Hoddy’s Brewing Odyssey

[Hoddy]

Kegged my latest NEIPA recipe tonight. Really pleased with how it’s come out and finished in the fermenter. Quite an eye opener on how high the losses were when brewing with so much oats and wheat. Losses in the FS was about the same at 3L with a 350g dry hop.

So it’s a full to the brim 20L in the cornie for me. Will take a beer pints to get it fully carbed but I really couldn’t be bothered to sterilise two bottles and the beer gun and line just for that. Hey if it comes out real good anyone will have to come to mine try it

Either way it’s another step on to trying to achieve that super soft beer. Report back in a few weeks or when I next kick a keg.

 

[Hoddy]

Another day another brew.

This time it was a new recipe for a rye pale ale. I’ve been hankering after a good rye pale for a while so I’m glad I’ve got round to brewing this beer. And what a difference it makes being able to brew outside in the sunshine. Roll on the summer.

Brew day went well. The pause between sparge and boil was because my lad had golf coaching so it meant I had to finish off Under flood light after the boil and whirlpool was complete.

Massively over shot on efficiency so had to back dilute to get close to original target. I think adding the 200g of rice hills really increased the run off and I can only think that’s why OG was soooo high. Was 1.060 should be 1.050.

The new ph meter continues to be a dream to use and has made hitting the mash ph a dream.

Centennial, Columbus and chinook will be the stars of this show in the dry hop of 280g

 

[dan125]

The new ph meter continues to be a dream to use and has made hitting the mash ph a dream.

Pleased to see the phosphoric did the job - how did the mash pH compare to Beersmith's prediction?

 

[BeerCat]

Last time I used rye I had just over 3kg 58% and I had a horrendous stuck mash even with 600g of oat husks. Next time I will have to sieve the husks as they seem to be full of dust which somewhat defeats the point. Also burned the bottom of the boiler with all the particulates but luckily not the beer.

 

[Hoddy]

Pleased to see the phosphoric did the job - how did the mash pH compare to Beersmith's prediction?

It undershot actually. I needed to adjust a bit more with an extra 2ml. And that’s the beauty of this new ph meter that I can check anytime and at any temp and know I’ll get the right reading.

Plus the phos acid I got doesn’t give a % so I don’t know what concentration it is and BS is assuming 85%. But all in all good. Be interested to see if there is any flavour profile change from using that over CRS.

 

[Hoddy]

Last time I used rye I had just over 3kg 58% and I had a horrendous stuck mash even with 600g of oat husks. Next time I will have to sieve the husks as they seem to be full of dust which somewhat defeats the point. Also burned the bottom of the boiler with all the particulates but luckily not the beer.

This was 500g of pale rye, 4kg of golden promise, 750g Munich, 100g light crystal and 200g rice hulls. This is a new recipe in grist and hops so it’s not mega rye just yet. I usually allow for up to 3 or 4 iterations to get a recipe right. But a more than 50% rye beer would be a nightmare. I don’t tend to go over 15%.

That sounds like a nightmare brew day.

 

[Hoddy]

16hrs later and she’s off and going at 19oC and 0.3 bar.

 

[foxy]

Some sound advice here caring for pH meters, even though they may be temperature calibrated best to keep the wort temperature low. Its painful having to buy a new probe.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/selecting-caring-ph-meters.html

 

[Hoddy]

So with all this hot weather (and a bit of miss-planning on my part for brewing for the LAB comp) I thought it was time to brew a nice thirst quenching Kolsch for when the summer really comes.

Just started the boil while I sit on the terrace (still waiting on picking up the right sofa for the terrace so I can really relax on a summer brew day) and watch the BM go. I’ll post an update when it’s all done. Had a little helper today for the first part of the day too.

Other things of note were how much my water ph has shifted in the last few months. It’s gone from a solid 7.8 to nearly mid 8’s now which is quite a shift. Meant thankfully with my ph tester I could tweak the mash on the hoof to get it back in spec. Just shows how you can’t assume your water will be the same as last time.

I’ll have to contact someone I know at South East water and find out what they’ve been doing at the local treatment plant.

 

[Hoddy]

So I put into cask the first version of a recipe I’m developing for a brewery.

This beer I’ve brewed many many times at home and served in keg but never out of a cask so I’m fascinated to see how it conditions and pours in 10 days time.

I did have a spare 10L to put in a cornie so I will be able to compare and contrast.

 

[Hoddy]

Another sunny day another brew day.

What a lovely day to brew. The hot weather helped speed things up some what with the mash steps racing through and the boil coming up quickly.

Managed to hit all the number of volume (25L) and OG 1.056 but ph was a touch low in the mash. I put this down to the very large grain bill of 6.5kg which I think is a bit too much and I could have got more efficiency with a looser mash.

Just great to be able to sit on the terrace sofa in the shade and have a beer while the mash and boil was on.

The pictures don’t do it justice but it’s as pale as a pale thing which is what I was aiming for on this one. But this beer is a bit of an experiment. Simcoe and Ekuanot hops (550g in total) and a US05 and SO4 mix will be the yeast used.

Fascinated to see how this one turns out.

 

[Hoddy]

Flies, flies, flies everywhere!!!

Just completed brewing version 2 of my kolsch recipe. Made the mistake of brewing outside as the weather was forecast to be ok.

Issue 1 : it decided to rain for 45 mins straight after I mashed in. A brolly came to my assistance for the rain shower.

And issue No 2 : it is clearly fruit fly season as the moment the rain stopped there were fruit flies EVERYWHERE!!!!

Did everything I could to keep the buggers out and not ruin the beer. Even employed the use of cling film during the hop stand to stop them getting in.

Hit all the numbers and other than a much higher than usual amount of grain getting out the basket (I think the crush was thinner than usual from THBS) it all went well with 25L in the FS.

Even spotted a couple of ******* flies that got boiled and then transferred into the FV.

 

[BeerCat]

Are you using a spunding valve for a closed transfer amd how do you know when the keg is full?
What connectors are you using for your chiller? Looking forward to fermenting under pressure. How much time do you think it saves?

 

[Hoddy]

Are you using a spunding valve for a closed transfer amd how do you know when the keg is full?
What connectors are you using for your chiller? Looking forward to fermenting under pressure. How much time do you think it saves?

Yeah I use a spunding valve on my FS and then I use the same spunding valve when I do a closed transfer from the FS into the Cornie. You just have to make sure the valve is set 50% less than the head pressure on the FS. I know the keg is full because the FS has volume mark on it so I know when I’ve transferred in 20L. And then I just put the rest into another keg. Either that or just weigh a Cornie when it’s full of water and then use some scales and weigh it as you fill it.

The connectors on the chiller are machined stainless steel ones with standard garden hose fittings. So they just snap straight on to hozelock fittings.

I wouldn’t say it saves any fermentation time. But what it does do is mean you can contain fermentation and stop it running away. Plus it means you can keep O2 away from the beer so much that the quality and stability is markably improved.

 

[Hoddy]

So today was a single hop pale ale brew day. I’ve been meaning to experiment with idaho7 for a while and I finally got a space in the brew schedule to do it. I adopted a fairly standard pale ale grist with a semi soft (not NEIPA) water profile so the beer should be soft but with a crisp edge to make the hops shine.

Mash ph was a bit higher than I would have liked but it didn’t affect mash efficiency.

Mash went well at 66oc and sparge at 78oc went without a hitch.

Post mash OG was 3pts over target.

My first experience of this hop. OMG it’s amazing. Pine and tropical with a really saturated hop character. This could be amazing. A 100g hop stand for an hour just left the most amazing aroma.

Transfer time and reclaimed 27L into the fermenter (HS)

Post boil ended up being 4pts over target. So I liquored back to the target OG to make sure I retain the planned 1.011 FG

.

Pitched two packets of haze yeast which is also my first time using it. Really interested to see how this yeast performs. And also how this hop performs in a hop stand, bio hop and also a big 150g dry hop.

 

[Hoddy]

12hrs later after pitching two packets of hydrated Haze yeast and we are off and running.

 

[Ajhutch]

What brand is that yeast?

 

[Leon103]

What brand is that yeast?

CML

 

[Ajhutch]

Cheers. I’ve not been paying attention to brewing stuff for a while so hadn’t realised they’d released some new styles.

 

[Hoddy]

Cheers. I’ve not been paying attention to brewing stuff for a while so hadn’t realised they’d released some new styles.

It’s sold via CML but I think the manufacturer is Bierm. But I’ve not found them available anywhere else in the uk. It’s my first try of this range rather than the named CML yeasts.

Interested to see how this turns out.