Leon103's brew days

[Leon103]

Got another brew on today, another NEIPA as per recipe below.
Was supposed to be only 1.2kg of oats but wasn't reading the recipe when brewing, rookie mistake. That and slightly shooting over my figures means I have a slightly stronger beer than planned.
I am consistently hitting higher numbers with my kit now and its making brew day so much easier, that and the Inkbird IBBQ 6X. I won this with one of their competitions and it is excellent, especially as I have a lot of distractions on my brew days - kids or swmbo and this lets me get on with other jobs whilst brewing.
It Bluetooth's to my phone and the alarm goes off if the temperature changes so excellent for the mash and getting to whirlpool temp - 72c for today's brew. With 6 probes it means I can monitor mash and HLT at the same time.
A pretty seamless brew but my brewing bag is finally giving up. I could repair but I think I will buy a new one. Any suggestions for a place to buy - must fit a PECO 30l boiler.

Didn't take many photo's - blame the kids but attached is the porridge looking mash which reminded me of my breakfast and the only hops of the day. 100g for the whirlpool. The Azacca outshone the Vic Secret.

I have purposely edited out my water additions as people in the past have PM'd me asking about this and I am no expert and only know what my water needs via taste for this type of beer. Also yeast was reused from my last NEIPA, the starter was off like a rocket so with close to 25l in the fermenter I have installed a blowoff.
Thanks for reading,-

 

[Leon103]

Just realised this is only 6 weeks in the bottle, thought it was more. Been drinking it for past few weeks and last week I thought it was spot on but tonight not so. Will give it another few weeks to do it stuff but it is meant to be drank young.

 

[Leon103]

Another brewday today and something I haven't brewed before, I hope it's a sour.
I won a online comp with @Get_Er_Brewed and imperial yeast and got a few packs to try. First up is the sour patch kids which as been discussed in the mixed fermentation thread.
Basic recipe blow, mashing in at 64c.

Tried my new brew bag and false bottom today and both worked a treat. Using the false bottom meant I had to increase the mash water volume but I forgot that I was mashing in less grain. I usually aim for about 80c when I start mashing to get a 68c mash temp. Today I was aiming for 64c. The less grain/more water meant it didn't cool as planned so I added cool water, right to the top of the peco boiler - so like a full mash. I did a small dunk sparge. I hit my numbers and managed 24l in the FV. I threw away about 5l from the peco and left overs from the dunk sparge. I must invest in a bigger fermenter. Any suggestions?

 

[Leon103]

Forgot to update this with my last brew.

A different one this time - a TC Cider. I have made a few over the years and they always go down well in the sunny months and they store well.

This one had 10l of Aldi Apple Juice, 6l of Aldi Cranberry Juice and a 1l of strong tea. Fermented with Youngs Cider yeast.

I have primed in the past with that Polish syrup but will use plain sugar this time.

Been 13 days in the fermenter so need to take a reading and think about bottling.

 

[Leon103]

Another brewday today and something I haven't brewed before, I hope it's a sour.
I won a online comp with @Get_Er_Brewed and imperial yeast and got a few packs to try. First up is the sour patch kids which as been discussed in the mixed fermentation thread.
Basic recipe blow, mashing in at 64c.

Tried my new brew bag and false bottom today and both worked a treat. Using the false bottom meant I had to increase the mash water volume but I forgot that I was mashing in less grain. I usually aim for about 80c when I start mashing to get a 68c mash temp. Today I was aiming for 64c. The less grain/more water meant it didn't cool as planned so I added cool water, right to the top of the peco boiler - so like a full mash. I did a small dunk sparge. I hit my numbers and managed 24l in the FV. I threw away about 5l from the peco and left overs from the dunk sparge. I must invest in a bigger fermenter. Any suggestions?

This has been in the FV for 5 weeks now and is smelly lovely. Had a little taste and really impressed. It got down to 1.006, was expecting slightly lower but that's 4.4% before priming. Will leave it in the primary until the end of summer.

 

[Leon103]

Another brewday/evening tonight. Due to the weather I had to brew in the garage.

Tonight's brew was a Black IPA using Kviek (Voss) yeast and Penderyn Whisky barrel chunks.

Nice straight forward brew. This is the second time I have gone with a more fuller mash and not experiencing any efficiency issues, I actually hit 78% which is decent. It makes a less fussy and easier brew day - I don't need to bring my HLT boiler out and just heat some sparge water on the hob. I mashed at 65c as per my first attempt at a Black IPA. Both Kveik and whisky chunks are both new to me so I will be interested to see how this turns out. For the oak I soaked in boiling water for 15 minutes and the smell was amazing. Ended up using just 250g of it in the end.

Yeast pitched at 30c with my fridge set at 35c. I hope it reaches that tempt (it did last summer). Currently sat at 31.5c.

 

[dan125]

250g sounds like a lot (although I've no idea if it actually is) - did you put it in at yeast pitching time?

 

[Leon103]

250g sounds like a lot (although I've no idea if it actually is) - did you put it in at yeast pitching time?

Yeah more than I had planned but found it hard to cut into smaller pieces and most if the small pieces have been sold on. It went in a muslin sock at pitching time

 

[BeerCat]

Very interesting read Leon. There is a recipe on the MM for a RIS which includes 500g of oak chips. I thought that sounded like a lot as i have turned my beer undrinkable before with only a very small amount of oak dust. 10g per 5l. If your looking for fv's i use the 33l white buckets MM and HBC sell. Good tight seal and sturdy and cheap. Your BIPA recipe looks awesome.

 

[Leon103]

Very interesting read Leon. There is a recipe on the MM for a RIS which includes 500g of oak chips. I thought that sounded like a lot as i have turned my beer undrinkable before with only a very small amount of oak dust. 10g per 5l. If your looking for fv's i use the 33l white buckets MM and HBC sell. Good tight seal and sturdy and cheap. Your BIPA recipe looks awesome.

Thanks.
I am going to give it a few days and have a taste.
Will have a look at those fv's, cheers

 

[AlDaviz]

Hey
I’ve been using the bourbon, rum chunks from malt miller
After first use I put then in a container with more rum, glenfarclas whisky and also a sherry for around 6 months (a half bottle 350ml) before use I boiled these for 5 mins to sterilise and have added them too a stout and a red Ale into a secondary ferm with the 350ml of liquor. only 2x weeks max needed and cold crashed at the time. Good results

 

[Leon103]

Hey
I’ve been using the bourbon, rum chunks from malt miller
After first use I put then in a container with more rum, glenfarclas whisky and also a sherry for around 6 months (a half bottle 350ml) before use I boiled these for 5 mins to sterilise and have added them too a stout and a red Ale into a secondary ferm with the 350ml of liquor. only 2x weeks max needed and cold crashed at the time. Good results

This is my first time and as the barrels were fresh I decided against soaking them further

 

[AlDaviz]

I think with being fresh you will have more of the oak coming through ! Over the whisky
What I have discussed with other brewers is if your looking for the whisky sherry rum taste to the beers, don’t be afraid to add the whisky rum or sherry

 

[Leon103]

I think with being fresh you will have more of the oak coming through ! Over the whisky
What I have discussed with other brewers is if your looking for the whisky sherry rum taste to the beers, don’t be afraid to add the whisky rum or sherry

If I was brewing a stout/RIS/Porter I would have.
Luckily I have plenty of wood to use.

 

[Leon103]

Another brewday today and something I haven't brewed before, I hope it's a sour.
I won a online comp with @Get_Er_Brewed and imperial yeast and got a few packs to try. First up is the sour patch kids which as been discussed in the mixed fermentation thread.
Basic recipe blow, mashing in at 64c.

Tried my new brew bag and false bottom today and both worked a treat. Using the false bottom meant I had to increase the mash water volume but I forgot that I was mashing in less grain. I usually aim for about 80c when I start mashing to get a 68c mash temp. Today I was aiming for 64c. The less grain/more water meant it didn't cool as planned so I added cool water, right to the top of the peco boiler - so like a full mash. I did a small dunk sparge. I hit my numbers and managed 24l in the FV. I threw away about 5l from the peco and left overs from the dunk sparge. I must invest in a bigger fermenter. Any suggestions?

So a few updates today.

First off this is 7 weeks in the FV now. Sat in the garage which is nice and warm this time of year. It as a white pellicle type creature sat on top and smelling pretty funky. I guess this is normal?

 

[Leon103]

Another brewday/evening tonight. Due to the weather I had to brew in the garage.

Tonight's brew was a Black IPA using Kviek (Voss) yeast and Penderyn Whisky barrel chunks.

Nice straight forward brew. This is the second time I have gone with a more fuller mash and not experiencing any efficiency issues, I actually hit 78% which is decent. It makes a less fussy and easier brew day - I don't need to bring my HLT boiler out and just heat some sparge water on the hob. I mashed at 65c as per my first attempt at a Black IPA. Both Kveik and whisky chunks are both new to me so I will be interested to see how this turns out. For the oak I soaked in boiling water for 15 minutes and the smell was amazing. Ended up using just 250g of it in the end.

Yeast pitched at 30c with my fridge set at 35c. I hope it reaches that tempt (it did last summer). Currently sat at 31.5c.

So 2 weeks in and this was bottled tonight. Lost about 5l to trub, hops and the wood which isn't bad really. Didn't taste as hoppy as expected but getting something different, maybe the yeast, maybe the wood. 42 bottles carbing up.

 

[Leon103]

To round up a busy day I brewed a Pilsner - now called Blue Tit Pilsner in homage to the blue tit that died right next the boiler, I hope it wasn't the brew.

I was trying imperial harvest yeast for the first time, another prize for @Get_Er_Brewed and using up some hops in the freezing.

A nice straight forward brew evening with little interaction, although with bottling at the same time I forgot the flame out hops so made a hop tea and threw them in whilst the wort was chilling. Yeast is in now at 12c. I expect this to go for about 3 weeks before I chill etc.

One thing I did notice is when cleaning a lump of clearish jelly material came out of the boiler, most likely protein???

 

[Hoddy]

So a few updates today.

First off this is 7 weeks in the FV now. Sat in the garage which is nice and warm this time of year. It as a white pellicle type creature sat on top and smelling pretty funky. I guess this is normal?

This will be quality. Patience is the key here. Let her grow and then bottle it up when 12 months are up. Lush.

 

[Leon103]

This will be quality. Patience is the key here. Let her grow and then bottle it up when 12 months are up. Lush.

Not sure I can wait 12 months but will try my best

 

[Leon103]

I have been really surprised by the Imperial yeast.

The starter I made went off like a rocket. For a 23l batch you need two pouches. My pouch was over 100 days old because of other beers on the go. I made a 3l starter to get over 400 million cells.
I checked the fridge this morning and yeast had got off to a flier.