Leon103's brew days

[Hoddy]

Loving the innovation ideas and taking the Rosemary to the next level chaps.


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[DoctorMick]

Reading about Hoddy's brew got me thinking too, I'm thinking lemon thyme would work well in a pale ale, I just need to figure out the hops to complement it.

 

[Leon103]

Took a reading tonight and it's down to 1.012 after 12 days and done so just above 6%abv. Dried hop with 45g of simcoe until the weekend at 14c. The hop bag slipped out of my hand and sank to the bloody bottom.

 

[Spapro]

Just seen your rosemary/simcoe recipe Leon, looks v. interesting. May give it a try. Good luck with it.

 

[Leon103]

Just seen your rosemary/simcoe recipe Leon, looks v. interesting. May give it a try. Good luck with it.

It's a slight tweak of @hoddy recipe.

 

[Leon103]

Been a bit busy the last couple of days so haven't had a chance to report on Saturdays Black IPA brew day.


Here is the recipe. I may do a little hop tea with citra and cascade.

Good brewday not major issues, had a little boil over at the beginning of the boil, but had a bit extra wort from the dunk sparge to top back up.

Previously I have been hitting 70% efficiency but for a second brew in a row I overshot that target getting 80% on this brew. I have changed supplier and now using geterbrewed and their minch malt which maybe the factor. The result - a much stronger brew than planned.

After pulling my yeast starters out of the fridge in the morning they started to ferment again so I wasn't able to drain off much of the wort without losing yeast so I went over my 23l target. The yeast made a very quick start which is nice to see. This is sitting in my brew fridge at 19.5c. My whole garage smells of citrus fruit.

Here are a couple of photos of grain bill, first hops - which are a year or two old so lost some alpha's.

 

[Covrich]

Looks good to me must try a black ipa. Love the hop combo

 

[Leon103]

Looks good to me must try a black ipa. Love the hop combo

The smells in my garage are amazing. Just the smell of the yeast is making my mouth water.

 

[Covrich]

Did you buy that yeast or harvest it?

 

[Leon103]

Did you buy that yeast or harvest it?

Harvest from a bottle @dan125 sent me.

 

[dan125]

Harvest from a bottle @dan125 sent me.

Looks good mate - glad the yeast is still going. I think I might have to do a Vermont brew next now!

 

[IainM]

Looks great. I'll be happy to do a bottle swap in the new year for my recent BIPA if you're up for it.

 

[Leon103]

Looks great. I'll be happy to do a bottle swap in the new year for my recent BIPA if you're up for it.

Yeah. Once it's ready I will be more than happy to swap

 

[IainM]

Yeah. Once it's ready I will be more than happy to swap

Good! I ended up splitting it into four 5L batches and dry-hopping them four ways:
Herb: 20g Zeus, 10g Chinook, 10g Simcoe
Pine: 25g Simcoe, 15g Chinook
Citrus1: 20g Citra, 20g Ahtanum
Citrus2: 20g Centennial, 20g Amarillo

I had a cheeky test and the Zeus one is a bit odd, but the others are good, especially the Citra and Ahtanum.

 

[Leon103]

Kit all washed ready for tomorrow's brewday, can't believe its been nearly two months.

Change around in schedule due to yeast dates.

Brewing a English IPA, more or less based on GH's version.

Using the Fermentum yeast, Heathery Heights from @geterbrewed which is their version of Thames Valley 1275.

I split the vial into two 1l starters, both went off like a rocket. I plan to add one to another starter tonight which will be used tomorrow and the other will be left to ferment out and put back in vials for a porter.

 

[MyQul]

Kit all washed ready for tomorrow's brewday, can't believe its been nearly two months.

Change around in schedule due to yeast dates.

Brewing a English IPA, more or less based on GH's version.

Using the Fermentum yeast, Heathery Heights from @geterbrewed which is their version of Thames Valley 1275.

I split the vial into two 1l starters, both went off like a rocket. I plan to add one to another starter tonight which will be used tomorrow and the other will be left to ferment out and put back in vials for a porter.

You'll deffo have to report back on the heathery heights. :thumb:

I like the look of your reciepe. I'm making a Bitter next week which isnt a million miles away from your English IPA reciepe and will be using the Fullers strain for the first time

 

[Leon103]

You'll deffo have to report back on the heathery heights. :thumb:

I like the look of your reciepe. I'm making a Bitter next week which isnt a million miles away from your English IPA reciepe and will be using the Fullers strain for the first time

Its mostly the recipe from Greg Hughes' book to be fair.

SO far the yeast looks good. Kicked off really quickly and its got a huge white krausen on it. Nice smell going from it, slightly fruity. I will be doing a full report for geterbrewed seeing they gave it (and other yeasts) for free.

 

[Leon103]

45 minutes and still no sign of a rolling boil despite the temp reading over 100c

 

[MyQul]

Thats odd. What's your set up?

 

[Leon103]

Peco boiler. Minutes after posting it all kicked off, massive boil. Outside temperature is really cold so I put it down to that. It go going once wrapped in a towel. Next time I will keep my sleeping bag around it. Or get another element