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I have this planned for tomorrow, going to start early so getting it prepared tonight.

I typed into chat GPT asking it to give me a Dark Pilsner recipe and it gave me this:

For Yeast i'm going with CML Hell but otherwise sticking to the suggested recipe, sounds like it should be ok.
  • Malt
    • 6 lbs (2.7 kg) Pilsner Malt - The base malt for crisp, clean fermentable sugars.
    • 2 lbs (0.9 kg) Munich Malt (10L) - Adds malt depth and slight sweetness.
    • 0.5 lb (0.23 kg) Carafa III (dehusked) - Adds dark color without harsh bitterness.
    • 0.5 lb (0.23 kg) Caramunich Malt - Adds a hint of caramel sweetness and body.
    • 0.25 lb (0.11 kg) Chocolate Malt - For light chocolatey notes and further dark color.
  • Hops
    • 1.5 oz (42 g) Saaz (3-4% AA) - Bittering (60 minutes).
    • 0.5 oz (14 g) Saaz (3-4% AA) - Flavor (15 minutes).
    • 0.5 oz (14 g) Saaz (3-4% AA) - Aroma (5 minutes).
  • Yeast
    • 1 packet Wyeast 2124 (Bohemian Lager) or White Labs WLP830 (German Lager). Dry yeast option: Saflager W-34/70.

And I brewed it! I got an OG of 1050 and it smelled great, two packs of hell pitched and fridge temp set at 15c. I really like using carafa malt so I have high hopes for this one.
 
And the second of my chat GPT inspired recipes, this time an American Brown, looks a bit darker than I thought it might, however pretty happy with how the brew went. Going with US 05 as it's all that I had and also chucked in the last 10g of Centennial that I had in the pack at flameout as I couldn't be arsed to put it away in the freezer. OG 1053.

American Brown Ale Recipe (5-gallon / 19-liter batch)​

Ingredients

  • Malt
    • 8 lbs (3.6 kg) 2-Row Pale Malt - Base malt that provides most of the fermentable sugars.
    • 1 lb (0.45 kg) Munich Malt - Adds a rich, malty depth.
    • 0.75 lb (0.34 kg) Caramel/Crystal Malt (60L) - For sweetness, caramel notes, and some color.
    • 0.5 lb (0.23 kg) Chocolate Malt - Adds chocolate flavor and dark color.
    • 0.5 lb (0.23 kg) Victory Malt - Gives a toasty, nutty character.
    • 0.25 lb (0.11 kg) Black Malt - For a subtle roasted flavor and color.
  • Hops
    • 1 oz (28 g) Cascade (5.5% AA) - Bittering (60 minutes).
    • 0.5 oz (14 g) Cascade (5.5% AA) - Flavor (20 minutes).
    • 0.5 oz (14 g) Centennial (10% AA) - Aroma (10 minutes).
    • 0.5 oz (14 g) Cascade - Aroma (5 minutes).
  • Yeast
    • 1 packet Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale), or Safale US-05 (dry yeast).
 
And the second of my chat GPT inspired recipes, this time an American Brown, looks a bit darker than I thought it might, however pretty happy with how the brew went. Going with US 05 as it's all that I had and also chucked in the last 10g of Centennial that I had in the pack at flameout as I couldn't be arsed to put it away in the freezer. OG 1053.

American Brown Ale Recipe (5-gallon / 19-liter batch)​

Ingredients

  • Malt
    • 8 lbs (3.6 kg) 2-Row Pale Malt - Base malt that provides most of the fermentable sugars.
    • 1 lb (0.45 kg) Munich Malt - Adds a rich, malty depth.
    • 0.75 lb (0.34 kg) Caramel/Crystal Malt (60L) - For sweetness, caramel notes, and some color.
    • 0.5 lb (0.23 kg) Chocolate Malt - Adds chocolate flavor and dark color.
    • 0.5 lb (0.23 kg) Victory Malt - Gives a toasty, nutty character.
    • 0.25 lb (0.11 kg) Black Malt - For a subtle roasted flavor and color.
  • Hops
    • 1 oz (28 g) Cascade (5.5% AA) - Bittering (60 minutes).
    • 0.5 oz (14 g) Cascade (5.5% AA) - Flavor (20 minutes).
    • 0.5 oz (14 g) Centennial (10% AA) - Aroma (10 minutes).
    • 0.5 oz (14 g) Cascade - Aroma (5 minutes).
  • Yeast
    • 1 packet Wyeast 1056 (American Ale), White Labs WLP001 (California Ale), or Safale US-05 (dry yeast).

And bottled! Smells good, tastes nice and piney, potentially a bit too much roast flavour for me, we'll see how it goes. FG 1012 making it 5.3%.
 
Busy day in the brewery, firstly brewed a kolsch, fancied something lighter and with a low abv to cook the Xmas dinner with.

3kg Pilsner
1kg MO
200g Wheat
200g

Mashed for 1 hour at 62c

Brought to boil,

30g hallertau + 10g tettnang @60
30g hallertau @10

Cooled and pitched cml kolsch og 1044.

Also finally bottled my dark Pilsner this one finished at 1012 making it 5%. Lovely colour and clarity, taste wise, I'm hoping not but I thought I could taste some diacetyl so fingers crossed. Smells great though, hopefully it isn't as I was going to send this to the Scottish nationals for a change. We'll see. 🤞
 
The other thing I realised today was just because you wrote down that kolsch yeast was added to the wort doesn't mean that you actually did it......

Noticed there was an extra kolsch yeast in the fridge this afternoon.....shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!

If a wild ferment hasn't started then it might not be too late.
 
My first Altbier brewed today!

2.3kg Pilsner
1.8kg Pale Ale
450g Munich
110g Carafa 2
110g Chocolate
110g caramalt

Mashed for an hour

24g Admiral @60
25g Tettnang @10

OG 1046 4 points down on what I was looking for. I have a feeling this was because I had my 6 year old 'helping' me weigh out the malt. This time I made sure I pitched 2 packs of CML Hell.
 
My first Altbier brewed today!

2.3kg Pilsner
1.8kg Pale Ale
450g Munich
110g Carafa 2
110g Chocolate
110g caramalt

Mashed for an hour

24g Admiral @60
25g Tettnang @10

OG 1046 4 points down on what I was looking for. I have a feeling this was because I had my 6 year old 'helping' me weigh out the malt. This time I made sure I pitched 2 packs of CML Hell.
Did you consider a German Ale yeast as Altbier traditionally uses ale yeasts rather than lager yeasts.
 
Did you consider a German Ale yeast as Altbier traditionally uses ale yeasts rather than lager yeasts.

Hiya, I did and the recipes I settled on, then picked one of, both said you could use an ale yeast but ferment cold or a lager yeast and ferment warm. As I had 4 lager yeasts I decided on that.
 
My first Altbier brewed today!

2.3kg Pilsner
1.8kg Pale Ale
450g Munich
110g Carafa 2
110g Chocolate
110g caramalt

Mashed for an hour

24g Admiral @60
25g Tettnang @10

OG 1046 4 points down on what I was looking for. I have a feeling this was because I had my 6 year old 'helping' me weigh out the malt. This time I made sure I pitched 2 packs of CML Hell.

Bottled this one today, finished at 1010 on the nose making it 4.7%, tasted good slightly more bitter than I expected. Condition for a week or two in the utlity then lager in the shed for a month or two.
 
Busy day in the brewery, firstly brewed a kolsch, fancied something lighter and with a low abv to cook the Xmas dinner with.

3kg Pilsner
1kg MO
200g Wheat
200g

Mashed for 1 hour at 62c

Brought to boil,

30g hallertau + 10g tettnang @60
30g hallertau @10

Cooled and pitched cml kolsch og 1044.

Also finally bottled my dark Pilsner this one finished at 1012 making it 5%. Lovely colour and clarity, taste wise, I'm hoping not but I thought I could taste some diacetyl so fingers crossed. Smells great though, hopefully it isn't as I was going to send this to the Scottish nationals for a change. We'll see. 🤞

Bottle this one ealrier in the week too, I have a slight worry this might be infected had an ever so slightly odd taste, finished at 1008 making this one 4.6%. I'll give it a few more weeks try it.
 
Half way through the mash on a Cold IPA, inspired by the need to get through a few NZ hops that I found in the freezer and @An Ankoù suggestion that this is what I brew.

Soooooooo

Not as much Pilsner malt as I would have liked but...

1.5 kg Pilsner
4kg Pale Ale

Mash for an hour @64c

Hoppage
30g Magnum @60
50g Wai Iti @5
50g Kohatu @5
20g Motueka Whirpool for 20 mins @80c
40g Taiheke as above

Dry Hop with the other 50g of Waiiti and Kohatu (100g total) early in fermentation.

Plan to pitch CML Hell and CML Kolsch and ferment at around 16-18c.

OG 1054, ever so slightly down on planned.
 
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Half way through the mash on a Cold IPA, inspired by the need to get through a few NZ hops that I found in the freezer and @An Ankoù suggestion that this is what I brew.

Soooooooo

Not as much Pilsner malt as I would have liked but...

1.5 kg Pilsner
4kg Pale Ale

Mash for an hour @64c

Hoppage
30g Magnum @60
50g Wai Iti @5
50g Kohatu @5
20g Motueka Whirpool for 20 mins @80c
40g Taiheke as above

Dry Hop with the other 50g of Waiiti and Kohatu (100g total) early in fermentation.

Plan to pitch CML Hell and CML Kolsch and ferment at around 16-18c.
Looks good.
My understanding of cold IPA is that the early dry-hop addition done in anticipation of a biotransformation of the hop oil glycosides my beta-glucosidase in the yeast. If I remember right, Fermentis K-97 has the highest enzyme activity in this area so I reckon you're on to a winner with CML Kolsch. Having said that, I've seen recipes using W-34/70 so I don't know what's going on there. Last one I made I used CML Hog Norsk which is also a Kolsch yeast and it came out ok.
Good look with yours. Let us know how it turns out.
 
Bottle this one ealrier in the week too, I have a slight worry this might be infected had an ever so slightly odd taste, finished at 1008 making this one 4.6%. I'll give it a few more weeks try it.

And as I feared, just thought i'd try a bottle today and it's infected, what a fecking ball ache, motto of the story, don't forget to pitch your yeast.
 
Half way through the mash on a Cold IPA, inspired by the need to get through a few NZ hops that I found in the freezer and @An Ankoù suggestion that this is what I brew.

Soooooooo

Not as much Pilsner malt as I would have liked but...

1.5 kg Pilsner
4kg Pale Ale

Mash for an hour @64c

Hoppage
30g Magnum @60
50g Wai Iti @5
50g Kohatu @5
20g Motueka Whirpool for 20 mins @80c
40g Taiheke as above

Dry Hop with the other 50g of Waiiti and Kohatu (100g total) early in fermentation.

Plan to pitch CML Hell and CML Kolsch and ferment at around 16-18c.

OG 1054, ever so slightly down on planned.


All bottled, finished at 1010 making it 5.8%. Beautiful citrus aroma, quite cloudy but was expected, looks good this one!
 

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