Hazelwood Brewday

[samale]

Another brew day in progress. Lovely sunny weather, Danish pastries are cooling, and I’m sat in the garden under a clear blue sky with a coffee. This is what weekends should all be like.

As planned I’m brewing another batch of Vienna IPA with Mosaic and Simcoe hops. MJ M44 yeast. Mash has about 25 minutes to go.

Last night I kegged my latest batch of Citra/Galaxy IPA and looking forward to trying it in a couple of weeks. I’ve used less Galaxy this time round to try and take the recipe back to where it started.

Also last night, I dry hopped my Punk IPA and will keg that in five days.

If you’re having a brew day, I hope it’s going well :hat:

I have 5 different beers in the fermentors. It will be a busy few weeks ahead.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’ve been wanting to try some different beers and try some different hop combinations/proportions and don’t want to wait too long between trials - life isn’t long enough!

My thinking is to brew several beers, each with a single hop, and then blend them in various combinations and proportions to see which I prefer and try and recreate that blend as a single brew.

I’ve no idea how this will end but I will enjoy the experiment regardless.

To get started I’ve made up 4 of these 10-litre “fermenters”.

 

[Pennine]

I’ve been wanting to try some different beers and try some different hop combinations/proportions and don’t want to wait too long between trials - life isn’t long enough!

My thinking is to brew several beers, each with a single hop, and then blend them in various combinations and proportions to see which I prefer and try and recreate that blend as a single brew.

I’ve no idea how this will end but I will enjoy the experiment regardless.

To get started I’ve made up 4 of these 10-litre “fermenters”.

View attachment 29125

nice I have 3 similar ones to do the same, the only problem with hops is you have to cool them individually. seems to be worth using malt extract and some pots on a stove and cool them all at the same time, still trying to figure out the logistics of this what are you planning?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I was planning to make a larger batch of wort, boil it for an hour with no hops, and drain it into a 30 litre bucket. Then for each fermenter put an equal volume back in the boiler and give it a 15 minute boil with one of the hops before chilling it down and draining it into the fermenter. Rinse out the boiler and repeat the last step for each fermenter.

 

[Banbeer]

30 mins of boil left, GH American Pale Ale with Citra and Simcoe, using Kveik for the first time, started at 8.00, hope yours goes well mate.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

30 mins of boil left, GH American Pale Ale with Citra and Simcoe started at 8.00, hope yours goes well mate.

Thanks very much - me too!

I’m 20 minutes into a 30 minute hop stand at 165F (74C) then chill down.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

All done.

25 litres in the fermenter, OG = 1058 so on track for something like 6.6%-6.7%

I’m sure I must deserve some kind of reward after that

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

nice I have 3 similar ones to do the same, the only problem with hops is you have to cool them individually. seems to be worth using malt extract and some pots on a stove and cool them all at the same time, still trying to figure out the logistics of this what are you planning?

I’d be interested to hear more about what you have in mind. It might be good to compare notes and share ideas and results if you’re doing something along similar lines?

My first batch will be four commonly used hops: cascade, mosaic, equanot, and vic secret. I will make all blends of each pair, and triple, and a blend of all four. For each blend, I will make several combinations of proportions eg cascade and mosaic at 2:1, 1:1, and 1:2. What I do next will depend on results.

 

[Ajhutch]

Sounds like an interesting experiment, you don’t hear a lot about pale ales being blended, I suppose it’s a lot more faff than a brewery would want to do. Once you like a blend, would be really interesting to them do a brew with the same ratio blended as the hops in the brew, then test side by side. I’d expect them to be quite different because hops interact with each other.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

...I’d expect them to be quite different because hops interact with each other.

Yes, that’s what I suspect will happen. What I’m wondering is just how different they will be. If they are different but similar I’ll be happy. If they just not comparable at all I will have to go back to the drawing board and enjoy blended beers in the meantime!

 

[Pennine]

I’d be interested to hear more about what you have in mind. It might be good to compare notes and share ideas and results if you’re doing something along similar lines?

My first batch will be four commonly used hops: cascade, mosaic, equanot, and vic secret. I will make all blends of each pair, and triple, and a blend of all four. For each blend, I will make several combinations of proportions eg cascade and mosaic at 2:1, 1:1, and 1:2. What I do next will depend on results.

hmm that's a good idea what you have planned. my idea was more basic, just trying out new hops with the same base recipe. I did it last month with mozart, el dorado and motueka.

i was thinking about your idea though and doing the same with citra, mosaic, azacca and maybe idaho 7. kind of the east coast thing. also you could do a noble hops sample like saaz, tettnang, hallertuaer and goldings. or british style with ekg, fuggles, bramling cross and northdown etc...

would be really easy to explore if you had 3 kegs going at once for something like this.

 

[Galena]

Interesting idea, I have been wondering the best way to do a split batch to try out different hops, keep us posted.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Interesting idea, I have been wondering the best way to do a split batch to try out different hops, keep us posted.

I will. I’ve no idea how useful this will be in the end but the idea works in theory if not in practice!

 

[Galena]

I was only going to try 2 batches first and was thinking, mash then drop half into a bucket, do the boil with hops batch 1, chill and drop into FV and the same with the second batch, not sure I could cope with 4 batches

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I was only going to try 2 batches first and was thinking, mash then drop half into a bucket, do the boil with hops batch 1, chill and drop into FV and the same with the second batch, not sure I could cope with 4 batches

In all honesty your approach is better. I unfortunately have an all or nothing attitude, reinforced by endless optimism and a soupçon of self-delusion!

 

[Galena]

In all honesty your approach is better. I unfortunately have an all or nothing attitude, reinforced by endless optimism and a soupçon of self-delusion!

Optimism is a good thing, self delusion less so perhaps

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Just to test the carbonation and that my new King keg is behaving, I poured a drop of the Citra/Galaxy IPA I kegged Friday night.

It’s already well carbonated, fairly clear, and is quite drinkable at 2 days.

Happy!

 

[Clint]

H...what are the words to your soup song?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

H...what are the words to your soup song?

If you remember the clangers, the soup dragon used to sing it all the time!

 

[Clint]

Ah yes...