Hazelwood Brewday

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Barrelled my stout today. I don’t want to jinx it but even out of the FV this tastes very promising, I’m excited already!

OG=1066, FG=1028, ABV= 5%

 

[S.R.S]

I only joined the group a few days ago and today was my first brewday since joining so I thought I ought to give this a go - at least once.

Starting with the crime scene, I revamped our garden a couple of years ago. My wife wanted decking, a gazebo, and comfortable seating, I wanted a bar, win-win!

So this is where I also brew, at my bar, shown here in winter plumage (clear plastic PVC tarps fitted to two sides).

love the pictures, very cool

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

love the pictures, very cool

I should do some more, my last few posts have been s big lazy. Pictures do paint a 1000 words!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

The ale that started this brewday account is coming together nicely. Here is the keg conditioned “Equinox”. The bottles seem to be about a week behind.

It’s nice and clear, and is well carbonated. Strength is 4.9% abv and flavoured with Equanot and Vic Secret hops. This batch of beer was a bit of an experiment, the dry hops were added for one day only. Surprisingly perhaps it’s just as hoppy (flavour and aroma) as my last batch dry-hopped for five days.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Just be “testing” some of my conditioning ales. This one is my hazy lemon drop IPA - that’s right hazy IPA!

At this point I’m not sure I like it but it isn’t yet conditioned so I’ll keep it going for now.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Cardamom saison is now 3 weeks conditioned and the cardamom / coriander flavours are becoming more prominent. I’m hoping they won’t get stronger.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Started a new batch of my Trinity brown ale today. Made several (but small) adjustments to the recipe: to improve body and mouthfeel, increase the sweetness, changed the yeast to make the fruit notes shine, reduce bitterness, reduce the intensity of the brown malt and amplify the chocolate notes.

As always, I’m excited and can’t wait to see the results

 

[Buffers brewery]

Very envious of your brew day. Very ordered and controlled compared to my chaos!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Very envious of your brew day. Very ordered and controlled compared to my chaos!

Thank you! I practice a lot

 

[cushyno]

Started a new batch of my Trinity brown ale today. Made several (but small) adjustments to the recipe: to improve body and mouthfeel, increase the sweetness, changed the yeast to make the fruit notes shine, reduce bitterness, reduce the intensity of the brown malt and amplify the chocolate notes.

As always, I’m excited and can’t wait to see the results

I'm interested to hear of the changes and what difference they make. I do like a good brown ale and have made a few based on the GH Northern Brown recipe. While my latest is very clean with the right body, it lacks depth. So, if like to line up a few changes for next time if you have some suggestions.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I'm interested to hear of the changes and what difference they make. I do like a good brown ale and have made a few based on the GH Northern Brown recipe. While my latest is very clean with the right body, it lacks depth. So, if like to line up a few changes for next time if you have some suggestions.

You might like to try adding some additional specialty malts, a blend of base malts, or both as I have here? The trick is not to have too many the same and not too much of any one - it’s a balancing act. This is the recipe I used in my latest batch if it helps stimulate your ideas. I may still have to dial down the bitterness some more but as I’ve added some sweetness I don’t want to go too far at once.

Trinity Brown Ale
1.2Kg Pilsner Malt (22.22%)
1.4Kg Maris Otter Malt (25.93%)
2.0Kg Vienna Malt (37.04%)
200g Brown Malt 140 EBC (3.7%)
200g Flaked Oats (3.7%)
160g Dark Crystal Malt 385 EBC (2.96%)
160g Torrified Wheat (2.96%)
80g Chocolate Malt 900 EBC (1.48%)
75 min mash, 23 litres at 160F
Sparge with 7 litres

Pre-boil vol=26 litres, SG=1052

10g Simcoe Leaf AA=13.2% (60 min)

1/2 Protofloc tablet at 10 mins
30g Simcoe Leaf AA=13.2% (10 min)
30g Mosaic Leaf AA=11.3% (10 min)
30g Vic Secret Leaf AA=15.9% (10 min)

Fermenter = 20 litres, OG =1056
10g MJ Empire Ale yeast

40g Simcoe (Dry hop, Leaf, day 5)
40g Mosaic (Dry hop, Leaf, day 5)
40g Vic Secret (Dry hop, Leaf, day 5)

Barrel day 10, FG=1014?, ABV=5.5%?

 

[cushyno]

You might like to try adding some additional specialty malts, a blend of base malts, or both as I have here? The trick is not to have too many the same and not too much of any one - it’s a balancing act. This is the recipe I used in my latest batch if it helps stimulate your ideas. I may still have to dial down the bitterness some more but as I’ve added some sweetness I don’t want to go too far at once.

Trinity Brown Ale
1.2Kg Pilsner Malt (22.22%)
1.4Kg Maris Otter Malt (25.93%)
2.0Kg Vienna Malt (37.04%)
200g Brown Malt 140 EBC (3.7%)
200g Flaked Oats (3.7%)
160g Dark Crystal Malt 385 EBC (2.96%)
160g Torrified Wheat (2.96%)
80g Chocolate Malt 900 EBC (1.48%)
75 min mash, 23 litres at 160F
Sparge with 7 litres

Pre-boil vol=26 litres, SG=1052

10g Simcoe Leaf AA=13.2% (60 min)

1/2 Protofloc tablet at 10 mins
30g Simcoe Leaf AA=13.2% (10 min)
30g Mosaic Leaf AA=11.3% (10 min)
30g Vic Secret Leaf AA=15.9% (10 min)

Fermenter = 20 litres, OG =1056
10g MJ Empire Ale yeast

40g Simcoe (Dry hop, Leaf, day 5)
40g Mosaic (Dry hop, Leaf, day 5)
40g Vic Secret (Dry hop, Leaf, day 5)

Barrel day 10, FG=1014?, ABV=5.5%?

I could muster most of the malts and recently bought a kilo of brown malt to play with as never used that before.

That's a lot of hops! I never thought about dry hopping a brown ale. Maybe I need to experiment more with the hops. Maybe something more fruity than Challenger/EKG/Summit that I've used in the past.

I'll take a good think about what I want out of the next batch taste wise and what kind of depth I'm looking for.

Thanks for the tips

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I could muster most of the malts and recently bought a kilo of brown malt to play with as never used that before.

That's a lot of hops! I never thought about dry hopping a brown ale. Maybe I need to experiment more with the hops. Maybe something more fruity than Challenger/EKG/Summit that I've used in the past.

I'll take a good think about what I want out of the next batch taste wise and what kind of depth I'm looking for.

Thanks for the tips

I know, I’d put hops on my breakfast if I had any!(breakfast) There is a lot of malt and deep toasty flavours so the hops diminish a lot more than in a lighter IPA.

For me this is a beautiful ale - dark and brown malt flavours with a hint of coffee and dark fruit fade slowly to chocolate.

...and now I’ve talked myself into pouring one!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Getting excited now that we’re on the downhill slope and heading for the weekend, I have plans:

• Kegging my latest plum porter
• Dry hopping my latest brown ale - yes, really
• Starting a new batch of my Citra/Galaxy IPA - new improved recipe of course

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’m really pleased with the plum porter, it smells amazing. If it tastes as good as it smells this could be a competitive beer!

The new plum flavouring I’m using is soooo much better than the Uncle Roy’s essence I used last time.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Dry hopped my brown ale today.

Yes I know! Trust me, you can dry hop a brown ale - and low it was good!

 

[cushyno]

Which hops and which brown ale?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Which hops and which brown ale?

The brown ale is my own “Trinity” brown ale. The hops: Simcoe, Mosaic, Vic Secret.

(See above)

 

[cushyno]

I should have paid attention in class. Didn't read the stuff above and my memory is fooked.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Brewed another batch of my “Summer Breeze” ale today. A few small adjustments to the recipe so I hope it will be even better than last time. Changes included:

• More bittering hops
• More dry hops
• More wheat
• Added some oats
• Higher mash temperature