Independance day was yesterday, actually, but I had been planning to do an American pale using Cascade so I thought one day late wouldn't matter. We may still feel agrieved on this side of the pond about the loss of a significant colony, but those colonials have certainly learned how to grow hops. I decided that since I'd use 4 kg of Maris Otter in 15l of wort that I may as well leave any crushed crystal, which I usually use, out. My target OG would still be a hefty 1062. So the recipe was the simplest I've ever done. The method would be BITS ie. brewing in two sheets. So that's BIAB but using a sheet and a cord with a slip knot, instead of a sewn up bag. The boiler is simply a 32 l stockpot and the hop filter is the second sheet of nylon curtain material.
This is my 7th BITS brew so I have learned a few tricks to improve matters since I did a "how to" guide with my AG#2.
The recipe.
4kg Maris Otter, mashed at 68C for 90 min. Mash out, stirring continuously to 75C.
60 minute boil.
15g Cascade (9.2%AAs) 60 min
20g Cascade 15 min + itsp irish moss.
40g Cascade after flameout with temp down to 90C
Gervin GV 12.
I hadn't really considered my yeast choice and could perhaps have gone for an American yeast, but, hopefully GV12 leaves little residual flavour and should allow the hops to shine through in a similar way to an American option.
The method is simple too. Use the hot tap for the bulk of the 20l of water. We have a combi boiler so it is heated straight from the mains. Our water seems good to use without any treatment. You could always add a campden tab to the 20l, if you wished.
With a few kettlefulls and a bit of heat from the stove I reached my strike temp of 70C in only 40 minutes from the start. That's my first trick!
I put my first sheet into the stockpot and secured it round with a luggage strap, being carefull to keep the sheet away from the heat.
After adding the grain and stirring I snuggled it up in a sleepin bag for 90mins. The temp fell further than I am used to, I must have left a gap. It reached 62C at the end.
Then heating and stirring to 75C. This seems to aid efficiency by releasing more sugars which might otherwise be trapped inside the grain husks.
I drained the grain by hoisting but not squeezing or jiggling to try capture as much break material as possible. I used a second pan to catch the last few hundred ml whilst I brought the whole lot to the boil.
Then adding the hops is pretty straight forward until the last addition. I had tried cooling the wort to 90C for my last couple of brews. The aim is to get less isomerisation of the AAs before fermentation since this is caused by heat. Another little trick I have tried this time is to put the flameout hops in a food processor and chop them to look like oregano! The idea is to release more flavour by increasing the surface area. The pungent aroma suggests I may be on to something here.
Her's a picture of the chopped hops.
And here they are after addition. After a few minutes they had sunk.
The weight of the drained hops seemed much lower than when I leave them whole, suggesting that I am wasting less wort through retention in the hops.
My OG has come out as a temperature corrected 1062 and my brew length is 250ml short at 14.75 l. I haven't bothered to liquor back.
Efficiency has come out as 77.5% which , for such a high OG brew, is very pleasing. The brew took just short of 6 hours but I did a bit of work for over an hour of that. The total working time doesn't amount to much, in fact.
I'm very pleased with the whole day. I will allow it to cool until morning before pitching and monitor the fermentation temperature.
This one may need a good few weeks to reach drinkability. Fortunately I have 7 previous brews to enjoy in tha mean time :
This is my 7th BITS brew so I have learned a few tricks to improve matters since I did a "how to" guide with my AG#2.
The recipe.
4kg Maris Otter, mashed at 68C for 90 min. Mash out, stirring continuously to 75C.
60 minute boil.
15g Cascade (9.2%AAs) 60 min
20g Cascade 15 min + itsp irish moss.
40g Cascade after flameout with temp down to 90C
Gervin GV 12.
I hadn't really considered my yeast choice and could perhaps have gone for an American yeast, but, hopefully GV12 leaves little residual flavour and should allow the hops to shine through in a similar way to an American option.
The method is simple too. Use the hot tap for the bulk of the 20l of water. We have a combi boiler so it is heated straight from the mains. Our water seems good to use without any treatment. You could always add a campden tab to the 20l, if you wished.
With a few kettlefulls and a bit of heat from the stove I reached my strike temp of 70C in only 40 minutes from the start. That's my first trick!
I put my first sheet into the stockpot and secured it round with a luggage strap, being carefull to keep the sheet away from the heat.
After adding the grain and stirring I snuggled it up in a sleepin bag for 90mins. The temp fell further than I am used to, I must have left a gap. It reached 62C at the end.
Then heating and stirring to 75C. This seems to aid efficiency by releasing more sugars which might otherwise be trapped inside the grain husks.
I drained the grain by hoisting but not squeezing or jiggling to try capture as much break material as possible. I used a second pan to catch the last few hundred ml whilst I brought the whole lot to the boil.
Then adding the hops is pretty straight forward until the last addition. I had tried cooling the wort to 90C for my last couple of brews. The aim is to get less isomerisation of the AAs before fermentation since this is caused by heat. Another little trick I have tried this time is to put the flameout hops in a food processor and chop them to look like oregano! The idea is to release more flavour by increasing the surface area. The pungent aroma suggests I may be on to something here.
Her's a picture of the chopped hops.
And here they are after addition. After a few minutes they had sunk.
The weight of the drained hops seemed much lower than when I leave them whole, suggesting that I am wasting less wort through retention in the hops.
My OG has come out as a temperature corrected 1062 and my brew length is 250ml short at 14.75 l. I haven't bothered to liquor back.
Efficiency has come out as 77.5% which , for such a high OG brew, is very pleasing. The brew took just short of 6 hours but I did a bit of work for over an hour of that. The total working time doesn't amount to much, in fact.
I'm very pleased with the whole day. I will allow it to cool until morning before pitching and monitor the fermentation temperature.
This one may need a good few weeks to reach drinkability. Fortunately I have 7 previous brews to enjoy in tha mean time :
