Nicks90's Brewdays

[Nicks90]

AG 113
winter Warmer taste test - well more than a test, I'm ploughing through it at a rate of knots....

 

[Nicks90]

AG 115M mosaic / El Dorado IPA taste test.
Good head retention and very hoppy, but I have to admit I'm not a massive fan of the hop combo. Bit too much of one thing if that makes sense. it would be vastly improved with a citrus hit.
Don't get me wrong, it will all get drink... alcoholic after all.... But it's not my favourite

 

[Nicks90]

the mosaic IPA after an additional week has completely changed its flavour profile.
Believe it or not it's starting to taste 'sweeter' with more of a fruity after note, sooo different it's almost like another beer!

 

[Nicks90]

AG 117
Second of Three English Ales

Part two is a Foxbat mainline bitter. Well it was going to be until i realised i had to substitute so much stuff that i didnt realise i had run out of - that its now just a general dark ale!!!! hahahaha
Decided to mash this at a slightly higher temperature than normal to give it a bit more body and malt forward profile. I know it affects efficiency, but that doesnt bother me too much.

3.5kg Maris Otter
150g crystal 145ebc
50g chocolate malt
50g Special X

18l mash at 69c for 60mins, 3l rinse sparge over the kettle
Leaving 19l wort for a 60 minute boil and 16l in the FV.

Hops
10gm Challenger @60min
10gm EKG @60min
10gm Challenger @5min
10gm EKG @5min

Yeast
Lallemand Windsor yeast

Brew day went perfectly and I got an OG of 1.042 and exactly 16l of wort. It should be a very sessionable 3.7% with 30IBU and pale at 15SRM

 

[Nicks90]

AG 118
Third of Three English Ales

Part three is a stout. Thick and black and creamy - but again following the same theme of part 1 and 2 and using the same yeast and hops.
Chcuked pretty much everything i had left that was dark in to this one. It will be what it will be, a user-upper.

3.5kg Maris Otter
130g carafa iii
100g chocolate malt
35g Special X
200g rolled oats

18l mash at 69c for 60mins, 3l rinse sparge over the kettle
Leaving 19l wort for a 60 minute boil and 16l in the FV.

Hops
10gm Challenger @60min
10gm EKG @60min
10gm Challenger @5min
10gm EKG @5min

Yeast
Lallemand Windsor yeast

Brew day went ok, other than spilling a bit and making a big stain down my trousers..... But I got an OG of 1.050 and 16l of wort. Expecting a middle of the road 4.3% with 30IBU and dark at 27SRM

 

[Nicks90]

AG 119
Amarillo IPA

Brew house is in full swing this week with my 3rd brew done and dusted! This time its back to IPAs and a mash up that i love of Amarillo and Summit hops. This always makes a beautiful hop pairing in my book, with good citrus and bitterness.

3.5kg Maris Otter
100gm crystal 40 ebc

18l mash at 66c for 60mins, 3l rinse sparge over the kettle
Leaving 19l wort for a 60 minute boil and 16l in the FV.

Hops
10gm Summit @30min
20gm Amarillo @5min
20gm Summit @5min
20gm Amarillo dry hop on day 5

Yeast
Verdunt IPA that i had in the fridge from my last IPA

Brew day was a bit chaotic, as some friends came round half way through so i kept having to say "hold that thought" and leg it out to put in hops etc.... but got it done right in the end!
Expecting a good sessionable IPA with an OG of 1.048, fairly heavy at 45ibu and very pale at 5srm. Should come out at about 4.5% i reckon.

 

[Nicks90]

Ag117 Second of three ales taste test
Wow that's good! Real fruity malty backbone with a pleasant bitterness and smooth aftertaste

Considering it's so young and still needs maturing, I am very happy with it.
I'm putting that down to the use of special x, adding a real brucy bonus to the proceedings

 

[Nicks90]

Three of three ales line up!
All need some time to condition, but they are all very drinkable beers. It's really cool to see the similarity between the three by using exactly the same hops and yeast and base and just altering the additions to make the three different styles. Really amazed at how the percieved hop profile also subtly changes with the flavour contribution of the different malts. Bit hard to explain, but definitely there!
I meant to take a picture of each poured (had a few friends round so we did some taste testing) but we got stuck in to a bottle of blackberry wine and it all went a bit Pete tong..

 

[Nicks90]

AG 120
Last of my grain Saison

Stocks are now running very low, almost nothing left in the grain barrel at all! Clearing out the last of the ingredients with a cheeky saison before i put my next HBS order in. I know challenger isnt a traditional saison hop, but what the hell.... spicy and floral should go with the pepper tartness of the saison.

3.2kg Maris Otter
8gm crystal 140 ebc

18l mash at 66c for 60mins, 3l rinse sparge over the kettle
Leaving 19l wort for a 60 minute boil and 16l in the FV.

Hops
25gm Challenger @30 min
15gm Challenger @15 min

Yeast
Belle Saison of course!

Bang on my numbers with an OG of 1.047, 30ibu and typical 7srm. Will bung the brew belt on for this and ferment it at a warm 25C. Should come out at about 5% i reckon.

 

[thepatchworkdoll]

Nice one as usual Nick.
Regards
Patch

 

[Nicks90]

AG 119 amarillo IPA taste test.
this one has carbd up really quickly, so decided to have a very early taste.

not bad, not bad at all. Still needs a bit more fizz to reduce bubble size and make a tighter head, but another week will sort that. And the hop combo is really in your face, proper " I'm an IPA! " statement

 

[Nicks90]

AG 121
Last of my grain IPA

hahaha, I thought my grain was finished on my last saison brew, but then discovered some more ingredients in my second bucket. No idea how long they have been there - maybe 6 months or so perhaps? But its getting used either way for a really hoppy IPA

2kg Maris Otter
80gm crystal 140 ebc

15l mash at 66c for 60mins with a 2l rinse over the kettle
Leaving 15l wort for a 60 minute boil and 11l in the FV.

Hops
75gm Summit @2 min
25gm Amarillo @2 min

yep - you read that right. Timing is everything and 100gm of hops are going in with 2 mins left of the boil. So I am essentially getting all my bitterness from flameout hop addition. I am hoping if i dont screw it up i should have about 40ibus ........

Yeast
Safale S-05 just for a change

Expecting an OG of 1.045, 40ibu and typical 7srm. I have no idea how many IBUs it will impart on the cooling phase from 100-80C - so the calculator is showing it as 30ibu, but i reckon it will go up during the few minutes as it cools.
Sod it, we all love an experiment.

 

[Nicks90]

Don't know how but I ballsed that up and ended up measuring the wrong quantity of water and ended up with 14l in the fv. Needless to say the og was way too low.
So being the utter cowboy I am and not wanting to make a brew that doesn't balance abv with ibu, I dumped 250gm sugar in.

I know, I know, it'll be drier than a witches *** and make it thinner... But it's got some crystal in there and it's only a little bit. Plus the huge hop bill should over power anything with regards the malt being old, crappy proces or sugar addition.
Sod it, it's beer and as I'm a functional alcoholic and as long as it's more or less in style I will drink it.

 

[Nicks90]

AG 122
Coronation Spring Ale

HB order has arrived and I need to top up my stocks. This will be a big volume pale spring ale, that hopefully will be fully conditioned and ready in time for the May Coronation celebrations where i can share it with my neighbours at our (still to be planned) street party!

5kg Maris Otter

18l mash at 66c for 60mins with a 8l dunk sparge in hot water for 15 minutes
Leaving 22l wort for a 60 minute boil and 17l in the FV.
Back liquored to 23l using boiled and cooled water

Hops
20gm EKG @ 30 mins
20gm Fuggles @ 30 mins
20gm EKG @ 5 mins
20gm Fuggles @ 5 mins

Yeast
Lalbrew Nottingham

After back liquoring I was bang on with an OG of 1.045, should be about 25ibu and SMASH pale at 5srm. Expecting a session-able 4.5% abv

 

[Nicks90]

AG 121
Last of my grain IPA
early taste test - wow!
Still got a week or so to go before it's properly ready, but wow!
Smashes you in the face with hops and you can't taste anything else for 30mins afterwards.
Once it's got it's full fizz and can contribute more nasal stimulation it will be super intense!

 

[Nicks90]

AG 123
Nelsons Revenge

HB order has arrived and I included some 'new to me' hops and yeasts for me to try over the coming months. One i have read a lot about but never used is Nelson Sauvin, a New Zealand hop that has a taste range from citrus to mango and gooseberry, which are supplemented by hints of pepper and allspice. This sounds intriguing, so decided to bang on a simple SMASH to let the hops do its thing.

4kg Maris Otter

18l mash at 66c for 60mins with a 5l dunk sparge in hot water for 15 minutes
Leaving 21l wort for a 60 minute boil and 17l in the FV.


Hops
25gm Nelson Sauvin @ 5 mins
75gm Nelson Sauvin whirlpool at 80C for remainder of chill and settle (approx 1 hour)


Yeast
Mangrove Jack West coast IPA M44

Efficiency wasnt quite what i normally get, was targetting 1.055 but ended up with 1.052 Not to worry its not a million miles out. Should be about 40ibu and SMASH pale at 5srm. Expecting a fairly punchy 5.5% abv

Only issue i had besides a slight efficiency drop, was i left the lid half on when i came to the boil and now have hot break all over the place and down the sides of the kettle. So big clean up job to do.

 

[Nicks90]

AG 124
Mosaic and Cascade IPA

Might as well reuse the west coast ipa yeast from the nelson sauvin ipa that i have just bottled and came across a couple of half bags of hops in the freezer. Mosaic and cascade arent your usual bedfellows, but i have done this pairing before and found it to be very tasty, as long as you dont let the mosaic over power the cascade!

3.5kg Maris Otter
100gm crystal 40ebc
20gm dark crystal for colour

18l mash at 68c for 60mins with a 5l dunk sparge in hot water for 15 minutes
Leaving 20l wort for a 30 minute boil and 16l in the FV.

Hops
10gm Mosaic @ 30 mins
20gm Mosaic @ 5 mins
40gm cascade @ 5 mins

Yeast
Mangrove Jack West coast IPA M44

Bang on with an OG of 1.045, should be about 38ibu and 9srm. Expecting a session-able 4.5% abv

 

[Nicks90]

AG 122 Coronation Spring Ale
First taste test. That will do nicely, considering it's 4 weeks grain to glass it's very nice indeed.
couple of weeks before the big day, so it's all locked up in the cellar at 12c for the duration and hopefully it'll go down a storm with the neighbours

 

[Nicks90]

AG 123
Nelsons Revenge - first taste test

Blurgh. Don't like it. Very wine-y and overly pepper-y
Not pleasant at all. I know I put all 100gm in to a smallish batch, and I should have probably been a bit more judicious in its application, but it's horrid.

One to be put away at the back of the cellar and left for a few months to see if it sorts itself out.
And if it doesn't, it will still get drunk. But only once there is no other beer, wine, whiskey or gin left....

 

[Nicks90]

AG 125
Roasted brown ale

\i got a bag of roasted barley in my last HB order and been dying to do a darker malty ale - so this is it. Will be interested to see what this adds to the party in terms of mouthfeel and flavour.

3.5kg Maris Otter
100gm crystal 145ebc
50gm roasted barley

18l mash at 68c for 60mins with a 5l dunk sparge in hot water for 15 minutes
Leaving 21l wort for a 60 minute boil and 17l in the FV.

Hops
20gm EKG @ 60 mins
20gm EKG @ 5 mins
20gm Fuggles @ 5 mins

Yeast
Lalbrew Nottingham

Bang on with an OG of 1.045, should be about 25ibu and 13srm. Expecting a session-able 4.5% abv