"Home Wrecker" Rauchbier - With triple decoction

[Oblivious]

That was one hell of a brew day BrewStew :thumb:

 

[steve_flack]

I know it's a bit late but I would've thought that a 60 minute protein rest was way too long for a beer made mostly with UK Pale Malt. There's not much protein to degrade anyway. I realise the 60 minute rest is traditional in the triple decoction but that's designed to deal with a rather different type of malt.

This link has examples of other decoction schedules that are probably better suited to modern malts.

 

[Woodside]

I had the same thing happen with one of those boilers - light still on but losing temperature. Thankfully it hadn't died on me - there's a safety cut-off to stop the element burning. I was having a go at making La Chouffe from Graham Wheeler's brewing european beers book (a temperature stepped mash).

The boiler has been fine ever since.

 

[BrewStew]

Woodside - you reckon it was the cut-off then?

how do i reset it?

Steve - do you reckon it may adversly affect it then? I decided to do it both for practice, trying something new, and seeing what it does to the flavour... even though i knew it probably wasn't the ideal malt bill.

you've got me worried now hopefully it'll be ok :pray:

 

[steve_flack]

Steve - do you reckon it may adversly affect it then? I decided to do it both for practice, trying something new, and seeing what it does to the flavour... even though i knew it probably wasn't the ideal malt bill.

you've got me worried now hopefully it'll be ok :pray:

It will be fine and will taste like beer. The main reason to avoid a protein mash on low protein malts is to avoid poor head retention. So it might be flat as a witches t*t but it will probably taste OK.

Have you had a Rauchbeer before? You aren't using a huge amount of smoked malt so it's on the less smokey end of the spectrum.

 

[BrewStew]

i've had many a rauchbier

but i prefer this recipe i came up with last year though :lol:

i'll be force carbonating this to 2.4 volumes, so hopefully that mixed with the "puch backward for head blast" thing on my taps will counter any crappy heads :thumb:

 

[BrewStew]

maybe i should've elaborated.. i prefer my recipe because i like the subtleness of the smoke... it doesn't smack you in the face.

i think a true rauch is about 80 or 90% smoked IIRC :hmm:

 

[BrewStew]

I'm gunna call this brew "Home Wrecker" cos it messed up my hobs, the paint on my ceiling has gone a bit weird because i had to use my big boiler for it and it was a bit too steamy... the walls upstairs now all need a wipe, and there's still a residual burnt smell floating around my house :lol:

 

[steve_flack]

i prefer my recipe because i like the subtleness of the smoke... it doesn't smack you in the face.

I've got a smoked porter on at the moment and that's around 20% Rauchmalt. The smoke is there but not massively in your face.

 

[MEB]

10/10 BS :clap: :clap: :clap:

I find it hard to believe there's someone else as daft as me. :lol: Except i don't currently have the time to post all my cock ups on line. :P
I'm raising a pint o Porter to you my main man. :thumb:

 

[BrewStew]

thanks mate :thumb:

 

[MEB]

Just a shame you gotta drink that mess you made :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Prolly be ok as it's bound to be under 4%... :rofl:

 

[BrewStew]

it'll be over 5%... definitely

cheeky sod! :lol:

ever heard the acronym MALT? More Alcohol, Lower Temperature... and my mash was low, well, most of the time

 

[Woodside]

Regarding the boiler cut-off:

It's about 5 years since it happened, so my memory may not be perfect... but I think all you have to do is switch it off for a couple of minutes, then back on again. Hopefully it'll work again!

Mine had decided to pack up at midnight on a sunday. Luckily I had an old spare (squidgy plastic) boiler, so all was not lost!

 

[BrewStew]

gotcha :thumb:

i'm half tempted to ring brupaks and order a spare element and gubbins incase it packs up mid boil

 

[Woodside]

That's probably a good idea... the same thought has occured to me more than once. I've been lucky so far but there's always that nagging doubt in the back of my mind.

 

[BrewStew]

might be an idea... cos it'll only pack up on your when it's in use!

 

[BrewStew]

this is down to 1.018. just over 4%... poor attenuation but still got rising bubbles. will have another look tomorrow and see if anythings changed.

had a taster... this is the first time i've been disappointed with a brew

just goes to show... if it aint broke, dont fix it!.... so i'll be reverting back to my first version of this (the one in the AG guide) next time i brew it.

 

[BrewStew]

i think messing with the thick.. almost pancake like consistency yeast head covering the wort kicked things back off.

it's now down to 1.013 ish... which is 73% attenuation and 4.8% :party:

haven't had a taster yet since the last, but will when i rack it tomorrow if the hydrometer is the same as it is today :thumb:

 

[BrewStew]

kegged this last night... it hit 5% and was tasting a little thin so didn't want to leave it among the yeasties any longer.

lets see how it turns out with some maturation and carbonation :thumb: