Martin's Brewday

[MartinHaworth]

Ah! I have neglected this thread....so much brewing has gone on! Norwich Amateur Brewers beat Beer Boars in a brew off, with my hefeweizen doing well. A couple of Northern Browns have come and gone. A quick Citra SMaSH didn't touch the sides.

So I've had 2 packets of MJ M21 Belgium Wit sat in the fridge for too long, and 20g each of sweet/bitter dried orange peel in my stores. Time for a Belgium Wit, along the lines of Blue Moon.

Recipe here: Blue Moon Clone - All Grain Witbier Homebrew Beer Recipe - Brewer's Friend

In summary the brew day went very well yesterday, 2:1 CHloride forward.

Post mash/presparge: 21L at 1045 68% eff
Pre boil / post sparge: 29L at 1039. 81% eff
Post boil: 26L at 1044 83% eff
Fermenter: 24L at 1044 76% eff

All in all, a very easy beer to brew - hop losses were negligible on this beer.

As I understand it, M21 has a reputation for stalling c1020, it will be interesting to see if this happens.

In a recent meeting with Adnams lead brewer, he recommended to us regularly rousing up the yeast through the fermentation - I may try that with this beer after (say) the first 3 days.

CHeers

MArtin

 

[MartinHaworth]

M21.

So,, after 24 hrs 1024. After 48 hrs 1017. 72 hrs 1017.

This is 5 points too high, so I gave it a good rouse, and upped the temp to 24C.

 

[MartinHaworth]

M21.

So,, after 24 hrs 1024. After 48 hrs 1017. 72 hrs 1017.

This is 5 points too high, so I gave it a good rouse, and upped the temp to 24C.

 

[Dutto]

M21.

So,, after 24 hrs 1024. After 48 hrs 1017. 72 hrs 1017.

This is 5 points too high, so I gave it a good rouse, and upped the temp to 24C.

May I ask "What's the rush?"

For me, brewing is a leisurely affair when making it, storing it and drinking it, so I usually leave wort in the FV for a minimum of two weeks.

The maximum has been about three months. I broke my leg back in April last year (it's still "mending") which has put the brake on brewing; but I eventually transferred the Lager to a King Keg around August and it's still okay, well over 4 months later.

Enjoy!

 

[MartinHaworth]

May I ask "What's the rush?"

For me, brewing is a leisurely affair when making it, storing it and drinking it, so I usually leave wort in the FV for a minimum of two weeks.

The maximum has been about three months. I broke my leg back in April last year (it's still "mending") which has put the brake on brewing; but I eventually transferred the Lager to a King Keg around August and it's still okay, well over 4 months later.

Enjoy!

Thanks Dutto,

I agree with you!

What I am trying to do (and should have said) is manage the yeast effectively.

A number of club members have had stalled fermentations with M21. I suspect that this may be linked to not managing the free rise effectively - that is to say that the wort may heat itself up during the initial vigorous exothermic fermentation phase, and then drop back in temperature as fermentation tapers. This despite the best efforts of brewers/inkbirds etc.

Hence my close husbandry of the gravity and temperature.

THat must have been a bad break - but as we age we heal so much slower.

Best wishes

MArtin

 

[MartinHaworth]

Well, after 2 weeks the Belgium wit dropped well and promises to be a lovely beer. 19L kegged + 4 litres in coopers pet. The trial jar was lovely.

So, on to a Christmas beer! A belgium strong golden ale. Recipe here: Belgium Strong Golden Ale | No Profile Selected All Grain Beer Recipe at Brewer's Friend

There is a kilo of sugar, but I will add that in the form of a cooled saturated solution on the fourth day - effectively using the wort as a big starter. A number of our Norwich Aatemur Brewers have used this approach of 'feeding' a big beer successfully.

Water Treatment
1.5:1 sulphate forward.
H2SO4 1.3ml/L
HCl 0.7ml/L
25L mash water alkalinity 30

Sulphate 150, Chloride 100

Mash
90 minute mash
Mash pH at 20C after 10 minutes of mash just over 5.3.
Towards the end of the 90min mash gravity 1061 giving 89% conversion eff.
Pre boil (post sparge) 29L at 1049. 83% efficiency

Boil
90 minute boil

In the fermenter I got 20L at 1060. I left behind quite a lot in the boiler, as I chose to only go for the very brightest wort.

Overall brewhouse efficiency 70%.

Yeast
Wyeast 1388 Belgium Golden Ale. In the brew fridge at 19C


Plan to bottle in 330ml glass bottles for a long conditioning.

Cheers

Martin

 

[MartinHaworth]

OK, in 60 hours the wort has gone from 1060 to 1038. I will leave it another day before adding the sugar solution.

 

[Dutto]

............

Plan to bottle in 330ml glass bottles for a long conditioning.

.....

Hmmm!

I moved to 500ml bottles, then 650ml bottles, then 5 litre kegs and now use 25 and 10 litre CO2 pressurised kegs.

It wasn't just the filling of the 330ml bottles that got me down it was the emptying of them - they just didn't seem to last any time at all. Ditto the larger bottles and even the 5 litre mini-kegs!

I know I can get thirsty when I'm fit (especially in the summer!) but the sheer clat of 330ml bottles put me off within one brew! Sorry.

 

[MartinHaworth]

Hmmm!

I moved to 500ml bottles, then 650ml bottles, then 5 litre kegs and now use 25 and 10 litre CO2 pressurised kegs.

It wasn't just the filling of the 330ml bottles that got me down it was the emptying of them - they just didn't seem to last any time at all. Ditto the larger bottles and even the 5 litre mini-kegs!

I know I can get thirsty when I'm fit (especially in the summer!) but the sheer clat of 330ml bottles put me off within one brew! Sorry.

Thanks - bottles are a complete pain.

This brew will be going into the Norwich Brewers 2021 Beer Advent Calendar, it will be quite pokey at c9%, and it needs a good bit of age on it. I've never aged a beer in a corney - maybe that's something to try.

Cheers

Martin

 

[MartinHaworth]

Belgium golden strong update
16/1 brew day. Pitched yeast into wort 1060
20/1 gravity had dropped to 1020, so I added 1kg of table sugar in solution bumping the gravity up to 1040
22/1 gravity dropped to 1020 already.

Interestingly, the yeast-on-sugar has produced a much more pronounced belgium character than the yeast-on-wort.

Will leave for alone and not even look for another week prior to crash and package.

Cheers

MArtin

 

[MartinHaworth]

I've been lurking more than posting on here for the last couple of months, but I remain grateful to THBF for all the lovely stuff I read on here.

Since I last posted here I've had a busy brewing schedule.

Niche Solutions kindly gave our Norwich Amateur Brewers club a brick of their Fermo Sour - interesting as it contains lactate dehydrogenase as well as alcohol dehydrogenase, meaning that it ferments AND sours.

The process is that you add the fermo sour into the fermenter and monitor pH, adding a second yeast at a chosen sour point. This represents a much simpler process than kettle souring

I have made a Lichtenheiner (smoky and sour), with other club members pursuing other sour interests.

Next, Adnams have very kindly agreed to a 'Tally Ho Challenge' - with Norwich Amateur Brewers attempting clones of the classic beer, to be judged by the Adnams brewing team. We were given generous amounts of Adnams own yeast for the challenge. I will be bottling mine this week.

I had a go at my first ever NEIPA and attempted closed transfer. I enjoyed the beer, and it worked, but at 4% it wasn't really a NEIPA.

Brewing plans? I fancy doing some lagers.

Cheers

Martin

 

[MartinHaworth]

Norwich Amateur Brewers were hosted by Adnams yesterday, judging our efforts at brewing their 'Tally Ho' barley wine. Fergus and Dan were very generous with time, expertise and beer.

We were fortunate to come away with lots of lovely yeast and hops - you can see me 'milking' their huge yeast tank!

So today I will be brewing a Golden Ale using the yeast and hops that were kindly given - centennial, mosaic, citra.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1228038/straight-outta-southwold

 

[foxbat]

Oh wow, Adnams allow you to take a yeast sample with you? I should have popped in for the tour when I was in Southwold last month.

 

[MartinHaworth]

Oh wow, Adnams allow you to take a yeast sample with you? I should have popped in for the tour when I was in Southwold last month.

The Sole Bay Brewery is lush, and there are some lovely limited edition beers to be had nearby. The house yeast is a mixed strain, and distorts quickly at our homebrew scale. Very fruity, lots of ester profile that needs good temperature control to limit.

As I understand it, some of the beers are bottle conditioned - but whether this would give the mixed strain in the right proportions is questionable.

The fresh brewery yeast is a real beast, attacking the wort like a missile.