matt76's Brewdays

[matt76]

Update: AG#20 Chequered Flag Black IPA

Bottled it this evening.....

FG = 1.012 or 1.013 (hard to see due to colour and hop bits!)

Bottling wand got blocked with hop bits for last few bottles (5 flip top ones only) so detached it and free poured from syphon tube - minor concerns about oxidation for these ones, so make sure to drink them first!

Oh, and as you might imagine I ended up squirting a bit of beer around the kitchen as a result!

10L in bottling bucket
2.1vols CO2
55g brown sugar boiled in 300ml water for 2mins

Yield = 20 x 500ml bottles
Waste = zero ml ! (No waste! Just had enough for 20 bottles)

Colour = Black (not convinced about the 25 SRM from Brewers Friend - I'd say it's a bit darker than that but it's meaningless anyway for such a dark beer!)
Aroma = Gentle new world hop aromas
Taste = Refreshing hoppiness meets satisfying malt complexity

ABV = 5.0%
SRM = 25.0
IBU = 52.73

Job jobbed!

 

[matt76]

AG#17 Marzen/San Miguel "Selecta"

( Since you were asking @pilgrimhudd )

Just tried another bottle of this. It's certainly drinkable but still not as carbonated as I'd like and head retention could be better. And I'm still getting chill haze.

The toastiness is certainly there which I'm pleased about. It's maybe a touch sweet for me - maybe more carbonation would help, or a different yeast to nibble away at another 2-4 gravity points.

Overall, as I've noted previously, I think it just needs longer in the bottle before I get properly stuck in - certainly my AG#7 Czech Pilsner seems to have improved in this regard. Plenty more beers in the fridge to drink in the meantime though!

 

[matt76]

Oh, and just to add on the subject of chill haze, I've also got a fridge full of Belgian Witbiers and American Wheat beers that are crystal clear - I literally cannot win!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

To me that looks great! Head retention looks good again? Obviously no idea of taste but it looks fab to me!

 

[matt76]

To me that looks great! Head retention looks good again? Obviously no idea of taste but it looks fab to me!

I'm up for a bottle swap if you are

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Why not! Not sure what you'd like of mine at the mo, the English ipa is good and I think is stronger than the 3.8% I have worked out if you want to try that?

 

[matt76]

Well I quite like beer. Do you have any beer?

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Well what I meant really was that my latest brews have been ****, so you've got English ipa or English ipa!

 

[matt76]

Update: AG#21 "Extra Viking" Baltic Porter

I've been swapping freezer blocks in the water bath at approx. 8hr intervals throughout fermentation - the water bath temp typically falls to 15-16degC shortly after adding fresh blocks (<30mins), rising gradually to 19-20degC over the next few hours.

I checked the gravity today, 10 days after pitching - it was 1.020-1.021, which is really encouraging (OG was 1.084, BF predicted FG = 1.019). Although very dark it seems to be otherwise very clear (though the colour makes it hard to read hydrometer!)

Also measured wort/beer temperature with sanitised thermometer, = 19degC (water bath about the same temp at the time)

The beer tastes great, thick and silky mouthfeel with a dark, rich raisin-ey taste. There's some hot alcohol taste but assume this will condition out - either that or just a consequence of being 8.4% ABV!

I'll leave it to have the full 2 weeks in the FV, maybe a little more, and then get it bottled to put away for the winter. I don't want to go mad talking too many gravity samples as there's a load of trub in the FV and I don't want to rob myself or that last half a bottle!

 

[matt76]

Update: I caved (again!) and I'm not even sorry!

(Both of these are actually a lot clearer in real life but for some reason look quite hazy in the photos)

AG#18 "Chocks Away" ESB

Mouthful is really good - substantial but not over the top. If i swill it around my mouth there's a hoppiness on the front, but swallow and there's a brief subtle esteriness followed by a roasty note. Just the right amount of esteriness from the yeast to keep things interesting. Then it's roasty - almost porter-esque, perhaps a little confused what it wants to be. This is a really good beer but challenging to the palette - certainly it's not a thirst quenching lawnmower beer, but then who said it was? Next time I would halve the brown malt to allow the hops to shine through more, adding a touch of chocolate malt to keep the colour the same if necessary.

AG#19 Chinook APA

Swilling it around my mouth, there's a lemonade citrus thing going on followed by the pine/resin notes I was aiming for. It's a pleasant taste, a bit like lager and lime but with added bitterness. The malt bill seems good and for sure the amber malt is certainly not intrusive. If I did it again I think I would right-shift the hops - aim for the same IBUs overall but add more later in the boil (or dry hop). On the other hand, I'd be interested to try the same malt bill with British hops and yeast, e.g. EKG/Fuggles + WY1318

 

[Rodcx500z]

Hi Matt, can I just say that i enjoy reading your brew days lots of info and tips, for me who is new to no chill ag brewing there is a lot to be learned ie yeast hops water temps and loads more, I don't know if there is a board on this forum for no chill brewers could be a good idea, happy brewing

 

[matt76]

Hi Matt, can I just say that i enjoy reading your brew days lots of info and tips, for me who is new to no chill ag brewing there is a lot to be learned ie yeast hops water temps and loads more, I don't know if there is a board on this forum for no chill brewers could be a good idea, happy brewing

You most certainly can young man. Thanks for your kind words

Just to be clear, I don't actually no chill, I use a home made wort chiller. (thoroughly recommended)

But for fermentation I don't have a brew fridge so I just do everything at room temp - I did a Czech Pilsner back in the winter when the ambient temperature was amenable, but as you probably saw I used a water bath for my recent Baltic porter.

Oh and by the way, at the moment it says "Landlord" next to my name which might give the impression I know what I'm talking about - I don't, I've been brewing only about 9 months now and still learning as I go. You have been warned!

 

[Rodcx500z]

I was thinking of making or buying a wort chiller, lately I have been thinking about the winter months and what to brew like lagers and german brews my shed gets very cold in winter, so yeah seasonal brewing I don't want loads of fancy tackle I just want to brew ferment stick it in a bottle or pb and enjoy it, 9 months that's about 7 more than me then enjoy the ride I am feck up's as well a wort chiller it is then last piece of equipment for me

 

[matt76]

AG#22 GH Cornish Tin Miner's Ale

It's been a few weeks since my last brew, so.....

With a few tweaks to the GH recipe to suit what i had in stock, namely the grain bill. Oh, and the hops. And also the yeast
1850g MO
200g FB
160g CaraMunich
100g Amber
75g CaraRed

8L tap water + 8L Tesco Ashbeck
3ml lactic acid, 2g gypsum, 2g CaCl, half a campden tablet

Mash 6L @ 65degC for 60mins, dunk sparge 10L @ 74degC for 10 mins
14.7L in the kettle, boil 60mins leaving 11.6L wort OG 1.050

10g Simcoe @ 11.7% 60mins
10g EKG @ 5.8% 10mins
10g EKG @ 5.8% 5mins
16g EKG @ 5.8% flameout

36 IBU's, lovely amber colour. Took about 10 mins to chill to 22degC.

Normally i just chuck the lot in the FV, but in another bid for clearer beer (especially trying to combat chill haze!) i let it settle for a while before syphoning the clear wort to the FV - this yielded a disappointing and paltry 8L

But i saved the hop and trub gunk in 2x2L bottles to let it settle out overnight - so far so good, i reckon that should net me at least another 1L clear wort, but we'll see.

Pitched Wyeast 1318 grown in a starter - i was pleased with it in my recent ESB so hoping for more success

 

[matt76]

Airlock bubbling merrily this morning. The 2x2L bottles of wort/gunk had settled out enough that I could add another 1.5L / 3 pints crystal clear wort to the FV.

This should bring the final yield closer to something acceptable.

There's still 2L of wort/gunk left so I'll leave that to settle out more, it might net me another 0.5-1.0L clear wort.

Normally I would get 20 x 500ml bottles from ~11.5L in the FV (including a load of trub).

If I can get 18 chill-haze-free bottles from this batch I'll call that a win

 

[foxbat]

If I can get 18 chill-haze-free bottles from this batch I'll call that a win

Have you thought about trying Crisp Clear Choice malt as a base malt in the future? Must be worth a try I'd have thought.

 

[matt76]

Have you thought about trying Crisp Clear Choice malt as a base malt in the future? Must be worth a try I'd have thought.

Thanks, I hadn't heard of that. I'm hoping this process tweak will do the trick but if not it's something else to consider.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Thanks, I hadn't heard of that. I'm hoping this process tweak will do the trick but if not it's something else to consider.

I used that on a few of my brews fairly recently, it did seem to make a slight difference. Although my brewing practices are so slapdash who knows?

I've been thinking about brewing this one for a while, being cornish I'd want to get it right!

 

[matt76]

I used that on a few of my brews fairly recently, it did seem to make a slight difference. Although my brewing practices are so slapdash who knows?

I've been thinking about brewing this one for a while, being cornish I'd want to get it right!

Absolutely! #jamfirst

I've had my eye on the recipe for ages and I would still like to brew it as per the book, I'm intrigued by the bramling cross hops (I think that's what he uses).

Truth be told this is a bit of a user upper again - certainly the hops, and fortuitously the original grain bill fitted some odds and sods I had left over.

As far as clarity goes it seems to be a lottery for me - as I've said before, it seems all my cloudy beers are clear and the clear ones end up cloudy!

 

[Rodcx500z]

Hi Matt, I have a bitter in secondary, bittered with target and bramling cross for aroma the sample jar was very tasty