James Morton - Brew

[Ian_68]

My TTP has been in the fermenter for 7 days now and the current SG is 1.009 already. OG was 1,056. I've moved it to a slightly warmer room to let the yeasties carry on working. I realise its far to early to judge my results but a cheeky taste seemed a little lacking in body, a bit thin. Tasted ok though, dry hops pending. This maybe because i missed my OG by about 6 points. I hit 1.050 so added 500g more sugar to increase to 1.056 OG. Hope i haven't ruined it; time will tell.Anyone have any experience of the same scenario?

PS. I decided to do an Undead PA and a Cal Com in time for Xmas :-)

Cheers

Ian

 

[Martybhoy]

I think the body will change once carbonated. I think my FG was near 1.007 when I done TTP, but I don't remember thinking it was thin. 1.009 should be fine body wise

 

[Slid]

My TTP has been in the fermenter for 7 days now and the current SG is 1.009 already. OG was 1,056. I've moved it to a slightly warmer room to let the yeasties carry on working. I realise its far to early to judge my results but a cheeky taste seemed a little lacking in body, a bit thin. Tasted ok though, dry hops pending. This maybe because i missed my OG by about 6 points. I hit 1.050 so added 500g more sugar to increase to 1.056 OG. Hope i haven't ruined it; time will tell.Anyone have any experience of the same scenario?

PS. I decided to do an Undead PA and a Cal Com in time for Xmas :-)

Cheers

Ian

US05 will usually attenuate to around 85%. So, without the sugar you are looking at a 5.7% ABV beer. 500g of sugar in 25L adds 1% point of ABV, so now you have 6.7%. Priming sugar adds about 0.2% ABV - a tad more, if you prime along the lines suggested by Jimmy Morton.

 

[Ian_68]

Great beers. Currently have the undead pale ale carbing in one keg and disproportionately hopped in another. This is my first attempt at undead but my second on Dispro hopped. The first one was brilliant, really good hop aroma.

The extra ipa was also superb, but the totally tropical didn’t work for but I am gonna have another go soon.

Next up will be oatmeal ipa, and maybe a larger and the mosquito red ale.

Will do the extra ipa again soon and have another go at totally tropical.

I think I could brew every week of the year just from this book!

Just trying the Undead Pale Ale after 3 weeks in the keg. Cracking malty base, really like it. The hops (Citra) are a little muted but come through a lot more as it warms up.

All in all another great recipe from James.

Marty, for the Undead PA, did you manage to get the US 2 Row pale malt? My online supplier doesn’t seem to stock it . If not, what did you use instead?
Cheers

 

[Martybhoy]

Hi Ian, I used Golden Promise Pale Ale Malt from the Malt Miller.

 

[Ian_68]

Hi Ian, I used Golden Promise Pale Ale Malt from the Malt Miller.

I’ll add it to my shopping list Marty.
Cheers

 

[MmmBeer]

I used a recipe from this book today for the first time, the Extra Extra Special Bitter. I enjoyed reading the book, and found the equipment build instructions interesting, but I have always been put off from following the recipes, due to the cost of the colossal quantities of hops used in them. After reading this thread, I became inspired to look at them again and decided to try the EESB. I scaled up the quantities from 20 to 23L and tweaked it in the Grainfather recipe builder to get as close as possible to the colour, gravity and bitterness in the recipe.

All went smoothly, got nearly 24L in the FV at 21°C and 1.062, calculated the efficiency to be 94%. It gave me the chance to christen my Inkbird BBQ thermometer from the recent giveaway. Will post tasting notes in a couple of months.

 

[Ian_68]

I used a recipe from this book today for the first time, the Extra Extra Special Bitter. I enjoyed reading the book, and found the equipment build instructions interesting, but I have always been put off from following the recipes, due to the cost of the colossal quantities of hops used in them. After reading this thread, I became inspired to look at them again and decided to try the EESB. I scaled up the quantities from 20 to 23L and tweaked it in the Grainfather recipe builder to get as close as possible to the colour, gravity and bitterness in the recipe.

All went smoothly, got nearly 24L in the FV at 21°C and 1.062, calculated the efficiency to be 94%. It gave me the chance to christen my Inkbird BBQ thermometer from the recent giveaway. Will post tasting notes in a couple of months.

I did the EESB a few months ago but will try again. All went well and at Pre bottling it tasted lovely. After bottling, about 50% of them had created what I think was diacetyl. Anyone had this issue post bottling? Am definitely going to do it again tho as I’ve just set up a corny keg so no more adding sugar post fermentation.
Cheers

 

[Ian_68]

Well i've kegged my TTP; force carbonating. Initial tastes are promising. ABV 6.6%

So, planning my Undead Pale Ale now. I've entered the ingredients into Beersmith 2 and noticed the IBU is off the scale - 101 IBUs and not the 48 IBU suggested in JM's Brew book. What's occurring? Can anyone explain this? My Citra AA is 14.7. Checked and double checked my entered amounts and just can't understand such a big gap.

Cheers

 

[xozzx]

Im currently sipping a Mosquito Amber ale from this book. Perfect balance of bitterness, malty and hops coming through. Kegged it about 4 weeks ago and have to say this is another top beer. Totally tropical is still a massive winner tho.... this will be going on again around mid November so it is still fresh at new year

 

[Martybhoy]

Well i've kegged my TTP; force carbonating. Initial tastes are promising. ABV 6.6%

So, planning my Undead Pale Ale now. I've entered the ingredients into Beersmith 2 and noticed the IBU is off the scale - 101 IBUs and not the 48 IBU suggested in JM's Brew book. What's occurring? Can anyone explain this? My Citra AA is 14.7. Checked and double checked my entered amounts and just can't understand such a big gap.

Cheers

I scaled that recipe but still got the 48 IBUs. Are your aroma steep or dry hop registering as adding any IBUs?

 

[Ian_68]

I scaled that recipe but still got the 48 IBUs. Are your aroma steep or dry hop registering as adding any IBUs?

Aroma steep (80g) is adding about 50 IBUs; dry hop zero

 

[Ian_68]

Aroma steep (80g) is adding about 50 IBUs; dry hop zero

Sorted, in Beersmith, go to
tools, options and then bitterness
Change the Steep/Whirlpool Util Factor to 0

My IBU for this is now 52. I realise if i follow the recipe it will all be good anyway, but i like to reflect correct values in BS2. OCD kicking in there hahaha

Cheers

 

[Martybhoy]

Glad you got it sorted.

Learning Beersmith is more difficult than learning to brew

 

[Ian_68]

I'm not really getting much citrus in my Undead Pale Ale. It's not overly hoppy, and I'd struggle to tell the hops were Citra in a blind test. It's really well balanced.

Tbh the totally tropical is incredible. The Citra really shine through in it. You'll love it.

Hmmmmm My TTP is nice light/crisp but not very citrusy. Wondering whether my dry hop part was efficient enough. Hop bag floated on top like an iceberg for three days hahaha

 

[Slid]

Hmmmmm My TTP is nice light/crisp but not very citrusy. Wondering whether my dry hop part was efficient enough. Hop bag floated on top like an iceberg for three days hahaha

I have a bag of marbles that I used for dry hopping. TBH it is a fair while since I did any dry hops, though.

The point is, though, that sterilised cutlery was the suggested submersion device of the "old hands" at this game.

I think you aim for 4/5 days of submerged hops to get the benefits. Submersion is especially important with a bag.

 

[Ian_68]

I have a bag of marbles that I used for dry hopping. TBH it is a fair while since I did any dry hops, though.

The point is, though, that sterilised cutlery was the suggested submersion device of the "old hands" at this game.

I think you aim for 4/5 days of submerged hops to get the benefits. Submersion is especially important with a bag.

Yeah. You’re right. Just poured a pint in time for the football lol. I can smell a light lemon odour coming of it. And tastes nice enough. Maybe it’s because I prefer hoppy beers. Not really used to pale ales. Nice n light to drink tho. I’ll dry hop a little longer next time and make sure I use some ballast
Cheers. (Come on Leeds UTD)

 

[Slid]

Yeah. You’re right. Just poured a pint in time for the football lol. I can smell a light lemon odour coming of it. And tastes nice enough. Maybe it’s because I prefer hoppy beers. Not really used to pale ales. Nice n light to drink tho. I’ll dry hop a little longer next time and make sure I use some ballast
Cheers. (Come on Leeds UTD)

Pretty sure you have not got the best out of the hops on that basis.

 

[Honk]

Useful thoughts above, as I have a totally tropical pale that I will be dry hopping when I return home tomorrow. I'm not planning to use a bag but leave pellets in 3 days then cold crash. Sample I took Thursday smelt good.

 

[Ian_68]

Pretty sure you have not got the best out of the hops on that basis.

Is it too late to dry hop again? It’s in the corny keg on gas. Was thinking of throwing in a sterilised hop bag with a small handful of hops.