Nicks90's Brewdays

[Nicks90]

AG number 72
Admiral session bitter
Revisiting AG 69 and using up the last of my dark munich - because it worked so well in AG69 - and this time pairing it with Admiral hops for a more citrus herbal flavour. I know its more traditionally a bittering hop, but i really do like it as a late addition. Also appreciating Munich malts in a bitter, gives it such a good backbone with a deep grainy toasty flavour.

1.5kg Pale malt
1.5Kg Munich Dark

18l mash at 64C for 60mins followed by a 2l jug sparge and a good bag squeeze.
Leaving 18l wort for a 60 minute boil and 16l in the FV

Hops
10g Target @60 min
10g Admiral @0 min
25g Admiral dry hop on day 5

Yeast
Second gen Lallemand English ale Yeast that i saved from AG69

Should result in about 30IBU, 10SRM and 4%

 

[Nicks90]

Attack of the low diatastic power of Munich malt.
Ended up with 16.5l at an og of 1.040
Thats going to give me a beer of about 3.2% with this yeast

Now so I say sod it - its a low alcohol beer, or bung 300gm sugar in there to bring it back up to 4%

 

[foxbat]

Attack of the low diatastic power of Munich malt.
Ended up with 16.5l at an og of 1.040
Thats going to give me a beer of about 3.2% with this yeast

Now so I say sod it - its a low alcohol beer, or bung 300gm sugar in there to bring it back up to 4%

Sugar won't be a problem in a session bitter IMO. It should make it nice and drinkable.

 

[Nicks90]

I decided to leave it as it is, so low alcohol brew incoming!
Dry hop has been added and fingers crossed it'll be ready for bottling early next week.

 

[moto748]

I've never bothered with dry-hopping. But I bought a bobbin of linen thread the other day, with the idea that I'd dangle a muslin bag of hops into a demi-john, tie a length of thread to it, and 'clamp' the thread in position with the demijohn bung.

That would work, wouldn't it?

 

[Nicks90]

@moto748 yes that will work fine.
Done it myself with a hopped turbo cider I did.

 

[Nicks90]

Ag71 saison ipa thingy.
Very early tasting notes as it's now pretty much carbd up. Bit weird to be honest......

Yes you can taste the saison yeast profile, tart and dry with a pleasant peppery sour note. But you can also taste the typical new world ipa hop even though I used a very small amount.
Do they mix together well?
Not sure. It's a bit 'sweet n sour'. Not unpleasant, certainly not going down the drain.... But..... Weird.

I'm going away next week so they'll get another week to gel together before my next tasting
It might change in that time, or it just might always be like that ugly ginger kid in the family.

Edited to add, need to stop taking pics on my oak worktop. Camera keeps colour adjusting and making everything orange. Honestly it's really straw pale

 

[Nicks90]

Ag82 Admiral session ale has had 8 days carb'ing, so time for a sneaky taste purely in the name of science

Nomnomnom
You can tell its low alcohol, about 3.2 if my calcs are right, but the hops come through lovely. And Admiral really does suit the biscuit nature of Munich malt. Very mellow already and has a real depth to it I wasn't expecting.
I can see 500g of Munich dark going in to all my bitters from this point, replacing at least some of the crystal I would normally add as a body builder.
Here's a piccy whilst I sit on my porch in the sun

 

[Nicks90]

AG73
Black Magic

As promised on my other thread about using mushrooms to get Umami taste in to a stout - here it is!!!

1.5kg Pale malt
140g Chocolate malt
60g carafa III black malt

12l mash at 66C for 60mins followed by a good bag squeeze.
Leaving 11l wort for a 60 minute boil and 8l split between two demijohns

Hops
5g Target @60 min
20g Shiitake dried mushrooms @60 min
10g Admiral @0 min

Yeast
Second gen Lallemand English ale Yeast that i saved from AG69

Should result in about 30IBU, 30SRM and 4.4%
Once cooled it was bang on the money at 1.042. So lets see what happens when you boil mushrooms in a stout!!!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

AG73
Black Magic

As promised on my other thread about using mushrooms to get Umami taste in to a stout - here it is!!!

1.5kg Pale malt
140g Chocolate malt
60g carafa III black malt

12l mash at 66C for 60mins followed by a good bag squeeze.
Leaving 11l wort for a 60 minute boil and 8l split between two demijohns

Hops
5g Target @60 min
20g Shiitake dried mushrooms @60 min
10g Admiral @0 min

Yeast
Second gen Lallemand English ale Yeast that i saved from AG69

Should result in about 30IBU, 30SRM and 4.4%
Once cooled it was bang on the money at 1.042. So lets see what happens when you boil mushrooms in a stout!!!

Blimey... you’re a brave (and innovative) man! I reckon if Heston Blumenthal were to do a brew...

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

You should call it “Nicks ‘shroom Stout”

 

[moto748]

You should call it “Nicks ‘shroom Stout”

You might be giving Nick further ideas there!

Although a bit early in the year for that.

 

[Nicks90]

OMG!!!!

This is going to be even more experimental than I thought it would be.
I grabbed the wrong bottle from the fridge and instead pitched Belle saison yeast.
Hahahahahaha

So now we are going to be having a black mushroom saison stout.
Oooo errrr
Hope the beer gods are being kind to me and that this works as a happy mistake.

 

[Hop_it]

I've used the Belle Saison yeast a couple of times, and it did not appear to be excessively phenolic (plus point). However, it ferments out to a very low FG, so your beer is likely to be very dry (probably not a good quality in a stout) . . . . . Good luck

 

[Nicks90]

AG73 black Magic has had 7 days now and surprisingly didn't climb out of the air locks!
They can be a bit lively and with saison yeast being such a monster, I was expecting 1l headspace in each dj to be cutting it a bit fine.
Fermentation has been done for 3 days now, as I left it in a warm room and it stayed about 24c the whole time for that saison edge.
So it's time to pop them in the cellar for a couple of days at 12c before bottling.

Really excited about this experiment

 

[Nicks90]

AG74
Hallertau Lager

Summer is here, I know its the wrong time of year to be brewing lagers, but I have a cold cellar so I'm doing one anyway. Not really a massive lager drinker, but I have had Sam Adams Boston lager a few times and really enjoyed the hop flavour. Hopefully this will come out as a very easy drinking summer lager for BBQs.

3.5kg Pilsner malt

19l mash at 64C for 60mins followed by a 2l jug sparge and a good bag squeeze.
Leaving 18l wort for a 60 minute boil and 15l in the FV

Hops
25g hallertau mittelfruh @60 min
25g hallertau mittelfruh @15 min

Yeast
Saflager W-34/70. pitched at 20C and then put in my cellar. Cellar is staying steady at 15C presently, so at the top end of the recommended range, but still very much within limits. Once its had a couple of weeks and looks to be more or less at target gravity, I'll put it in the middle cellar for a day and then the office to slowly bring it up to 20C for a d-rest and finish off.

Should result in about 24IBU, 3SRM and 5.2%
Once cooled it was bang on the money at 1.047.

 

[cushyno]

AG73 black Magic has had 7 days now and surprisingly didn't climb out of the air locks!
They can be a bit lively and with saison yeast being such a monster, I was expecting 1l headspace in each dj to be cutting it a bit fine.
Fermentation has been done for 3 days now, as I left it in a warm room and it stayed about 24c the whole time for that saison edge.
So it's time to pop them in the cellar for a couple of days at 12c before bottling.

Really excited about this experiment

Hmmm, how low has the gravity got to? That Belle Saison yeast can keep chugging away down towards 1.000 if you give it time. Taking the same reading 3 days apart doesn't necessarily mean its finished with a diastatic strain. You probably already know that

 

[Nicks90]

Good point cushyno
I haven't really checked with a hydrometer , it's just looks lifeless. so I might leave it another week just to be on the safe side. But I'll only be priming with 1/2 tap sugar as well and we'll see what happens!

 

[Nicks90]

AG number 75
My Favourite IPA

Back to another IPA - again a repeat of one i have done multiple times before. Very little change with this one to be honest other than using verdant IPA yeast and some oats for better head retention.

3.5kg pale malt
250g rolled oats
100gm crystal 113ebc


20l mash at 66C for 90mins followed by a 4l jug sparge and a good bag squeeze
Leaving 20l wort for a 60 minute boil and 17l in the FV

Hops
10 g Centennial BBC @30 min
10 g Cascase BBC @30 min
30 g Centennial BBC @5 min
30 g Cascase BBC @5 min

Yeast
Lallemand Verdant IPA - not used this one before, so hopefully it will do what the description says and make the hops 'pop'.

Expecting 7srm, 35ibu and 5% and should be a nice refreshing spring/summer pint out in the garden! Hit the numbers for OG and volume precisely at 1.046 and 17l

 

[Nicks90]

Mushroom experiment "Black magic" finally bottled, ended up at 1.006. I know saison yeast can go lower than that, but stouts can have higher unfermentables and it was mashed at a higher temp, so should be right.
To be on the safe side I dialed back the carb'ing sugar too. Now it's a waiting game!