pennine's brewdays

[Pennine]

I plan something similar for my next brew. I haven't worked out the hop's yet. I have a load of noble to choose from. Saaz, hallertau, tettnang
I have 5kg of Eraclea malt for it

Yeah this was kind of a user upper with all the nobles I had in the freezer. And I
did not have any pilsner malt...

I seem to have bought us versions of saaz and tettnang which I am not too happy with. Terroir and all that.

Anyway I read to brew a pilsner urquell you need to hop heavy. So that's what I did.

 

[Pennine]

I have a bag of pale malt and vienna I need to use up so I am going to run through some experiments over the next few brews.

Water comparison 3:1 Sulfates/Chlorides and vice versa - Also to test out the base recipe and single hop with cascade.

Then I will also do the following yeast split batches
US-05 vs. S-04 English Ale
US-05 vs.T58 Belgian Ale
US-05 vs. M15 Empire Ale
US-05 vs. 34/70 Weihenspephan Lager
US-05 vs.M54 California Lager

I will just brew up a normal 10l batch and then split these two in between two 9 liter bucket fermenters. I also picked up 2 of these kegs to keg these batches rather than bottling.

Amazon.com: YaeBrew Stainless Steel 1.6 Gallon Mini Ball Lock Keg System For Small Batch HomeBrewing Beer Brewing Strap Handle (6L): Home & Kitchen

I will also plan on using different hops for each batch to also cycle through the hops I have in the freezer. I was thinking about keeping these the same but figured that would get a bit too boring. And always comparing back to US-05 will hopefully highlight the differences between the yeast and hops. So essentially two comparisons per batch.

 

[Pennine]

214 - Cascades Pale Ale
11l batch - 1.052/1.015 - Mash 67

First of the experiments, this is the base recipe, just a simple pale ale with more traditional hopping to 35 IBUs. The plan for this one is to split into two 5l batches and then add salts post boil to each in a 3:1 ratio Sulfates and Chlorides.

Amt​	Name​	%/IBU​
1.90 kg​	Pale Ale (Proximity) (6.9 EBC)​	76.9 %​
0.45 kg​	Vienna (Proximity) (6.9 EBC)​	18.2 %​
0.12 kg​	Caramel Malt - 10L (Briess) (19.7 EBC)​	4.9 %​
20.00 g​	Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 45.0 min​	23.0 IBUs​
10.00 g​	Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min​	7.6 IBUs​
10.00 g​	Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min​	4.5 IBUs​
1.0 pkg​	Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml]​	-​

Here are the profiles, I tried to get them in ratio and also close in values of sulfate/chloride around 200ppm and Ca around 115ppm

3:1 Chloride/Sulfate

3:1 Sulfate/Chloride

Time to drill some tap holes in the buckets while the mash is on.

An interesting observation the 0.3/1 Sulphate to Chloride batch took about 12 hours longer to start bubbling the airlock.

 

[Pennine]

Some shiny objects arrived today. Time to get the regulator set up now.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Will be watching your experiments with great interest

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

the 0.3/1 Sulphate to Chloride batch took about 12 hours longer to start bubbling the airlock.

Mmmm that is interesting

 

[foxbat]

Some shiny objects arrived today. Time to get the regulator set up now.

View attachment 67325

They look nice. Are they repurposed milk kegs?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

They look nice. Are they repurposed milk kegs?

Carbonated milk

 

[Pennine]

They look nice. Are they repurposed milk kegs?

No they are new kegs from Amazon, they come in smaller sizes. The ones in the front are 6l and the one in the back is 10l. They are also stackable. I think I can get at least 4 in the fridge at a time maybe even 6.

 

[St00]

As far as stainless steel can look sexy, they're almost at Jessica Rabbit Levels.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

As far as stainless steel can look sexy, they're almost at Jessica Rabbit Levels.

Unfortunately, sexy or not, Amazon UK price is just plain silly:

 

[Pennine]

Unfortunately, sexy or not, Amazon UK price is just plain silly:

View attachment 67340

Wow much cheaper over here.
$83 for 10l and $69 for the 6l

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Wow much cheaper over here.
$83 for 10l and $69 for the 6l

Ah now this is a bit more like it!
https://kegthat.com/product/10-cornelius-keg/

 

[Pennine]

Did a head to head with a German pils compared to an American lager.

At first glance you can see, 12oz vs 11oz otherwise the MHL has more carbonation. Color wise they are the same.

Aroma of the warsteiner is bready and malt out of the bag. MHL is corn with a hint of malt.

Flavour the warsteiner is pure pilsner malty, there is some hop bitterness that comes through in the end. The water is a bit more minerally but we'll balanced.

The MHL is balanced between corn and malt but has a weird artificial flavour going on, maybe due to the syrup? It's sharper up front and almost amkes you think it's more bitter than it is but is actually the carbonate bite. I swirled it to get the carbonation levels the same as the warsteiner and there I cannot pick out any hops at all. The water seems very soft and creamy almost.

Overall the Warsteiner is the much better of the two. I knew Miller wasnt as good but doing it side by side really highlighted the differences. It's an ok beer to drink cold on a hot day but beyond that its not that good. The warsteiner is very enjoyable though.

 

[Pennine]

Brewing up a Czech pilsner, and per PU directions I am going to try a mini single decoction. I will photo the steps as I go.

Mashing at 66c for 30 min before I pull some to decoct.

Ph 5.26 exactly as expected.

Pulling off the mash.

Added some wort.

Start of the boil.

It's drying out.

End of boil.

Added back to mash.

Color check, decoction on the right. No noticeable difference. Likely I didn't boil enough?

 

[St00]

Decoction is definitely on my list of things to try soon, but I need to buy a hotplate first. Not sure I could justify the cost for something I may not use again.

 

[Pennine]

215 - Czech Lager Clone Attempt 1
11l batch - 1.057/1.015 - Mash 66 small singe decoction

Well overshot efficiency on this one, was targeting 1.050 and ended with 1.057 must have been either a better malt or maybe the decoction? I didn't have any water left over to dilute it down, so here we are. I also apparently bought the wrong yeast and ended up with Bud's yeast, let's see how it does. It's fermenting away and is probably the most active Wyeast yeast I have ever seen. I wonder if it will be a bit cleaner and less diacetyl? It seems like it is on the other side of the wheel from the actual pilsner urquell yeast but close to 34/70.

Amt​	Name​	%/IBU​
2.20 kg​	Pilsner (Weyermann) (3.3 EBC)​	88.0 %​
0.30 kg​	Vienna (Proximity) (6.9 EBC)​	12.0 %​
20.00 g​	Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 60.0 min​	16.1 IBUs​
15.00 g​	Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 30.0 min​	9.5 IBUs​
15.00 g​	Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 20.0 min​	7.4 IBUs​
15.00 g​	Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 10.0 min​	4.5 IBUs​
1.0 pkg​	Pilsen Lager (Wyeast Labs #2007) [124.21 ml]​	-​

 

[Pennine]

Archiving this for later. It has the WB&D Italian Pils recipe in it.

https://homebrewingdiy.beer/index.php/2021/07/06/deep-dive-on-brewing-italian-pilsners/

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

How well would adding some extra sparge water and boiling down the first runnings to about 1/4 or so of it's original volume work as a way of mimicking a decoction?
I have pondered trying it in a doppelbock and a Czech dark pilsner somewhere in the future.

 

[samale]

Archiving this for later. It has the WB&D Italian Pils recipe in it.

https://homebrewingdiy.beer/index.php/2021/07/06/deep-dive-on-brewing-italian-pilsners/

I have an Italian pils on my radar. I have all the ingredients, I plan on keeping it simple, 5kg Eraclea malt. Just need to work out the hop's, I have a good few German noble hops to choose from