Nicks90's Brewdays

[Nicks90]

AG number 23 Random IPA wotsit has turned out good! Little bit too bitter, but I think my flameout hops are to blame for that. Need to remember to let the wort cool a bit before bunging a ton of hops in

 

[northof49]

Completely forgot about the dry hop for my proper job IPA!!!
So decided to just do a hop tea instead. 20gm of each in to a litre boiled water thats cooled to 70C and will leave it to stew for a few hours and squeeze out the juice in to the fv.

Hi Nicks90,

I'd be interested in hearing how the hop tea compares to dry hop. I have it in my head that the ethanol in the primary/secondary could extract more flavour and aroma than the water in the tea would. Perhaps this is known already and I just haven't come across the answer.

Good luck with bottling 90 in one go. That is one task for me that always seems to take more time than it should.

Thanks,

 

[Nicks90]

Damnit, only got 2 brews bottles. But still thats 55 bottles of tangerine ipa and bitter starting to carb whilst I'm away this week.
The other IPA can wait till I get back. Frustratingly that meant I could have dry hopped the bloody thing afterall!

Also got 8 bottles of rhubarb cider bottled, so pretty productive day considering I was working. Thankfully a quiet day with no major IT outages...

 

[Nicks90]

Sneaky taste of the tangerine ipa this evening, still a way to go with carbing and therefore not as good on the nose yet - but definitely a fruity number and really very quaffable.

This will definitely be a cracker in 2 weeks time.
I think I need to check my hydrometer, as I get the abv to be 5% but my mate thinks it tastes higher. Might just be because it's a bit flat making the alcohol come through more...

 

[Nicks90]

Another sneaky taste - this time the bitter.
Blurgh!!!!!

Tastes like crap. Really harsh and nasty. No idea whats gone on, as this was brewed at the same temp (6" away from the other two brews) and for the same duration.
Just tastes nasty and smells really chemically. Well it can go away in the back of the cellar until christmas and see if its improved any. If it still tastes rank, it can get saved till next summer. You never know it might come good eventually.

 

[Nicks90]

As a follow on to dry and diagnose this taste - i did a variety of experiments with tap water left in the fridge, some with a minute amount of bleach and some with a minute amount of salts.... and taste tested them against the bitter.
Result is chlorophenols.
Wife cant really smell or taste it, but to me its really strong. So i may just be sensitive to it.
however that lead me on to why this one tastes bad but the other two batches arent..... Bottling. I ran out of my usual sterilising tablets and made up a bleach/vinegar solution to clean and sanitise my bottles. I bet i made it too strong and didnt rinse enough and its got a chlorine dose. Damn Damn Damn

 

[Nicks90]

Anyhow. time for another brew. But this time a little different to normal in that i want a large brew and will back liquor it to a sensible OG and also using Golden Promise for the first time. No reason other than i fancied it.

AG 27 Big Bitter

5kg Golden Promise Malt
50gm Caraffa II
400gm Crystal 145ebc

15l mash at 65c for an hour followed by a 10l dunk sparge and a good bag squeeze
Leaving 22l wort for a 60 minute boil - ended up with 17l in the FV

Hops
20 g Progress 60 min
20 g First Gold 60 min
20 g Progress 0 min
20 g First Gold 0 min

Yeast, Llalemande Notty

now I've not really done a significant back liquor before, so relying heavily on the tools on brewers friend. But if i make up the post boil volume to 23l, i should end up with IBU 31, SRM 25, OG 1.055 – will update tomorrow on how it all looks and if i hit the numbers.
No bleach anywhere in sight on this one!

 

[Nicks90]

A nd after a hard day working and brewing - time for a pint of my tangerine IPA to wash away a busy week!

 

[Nicks90]

AG 27 Big Bitter
Hmmm. Didn't hit my numbers again, 21l and 1.047

I need to revisit my whole process as just recently my efficiency has dropped by like 10 points
Still if it attenuates out fully, it'll be 4.5% and should be a tasty session bitter.

 

[matt76]

AG 27 Big Bitter
Hmmm. Didn't hit my numbers again, 21l and 1.047

I need to revisit my whole process as just recently my efficiency has dropped by like 10 points
Still if it attenuates out fully, it'll be 4.5% and should be a tasty session bitter.

When you liquored back did you give it a good stir to mix in the water before you took your gravity sample?

 

[Nicks90]

Yes i did. I had 17l in the FV last night and once cooled this morning i took a reading. Unfortunately it was nowhere near as high as i hoped, hence why i only liquored back to 21l instead of my planned 23l. Even then i am slightly under the OG i was aiming for by 3 points.

So as a test of my process and my equipment, i am doing a small simple SMASH

AG 28 Citra SMASH

2.5kg Golden Promise
17l full volume mash at 65C. This time using 2 thermometers to ensure they are reading correct.
Done a 2 hour mash this time to absolutely ensure everything is converted and the kettle
was wrapped up nice and warm and only dropped 3C in that time. Proper bag squeeze and i ended up with 15l for a 60 min boil.

Hops
20gm Citra at 30min
10gm Citra whirpool
20gm Citra dryhop at day 5

Expecting to see 10l in to the FV and should be hitting 1.045 and 35IBU
As there are no funky adjuncts, crystal or wheetabix, I am hoping this will give me a good validated baseline of what my equipment is doing. Will feedback tomorrow on what i get.
Whatever happens, it'll be dosed with some S-05 yeast and it'll be getting drunk!!!

 

[Nicks90]

I hit exactly 10l with an og of 1.048
Spot on!
So conclusions are I'm rushing and possibly not paying as much attention on my other brews, complacency leading to inefficiency!
Also going to adopt a 2hr mash from this point as well, as that was my only deviation from the normal process.

 

[Nicks90]

The small batch citra smash has died right down over the past 24 hours, so time to pop the dry hop in!
25g of smelly goodness dropped in for the next 7 days and aiming to bottle this and my bitter next weekend.

 

[Nicks90]

AG 29 Little Stout

2kg Golden Promise
0.15Kg Carafa III
0.1KG Crystal 145ebc
0.1KG Oats
15l full volume mash at 67C for 2 hours, followed by a proper bag squeeze and i ended up with 13l for a 45 min boil.

Hops
10gm First Gold at 30min
10gm Progress at 30min

Currently have 10l in to the FV cooling down, Will check tomorrow but should be hitting 1.050 OG. Shooting for SRM of 30 and 30 IBU
Good old S05 yeast to do the business and i reckon we'll get this one ready for new years eve if I'm lucky!

 

[Nicks90]

Sneaky taste of the citra smash.
Its very nice, if a little flat - as it's not had long enough to carb up yet. But have to admit it's a little one dimensional. But that's not a surprise with it being a smash. Still, once it's fizzed up it'll get quaffed quite happily over Christmas!

 

[Nicks90]

And just for completeness I had a taste of the bitter too. Very malty and complex. This is going to be a cracker in a few weeks!

 

[cossie.j]

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading all this. Kudos to you sir, it sounds as though you’ve brewed some lovely beers and enjoyed it too.

 

[Nicks90]

AG 29 Little Stout

All cooled and checked, exactly 10.5l of wort and an og of 1.050 - spot on my numbers! Normal service resumed and lesson learnt not to try brewing whilst bobbing in and out of the office and taking part in conference calls!
Been bubbling away at a steady 18c for 2 days. In 3 days I'll raise it to 22c to finish off and then hopefully bottle it Sunday. 8 days brew to bottle is pushing it, but I've pitched plenty of yeast for the batch size and s05 is pretty damned quick usually.
It can get carb'd up in my airing cupboard for a change (sits around 22c) in the hope it's carbs and ready to go in the cellar and start drinking for new year! I know 3 weeks isn't a realistic turnaround time for a stout, but you never know!

 

[Nicks90]

So the little stout has been carbing for a week and now a sneaky taste.
Hmmmmmm!
Chocolatey coffee-y malty goodness in a glass! Oh yes.
This is going to get demolished next Tuesday!!!!
Who says stouts can't be done quickly
Although I will keep 4 back for a month to see how it is after some conditioning

 

[Nicks90]

Just realised I made a mistake with my recipe on my last bitter.
I wrote (and thought I had used) carafa 11. But taking stock before I put an order in to the HBC, I actually used choccy malt!
Well I never. Definitely going to do that again, as this bitter is an absolute pleasure!