Hopsteep Brewing

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Blimey, they are silly money. If I ever get one it'll be a second hand job

Much more sensible prices on the Pint356 ones (£150-250 'ish), which seem to be the weapon of choice of those that have them on here...

 

[user 18729]

Garden vineyard update

The Pinot Noir vines are coming on nicely in their second year!

I’m training the trunks this year ready for next year when I’ll be making my first batch of wine. Three of the vines have done really well this year so I allowed them to fruit

 

[user 18729]

Dark Imperial Saison 10.5% kindly sent by @samale

Aroma- surprisingly not jumping out of the glass, quite subtle, I was getting bready biscuity malt and my better half picked up Belgian aromas. Very nice

Appearance- ignore the photo, with the excitement I got carried away and the head was my fault! Well carbonated, with a dark brown head that laced the glass all the way down. Thick, and viscous during the pour.

Flavour- warm alcohol, tangy coffee (like a double espresso on the back of the palate, dry (the saison yeast has dried this out so it’s very very drinkable at 10%) and there’s loads of liquorice in there as well. Really interesting.

Overall- thoroughly enjoyable. I’ve never tried a dark saison before. I’d love to see the recipe! Thanks for sending

 

[samale]

This is the recipe
Mashing in an imperial Belgian stout. This is a variant of @Pennine spring stout which I have made before.
4kg Maris otter
1kg Munich
500g Cara malt
300g chocolate rye
200g chateau cafe light
300g special W
300g carafe 3
200g flaked barely

20g magnum@60 mins
30g Chinook@10mins
30g Chinook@ flameout

I have used T58 and wlp 530 previously. Both made a lovely stout but for this attempt I am using belle Saison yeast. Once fermentation starts I will slowly ramp from 20 up to 27 I am looking to get some of the spice and pepper in the finish.

 

[samale]

This is the feedback from the competition. It came 3rd which I am really happy with

Hi. Congratulations on an excellent Belgian Imperial Saison Stout and a well deserved 3rd place .
You gave the others a run for their money and it was certainly one of the standout beers.
Richard

Belgian Imperial Saison Stout

Aroma – 10/12

Banana and some spice coming through along with some dark fruit. Well balanced but perhaps a little bit subtle.

Appearance – 3/3

Nice and dark with a good initial head and head retention.

Flavour – 17/20

A well balanced blend of banana, malt sweetness and dark fruits. Roast malts and hops very subtle. Alcohol there but not overpowering.

Mouthfeel – 5/5

A fairly light body with good carbonation.

Overall Impression – 9/10

A very enjoyable beer that I would be very happy to pay for in a pub. However a very minor point but I’m not sure I would call it an Imperial Stout as it seemed a bit too light and refreshing.

Total – 44/50

Position 3rd/19

 

[user 18729]

Just added the dry hops to this batch. I threw this together the other day as something hoppy, hazy and sessionable that I can connect up to my friend's beer engine in a couple of weeks time. The unusual hop amounts are due to this being a user-upper beer to make some room in the hop freezer :hat:

Hazy American Pale Ale
20L Batch

Colour 10.4EBC
Est Abv 4.4%
32.8 IBU

Fermentables
Lager Malt 4000g / 69%
Munich I 600g / 10.3%
Flaked Oats 600g / 10.3%
Torrified Wheat 600g / 10.3%

Boil
60 mins
Topaz 2g / 4.4 IBUs
Whirlpool 80 degrees (20 mins)
Chinook 100g / 19.6nIBUs
Amarillo 62g / 8.8 IBUs

Dry Hop
Chinook 150g
Galaxy 100g

Yeast
Verdant (London Ale III)

Adjusted Water (RO filtered)
Ca 137ppm, Mg 12ppm, Na 8ppm, SO4 48ppm, Cl 245ppm and a mash PH of 5.3

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Just added the dry hops to this batch. I threw this together the other day as something hoppy, hazy and sessionable that I can connect up to my friend's beer engine in a couple of weeks time. The unusual hop amounts are due to this being a user-upper beer to make some room in the hop freezer :hat:

Hazy American Pale Ale
20L Batch

Colour 10.4EBC
Est Abv 4.4%
32.8 IBU

Fermentables
Lager Malt 4000g / 69%
Munich I 600g / 10.3%
Flaked Oats 600g / 10.3%
Torrified Wheat 600g / 10.3%

Boil
60 mins
Topaz 2g / 4.4 IBUs
Whirlpool 80 degrees (20 mins)
Chinook 100g / 19.6nIBUs
Amarillo 62g / 8.8 IBUs

Dry Hop
Chinook 150g
Galaxy 100g

Yeast
Verdant (London Ale III)

Adjusted Water (RO filtered)
Ca 137ppm, Mg 12ppm, Na 8ppm, SO4 48ppm, Cl 245ppm and a mash PH of 5.3

I used 10% torrified wheat and 10% Oats in my last NEIPA and it came out of the Kettle almost clear as a bell

 

[user 18729]

I used 10% torrified wheat and 10% Oats in my last NEIPA and it came out of the Kettle almost clear as a bell

Not sure how you managed that one! did you add kettle finings?

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Not sure how you managed that one! did you add kettle finings?

Ha ha, yes, of course I did

 

[user 18729]

Ha ha, yes, of course I did

Hmmmm, could be the kettle finings? Really strange, with all those protein heavy grains it should have been a haze monster

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Ive used the same ingredients, method and finings before and created a hazy beer

 

[samale]

Ive used the same ingredients, method and finings before and created a hazy beer

It's done a Hazelwood then

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

It's done a Hazelwood then

Ha ha, It looks that way, yes. But, you know what, if it still tastes good what the hell

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

It's done a Hazelwood then

I didn’t even look at it!

 

[user 18729]

Pressure transferred my pale ale off the dry hop and into a keg this morning. Cheeky sample from what was left in the tubing suggests this will be really nice. Came in at 4.2% so the hops really shine

 

[user 18729]

Garden Vineyard update- the vines that I allowed to fruit are loving this warm weather. Fingers crossed the stormy weather coming in tonight doesn’t do any damage

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Garden Vineyard update- the vines that I allowed to fruit are loving this warm weather. Fingers crossed the stormy weather coming in tonight doesn’t do any damage View attachment 51420View attachment 51421

They’re looking great Hoppy!

Everything crossed for you.

 

[user 18729]

No brewing for me this weekend, but I did find time to strip down the spears on a couple of my kegs and give them a good clean out

I’ve got some of my home grown hops left in the freezer from last year and a white labs vial of the gales strain in the fridge somewhere so I fancy brewing an ESB next…

 

[user 18729]

Vineyard update!

The Pinot Noir are weeks ahead of the rest of England, with most commercial vineyards still in Veraison (when the grapes change colour from green to black)

The two vines that I allowed to fruit have a good 8 or 9 bunches on them which are destined for an experimental demijohn batch of wine… speaking with a friend and winegrower down the road from me in Essex, he thinks harvest time will be early October this year.