Pale, a Plum Porter, and an Apple Cider.
The brew-shed seems to be performing really well at the moment but I need to make a small change. I did expect to have to fine-tune things.
I was in the shed this morning updating my brewing wall-planner and after a few minutes my body heat warmed the shed to the point where the cooling came on. As the cooling system ran, the freezer in the cooler kicked in to chill the coolant. The cooler is in an enclosed box and the temperature inside that box started to rise, after a while the exhaust fan came on to draw in fresh air. This is all as designed except the temperature in the enclosed cooler box only came down slowly and at this time of year it’s quite cool outside. My worry is that in 30 degree heat in the summer the enclosed cooler is going to overheat.
I think I need to increase the size of the fresh air inlet to the enclosed cooler box to increase the flow of air through it when the exhaust fan comes on.
(The shed temperature came back down with the cooling on so that did it’s job too)
I was in the shed this morning updating my brewing wall-planner and after a few minutes my body heat warmed the shed to the point where the cooling came on. As the cooling system ran, the freezer in the cooler kicked in to chill the coolant. The cooler is in an enclosed box and the temperature inside that box started to rise, after a while the exhaust fan came on to draw in fresh air. This is all as designed except the temperature in the enclosed cooler box only came down slowly and at this time of year it’s quite cool outside. My worry is that in 30 degree heat in the summer the enclosed cooler is going to overheat.
I think I need to increase the size of the fresh air inlet to the enclosed cooler box to increase the flow of air through it when the exhaust fan comes on.
(The shed temperature came back down with the cooling on so that did it’s job too)
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Well, it’s brew-day tomorrow and I’ll be brewing a Belgian Tripel. The water is prepared, the grist is prepared, the yeast starter is just about ready, and the timer is set to heat the mash water at 6:15. Looking forward to this one.
I’m also looking forward to kegging my Czech Pilsner tomorrow (and having a little taste maybe ).
I’m also looking forward to kegging my Czech Pilsner tomorrow (and having a little taste maybe
).
On a beautiful sunny morning I’ve finished brewing the Belgian Tripel and it’s now resting before I get it in the fermenter.
For this recipe I wanted to try a fairly soft water profile and a balanced sulphate/chloride ratio, maybe just a touch more sulphate. In the end I settled on SO4:84, Cl:72, Ca:73.
Belgian Tripel 7.8%
5.2Kg Pilsner malt
200g Torrified wheat
Mash at 142F for 15 mins
Mash at 154F for 25 mins
Mash at 162F for 30 mins
Mash at 170F for 10 mins
60g Styrian Goldings AA=3.9% 60 mins
IBUs=30
1/2 protofloc tablet at 15 mins
1Kg White candi sugar at 10 mins
500g Dark candi sugar at 10 mins
40g Styrian Goldings AA=3.9% 10 mins
IBUs=5
22 Litres in the FV, OG=1072
WLP500 Trappist yeast starter
Keg on day 12, FG=1013
For this recipe I wanted to try a fairly soft water profile and a balanced sulphate/chloride ratio, maybe just a touch more sulphate. In the end I settled on SO4:84, Cl:72, Ca:73.
Belgian Tripel 7.8%
5.2Kg Pilsner malt
200g Torrified wheat
Mash at 142F for 15 mins
Mash at 154F for 25 mins
Mash at 162F for 30 mins
Mash at 170F for 10 mins
60g Styrian Goldings AA=3.9% 60 mins
IBUs=30
1/2 protofloc tablet at 15 mins
1Kg White candi sugar at 10 mins
500g Dark candi sugar at 10 mins
40g Styrian Goldings AA=3.9% 10 mins
IBUs=5
22 Litres in the FV, OG=1072
WLP500 Trappist yeast starter
Keg on day 12, FG=1013
I’ve now kegged my Czech Pilsner and it actually tastes like it will be really good once it’s cleared. I think it tastes as good as some of my ales at this point and that’s quite a big statement from someone that’s not especially excited by lagers.
It is stronger than I planned having both a higher OG by a couple of points and a lower FG than expected finishing at 1004 rather than 1008. This puts the ABV at 6.3% so a little strong for a Czech Pilsner.
The colour looks good (to me anyway!) and it smells quite hoppy. I’m quite looking forward to seeing how this turns out.
It is stronger than I planned having both a higher OG by a couple of points and a lower FG than expected finishing at 1004 rather than 1008. This puts the ABV at 6.3% so a little strong for a Czech Pilsner.
The colour looks good (to me anyway!) and it smells quite hoppy. I’m quite looking forward to seeing how this turns out.
Tomorrow I’ll be brewing the last of the beers in batch 2. This is a big beer, a Russian Imperial Stout. I made the yeast starter for it this morning.
My tap water profile is pretty good for an ale like this with alkalinity around 280. Looking at the water report I see that Chloride is 51 ppm and sulphate 72 ppm though these are of course mean values. I’m planning to focus more on the malt in this beer so I thought I might lift the chloride ions a little and aim for Cl:123, SO4:72. Ca will be about 200.
One small problem for me, my grain basket tops out at about 5.5Kg so I’m going to have to do 2 brews and then combine the two for the boil. Long brew-day tomorrow (I also have to keg the dry stout so I can re-use the fermenter!).
As always, I’ll let you know how I get on.
My tap water profile is pretty good for an ale like this with alkalinity around 280. Looking at the water report I see that Chloride is 51 ppm and sulphate 72 ppm though these are of course mean values. I’m planning to focus more on the malt in this beer so I thought I might lift the chloride ions a little and aim for Cl:123, SO4:72. Ca will be about 200.
One small problem for me, my grain basket tops out at about 5.5Kg so I’m going to have to do 2 brews and then combine the two for the boil. Long brew-day tomorrow (I also have to keg the dry stout so I can re-use the fermenter!).
As always, I’ll let you know how I get on.
