I thought we were going to have to send out a search party Matt, no posts on the thread for 11 days! 
matt76's Brewdays
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What happens in Vegas, stays in VegasI thought we were going to have to send out a search party Matt, no posts on the thread for 11 days!
Been away on a work conference
, glad to be back 
First Tasting: AG#26 Bloody Head Stout
Colour = Dark brown to black with red highlights
Aroma = Not much but I get a bit of chocolate
Taste = As noted before there is a subtle hoppiness there but it's very subtle. There's a little bit of roast but it seems quite mellow and nicely balanced. I'll be interested to try it alongside my less hoppy Oatmeal Stout and my more hoppy Back IPA. Overall very pleased with this one.
Colour = Dark brown to black with red highlights
Aroma = Not much but I get a bit of chocolate
Taste = As noted before there is a subtle hoppiness there but it's very subtle. There's a little bit of roast but it seems quite mellow and nicely balanced. I'll be interested to try it alongside my less hoppy Oatmeal Stout and my more hoppy Back IPA. Overall very pleased with this one.
First Tasting: AG#29 "Flat Spin" IPA
Really pleased with this. As you can see from the pic it's well carbonated - actually not overly so but I was a bit haphazard pouring it so a second glass was needed!
I really like the flavour, it's a very refreshing pithy grapefruit bitterness with a decent mouthfeel that belies the modest 4.2% ABV. The flavour is noticeably different from my more orangey more-Amarillo-hopped "Podium" IPA.
It's really hazy again - this is just hop haze from the dry hop, nothing I'm gonna lose any sleep over.
I had a concern that it would be searingly bitter once I realised the BU:GU ratio - but as it turns out, sure it's bitter, I mean, it's an IPA what do you expect! But it's certainly not over the top.
I would happily brew it like this again but I might alternatively be inclined to drop the 15min hop addition (or move it to the end of the boil) just to see if it's noticeably less bitter and more fruity.
Overall, very chuffed with this brew
Really pleased with this. As you can see from the pic it's well carbonated - actually not overly so but I was a bit haphazard pouring it so a second glass was needed!
I really like the flavour, it's a very refreshing pithy grapefruit bitterness with a decent mouthfeel that belies the modest 4.2% ABV. The flavour is noticeably different from my more orangey more-Amarillo-hopped "Podium" IPA.
It's really hazy again - this is just hop haze from the dry hop, nothing I'm gonna lose any sleep over.
I had a concern that it would be searingly bitter once I realised the BU:GU ratio - but as it turns out, sure it's bitter, I mean, it's an IPA what do you expect! But it's certainly not over the top.
I would happily brew it like this again but I might alternatively be inclined to drop the 15min hop addition (or move it to the end of the boil) just to see if it's noticeably less bitter and more fruity.
Overall, very chuffed with this brew
I'm back baby, and it's a double brewday! (well, kinda...)
AG#30 Red IPA
AND
AG#30.5 "Little" Red IPA
This was inspired by a pint I had the other day, "Diamond Geezer" red ale from By The Horns Brewing:
https://bythehorns.co.uk/craft-beer-london-brewery/our-beers/diamond-geezer/
I'd have described it as a hoppy bitter, but after a bit of searching I believe it's a Red IPA if you want to go by BJCP categories.....
For my brew I started with this beerandbrewing article...
https://beerandbrewing.com/make-your-best-red-ipa/
...and adapted the hops to match the limited info on the Diamond Geezer web page, combined with what I had in stock: Simcoe, Chinook, Centennial, Amarillo and Columbus. My recipe here:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/923451/ag-30-red-ipa
I pretty much hit my mash temperature for once but my efficiency took a nosedive - really struggling with this lately - so instead of OG 1.049 I only got 1.041. Once I was done I pitched WY1098. Fingers crossed this should net me about 10L of 4.1% beer.
AG#30.5 "Little" Red IPA
Since I was pretty much done by mid-morning I figured what the heck, let's experiment.....
Inspired by a recent Experimental Brewing podcast I figured there's gotta be plenty more sugar left in the grain - so I mashed it for a further hour in 5L water at about 62degC. After an almighty bag squeeze I got 5L 1.030 wort - that'll work.....
I boiled it for 15mins with some Simcoe at the start and Simcoe & Centennial 5 mins from the end. Cooled it and pitched some US05 (which I've not used before) into ~4L of 1.038 wort. Recipe here:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/923240/ag-30-5-little-red-ipa
I reckon this might get me 6-7 more bottles of 4% beer (US05 should attenuate a bit more than the 1098 I believe). Not worth the effort you might say, but I had a day to myself and time to play so an interesting experiment and new experience for me.
AG#30 Red IPA
AND
AG#30.5 "Little" Red IPA
This was inspired by a pint I had the other day, "Diamond Geezer" red ale from By The Horns Brewing:
https://bythehorns.co.uk/craft-beer-london-brewery/our-beers/diamond-geezer/
I'd have described it as a hoppy bitter, but after a bit of searching I believe it's a Red IPA if you want to go by BJCP categories.....
For my brew I started with this beerandbrewing article...
https://beerandbrewing.com/make-your-best-red-ipa/
...and adapted the hops to match the limited info on the Diamond Geezer web page, combined with what I had in stock: Simcoe, Chinook, Centennial, Amarillo and Columbus. My recipe here:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/923451/ag-30-red-ipa
I pretty much hit my mash temperature for once but my efficiency took a nosedive - really struggling with this lately - so instead of OG 1.049 I only got 1.041. Once I was done I pitched WY1098. Fingers crossed this should net me about 10L of 4.1% beer.
AG#30.5 "Little" Red IPA
Since I was pretty much done by mid-morning I figured what the heck, let's experiment.....
Inspired by a recent Experimental Brewing podcast I figured there's gotta be plenty more sugar left in the grain - so I mashed it for a further hour in 5L water at about 62degC. After an almighty bag squeeze I got 5L 1.030 wort - that'll work.....
I boiled it for 15mins with some Simcoe at the start and Simcoe & Centennial 5 mins from the end. Cooled it and pitched some US05 (which I've not used before) into ~4L of 1.038 wort. Recipe here:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/923240/ag-30-5-little-red-ipa
I reckon this might get me 6-7 more bottles of 4% beer (US05 should attenuate a bit more than the 1098 I believe). Not worth the effort you might say, but I had a day to myself and time to play so an interesting experiment and new experience for me.
Waste not want not!
![BREWING THERMOMETER STICKERS ACCURATELY MONITOR FERMENTING BEER & WINE LIQUID TEMPERATURES 5PCS HOME BREW SPIRITS WINE LCD ADHESIVE [US]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/311DDjo2X3L._SL500_.jpg)
It was a fun and interesting experiment and I'm glad I did it.Waste not want not!
I'd certainly recommend it if you have time - rarely the case for many of us though, I suspect.
If you normally do 20L batches it might be a bit more worthwhile. In that case you might get an additional 8-9L wort.
Update - AG#30 Red IPA
Both are bubbling away quite happily now. I whipped the lid off the main brew to top up with an extra 1.5L wort that had settled out...
Now I've never used WY1098 before, but blimey, it's made a massive foamy krausen! Glad there's enough head from in the FV!
Both are bubbling away quite happily now. I whipped the lid off the main brew to top up with an extra 1.5L wort that had settled out...
Now I've never used WY1098 before, but blimey, it's made a massive foamy krausen! Glad there's enough head from in the FV!
New Toy / Early Christmas Present
Klarstein Maischfest 25L:
Mrs Matt said since it's so close to Christmas I may as well use the new system - excited!
I'll be brewing a Golden Ale today so be interested to see how things pan out...
For now I'm going to stick to my 15L BIAB full-volume no-sparge, mash and boil for 30 mins each.....
I don't immediately expect the efficiency to change much, but who knows what the boil of will be like.
Mind the gap and stand clear of the closing doors.....
Klarstein Maischfest 25L:
Mrs Matt said since it's so close to Christmas I may as well use the new system - excited!
I'll be brewing a Golden Ale today so be interested to see how things pan out...
For now I'm going to stick to my 15L BIAB full-volume no-sparge, mash and boil for 30 mins each.....
I don't immediately expect the efficiency to change much, but who knows what the boil of will be like.
Mind the gap and stand clear of the closing doors.....
Let me know how it goes! Mine hasn't come out of the box yet, looks soooooo shiny!
TBH I decided just to use my trusty homemade one - more turns, more surface area, more efficient cooling
More in a bit - brewing complete, having a tidy round now
Edit: just done a quick eyeball check, I think it would be just long enough for the remaining 13L post boil
Nice one Matt happy brewing
This was going to be my question too as I plan to do 10l batches.
As an aside how long are the vertical pipes on your chiller?
AG#31 Golden Ale
(I'll add some separate notes afterwards about the new Klarstein system)
Full recipe here - I started with roughly the grain bill I used in my Munich Helles, though I was short on Pilsner so added some Golden Promise:
1200g Pilsner
1000g Golden Promise
250g Vienna
50g Victory
15L full-volume no-sparge mash
30mins @ 70degC - it started at 69degC but somehow had risen to 72-73 by the end. I'm not too worried, just part and parcel of learning a new system. I'm pretty sure it'll make some sort of beer!
After a big bag squeeze I somehow ended up with 15L still in the kettle - really not sure how this happened as some liquid usually escapes by magic!
30min boil:
10g Magnum pellets for 30 mins
25g Crystal leaf hops for 5 mins
In total that's about 23 IBU's - sufficient, but a bit lower than I was aiming for, mainly because the volume of wort was more than I was expecting. Rather than trying to adjust on the fly I just went with it and stuck to the plan.
Cooled to 20degC in 5 mins with my immersion chiller.
Post boil I have 13.2L of OG = 1.045 wort in the kettle - this means my efficiency is way higher than it has been of late. Not really sure why, but again, I'm learning the quirks of a new system.
As is standard for me now I let the cooled wort settle out for a couple of hours. I syphoned 7L clear wort straight to the FV and the remainder was drained off to a large 5L sanitised plastic bottle via the drain tap - very slow as it turns out thanks to the leaf hops!
The latter will be left to settle out before topping up the FV with the clear wort.
Pitched a pack of US05 - other than my experimental brew the other day I've never used this one, I believe it's similar to WY1056 but I fancy trying some dry yeasts for a change.
(I'll add some separate notes afterwards about the new Klarstein system
)Full recipe here - I started with roughly the grain bill I used in my Munich Helles, though I was short on Pilsner so added some Golden Promise:
1200g Pilsner
1000g Golden Promise
250g Vienna
50g Victory
15L full-volume no-sparge mash
30mins @ 70degC - it started at 69degC but somehow had risen to 72-73 by the end. I'm not too worried, just part and parcel of learning a new system. I'm pretty sure it'll make some sort of beer!
After a big bag squeeze I somehow ended up with 15L still in the kettle - really not sure how this happened as some liquid usually escapes by magic!
30min boil:
10g Magnum pellets for 30 mins
25g Crystal leaf hops for 5 mins
In total that's about 23 IBU's - sufficient, but a bit lower than I was aiming for, mainly because the volume of wort was more than I was expecting. Rather than trying to adjust on the fly I just went with it and stuck to the plan.
Cooled to 20degC in 5 mins with my immersion chiller.
Post boil I have 13.2L of OG = 1.045 wort in the kettle - this means my efficiency is way higher than it has been of late. Not really sure why, but again, I'm learning the quirks of a new system.
As is standard for me now I let the cooled wort settle out for a couple of hours. I syphoned 7L clear wort straight to the FV and the remainder was drained off to a large 5L sanitised plastic bottle via the drain tap - very slow as it turns out thanks to the leaf hops!
The latter will be left to settle out before topping up the FV with the clear wort.Pitched a pack of US05 - other than my experimental brew the other day I've never used this one, I believe it's similar to WY1056 but I fancy trying some dry yeasts for a change.
I'm sceptical that the supplied chiller would even get wet with 10L! Fortunately the arms on my homemade one are plenty long enoughThis was going to be my question too as I plan to do 10l batches.
As an aside how long are the vertical pipes on your chiller?
Klarstein Maishfest 25L mini-review
In a nutshell it's great and I'm really pleased - I can brew outdoors so less earache about the smell and less mopping up the kitchen afterwards!
The instructions are total carp but the controls are so intuitive that it doesn't matter. It's really powerful and gets to the boil much quicker than I'm used to on the kitchen hob - 10-15mins vs. 25-30mins! It also gives me a bit more capacity if I did want to do a slightly larger batch.
The only negatives are:
1) Inaccuracy of the thermostat - I really like having precise digital controls but it was consistently reading ~4degC cooler than my trusty thermometer. I'm sure they vary from one unit to the next. As long as it's consistent then I can work with it, just that it caught me out a bit today - this is part an parcel of learning the quirks of a new bit of kit.
2) Mash temperature control - Related to the above, the temperature sensor is down at the bottom near the heating element but outside the mashing/grain basket. Now, I heated my water with the grain basket inserted - in hindsight that was a mistake because it creates a barrier and you end up with a temperature difference. Lesson learned, will do it differently next time. But once you start mashing you still have that barrier - now I deliberately went for a mash temp of 70degC this time but it crept up to 72-73degC. I think the issue is when I stirred the mash I mixed up these hotter and cooler zones. Next time I would probably do it different and rely less on the thermostat to hold my mash temperature and control it more manually. That said, if I hadn't been mashing right at the top of the temp range (say, 65degC instead) then I probably wouldn't have cared.
But these are really minor points - like I say, it's just learning the quirks of a new piece of kit and something I will quickly adapt to, much like when I started brewing just over a year ago. This is a great piece of kit and tremendous bang for buck!
In a nutshell it's great and I'm really pleased - I can brew outdoors so less earache about the smell and less mopping up the kitchen afterwards!
The instructions are total carp but the controls are so intuitive that it doesn't matter. It's really powerful and gets to the boil much quicker than I'm used to on the kitchen hob - 10-15mins vs. 25-30mins! It also gives me a bit more capacity if I did want to do a slightly larger batch.
The only negatives are:
1) Inaccuracy of the thermostat - I really like having precise digital controls but it was consistently reading ~4degC cooler than my trusty thermometer. I'm sure they vary from one unit to the next. As long as it's consistent then I can work with it, just that it caught me out a bit today - this is part an parcel of learning the quirks of a new bit of kit.
2) Mash temperature control - Related to the above, the temperature sensor is down at the bottom near the heating element but outside the mashing/grain basket. Now, I heated my water with the grain basket inserted - in hindsight that was a mistake because it creates a barrier and you end up with a temperature difference. Lesson learned, will do it differently next time. But once you start mashing you still have that barrier - now I deliberately went for a mash temp of 70degC this time but it crept up to 72-73degC. I think the issue is when I stirred the mash I mixed up these hotter and cooler zones. Next time I would probably do it different and rely less on the thermostat to hold my mash temperature and control it more manually. That said, if I hadn't been mashing right at the top of the temp range (say, 65degC instead) then I probably wouldn't have cared.
But these are really minor points - like I say, it's just learning the quirks of a new piece of kit and something I will quickly adapt to, much like when I started brewing just over a year ago. This is a great piece of kit and tremendous bang for buck!
MyQul
Chairman of the Bored
How much was it, Matt?
About £135 back in October when it was on offer on eBay
Great stuff! Some interesting tips! Might give mine a go tomorrow evening, I have 3 brews planned, a summer lightning clone, an English ipa and a fisherman's stout.
Can you take the taps off to clean them do you know?
Can you take the taps off to clean them do you know?
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