New Year - Slid Brewday

[Slid]

Well, the excitement of the Parti-gyle has to wait. SWMBO has recently annexed the territory known as #2 daughter's bedroom and is converting it into her study (mini-empire). I am enslaved to do painting and furniture moving for the next 3 days, but took today out to watch the magnificent Exeter Chiefs see off the might of Racing 92 (tried and failed to do a Likely Lads style attempt at not knowing the outcome). The game came later, before this morning's beer:

MO 4.75kg
Medium Crystal 250g
Sugar circa 600g

Warrior 20g @ FW (these hops looked very brown and a bit rubbish)
Mosaic - 15 / 15/ 20 grams @ 15 / 5 / 0mins.

US 05 re-used as the yeast.
Extraordinary looking efficiencies today @ circa 82%, but why believe the improbable, when it's more likely that I just measured the wort at the wrong point in the process. I always re-sparge the GF with another 1L of water whilst the Malt Pipe is balanced on the Wilko 15L pot. The contents get boiled, usually with whatever sugar goes in the FV.

I am increasingly of the view that "All Grain" brewing may be a strange affectation that relates to a former reality and mindset. 10% simple sugars in the bill of fermentables seems to be very much in the tradition of English and Belgian beers. Not to mention that the end product seems often to be rather more palatable.

This beer has been in the bottle for only 2 weeks but is really good. Early start to the weekend!
Mosaic hops quite understated, but definitely getting that Peachy/Apricot thing.
As the beer is straight from the garage and it is pretty cold today, maybe this has an influence?

 

[Slid]

Today turned out well, with 10 and a bit litres of the Strong English 1870-ish beer at 1.083 or so (may add some sugar at day 3) and 25L of the Leffe Bruin Clone at around 1.053, with another 1kg of sugar to add around the third day.

But, by all that is sacrosanct, it was a long day. Hardware issues with the back-up Boiler, the Klarstein Mashfest, meant I ended up boiling both beers in the Peco Boiler. Did enough baling, or transferring of wort from one container to another, to have sailed a row boat across the Channel.

But, OK, here is the First Mash full length :
Pale Malt, mainly Minch 5.94kg
Amber, home roast 1.2kg

Addition (or Cap) for second Mash of 30mins:
Carafa 3 320g
Crystal 113 500g

Hops for 1st boil 100g of Boudicea hops 2015 - label says 4,47% Alpha, but after all this time, who knows? All hops chucked in at First Wort, both boils
For second boil, finished off the Madarina Bavaria 25g and Challenger 5g and re-boiled the hops from the 1st Boil for a bit as well. This was in-between messing around with shovelling wort here, there and everywhere, or so it seemed at the time.

The Olde English got re-used US 05 and the off-beat Belgian got the re-used Lallemand Abbey yeast from the Patersbieres.

Very good efficiencies today (in terms of BHE, not time, patience or use of water) and I decided to split the Whirlifloc tab between the two beers, in the interests of experimentation.

Started about 8am and just about got finished and cleared up in time to watch England vs Ireland in the rugby this pm. Irish line out misfired and they got totally outplayed in consequence. Bit sad to watch, from a non-English perspective, although Jonny May celebrated his two scores and Maro Itoje was, by some margin, my MOTM. Not for the first, or last time, one suspects.

 

[Slid]

Bottled the two beers from the Parti-gyle yesterday - 64 x 500ml bottles altogether. The practice on strong beers here is to use a 10L glass wine carboy (holds 11L to the neck) to age it in. When a new strong beer gets brewed, it is usually only 10L or so and at the transfer to secondary, I add in the aged contents of the carboy, leave it a week and on bottling day, refill the carboy to go into storage again and bottle the rest. So 16 bottles of blended "Barleywine" and 48 bottles of the dangerously drinkable Leffe Bruin clone.

No brewing this week, but started a Lemondrop based pale ale last weekend. As it's nearly Xmas, how about "Oranges and Lemons" golden ale:

MO 4.22kg
Carapils 0.28kg
Marmalade - most of a 900g jar, total sugar ~ 500g
Admiral 13g @ FW
Lemondrop 33g at each of 20mins and 5mins (rest for hop tea / dry hop in secondary)

Used Nottingham Ale yeast and the marmalade is made up at home using the kit from Lakeland, like this:

https://www.lakeland.co.uk/13801/Home-Cook-Marmalade---Prepared-Seville-Oranges-Medium-Cut-850g
Very easy to make this kit and it is enough for 6 one pound jars or 3x900g jars. As the kit is made up with 1.8kg of sugar, a full 900g jar would be 600g of sugar, I don't bother with pectin and never had issues with beer clarity when I add this marmalade to beers, usually at transfer to the initial FV.

 

[Slid]

A Brown Porter today, loosely based on the GH recipe. For 24.5L in the FV:

MO 4.3kg
Brown / Amber 300g
Chocolate 200g
Crystal 350g

Progress 5.2% 48g @ FW
Progress 5.2% 15g @ 15m

Pitched some Windsor yeast and may later add some re-used yeast like US05 if the attenuation is low.
The Brown / Amber malts are home roasted as per the Durden Park method.

Added the last of the Lemondrop hops as a tea to the Oranges and Lemons Golden ale today and there was a definite aroma of citrus.

 

[Slid]

Used up the last of the Rye Malt I bought to do the Red Spider IPA clone in the new CAMRA GW book. This was the third attempt using rye malt - I got 2 kilos.
Did not use enough rice hulls and the mash went very sticky after I stirred it after 30 mins.
This had two consequences. First being that the sparge ended up being hand-balled by removing the sparging plate and stirring the grains after adding each litre of sparge water. This method seemingly gives OK efficiency initially, but you get an immense amount of gunk in the boiler.
I use a Peco boiler, which I got with the HBC BIAB kit, before I got the GF in March 2016, as the said GF cuts out in the 70's C and has done for some time.
Anyway today the gunk on the element seems to have activated some sort of safety cut-out after about 30m into the boil. I kept playing with it for a bit and eventually transferred back into the GF and goy it back to about 89 C before the GF inevitably cut out.
So I have got wort and no doubt the yeast will turn it into beer.

Recipe:
Maris Otter 4.06kg
Vienna Malt 425g
Rye Malt 676g
Dark Crystal 340g (the label says "medium")

Zeus 20g @ FW
Cascade 25g @ 15m (and ~ 90 C)
Cascade 20g @ 15m (and ~ 83 C)

Nottingham Ale yeast (re-used)

A couple of hours from pitching, there are 27L in the FV, the bottom 5 of which are gunk. Would expect on previous ****-up experience for this to be equivalent to about 25L, had I not stirred through all the gunk at the sparge stage. Will add hop tea Cascade after the racking to secondary and hope for the best. no doubt it will make beer and it will be fine, in the usual Brulosophy style.

 

[Slid]

Last weekend, I did the Ginger Ale recipe (sort of) from the GH book.
I must admit that I had never had any intention of brewing such a thing, until SWMBO had a mouse slip moment doing the Tesco order.
She took a fancy to a recipe for salmon and bits that included 5g (that's FIVE) root ginger. During the ordering process, she gets presented with a drop down option and thinks - "£3.52 for root ginger - seems a lot" but carries on. Order arrives and there are three pretty huge ginger figurines included. Think voodoo dolls or something. On checking the said order, she clicked on 700g (that's Seven HUNDRED).

So, here it is:

MO 4kg
Sugar 500g
Root Ginger 190g (just kept grating the bits of ginger until it looked like loads)

Zeus for bittering
Progress (open bag) 17g @ 15m
Cascade (last of) 18g @ 5m plus Root Ginger.

Re-used Windsor and Nottingham from the Brown Porter pitched two weeks previously.

Only half a (insert expletive) kilo of Root Ginger left. Better get her to order some more next week or we could run out within less than five (insert expletive) years.

 

[Slid]

I got some Nelson Sauvin recently, so here goes:

XPMO 5kg
Wheat Malt 250g

Zeus (15%) 18g @ FW
Nelson Sauvin 25g @ 15m
Nelson Sauvin 35g @ 5m

New US 05 sachet

Smelt and tasted like it is billed - a bit like a white wine. SWMBO accepted the offer of a smell, but not the taste. Verdict - like the smell off the dishwasher.
For the Kiwis, that must be worse than losing to the Argies at rugby.

 

[Dutto]

......

Verdict - like the smell off the dishwasher.
For the Kiwis, that must be worse than losing to the Argies at rugby.

You really do have to put your foot down with the missus and do all the laundry yourself ...

... and there's NOTHING worse for a Kiwi than losing to the Argies at rugby!

At least that's what I've been told; as an Englishman we've suffered that fate four times in 24 games!

 

[Slid]

Hmmm! Definitely a "Here's hoping!" recipe!

It will probably be so nice that you will want to replicate it, which will be near impossible.

@Dutto here referring to a Simonds Bitter from Durden Park. Just drinking one now (pitched 18 July 2020) and indeed it is quite distinctive amongst my beers. That "luscious" mouthfeel is definitely there and has been for some time time. Same pale malt and same US 05 yeast I often use. Marynka is not particularly low Alpha by modern standards, but my is this different.

Recipe again:
Pale Malt 5.14kg
Pale Amber (roasted at home from the Pale) 970g

Marynka 7.8% (but a tad elderly - maybe 3 yrs) 50g @ fw and 20b @ 10mins
Just using up the hops on the basis that "it won't make no difference".
Re-used US05

Fabulous beer.

The Whitbread London Porter from the Durden Park booklet tastes very similar to the GW Fullers London Porter. Both excellent,

 

[Slid]

Brewed again today. A couple of weeks back I slipped on frozen, compacted snow and bashed myself up a bit. Not done much outside since and when it snowed again recently, I was confined to the house. I was so bored yesterday, as not even any rugby on at the moment, SWMBO told me to "go and make some bloody beer", to shut me up. So today, reprised the Simonds bitter. Could not obtain whole malt for the Maris Otter base so used pre-crushed and boy did I notice the efficiency hit! Recipe for 24L in the FV:

Maris Otter 5.05kg
Amber (home roasted and crushed) 1.05kg

Progress @ 5.18% 80g @ FW and 20g @ 15m
Windsor & Nottingham yeast re-pitched.

Mash went well and I did not stir half way through, as this has been the start of bad things recently. Nice sparge, with no issues.
The Amber was a bit darker this time and it looks more like a Brown than a Dark Gold this time around.
Will be interesting to compare the outcomes from using US 05 first time to Windsor / Nottingham this time.
@David Heath has been talking about mixing yeast strains recently on his channel, if anyone else has noticed!

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

Well I am pretty rubbish already on keeping this up to date. Last weekend I did a dry stout:

Maris Otter 3.6kg
Flaked Barley 1kg
Roasted Barley 500g
Wheat malt 330g
Chocolate 100g

Did the bittering with Pilgrim - 39g @ First Wort
As the Bramling Cross was open and I read somewhere that it may be suited to a dark beer, 20g in @ 15m

I have noticed that adding the bittering hops to the GF as soon as the sparge is (finally) over makes the boil much easier to manage.

Thought gf meant girl friend - what strange activities do you get up to in Bolton?

I am just about to brew the Cornish Tin Miners Ales - sounds good

 

[Slid]

Thought gf meant girl friend - what strange activities do you get up to in Bolton?

I am just about to brew the Cornish Tin Miners Ales - sounds good

Yeah GF meant girlfriend to me once as well. Now, I need a girlfriend like I need a stuck mash, a stuck sparge, an infected brew and a car crash.
If you think Bolton is weird, in Darwen, just "oop t' roaard" a youngish bloke is quite likely to have a full blood sister as a gf and then marry t'lass. Allegedly, of course.

Have done the Cornish Tin Miners' from the GH book a couple of times and would endorse this as a good, strong-ish English beer. So, good luck with it, mate!

 

[Slid]

Did a US style IPA today.

Maris Otter 5.135g

Zeus 17g @ FW
Citra 15g and 35g @ 15m and 2m
Simcoe 15g and 35g @ 15m and 2m
Nelson Sauvin 20g @ 2m

US 05

Pre-crushed grain again with corresponding efficiency hit (Pre-crushed average 73%, home crushed previous day ave 77%)
Went well otherwise, just hop pellet stuff everywhere.

 

[Slid]

Decided on an ESB today. I did 3 beers with MJ36 Liberty Bell yeast last year. The yeast makes a big difference vs the US05 that I usually use for British beers. Living in a centrally heated house with 3 women means it is too warm, too often,, to rely on British yeasts. The grain bill is clearly the Fullers London Pride / ESB one and I went for First Gold as the single hop, just by way of variety.

Got 23.5L today from this, with 76% BHE:

Maris Otter 4.8kg
Dark Crystal 480g

First Gold 35g @ First Wort
First Gold 25g @15m

MJ36 Liberty Bell - new sachet.

The previous brews with this yeast were noticeably "estery" and benefited from some ageing, for my rather bland tastes.

 

[cushyno]

First gold on its own will give you a rich marmalade flavour, decent for an ESB.

Liberty Bell gives off fewer esters and still ferments quickly at 18°C, if you can keep one room a bit cooler.

 

[Slid]

First gold on its own will give you a rich marmalade flavour, decent for an ESB.

Liberty Bell gives off fewer esters and still ferments quickly at 18°C, if you can keep one room a bit cooler.

LOL - no chance of a cool room at stable temperatures chez Slid!

The yeast had kicked off big style by yesterday evening - at least a full day earlier than US05 does.

 

[Slid]

I found a Leffe Brown clone on the US site Home Brew Talk some time ago and this is the third interpretation.
Today's recipe:
Maris Otter 5kg
Home Roasted Amber / Biscuit Malt 530g
Acidulated Malt 202g
Carafa 3 323g
Sugar 320g

Aurora 6.7% 44g @ First Wort
Mangrove Jacks M31 (Belgian Trippel) yeast

For some reason, I messed with the mash in the GF after 30mins and the rest of the mash and sparge was another total arse-ache.
Over-sparged and then did an 80mins boil to get the volumes "right" at 25L in the FV.
By some miracle, the BHE was amazing at ~ 80% (this could be wrong, given that I was very harassed at the time of measuring). Possibly the additional sparging and boiling off helped, and even the mechanical stirring half way through?

When the sparge is basically glacial in moving, I take the top plate and other gubbins off the grains and "hand-ball" the sparge, one litre at a time, stirring the grain plus water with my mighty GF paddle. That usually learns it. And so it was today. I over did the water volume, sparge-wise and hence the extra boil time, which was also expeditious, given the arrival time of the Tesco delivery. Major downside of the approach is the massive amount of crud that finds its way into the primary FV.

Plan to add another 1kg of sugar, as per the said recipe and in line with previous.
#2 on this recipe was as the "weak" second beer from a Parti-gyle that came out at a frightening ABV, well above the planned 6.6%

 

[Slid]

Another brew using the CML Krystallweisen yeast today. I did a raspberry wheat a few weeks ago with this, but I have waxed lyrical about this style before. Today's style is rather more elemental. The usual 25L target:

Pale (Maris Otter) 2.7kg
Wheat 2.3kg
Rice Hulls 0.2kg

Aurora 22g @ First Wort
Yeast is re-used slurry (250ml bottle) from the raspberry.

In the meantime, I have bought a 750ml Leffe brown from ASDA, for research purposes vis a vis the clone brew. I strongly suspect they will be absolutely nothing like...Also two bottles of "bottle conditioned" SN 1698 Kent Strong Ale to harvest the yeast from, using the flask I got recently and the stir plate I have asked the account holders to get me from Amazon. I feel liquid yeasts in suspension are the next "thing". I use US05 for most things, except wheat beers and other "Belgians".

 

[cushyno]

Do you get many esters/phenols off the Kristallweizen yeast? I have a couple of sachets and I'm doing some research. I want to make a quick brew to fill one of my new kegs and haven't done a weizen for over a year. Last time I used this yeast it was rather bland fermented at 21degC. Do you know how to get the best out of it?

 

[Slid]

Do you get many esters/phenols off the Kristallweizen yeast? I have a couple of sachets and I'm doing some research. I want to make a quick brew to fill one of my new kegs and haven't done a weizen for over a year. Last time I used this yeast it was rather bland fermented at 21degC. Do you know how to get the best out of it?

The first Krysallweissen was with 2.5kg of raspberries and you get nowt but that, somewhat obviously.

Racked #2 Wheat Beer with the CML K-W yeast today, so I may have some useful info in 3 weeks time, Deo Volente.