matt76's Brewdays

[matt76]

So what is this tilt hydrometer sorcery?

It's witchcraft!

The Tilt is a small magic scroll that floats in the well of dreams (FV). It has a tiny magic box inside to detect the angle of dangle (*accelerometer - same thing your smartphone uses to know which way round you're holding it).

As the beer ferments and the gravity changes so too does the angle of dangle of the Tilt which is measured by the accelerometer (it also measures the temperature).

The data is then sent by magic (Bluetooth) to a slightly bigger magic box (smartphone or Raspberry Pi) which in turn sends it by magic (WiFi) to the land of magic (The Cloud).

Then the magic goblins (probably a script) put the data into a magic spell book (Google Sheets) which is in turn sent to me by unicorns (email/Google Drive) to gaze at in wonder.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Too much for me....though very clever.

I have been googling, is this the ispindel or the other one?

 

[matt76]

It's the other one -

The Tilt is more expensive but much more plug & play...

The iSpindel (as far I'm aware) does the same for less but is a bit more DIY - you can buy them ready made or solder the parts yourself, and then I believe needs a bit more fiddling to make it work.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Yes, i've looked at it before and being totally useless at fiddly things like that it's put me off!

So this one is plug and play, interesting.....May have to take a look.

 

[matt76]

Well... it's more plug and play...

But I think it relies on having a phone nearby all the time to send results to by Bluetooth...

Or you can use a Raspberry Pi mini computer nearby to Bluetooth results to - they're really cheap but it's typically only nerds like me who just happen to have a spare one lying around.

But even for this the YouTube setup guide was pretty good - I think even normal people with friends and social skills could follow it

 

[matt76]

Bottling: AG#64 Hoppy Amber Ale v2

All fermented out real quick so got this bottled tonight, just over a week since yeast pitch. I've really enjoyed using the Tilt with this brew, I like the extra insight you get.

WY1318 yielded 12 x 500ml bottles (and a ton of very clean slurry for future use!), and Verdant yielded 6 x 500ml. I also got an extra bottle that was a mix of the two. Both started and finished a point or two apart but both ended up near as damn it 4% ABV. SRM 5.6, a nice amber, and 37 IBUs, so enough bitterness but not all up in your grill.

I'm gonna reserve judgement until they're ready to drink - the 1318 might be a wee bit more fruity, but I'm not sure either is quite the finished article yet - we'll see. But in the meantime I got me some nice beer to drink

 

[matt76]

AG#65 GH Rye Beer
Well, after that I think it's fair to say me and rye malt are no longer an item and are going to start seeing other beers! If this ends up yielding anything remotely drinkable then I'll be very surprised!

Let's start with the grist, scaled down from GH:
1500g Pale Rye Malt
1250g Golden Promise

17L tap water, 2g Gypsum, 15ml CRS, half a Campden tablet
Full-volume no-sparge mash 2hrs @ 67degC

I have done a rye beer before, though the rye made up under 50% of the grist (actually more like 25%) - and that wasn't trouble free either!

First up I had trouble with the bag squeeze. It was just a big sticky mess and held on to 750ml liquor or more compared to what I'd normally expect.

On to the boil - 30mins as standard for me:
25g Chinook (leaf) 11.9% AAU 20mins

All went fine until I added the protofloc with 5mins to go - then "beep" "E4 boil dry" warning. To be fair I had half expected this from my last rye beer and exactly as I expected, later on when I came to clean out the kettle I found a nasty scorched heating element (kettle settled fine later on once I had given it a thorough clean, so that's a positive).

Anyway, I threw in my flameout addition:
20g Amarillo 8.3% AAU
Originally planned 10mins @ 85degC
Ended up doing 30mins @ about 90 down to 80degC.

Chilled it down to 20degC and left the kettle to stand a few hours to let the crud settle out...

Except when I came back 3 hours later it had settled barely settled out at all! Instead I ended up draining 13L of inexplicably thick gloopy viscous syrupy stuff to the FV.

I pitched half a pack of BRY-97. At pitching I also threw in another 20g Amarillo dry hop - yep, that's right, dry hop at yeast pitch. It's something I heard about recently on a podcast and thought it would be a fun experiment to try.

Threw it in the brew fridge at 20degC and dropped in the Tilt to keep track what it's doing. So far it looks like about 3L clear wort on top and 10L viscous slimy crud. But I'll let it ferment out and hope for the best before fining the crap out of it with gelatin!

On the plus side I pretty much got my target OG 1.045, mash pH a touch high around 6.5-5.6. I had originally calculated around 25-30 IBUs in BF but the extended whirlpool along with that much Chinook will no doubt push it higher - certainly the hydrometer sample tasted pretty bitter. I didn't notice any burnt flavour due to the scorched element so maybe I'll get lucky.

So overall a challenging brew day and not one to remember. In fairness I've been lucky and they mostly go pretty smoothly. Don't think I'll be tempted to bother with rye again, really not worth the agro. But as I often tell people, it's a hobby not a space shuttle launch so onwards and upwards!

 

[samale]

AG#65 GH Rye Beer
Well, after that I think it's fair to say me and rye malt are no longer an item and are going to start seeing other beers! If this ends up yielding anything remotely drinkable then I'll be very surprised!

Let's start with the grist, scaled down from GH:
1500g Pale Rye Malt
1250g Golden Promise

17L tap water, 2g Gypsum, 15ml CRS, half a Campden tablet
Full-volume no-sparge mash 2hrs @ 67degC

I have done a rye beer before, though the rye made up under 50% of the grist (actually more like 25%) - and that wasn't trouble free either!

First up I had trouble with the bag squeeze. It was just a big sticky mess and held on to 750ml liquor or more compared to what I'd normally expect.

On to the boil - 30mins as standard for me:
25g Chinook (leaf) 11.9% AAU 20mins

All went fine until I added the protofloc with 5mins to go - then "beep" "E4 boil dry" warning. To be fair I had half expected this from my last rye beer and exactly as I expected, later on when I came to clean out the kettle I found a nasty scorched heating element (kettle settled fine later on once I had given it a thorough clean, so that's a positive).

Anyway, I threw in my flameout addition:
20g Amarillo 8.3% AAU
Originally planned 10mins @ 85degC
Ended up doing 30mins @ about 90 down to 80degC.

Chilled it down to 20degC and left the kettle to stand a few hours to let the crud settle out...

Except when I came back 3 hours later it had settled barely settled out at all! Instead I ended up draining 13L of inexplicably thick gloopy viscous syrupy stuff to the FV.

I pitched half a pack of BRY-97. At pitching I also threw in another 20g Amarillo dry hop - yep, that's right, dry hop at yeast pitch. It's something I heard about recently on a podcast and thought it would be a fun experiment to try.

Threw it in the brew fridge at 20degC and dropped in the Tilt to keep track what it's doing. So far it looks like about 3L clear wort on top and 10L viscous slimy crud. But I'll let it ferment out and hope for the best before fining the crap out of it with gelatin!

On the plus side I pretty much got my target OG 1.045, mash pH a touch high around 6.5-5.6. I had originally calculated around 25-30 IBUs in BF but the extended whirlpool along with that much Chinook will no doubt push it higher - certainly the hydrometer sample tasted pretty bitter. I didn't notice any burnt flavour due to the scorched element so maybe I'll get lucky.

So overall a challenging brew day and not one to remember. In fairness I've been lucky and they mostly go pretty smoothly. Don't think I'll be tempted to bother with rye again, really not worth the agro. But as I often tell people, it's a hobby not a space shuttle launch so onwards and upwards!

I have used rye a few times. My favourite local beer being a rye IPA which I can't even get close to. It's the worst grain I have experience with to cause a scorched element.

 

[samale]

Most I have used is 1kg in a 20litre batch. So your talking around 20%

 

[pilgrimhudd]

What a ball ache, sounds like a mare with the dreaded e4 alarm. It does sound like it'll taste good if you get something drinkable though!

 

[matt76]

Here's how the FV looks this morning - you can see how the crud has settled to around the 5L mark so far, though it's by no means level all the way round.

Based on the cider I made last year in optimistic that finings post fermentation will improve that a lot, plus of course it should continue to settle out just due to time and gravity.

Airlock is starting to move and the Tilt also indicates the beginning of activity.

If I get away without any burnt flavours sure to the scorched element then something good may come of it yet. I expect it to be bitter but not undrinkably so

 

[foxbat]

Must. Resist. Temptation. To. Buy. Tilt.
Don't need more gadgets!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Must. Resist. Temptation. To. Buy. Tilt.
Don't need more gadgets!

I've been thinking the same!

 

[matt76]

Must. Resist. Temptation. To. Buy. Tilt.
Don't need more gadgets!

If you're hoping I'll be the voice of the angel on one shoulder then you're out of luck

Genuinely I am very pleased with it from what I've seen so far (a single brew!). If you want putting off then the price tag is rather eye watering - I waited until Black Friday last Nov to get a better deal

 

[matt76]

Troublesome brewday aside, I did have some good news, and a bit of serendipity as it turns out... Late last Wednesday I put in a couple of orders for ingredients for my next five brews...

- Grain from The Home Brew Shop, arrived Friday lunchtime - they're only about 25 mins away but mail order only at the moment. Looking forward to when I can finally shop in-store again
- Hops from Crossmyloof, arrived this morning

So big up to both those guys for their speedy service

Anyway, when I ordered the grain I was planning a Black Rye IPA I have in mind, but THBS were out of rye malt so I quickly rejigged it to have another crack at my usual Black IPA. But since rye malt has kinda fallen from grace since I placed the order I guess that's kinda worked out nicely. I'm taking that as a positive sign

 

[fury_tea]

But since rye malt has kinda fallen from grace since I placed the order I guess that's kinda worked out nicely.

What do you mean by this Matt? Have I missed something?

 

[matt76]

What do you mean by this Matt? Have I missed something?

Wednesday - I ordered some more grain. The rye malt I wanted for a Black Rye IPA I had opened was out of stock so I quickly adjusted my order to get stuff to make a regular Black IPA instead.

Friday - I made a rye beer using rye malt I already had in stock. Things didn't exactly go to plan. Rye malt and I are no longer friends. Also I am no longer sad about the out of stock rye malt

 

[matt76]

For those that are interested, I made some notes in the What Are You Drinking Tonight thread about my Hoppy Amber Ale v2 and Blueberry Kettle Sour...

The blueberry kettle sour is nice - needs some minor tweaks but I'm pleased with this one, very drinkable

But the Hoppy Amber Ale needs to go back to the drawing board... I tried v1 this evening which is more hoppy, but not hoppy enough, and also more bitter then I want for this beer.

I'm quite perplexed as it's not like I didn't add plenty of hops to either v1 or v2... Suggestions welcome...

Consoling myself now with a Baltic Porter to remind myself that actually I do occasionally make a decent beer

 

[fury_tea]

For those that are interested, I made some notes in the What Are You Drinking Tonight thread about my Hoppy Amber Ale v2 and Blueberry Kettle Sour...

The blueberry kettle sour is nice - needs some minor tweaks but I'm pleased with this one, very drinkable

But the Hoppy Amber Ale needs to go back to the drawing board... I tried v1 this evening which is more hoppy, but not hoppy enough, and also more bitter then I want for this beer.

I'm quite perplexed as it's not like I didn't add plenty of hops to either v1 or v2... Suggestions welcome...

Consoling myself now with a Baltic Porter to remind myself that actually I do occasionally make a decent beer

Re: hoppy amber, it looks a lovely recipe. You could mess with the hop schedule I guess, I'd say a neutral bittering addition like magnum/centennial at 30min then the rest in at 10min or 05min with a whirlpool addition and a (not over the top) dry hop?

 

[matt76]

Re: hoppy amber, it looks a lovely recipe. You could mess with the hop schedule I guess, I'd say a neutral bittering addition like magnum/centennial at 30min then the rest in at 10min or 05min with a whirlpool addition and a (not over the top) dry hop?

Thanks @fury_tea

Re. the Hoppy Amber, yeah, it looks nice - sounds nice - tastes average

I have a lot of ideas where to go with it...

One in particular is to have no boil hops at all and instead do a 30min hop stand/whirlpool with additions at the start, after 10 and then after 20 mins. Definitely want to try this at some point...

Your suggestion is interesting. Part of me says no because the late hop additions provide all the bitterness I need - for this beer 35IBUs or so should be plenty.

But on the other hand, when I originally did this with just Chinook I did additions at 60, 10, 5 & 0mins and no dry hop.
And I remember it came out beautifully with that very characteristic classic Chinook flavour...

(It also used a mere 37g hops total in a 10L batch so in that case less was definitely more.

In this latest effort I'm using 30g each Amarillo, Cascade & Centennial...

So even if you say "yeah but Chinook is a much more intense hop", even so 90g hops should be more than enough)

So yeah, maybe you're right, maybe I do need to go a bit more old school with more "classic" hop additions and timings

(I would probably also help myself immensely if I kept everything else constant and stopped having to substitute things in the grain bill and changing the yeast! )