Leon103's brew days

[Leon103]

Next up was a version of @dave_77 BIPL - That's a black west coast lager in new money. This is currently fermenting away at 10c. What it will turn out is anyone's guess.

Some major issues here. The two types of munich grains went in and then I started weighing up the pilsen malt, usually my bowl takes about 1kg of grain but it was full at around 700g, I thought it was odd but added the 5kg, eventually. Once done I thought my pilsen sack was more empty than it should be, I checked my inventory and yes, over 4kg out - ok, I have some spillages and a few grams go in that don't get counted but that was a massive loss. Pre-boil reading was 1.06 instead of 1.042 - ok we are in trouble here. Carafa 3 was added at mash out. After mashing I run a hose from the pump to pour the wort over and through the grains - but this stime I stupidly turned the pump off whilst the tube was submerged and it drew in a lot of wort and grain - pump blocked, didn't make how much I sucked or blew, it was stuck.

I let the brew run its course, adding some extra boil hops to brew the IBU up, knowing that I would be diluting at the end. OG taken and it was 1.08 with 25l left in the fermenter. The attached picture shows what I was aiming for, I had to add 12l to the fermenter to get it to a suitable OG of 1.054. 29.5l in the fermenter is most likely the most I have had in there. Luckily I have enough yeast and hops for the dry hop. My main worry is the colour will be lighter.

At least the transfer was easy. Somehow, during the boil the pump unblocked and I was able to whirlpool and transfer. The transfer was in record time due to the removal of the filter - see I do learn some lessons.

I think I really need to evaluate how I run these brew days, I tend to multi task which means cutting corners or not paying attention. One thing I need is a better scales, I will also be going back to pre-weighing the grains before brewday.

Time for a beer

 

[Leon103]

Last Friday I brewed another version of my house pilsner.

Trying out the Móst hops which the packet give strawberry and tropical fruit flavours, intensity is 6 is mild flavours. A nice and easy brew day. The plan and hope is a sessionable 4% lager for the summer months. This will be fermented at 10c for 3 weeks. It will have 2 weeks lagering on yeast before transferring to keg for further lagering (minus some bottles that I will take on holidays). The plan afterwards is to brew a cold IPA reusing the yeast which will lager whilst I am away for 3 weeks.

 

[Leon103]

With my saison keg kicking, one of the Black WC lager kicking and DIPA on its last legs, I decided to change around my brewing schedule. The above pilsner will be kegged earlier than planned and lagered in a keg off the yesterday, with the Cold IPA being moved forward to allow it to come right in time for my two holidays coming up.

I had water and grain ready for Wednesday but woke up feeling rough so postponed until this morning. I am glad I did, 12p a KW for electric today, a much cheaper brew day.

A pretty straight forward brew day, all done by 12noon, including kegging the Pilsner. Efficiency was higher than normal but so was volume, so all balanced out. This went straight onto the yeast cake from the Pilsner and I have started it off at 12c. I hope to keep it there for a week before raising the temp to finish off and prepare for dry hop. As you can see, this is a NZ Cold IPA.

 

[Leon103]

Latest brew is fermenting well, if not completely fermented. Brewed last week was a saison, slight changes to my previous recipes with a new yeast.

I have big plans for this one. 10 litres will be transferred to a keg with a Brett yeast added. This will sit for 3 months doing its thing and then I will taste and bottle. I will leave some dregs so I can add to it over time. Mostly like a Belgian pale added to it next.

The reminder of the saison will be kegged and bottled. You will not the hop leaf was used, totally blocked the pump which gave me a good excuse to strip and clean it

This will be all done by the weekend and next week its a pilsner brew day.

 

[Leon103]

Busy couple of days in the brewery. Last night I packaged the saison. 10l went into a keg with the Brett Yeast (below). I bottled 5l and then kegged the remaining 6l amd forced carbed ready for the weekend.

I then prepped the water and grain for today's brew. More on that later.

 

[Leon103]

Today's brew day was a pilsner.

Changed things up today with a docoction mash thrown in. For this I mashed at full volume 36l setting the temp to 50c for 20 minutes. I then removed 10l of the mash and boiled for 10 mins. This was added to the original mash to bring the temp up to 65c. Well that was the plan, it didn't hit 65c so had to heat it up, only for it to go way past 65c and then I had to cool again. After a 60 min mash I took another 10l and did another 10l boil. Again, this was re-added to the mash for a mash out at 75c.

All went well despite adding wheat instead of carapils. I was again well over my desired volume but at least in keeping with my efficiency. Does anyone know how to correct add docoction mash's to BeerSmith3?

@Hazelwood Brewery I will let you know when its ready to swap.

 

[Caramel Ox]

I’ve done a couple of Hana batches and been surprised by how much flavour comes through. Have you compared it with other lager malts?

 

[Leon103]

I’ve done a couple of Hana batches and been surprised by how much flavour comes through. Have you compared it with other lager malts?

Yes. I really like it. Shame it's not easily available,.down to my last 25kg sack. I used it in my lager than life entry that scored 43.

 

[Leon103]

My bretted saison as been in the keg fermenting for just over 7 weeks so tonight I gave it a little try.

First pull brought up a bit of mould/disturbed yeast but luckily that had gone on the second pull. First impression was that it had a slight aftertaste of vinegar but that disappeared. Decent Brett flavour and aroma already. Will leave for another few months before trying again .

 

[Leon103]

Perhaps left it a bit late but time for a Xmas stout. Gone with a dry Irish stout.

Nice easy brew day, about 4 hours in total, aided by the cold weather which brought chill time right down. Well over on my numbers getting just over an extra 4l. I had opened to serve this on Nitro but the wife is dead against another brewing item taking up the utility.