IainM's brew day

[IainM]

Nice one! I've got a kolsch that is drinking nicely (in my opinion) or a Nelson Sauvin pale ale?

Great. PM me your details and I'll get one over to you.

 

[IainM]

Thanks for sorting that..yeah I'm so used to using a hop spider and bagging dry hops and getting zero transfer and easy clean up...I think the coconut may act as a great break filter..and being chunky shouldn't affect syphoning.

I just chucked them in in the end. They floated so didn't cause any hassle until most the wort had been drained. They did soften a bit though. Smell was amazing.

 

[Oneflewover]

I'll swap one if you want.

Drank the fisherman's stout last night. Very good indeed, well balanced, just the right level of carbonation. Wanted another when I had finished it. One to go on the brew list. Many thanks.

 

[IainM]

Drank the fisherman's stout last night. Very good indeed, well balanced, just the right level of carbonation. Wanted another when I had finished it. One to go on the brew list. Many thanks.

Cheers, glad you liked it.

 

[IainM]

Right, I haven't been very active on the forum lately, but I've certainly been brewing. Since the last update, the Coconut ShyPA has finisehd at 1.008, giving 5.3% abv. I bottled last night and got 46 bottles, mostly 500ml but a few 330ml too. Had a good litre left over which went down the hatch. I'm pretty stoked with this beer and can see what the fuss is about. Coconut is obvious and up front, but not overpowering, and the tropical hops are subtle in the background. I've also found a local homebrew club to join. Turned up and they were having a competition with the theme “citrus”, and by luck I happened to have brought the Zombie Dust clone with me, so put it in and came 3rd out of 21 entries! I also entered the Fisherman Stout into my first “proper” competition, the Manchester Mini Competition [http://www.manchesterhomebrewcompetition.co.uk/], and got third place in the stout category.

A couple of weeks ago I saw some overripe bananas heavily reduced in Tesco, so decided to do a banana wine, loosely based on a few recipes I saw online:

Banana wine, 9L
3.7kg over-ripe bananas, chopped into 3cm slices (skin on, but I did wash them first), boiled for 20 mins, then mash up a bit
2kg sugar for the last 5 mins of the boil
2 cans white wine enhancer, added after cooling, then
2 campden tablets, then wait 12 hours then
3tsp pectolase
1 4g packet of alpha amylase, then wait 12 hours and
Mangrove Jack SN9 yeast

I strained after a week, put into two DJs and topped up. The amylase and pectolase clearly worked well, as the glutinous banana gloop/gel had turned into something strainable. They're still bubbling away though not as fast as before. My understanding is that this wine will take a long time to mature, so I'll probably rack it a couple of times when finished and leave to batch condition for a year.

Then, today I put two brews on, both of which got much higher efficiency than I expected.

Ginger Ale, 23L
This is a proper beer with ginger in it, based on the Greg Hughes recipe, but with an extra kg of base malt, some vienna, and a different yeast.

60 min mash @ 65C:
1kg flaked maize
4kg lager malt
138g Vienna

60 minute boil:
Galaxy pellet, 13.1%AA: 15.5g @ 60 min, 9.5g @ 5 min and 25g at flameout
250g ginger @ 5 mins (weight after trimming)
0.5 protofloc @ 10 mins

2x CML Kolsch yeast, rehydrated, pitched and fermented at 18C

32L tap water was adjusted with 3 tbsp lactic acid (80%) to hit the mash pH due to the high alkinity here. I also added 2g table salt to get the sulfate:chloride ratio at about 0.5 for a malty profile:
Ca 116, Mg 4.7, Na 34.5, Cl 59, SO4 32, HCO 16.
20L was strike water, and the rest plus another 4L was for sparge.

I chucked a handful of oat husks into the mash to aid with the recirculation on the Bulldog Brewer, which worked well. That and the lactic acid adition worked almost too well. I got 23L at 1.061, so 85% brewhouse efficiency. Should end up around 6% abv. Trial jar tasted good. Ginger wasn't overpowering. Bit of a random brew this one so I'm keen to see how it pans out. At the same time as doing this one, I also did a stove-top BIAB:

Russian Imperial Stout, 15L
This was partly based on the last RIS I made, but also a bit of a user-upper of grains I had lying around.

90 min mash @ 61C
6.0kg MO
352g wheat
158g melanoidin
490g roasted barley
447g chocolate
220g flaked torrified oats
163g special w

60 min boil:
50g Warrior leaf 17.2%, 60 mins.
80g EKG pellet 6% 10 mins

5x packets of US-05, rehydrated, pitched and fermented at 18C

I added only 1tbsp lactic acid (80%) to the (26L) tap water this time, as the dark grain does the rest of the work to hit a good mash pH. I also added 2g table salt, again for a malty profile:
Ca 116, mg 4.7, na 41, cl 69, so4 32

Doughed in with 19L and sparged with 10.5L. Got an OG of 1.116! 73% brewhouse efficiency. This should finish just above 12% abv, so its going to be a big'un. I might be pushing my luck with US-05.


Now I need to plan my next few brews and get an order in. Hmmm.... decisions decisions. I'm open to suggestions.

 

[IainM]

Quick update on the wines. Just bottled the elderberry wine and the blackberry wine I put on last August, backsweetened with 100g and 90g sugar respectively. Just supping the leftovers now and I'm looking forward to tasting them again at Christmas time once they've had a bit more ageing in the bottle. The banana wine has almost finished, at 0.96, so I've racked that. That SN9 yeast is a beast. The mead is at 1.090 after 3.5 months, so it's dropped a fair bit but still has a long way to go. Cherry wine and peach wine from January were both racked too and, although still very green, taste promising, especially the peach.

 

[pms67]

5 x packets of yeast :shock:

 

[Clint]

Good job it's black....

 

[Ajhutch]

Nice looking RIS recipe, the melanoiden is a nice addition I think. I used Munich for about 15% of the grist in mine and I’m glad I did, a bit of sweet malt to go alongside the roast. I’m planning v2 already as well, even though I’ve barely started drinking v1! Of all the styles I didn’t expect to get hooked on, this is the one. I’m only going to go up to about 10% ABV though, plenty for me!

Oh and suggestions, nearly Saison season isn’t it?

 

[IainM]

5 x packets of yeast :shock:

Yup, 1.25 million cells per ml per ° plato. I'm not going to underpitch on a beer like this. Luckily I got most of them from a bloke who was leaving the country and gave me all his brewing stuff. Still no idea what I'm going to do with the BE-256 or the S-33.

 

[IainM]

Nice looking RIS recipe, the melanoiden is a nice addition I think. I used Munich for about 15% of the grist in mine and I’m glad I did, a bit of sweet malt to go alongside the roast. I’m planning v2 already as well, even though I’ve barely started drinking v1! Of all the styles I didn’t expect to get hooked on, this is the one. I’m only going to go up to about 10% ABV though, plenty for me!

Oh and suggestions, nearly Saison season isn’t it?

Cheers, I agree something sweet to cut through the bitterness is needed for a RIS. Saison is a good call. I've got some Wyeast French Saison I can culture up. I've also got some unusual grains to try, Amaranth and Kamut, so I might give one of those a go in a saison, perhaps an elderflower and amaranth saison.

 

[Zephyr259]

Speaking of odd grains, Basic Brewing Radio did an episode on adjuncts on the 8th of March (Link), I was expecting the usual stuff like flaked barley vs wheat vs corn etc but they expanded into weird stuff and those are some of the examples on the show. Not sure about Kamut but Amaranth was definitely on it. These grains gave unusual results which might be worth listening too as some were bad, but they were subbing in 20% of the grain bill with them.

 

[IainM]

Speaking of odd grains, Basic Brewing Radio did an episode on adjuncts on the 8th of March (Link), I was expecting the usual stuff like flaked barley vs wheat vs corn etc but they expanded into weird stuff and those are some of the examples on the show. Not sure about Kamut but Amaranth was definitely on it. These grains gave unusual results which might be worth listening too as some were bad, but they were subbing in 20% of the grain bill with them.

I'll give that a listen. Not a lot out there about Amaranth, and basically nothing about Kamut.

 

[IainM]

Right, the stout has finished at 1.030, which seems high but is still 75% attenuation. Trial jar is good, a powerful and thick RIS. The ginger beer has finished at 1.016. It smells a bit sulphury, but get past that and there is corn up front with subtle ginger in the background. Greg Hughes usually gets his recipes spot on, but this corn and ginger thing is a bit... weird. Perhaps subbing out the English yeast for Kolsch was a bad move. Let's see what happens with time, though at this point I'm not going to be brewing with maize again in a hurry. I'll get these bottled/kegged at some point this week, then I'll probably do a Black IPA and a Barley Wine the use up some ingredients before giving serious consideration to what the next half dozen brews will be.

 

[IainM]

Right, I put a couple of beers into fvs last week, mostly to use up various hops/yeast/grain I had, before planning the next few beers and putting a big order in. These were both last-minute spur-of-the-moment brews while the wife and kids were away.

Black IPA #4, 22.5L
I hadn't done a BIPA in a while, probably because version 3 didn't quite live up to the earlier ones. Nevertheless, I had some Midnight Wheat and a load of American hops, so I thought I'd give it a go.

60 minute mash @ 65C:
6kg Maris Otter
250g Midnight Wheat
100g Dark crystal
handful of oat husks

60 minute boil:
20g Admiral leaf 16.7% 60 mins
5g Admiral leaf 16.7% 40 mins (don't ask)
10g Nelson Sauvin pellet 11.9% 15 mins
10g Amarillo 7.9% pellet 15 mins
10g Nelson Sauvin pellet 11.9% 5 mins
10g Amarillo 7.9% pellet 5 mins
20g Centennial 9% pellet 5 mins
20g Nelson Sauvin pellet 11.9% flameout
30g Amarillo 7.9% pellet flamout
20g Centennial 9% pellet flameout
35g Centennial dry hop
30g Nelson Sauvin dry hop
100g Amarillo dry hop
2x MJ M44 West Coast IPA, pitched and kept at 18C
20L for mash and 15L for sparge, with 5g salt, 5g gypsum and 10ml 80% lactic acid to bring my hard water to a balanced profile: ca 155 mg 4.7 na 77 cl 124 so4 125.

I got 22.5L at 1.068 into the fv, so 77% efficiency. Trial jar was nice, should make a decent backdrop for the dry hop. Actually, that dry hop is looking a bit anemic. Might up to Nelson and Amarillo, perhaps put in some citra for good measure.


Belgian IPA, 21L
I had some Safbrew BE-256 given to me, so thought I'd put a Belgian IPA on to use that up, and chuck in some leftover curacao orange peel I've had for ages back from when I was still modding kits.

60 minute mash @ 63C:
2.9kg extra pale MO
2.1kg MO
150g caramalt
100g light crystal
handful of oat husks

60 minute boil:
20g Admiral leaf 16.7% 60 mins
10g Cascade pellet 5.1% 10 mins
10g Simcoe pellet 12% 10 mins
20g Cascade pellet 5.1% 5 mins
20g Simcoe pellet 12% 5 mins
30g dry Curacao orange peel 5 mins
20g Cascade pellet 5.1% flameout
20g Simcoe pellet 12% flameout
50g Simcoe dry hop
50g Nelson Sauvin dry hop
50g Amarillo dry hop
BE-256 yeast, two packets
21L for doughing in, 14L sparge, all treated with 5g salt, 5g gypsum and 15ml 80% lactic acid.

I got 21L into the fv at 1.060. Again, trail jar was decent. Again, the dry hop is looking a little small. I might double up on the Simcoe. Love that stuff.

 

[Zephyr259]

They sounds very tasty but I do like the idea of 150g and 165g dry hops being small. I've not dry hopped a beer yet and brew slightly smaller batches but my last 2 brews had 30g and 15g of hops total. Been tempted to experiment with a Belgian IPA, as Achoufle Houblon was surprisingly nice.

 

[IainM]

They sounds very tasty but I do like the idea of 150g and 165g dry hops being small. I've not dry hopped a beer yet and brew slightly smaller batches but my last 2 brews had 30g and 15g of hops total. Been tempted to experiment with a Belgian IPA, as Achoufle Houblon was surprisingly nice.

I'm a glutton for highly dry hopped IPAs. I tried a commercial once on Friday that used 25g... per litre.

 

[Zephyr259]

Woah, 575g per 23L batch... That's basically half the hops I've ever bought, and about equal to my current hop usage to date since starting brewing nearly 2 years ago. One benefit to having <30g hops in the boil is that the Grainfather pump has no issues at all.

 

[IainM]

Right, the Belgian IPA is down to 1.008 to give ~6.8% abv, but has very little Belgian character in the trial jar. A bit disappointing. I wanted the character to be restrained to give a bit of leeway to the hops, so fermented low (18C) with a high pitching rate (23g), and it seems I overdid it and almost completely lost it. Looks like I'll just have to settle for a dry IPA then. Ah well, every day is a school day. I just added the dry hops, and upped the Simcoe to 70g. The Black IPA, on the other hand, is spot on and finished at 1.016, giving 5.8%. Weighed the centennial and had 6g less than I thought, but I chucked 19g citra in there to make up for it.

In other news the Munich Dunkle nabbed 2nd place in last nights club competition, which was nice.

 

[IainM]

Chevallier bitter got the gold in the Strong Bitter category of HBC #1 The English Sessions. Nice.