Hazelwood Brewday

[eyuptm]

Very nice, Mr H I have found it quite illuminating to add measurements of the actual brews themselves too (in the Corny's and Fermenters). They are of course much MUCH more steady than the air temperatures - 25L of beer needs to absorb or discard about 105kJ of thermal energy to change temperature by 1ºc; and in the case of the fermenters can be a couple of degrees higher if they are going for it

Aah, those specific heat capacity calculations I used to love so . ...!!!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Very nice, Mr H I have found it quite illuminating to add measurements of the actual brews themselves too (in the Corny's and Fermenters). They are of course much MUCH more steady than the air temperatures - 25L of beer needs to absorb or discard about 105kJ of thermal energy to change temperature by 1ºc; and in the case of the fermenters can be a couple of degrees higher if they are going for it

I don’t think I’ll be measuring the temperature of the beer. If the cornie is kept between 12 and 13 degrees I’d expect the beer to be somewhere in the range. Yes, fermenters might be a tad above ambient.

I do use water as a temperature buffer to avoid rapid air temperature swings. The probes are kept in a little water. Oops, looks like that one needs a top-up.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Pathfinder is on for today. I won’t post very much about the base brew because it’s the same as Pilgrim. I will say though that I’m approaching the sparge and today has been a very much more relaxed affair. I milled the grain to be slightly more fine and I’m not struggling at all to meet my numbers today, in fact I slightly overshot at my first waypoint.

pH at 15 minutes and at 40 minutes was 5.15 and 5.14 respectively - measured at 20C because I know that’s what most people do. Pictures included for a bit of interest!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

So far today I’ve had an exceptionally smooth and organised brew-day. Even everything used to this point is washed, dried, and put away. I have 15 minutes of the hopstand to go and nothing whatever to do so I’m gonna sit on a bar stool and have a pint of 3C. Cheers folks!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Oh yeah... my brew days are always chilled, calm affairs...

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Well that’s the hopstand done and the wort chilled down to 64F(18C). I’ll let that rest for a while now and in the meantime wash up the pipes, pump, hop bag and chiller, sanitise the fermenter, and prep the veg that’s going in this brew!

Oh yeah, I might “top-up” my glass too!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

It’s all done - yay!

The wort finished at 1054 so a couple of points lower than Pilgrim - probably because I didn’t have to boil off excess liquor.

In the fermenter I weighed out 100g Citra (I’m using leaf at this point because it’s cleaner). I then chopped 50g of Lemongrass (the aroma was amazing!) and added these to the fermenter

Next, from the freezer I crumbled the frozen geranium leaves into the fermenter followed by the rose petals. Purrdy

I poured the wort over the top making sure to give everything a good soak then in with the packets of BRY-97 and Verdant yeast, a little “yeast vit”, a good stir and in the fermentation cabinet.

Now the long wait…

 

[DocAnna]

Looks and possibly smells like potpourri what with geranium leaves and rose petals in there . I do wonder whether you are going to be able to pick out any of the individual contributions from these though. I would love to try lemongrass in a beer too, it does have a wonderful aroma!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Next, from the freezer I crumbled the frozen geranium leaves into the fermenter followed by the rose petals.

I hope you remembered to hold some back to sprinkle on the duvet…

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Not like potpourri, more fresh than floral.

You may be right about not being able to distinguish the individual contributions but my hope, and I recognise I’m probably wrong, is that the geraniol and linalool common in these plants will amplify and reinforce, where the other oils (non of them strong in the natural form of the plant) will add a subtle and complex backdrop.

I’ll let you know in a couple of weeks!

The lemongrass aroma was so good! Based on that I’d say go for it - but in the knowledge it might be awful

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I hope you remembered to hold some back to sprinkle on the duvet…

I was romancing the Citra!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Thinking about my next venture

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Today’s job will be to keg my latest batch of best bitter - I can’t be running out during the football!

I entered this beer in the dark ales competition last month and it came 6th. The scores were:
Aroma 10/12
Appearance 2/3
Flavour 14/20
Mouthfeel 3/5
Overall 6/10

The issue appears to be bitterness. After a discussion with @Dads_Ale it seems it’s not the degree of bitterness (26 IBUs) but the type of bitterness, @Dads_Ale felt it was too harsh. I don’t get that impression but it may just be my taste threshold for this harsher bitterness is higher, I do tend to favour more bitterness in my beer than some people.

For my next batch I’m going to keep the recipe the same but make adjustments to the water profile. I will add sodium chloride to round out the beer a little, remove the addition of calcium sulphate because this can accentuate bitterness and make the bitterness more harsh, and adjust the calcium chloride addition to account for the added chloride in the sodium chloride. I think these measures will smooth out the bitterness and I’ll make further adjustments if necessary with the crystal and roast malts.

As I’ll be kegging a batch today, I’ll be getting another batch on in the next few days so I won’t have to wait long to see if it does the job. I should still be able to taste that the beer is more smooth and is softer - I hope!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

I should still be able to taste that the beer is more smooth and is softer - I hope!

I don't think I can tell you much about brewing Mr H. Just in case it's of interest though, I've found the biggest factor in how 'smooth and soft' my beers seem is adjusting the temperature profile of the mash - in particular the time spent in the 60-63ºc range (thinner, drier result) versus that in the 68-72ºc range (thicker, 'softer', sweeter result).
Generally with a bitter I like the result of doing about 20min at 56ºc, then 30min at 65ºc, then 30min at 68ºc before mashing out for 5min at 75ºc.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I don't think I can tell you much about brewing Mr H. Just in case it's of interest though, I've found the biggest factor in how 'smooth and soft' my beers seem is adjusting the temperature profile of the mash - in particular the time spent in the 60-63ºc range (thinner, drier result) versus that in the 68-72ºc range (thicker, 'softer', sweeter result).
Generally with a bitter I like the result of doing about 20min at 56ºc, then 30min at 65ºc, then 30min at 68ºc before mashing out for 5min at 75ºc.

Thanks TETB.

You have a beta-glucanase rest in there at the lower temperature. This is needed if you are adding lots of unmalted grains or you’re using under-modified barley to help break down some of the gummy proteins and help clear the beer. If you’re not using unmalted or under-modified grain you might get a more watery beer or poor head retention.

Because I’m using well modified malted grain I don’t do the beta-glucanase rest but otherwise our regimes are not far apart. I mash 20mins at 64, 30mins at 70, and mash-out for 20mins at 77.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

(...) our regimes are not far apart. I mash 20mins at 64, 30mins at 70, and mash-out for 20mins at 77.

:hat: thanks @Hopsteep - I had a feeling you were all over this

 

[user 18729]

:hat: thanks @Hopsteep - I had a feeling you were all over this

I’m a mere mortal and do a single step infusion mash

When I’ve summoned up the motivation to start wiring up my control panel I will join you both with step mashing

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

:hat: thanks @Hopsteep - I had a feeling you were all over this

I think I must have missed something, this post seems out of context?

 

[user 18729]

I think I must have missed something, this post seems out of context?

I think TETB posted on the wrong thread, it was the water treatment thread I believe

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I have my English Bitter kegged now. It’s beautifully clear out of the fermenter and is ready for drinking right now - it even tastes good without any carbonation. Having said that I’ve got it carbonating at 20psi in case I need it tonight.

A couple of pictures: one of a sample of beer taken from the fermenter showing clarity, and looking into the fermenter after I’ve kegged the beer - see the nice compact yeast cake.