Hazelwood Brewday

[Brewnaldo]

Now then HB, I seem to remember that you have used Philly Sour yeast before. What were your thoughts on it, and did you use one pack or two?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Now then HB, I seem to remember that you have used Philly Sour yeast before. What were your thoughts on it, and did you use one pack or two?

I’ve only used it once but found it to be good for me. I like the idea of sours but find most of them too sour. The Philly sour yeast, at least on the one occasion I’ve used it, gives a tartness rather than a full on sour. I used one pack and fermented at a flat 26C.

 

[Brewnaldo]

I’ve only used it once but found it to be good for me. I like the idea of sours but find most of them too sour. The Philly sour yeast, at least on the one occasion I’ve used it, gives a tartness rather than a full on sour. I used one pack and fermented at a flat 26C.

Perfect cheers. I will be brewing with it next week.

 

[Pennine]

Todays batch of bitter is in the fermentation cabinet and I’m now mashing the experimental Summer Breeze (just one hop addition in the mash).

My grain basket is seriously challenged with 5Kg grain and another 250g of hops in the mash. pH is 5.3 so I’m happy with that. Gravity is lower than I’d normally expect at this point, maybe because the basket is just too full. I may just give it a bit longer and see where we end up.

View attachment 59883

How did the brew go?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

How did the brew go?

It was fine I think. I did mash a little longer because I was falling short on gravity. In the end I had 20 litres at 1054 so I lost a litre (probably soaked up by the hops!) and gained a couple of points. I may have gained the points as a result of less liquor and a longer mash.

The wort produced was a nice clean pale yellow colour so looked much the same as normal. It didn’t have a strong hoppy smell but at this point I shouldn’t expect it to because if mash hopping does produce precursors they don’t have that hoppy aroma. The results will become clear over the next few days. If mash hopping does produce precursors (and if my yeast can biotransform them) then the aroma and flavour should develop in the fermenter.

I can’t honestly say that I’m expecting this experiment to produce anything special but I just had to try it, my curiosity had been piqued

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’ve just kegged my last bitter of 2021 and I think this is the one that will be sent off to the Scottish Nationals in a couple of weeks time. I had planned to send my last batch of bitter but it turned out a bit too sweet - more like a hobgoblin ruby.

As an aside, when I went to the brew-shed this morning I was surprised to discover the cooling system running, not what you’d expect for New Years Eve.

…I might get the BBQ out tomorrow!

 

[Clint]

I’ve just kegged my last bitter of 2021 and I think this is the one that will be sent off to the Scottish Nationals in a couple of weeks time. I had planned to send my last batch of bitter but it turned out a bit too sweet - more like a hobgoblin ruby.

View attachment 60500

As an aside, when I went to the brew-shed this morning I was surprised to discover the cooling system running, not what you’d expect for New Years Eve.

…I might get the BBQ out tomorrow!

..and the flip-flops.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Maybe.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’ve just kegged that beer where I experimented with mash hopping as my only hop addition to test whether hop aroma and flavour could make it through the brewing process and get released through fermentation. This interest was piqued by someone else having tried something similar and saying that both flavour and aroma survived to an extent.

In short I can tell you they don’t seem to survive (or are not released by the yeast) in any meaningful sense. There is a hint of hop aroma and a little more than a hint in the flavour but beating in mind this was 300g of hops I suspect 20g of late kettle additions would achieve the same. What does seem to have survived is the bitterness. I kegged the beer regardless and will see what happens to it with a bit of conditioning - it may just be a reasonable English(ish) Pale!

This was how the beer looked, which is much the same as usual.

The yeast though did look different. Normally the surface of the beer is fairly clear and at the side a fairly thin ring of dried krausen. On this occasion the yeast seemed very much alive and very creamy, even on the side-wall of the fermenting bucket. This was after 16 days fermenting.

 

[Pennine]

I’ve just kegged that beer where I experimented with mash hopping as my only hop addition to test whether hop aroma and flavour could make it through the brewing process and get released through fermentation. This interest was piqued by someone else having tried something similar and saying that both flavour and aroma survived to an extent.

In short I can tell you they don’t seem to survive (or are not released by the yeast) in any meaningful sense. There is a hint of hop aroma and a little more than a hint in the flavour but beating in mind this was 300g of hops I suspect 20g of late kettle additions would achieve the same. What does seem to have survived is the bitterness. I kegged the beer regardless and will see what happens to it with a bit of conditioning - it may just be a reasonable English(ish) Pale!

This was how the beer looked, which is much the same as usual.

View attachment 60923
The yeast though did look different. Normally the surface of the beer is fairly clear and at the side a fairly thin ring of dried krausen. On this occasion the yeast seemed very much alive and very creamy, even on the side-wall of the fermenting bucket. This was after 16 days fermenting.
View attachment 60924 View attachment 60925 View attachment 60926

Well it was definitely worth a try, 20g ouch!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Well it was definitely worth a try, 20g ouch!

That’s right but on the positive side I now know from experience how aroma and flavour from mash hopping carries through (or doesn’t) and I know that bitterness does. I can also confirm how much bitterness carries through and it’s very much along the lines I’d expected.

I’m still looking into mash hopping as a way of holding back stalling and I still have a keg of highly hopped beer that I brewed in July as part of that experiment. At shorter intervals mash hopping did seem to be helping but this longer test will be more telling I hope.

 

[Baldylocks Brewery]

Sure. It’s one of these, perfect size for the boiler. I bent the feet straight to give clearance over the bazooka. If you do the same heat the legs before you straighten them or they may fracture off at the bend.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B082MXW...olid=213HCCG06Q64M&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Hi HB and gang

Had my AG pot now for a year and taking stock of the experience so far an looking to make some improvements.
Liking the idea of the SS basket as I hate cleaning the nylon bags (they are huge to fit the pot) and lifting/sparging is awkward.

I've got a 56l electric pot which is 430 diameter by 450 tall and i'm a bit concerned even with a full BIAB 32l of water the surface will not come anywhere close to the top of the basket (once I've straightened legs to clear element), so if you are using say 6kg of grain where does it come up to in the basket?

Also does your basket have the welded on hooks low down which I assume are for draining and do they work hooking over the side?

Lastly I'm thinking of ditching the sight glass (always starts leaking mid boil) and is another thing to clean and also removing/blanking the pot thermometer in favour of an inkbird to control the element.
Sorry there are a few aspects but it's a culmination of a years brewing.
Your thoughts as always are greatly appreciated.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Hi HB and gang

Had my AG pot now for a year and taking stock of the experience so far an looking to make some improvements.
Liking the idea of the SS basket as I hate cleaning the nylon bags (they are huge to fit the pot) and lifting/sparging is awkward.

I've got a 56l electric pot which is 430 diameter by 450 tall and i'm a bit concerned even with a full BIAB 32l of water the surface will not come anywhere close to the top of the basket (once I've straightened legs to clear element), so if you are using say 6kg of grain where does it come up to in the basket?

Also does your basket have the welded on hooks low down which I assume are for draining and do they work hooking over the side?

Lastly I'm thinking of ditching the sight glass (always starts leaking mid boil) and is another thing to clean and also removing/blanking the pot thermometer in favour of an inkbird to control the element.
Sorry there are a few aspects but it's a culmination of a years brewing.
Your thoughts as always are greatly appreciated.

Hi @Baldylocks Brewery !

My boiler is a 30 litre Burco/Cygnet and the grain basket I referred to is suited to that boiler. Because it’s smaller the capacity is really just over 5Kgs and when filled to capacity I can only add 21 litres of mash water or the water will reach the lip of the basket with the risk of grain going over the top.

My basket doesn’t have the welded hook. I have seen those and honestly I wouldn’t trust that welded hook with 5Kgs of wet grain. I place my basket in a bucket with one leg over the edge so the basket is tipped to 45 degrees. Drains well.

I’m not sure how good your pot thermometer is but my Cygnet has quite a tolerance. The Inkbird has far tighter tolerance and maintains temperature very well.

I have made some changes but my basic setup is described in the first few pages on this thread.

 

[Baldylocks Brewery]

Hi @Baldylocks Brewery !

My boiler is a 30 litre Burco/Cygnet and the grain basket I referred to is suited to that boiler. Because it’s smaller the capacity is really just over 5Kgs and when filled to capacity I can only add 21 litres of mash water or the water will reach the lip of the basket with the risk of grain going over the top.

My basket doesn’t have the welded hook. I have seen those and honestly I wouldn’t trust that welded hook with 5Kgs of wet grain. I place my basket in a bucket with one leg over the edge so the basket is tipped to 45 degrees. Drains well.

I’m not sure how good your pot thermometer is but my Cygnet has quite a tolerance. The Inkbird has far tighter tolerance and maintains temperature very well.

I have made some changes but my basic setup is described in the first few pages on this thread.

Thanks HB, I think the Inkbird is a must as currently have to keep an eye on the mash temp and manually switch the wall socket to Maintain the temp so it yo-yo’s a bit.
I’ve found a 450mm version of the basket but it is 30mm too wide so weekend I’ll look closer at how high 32l of water will cover the basket.
Good brew day report that is HB very insightful.
Thank you for the tips :hat: