PilgrimHudds Brewdays

[pilgrimhudd]

Bottled up the 80 shilling and exmoor stag clone yesterday evening.

The 80 shilling finished up at 1018, a couple of points higher than it should have done making it 5.5%, it tastes sweet, malty and I reckon once it bottle conditions for a while will be rather tasty. 50g sugar, there was a lot of trub, only got 8 litres into bottles.

The Exmoor Stag clone attempt tastes nothing like Exmoor Stag however it is very nice. Chocolatey and full of body,perhaps more chocolatey than some that i've brewed that were meant to be chocolatey! Bottled up with 80g sugar and had 17l into various bottles. Finished at 1014 which leaves it at 5%,

In other news I have a fridge which will fit two of my big FV's, an inkbird and heater will be my next purchase and I can get some proper temp control.

 

[matt76]

In other news I have a fridge which will fit two of my big FV's, an inkbird and heater will be my next purchase and I can get some proper temp control.

Well jell

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Brewed up a Weizenbock last night

3.6kg Wheat Malt
2.4 kg Munich
250g Carawheat
120g Choc Wheat

Mashed in at 66c for 1 hour.

48g Saaz at 60 mins
protofloc at 15mins

Cooled with wort chiller to 40c then chucked in FV to cool further in the garage overnight, pitched at 21c with Munich wheat yeast (lallemand) then put in the brew fridge set at 19c.

OG 1062 (a little short) and 22l in the FV. Wort tasted lovely, very sweet.

Brewed this one late last night only got the chiller in at just gone midnight, by quarter to one temp had dropped to 40c, i was knackered so I put it in the FV and left it till this morning. Trouble is I had re hydrated my yeast last night, wasn't sure if it was still ok (infection/dead etc) so didn't want to chance it and made another.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Plan is to raise the temp in the brew fridge by 1 degree every 4 days or so to 21c once I start seeing some action.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Weizenbock bubbling away beautifully in the brew fridge, just pitched some yeast into my apple and blackberry wine.

Had one of my Clansman beers last night, think i'm going to have to ditch them, an awful chemically taste still, very disappointing as my first batch was lovely. Can't quite put my finger on the taste, if it's fusel alcohol or not, anyway, it's not pleasant.

I'm going to stick to Black IPA and Abbey Ale tonight.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Interestingly I started to ditch the Clansman, I had one cold the other night so it wasn't all that fizzy, took the tops off them all warm and they all gushed, reckon I had an infection brewing in there. This was the one where the yeast didn't get working so it was stuck for 4 days with nothing happening.

 

[matt76]

That sucks mate, but at least you have some idea what went wrong and can avoid making the same mistake again - onwards and upwards

 

[pilgrimhudd]

That sucks mate, but at least you have some idea what went wrong and can avoid making the same mistake again - onwards and upwards

Bit concerned about the bottles and possibility of cross infection, might zap them in the oven for extra reassurance!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

32 bottles of the bleddy stuff!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

My NEIPA from last night, has lost a bit of it's golden hue... tastes nice, silky mouthfeel, feels like you're drinking more than beer if you know what I mean. Doesn't quite have the hoppiness of the style but is still a decent start in my opinion. May send it off to the September competition!

 

[matt76]

So despite the colour change you mentioned you're otherwise happy with the NEIPA?

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Yep, it's nice, hasn't carbed up as much as I would like but am happy with it yep.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Busy day today, bottled up the Weizenbock, got a lot in the FV with this one so 20l into various bottles, 130g sugar boiled and chucked in the bottling bucket. FG was 1014 which gives a tidy 6.3%. Tasted very nice so am looking forward to this one.

Also brewed up a Dunkelweizen from GH's book, the builders and a plumber were working on the house today so I did this one on the hob but still wanted to get around 17l in the FV. My stock pot only holds 10l.....

I used 60% of the recipe for the 23l brew, mashed at 65 for an hour and boiled with 32g Tettnang at 60 mins. First time i've used this hop.

500g dme into the pot stirred and poured into the FV with 7l of cold bottled water. Stirred and took a gravity reading, came out at 1030 so decided to add some sugar, in went 400g of cane sugar diluted in boiled water. It was then that I had another look at the gravity reading, I hadn't allowed for temp had I!! It was around the 1045 mark which while still a touch low wasn't the end of the world.

It was getting late by this point so I put the FV into the brew fridge to cool down and pitched Kristallweizen (cml) yeast at 25c, however the brew fridge is set to 18c. So it'll get there sometime tonight, it's bubbling like mad already!

The wort tasted lovely, very raisiny which I presume to be the Special B, if I haven't cocked it up with the sugar this one might be good!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Busy day for you then, blimey! I find just one brew taxing enough!

I'll be interested to know how the 80/ turns out - my impression/memory of these Scottish beers (which is probably wrong) is that they're quite sweet and heavy going. That said I've often flicked past them in the book and thought I should give them a go sometime.

GH says OG 1.052 - my guess would be is you're just getting slightly better efficiency then whatever he assumes. I suppose if you were feeling really enthusiastic/want extra homework then you could put the grain bill into Brewer's Friend or whatever and fiddle with the efficiency until you match his OG.

Just tried a pint of the 80 @matt76, it's sweet but not heavy going, malty and has a floral aftertaste. It's very nice and would defo recommend.

 

[matt76]

Just tried a pint of the 80 @matt76, it's sweet but not heavy going, malty and has a floral aftertaste. It's very nice and would defo recommend.

Nice one, thanks for that - will have to add it to my "to brew" list

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Timed this horribly, the builders are in, kitchen is out and no lights downstairs, so bottled in the bathroom, FV sat on the bog. Teaspoon of sugar in each bottle.

31 × 500ml bottles FG of 1008, finally got past 1012, tasted fruity but the smell, wow, bananas!!!! I have a feeling it may end up like one of those herbal teas smells better than it tastes, however we will wait and see!

 

[matt76]

I assume this is the Dunkelweizen, hence the banana smell?

 

[pilgrimhudd]

I assume this is the Dunkelweizen, hence the banana smell?

Ha! That would help, yes it was the dunkel.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

I read that higher fermentation temps make it more banana, the fermented at 18 for the first week, 19 the second and 21 for the 3rd, is that particularly high? The yeast packet said fermentation temps of between 15-25.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

****... just tried my weizenbock, tastes awful, just like the clansman, I have an infection, time to double and triple deep clean my stuff. I have a feeling it's coming from one particular fv but I'll know for sure when I try the dunkelweizen.