Niman Brew day

[Niman]

Ok ive managed to relocate most of my kit to the new shed and thought it needed broke in.

I usually brew a tad earlier in the day than how this panned out but i needed to do a few bits and tbh had a bit of a hangover.

Bought a new hose so i could use my cooler

at about 1530 i though sod it im gonna brew.

recipe
10kilo minch
750 grms roasted barley
500 grams chocolate malt
250 grms flaked barley
about 400 grams treacle

hops 60 grams challenger

milled the darker grains heated 30 ish ltrs water to desired temp..


started to dough in......then the penny dropped....did i put bazooka filter in?....checked other shed and found em both so no i hadnt..


by this point i maybe had 5 ar 6 kilos stirred in....

Panic.....fermenters filled

filter installed

restart..

needless to say with the faffing about i lost way to much temp....

so had to reheat a load of water to raise it..lets just say the igloo was well full..

at this stage i knew i was gonna be brewing by torchlight

so pretty much got back on track..

with the bigger brews moving stuff about gets complicated...so 3 tier becomes 2....runnings into fermenters then back to boiler..
(i do have a pump but not sussed it out yet)


by the time it came to boiling i was thinking "im not getting to bed tonight" had planned on a 90 min boil.....was reduced to 75

rest of brew went ok , cept i lost light

oh and forgot to take OG readings so no idea

didnt do a clean up cause it was pitch black was well after 11 and i was moving about the bottom of garden with a very bright torch ..gave the neighbours a break and called it a day


Batch was split into 2 fermenters

one with s04
other with a liquid yeast irish ale i think...

wed it didnt stop raining here so never even looked at shed..

went out tonight and by how sticky the stuff was i had spilled im thinking it might be ok

both fermenters are in the shed ....surrounded by cardboard..

both showing signs of fermentation....liquid yeast more lively of the 2

so finger crossed

 

[clibit]

Big job then! How big was the batch?

 

[Niman]

45 litres ...

 

[clibit]

Lots of stout! You could've taken OG reading in the morning?

 

[Niman]

bit of a follow up had a nosy at the fermenters earlier ...the dried yeast still a stack of foam on top..

the irish ale yeast however had subsided.

its getting there
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=2431&stc=1&d=1439505933


Hopefully Sun will be next brewday as ive a friend coming to help.(it will end up messy and a sore head will follow no doubt)

im hoping to brew another stout/porter

kinda hoping the readings drop a bit over the next few days so i can pitch on the yeast cake (for the first time)

 

[Niman]

Todays Brew "Robust Porter"
batch 45 litres
8500gms pale malt
500 gms chocolate
250 gms flaked barley
250 gms black malt
200gms carafaIII
65 grams challenger
90 min boil.

productive though long day

collected a friend early this morning arrived home 10 ish
walked friend and dog to get 2120 train....

did manage to visit work a few times and have a bbq mind

and bottle half of last brew.


after bottling half of new batch pitched on yeast cake (wlp004 irish ale )

second half i used so4 though i did forget to add yeast,,,,that was todays **** up and considering id had a few wasnt bad....

will update...

pre boil the wort was an amazing deep red colour...but tbh tasted a little bland compared to the stout...

post boil it had darkened a lot and the dark malts really came through

have high hopes for this 1

 

[ManseMasher]

Sounds really good - bang 300g licorice in when you prime - I made a syrup with it and molasses, powerful brew.....

 

[Niman]

Sounds really good - bang 300g licorice in when you prime - I made a syrup with it and molasses, powerful brew.....

the plan for this one was a session beer ( i may have gone a bit higher than planned)

last few pales had honey added at end and the last stout treacle...


Mmm might do something different with part of batch...couldnt be worse than my bomb beer.....

 

[ManseMasher]

I liked the bomb - nuclear brown?!!

 

[Niman]

i cant even remember what it was....

no one would try one today.....

 

[Niman]

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=2471&stc=1&d=1439927845


MMMMMmmm can you guess which fermenter was so lively?

 

[ManseMasher]

You making a mess in your new shed?!!

 

[Niman]

working on it...looks like a bombs hit it...faffed about a while this evening so kinda taking shape again...couldnt be arsed looking in yesterday was all aches and pains from Sunday....

never had a brew crease the lid before...

id meant to fill a few jars with the slurry on Sunday but it got a bit busy and i didnt bother..will take some off this batch..

 

[Niman]

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=2540&stc=1&d=1440447323


after such a violent start i thought id take a reading tonight...

guess i might be bottling tomorrow...

 

[Niman]

Finally got round to bottling half of this

 

[Niman]

Busy weekend one way or another

House of homebrew had loads of malts in so grabbed a few sat morning

bottled a bit last night...as post above...

bought a few sierra nevada and a few west indies guinness yesterday....had a few pints of the draught stout for quality control reasons..

friend texted me last night and asked if i was brewing today i said yes....so i had a helper..


was planning a bass clone but that went out the window thanks to Manses hoppy pale...which put me in the notion for something hoppy..

and i need something sessionable as my last lot of brews are kinda drink 4 and fall over...


so i got a text at 857 asking me if i was up and going to brew ..i lied and said yes

got myself sorted

printed off a bass clone recipe....


opened shed up had a nosey at what i had lying about....


then the recipe went out window


final brew

45 litre batch(didnt work out)
7kg Minch
500grms warminster crystal
75grm challenger 60mins
25 gms fuggles 30
25 grms fuggles 15
irish moss in at same time
and Manses new chiller..

lost loads in boil off and pot nearly boiled over which was a first and a little unexpected....

the bigger cooler worked a treat cooled contents to mid 20's in about 25 mins.

added water at end to make up volumes...

at this point it was funny cause i had filled a carboy then a bucket realised the bucket only had 15 litres in it...

at this point 2 grown men had a long discussion how to resolve the problem (both sober which was unusual)
so carboy was lifted and tipped so both vessels about the same volume. (glass is way heavy which involved lots of giggles swearing and men of a certain ages making involuntary grunting noises)

so both topped up till about 20 litres..

i thought og was gonna be very low..1042 so not to bad
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=2611&stc=1&d=1440964946


the cooler is not a slinky u would want to meet coming in your direction.
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=2610&stc=1&d=1440964946

 

[Niman]

Should have added the beer was brewed to the sound of the *** pistols (the younger readers may want to use google) so its gonna taste good

and half the day was spent swatting wasps which was fine for me but my friend who reacts badly to stings didnt see the funny side...


final score was 5 -1 to me ....

 

[Niman]

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=2618&stc=1&d=1441135492

Hangover permitting this is my plan for tomorrow....

 

[Niman]

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=2619&stc=1&d=1441142731

too bitter?

 

[GlentoranMark]

What beer style are you trying to make? I've been playing around with an Android App called Wort Home Brew Calculator When it came to Hops, I found the following site useful. I just tweaked my Hops until they fell into the range for the Brown Porter style I want to brew.