PilgrimHudds Brewdays

[pilgrimhudd]

2 escapees! Never had it before but checked the brewfridge yesterday to find that both APA's had tried to get out of there fermenters!! Not sure how long they'd been like that as I last checked Tuesday morning. Anyway, took the lagged bubblers out and fitted 2 sanitised new ones.

 

[matt76]

What was the yeast? I've had this a while back with WY1272 and more recently with MJ M44 in the Chinook APA (allegedly the same strain).

In the end both times I just took the airlock out and covered the hole with cling film until the yeast stopped trying to climb out and the krausen fell - at least that way it can't explode!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Cml hell and four! Luckily no explosions and it had fallen back no harm done, just left creamy wort bubbling up and down in the bubbler and a crust on top of the bung, must have been 24 hours between me looking in the fridge.

 

[matt76]

The issue I had was the stuff in the bubbler eventually blocked it - no exaggeration, the lid had bulged up like a balloon so lucky I caught it when I did!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Christ, you wouldn't believe that could happen!!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Bottled up my Fishermans Stout this evening and I have to say at first taste i'm disappointed, watery and not particularly tasty, not much in the way of mouthfeel, colour is more dark brown than black. Aroma is nice, hints of chocolate and coffee. Obviously it's very early days, at the moment though, very meh.

FG 1012 abv 5.1%, 17 x 500ml bottles and 2 x 330ml bottles. I used sachets of demerera sugar, 4g in each sachet, 1 sachet per 500ml and 1.5 sachets used for the 2 330's.

I also labelled them as I had a bit of time, note the slight mistake in abv...

I also bottled up my apple and blackcurrant wine, there was a large glass left to spare, supping it now, it's a little tart, needs another 6 months in the bottle i reckon!

 

[foxy]

Bottled up my Fishermans Stout this evening and I have to say at first taste i'm disappointed, watery and not particularly tasty, not much in the way of mouthfeel, colour is more dark brown than black. Aroma is nice, hints of chocolate and coffee. Obviously it's very early days, at the moment though, very meh.

FG 1012 abv 5.1%, 17 x 500ml bottles and 2 x 330ml bottles. I used sachets of demerera sugar, 4g in each sachet, 1 sachet per 500ml and 1.5 sachets used for the 2 330's.

I also labelled them as I had a bit of time, note the slight mistake in abv...

I also bottled up my apple and blackcurrant wine, there was a large glass left to spare, supping it now, it's a little tart, needs another 6 months in the bottle i reckon!

View attachment 22917

I was going to carbonate my Irish stout with dark brown sugar, chickened out at the last minute and did half and half with white sugar. Tasting it tonight with 10 days in the bottle and I could have used the dark brown sugar 100%.
That Klarstein that you have can you calibrate the temperature?I was reading a thread last night where there was mention of the temperature being out of whack.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

I was going to carbonate my Irish stout with dark brown sugar, chickened out at the last minute and did half and half with white sugar. Tasting it tonight with 10 days in the bottle and I could have used the dark brown sugar 100%.
That Klarstein that you have can you calibrate the temperature?I was reading a thread last night where there was mention of the temperature being out of whack.

View attachment 22918

Well I checked mine with my other thermometer and it seems ok, only problem really is that it tends to overshoot the set temperature so I've got round that by turning down the power.

I always go with brown or demarera sugar in a dark beer, just feels right!

 

[matt76]

Bottled up my Fishermans Stout this evening and I have to say at first taste i'm disappointed, watery and not particularly tasty, not much in the way of mouthfeel, colour is more dark brown than black. Aroma is nice, hints of chocolate and coffee. Obviously it's very early days, at the moment though, very meh.

FG 1012 abv 5.1%, 17 x 500ml bottles and 2 x 330ml bottles. I used sachets of demerera sugar, 4g in each sachet, 1 sachet per 500ml and 1.5 sachets used for the 2 330's.

I also labelled them as I had a bit of time, note the slight mistake in abv...

I also bottled up my apple and blackcurrant wine, there was a large glass left to spare, supping it now, it's a little tart, needs another 6 months in the bottle i reckon!

View attachment 22917

Two things I'd say about this - firstly I think it's important to be honest with yourself if your beer turns out not to be everything you were hoping for. I tend to think of it as what would I do differently next time, what can I learn from it, recipe tweaks etc.

Secondly I remember the brown Porter I made last year being underwhelming at first taste, but after a month or two conditioning it turned out awesome - so fingers crossed!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Two things I'd say about this - firstly I think it's important to be honest with yourself if your beer turns out not to be everything you were hoping for. I tend to think of it as what would I do differently next time, what can I learn from it, recipe tweaks etc.

Secondly I remember the brown Porter I made last year being underwhelming at first taste, but after a month or two conditioning it turned out awesome - so fingers crossed!

Oats oats and and more oats next time, possibly some lactose and more black malt....

 

[matt76]

Oats oats and and more oats next time, possibly some lactose and more black malt....

Yeah, that'll work. Flaked barley can also help. The other thing is to mash at 70degC - you get less fermentable sugars so the FG should be a bit higher (famous last words!) and you can add more grain to bump the ABV back up if you want to - apparently Lagunitas IPA (6.2%) is made like this

Oh and if you're using flaked oats my tip is to do a rest at 50degC, otherwise it goes all gluey and the bag is really difficult to squeeze so your efficiency takes a nosedive

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Yeah, that'll work. Flaked barley can also help. The other thing is to mash at 70degC - you get less fermentable sugars so the FG should be a bit higher (famous last words!) and you can add more grain to bump the ABV back up if you want to - apparently Lagunitas IPA (6.2%) is made like this

Oh and if you're using flaked oats my tip is to do a rest at 50degC, otherwise it goes all gluey and the bag is really difficult to squeeze so your efficiency takes a nosedive

Yep mashed at 70c (or as close too). Good point about the rest, never think about that, will try it next time. My vanilla choc stout had lovely mouthfeel, tho I think the choc extract made it a bit too bitter, I had oats and lactose in that I may try something closer to that recipe. My next stout was going to be a licorice stout but maybe I should keep it simple and try to get the basics right first.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

So.... tried my a pint of my summer lightning clone (essentially ekg smash) and it is underwhelming, not bitter enough, its pleasant and will of course get drunk but it's not all there.

The Welsh Doom on the other hand is a very nice pint, happy with this one, it's got the right balance of malty hoppiness, I'd buy it again if I had a pint in pub.

 

[matt76]

The Welsh Doom on the other hand is a very nice pint, happy with this one, it's got the right balance of malty hoppiness, I'd buy it again if I had a pint in pub.

And THAT right there is what it's really all about. Good work fella

 

[pilgrimhudd]

And THAT right there is what it's really all about. Good work fella

Thanks mate I was beginning to think I couldnt brew anything decent with more than one hop or malt!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

For Summer Lightning the bittering hop is Challenger and EKG is flavouring.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

For Summer Lightning the bittering hop is Challenger and EKG is flavouring.

I've seen both recipes quoted, though I do have some challenger and EKG in the freezer so may try that on Tuesday!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Managed to get a 2nd attempt at a Summer Lightning today.

2.7 kg Maris Otter
200g crystal

Mashed in at 64 for an hour

23g Challenger @60
15g EKG @10
Protofloc @10

Left to cool in the boiler, drained into the FV and left to cool further in the shed, pitched at 22c with CML 'Four' and in the brewfridge at 21c.

OG 1052 shooting for 1058, it's better, gave the bag a hell of a squeeze this time. IBU's 40 EBC 11. Taste is nice, floral. Quite clear wort, looks like this could be a good one.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Summer Lightning is one of my goto recipes it's so simple but so good. I make it all year just change the name to the season lol.
Also try Exmoor Gold very similar.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Exmoor gold is a nice beer.

Had yet another escapee out of the fermenter it's getting to be a habit this!