Smokestack Brewery AG #2 - Sort of Palmers IPA

[Ceejay]

Tomorrow I'm going to be brewing a beer that I've always loved, ever since I tried it. It's Palmers IPA (now called Best Bitter), from Bridport in Dorset.

Recipe is based on Dave Line's BBLTYB (a very old copy), except I'm substituting all the sugar for Pale Malt and 30g Molasses for 75g Crystal Malt. The hop schedule seems a bit on the heavy side (way over 60 IBU) so I'm upping the SG from 1040 to 1044 and I'm going to drop 60g of Goldings to 40g and use 10g as first wort hops instead of dry-hopping. Top quality malt, as ever, is from Tucker's Malting's In Newton Abbot :thumb:

The amended recipe is:

Brewlength - 19l
Brewhouse efficiency - 75%
90 min mash @ 66.0 degrees
90 min boil
Target OG 1044
IBU 54.8
Colour: 11.0 SRM

3600g Maris Otter Pale Malt
75g Crystal Malt
50g Roasted Barley
40g Willamette, 90 min
40g EKG, 90 min
10g Willamette, first wort
20g Willamette at lights out
Safale SO4 English Ale Yeast (1.5 l starter)

Set the starter going yesterday afternoon; had to use dark spraymalt as it's all I had, but it seems to have gone crazy for the first 18 hours and loads has settled out so I can pour off the majority of the liquid and leave loads of yeast behind to pitch.

EDIT: LBS didn't have any Fuggles and I bought some Willamette instead; should be fruity!

 

[gurtpint]

Good luck Ceejay! Hope it's going well. My boil has been on for an hour now and the apartment is getting subtropical

 

[Ceejay]

It's 10.30, mash is on, the sun is shining, I have a mug of French coffee and I'm feeling happy :party:

Here's the obligatory grain pic, taken after I mixed it all up. Ingredient pic, which includes two brewday beers - "Harvey's Special Brew" from the excellent Teignworthy Brewery. Mash pic, err mashing

I was a little high on strike temp, but acheived a mash temp of 68.4 degrees, which will make the finished beer a little sweeter than expected. Shouldn't be a problem with 80g of bittering hops and 50g of aroma hops :

Brewday music is supplied by the JB's and The Meters. :whistle:

p.s for anyone that hasn't used Willamette hops before, they smell absolutely amazing - really fruity - almost like pineapple or something. Becausue of that, I've upped the first wort hops to 20g as 10g didn't really look enough!

 

[Good Ed]

Good luck with it, sounds a nice pint :thumb: brewing myself today, Big Kenny, lovely sunny day here

 

[Ceejay]

Extracted 24 litres at 1043 = 1032 sugar points out of a possible 1103 so a mash efficiency of 93% :thumb: I think that's right anyway...seems high :hmm: :hmm: Also, my mash temp at the end was 64 degrees so I lost a good 4 degrees. Weird as my first brew didnt lose a thing.

Just bringing it to the boil now and cooking a burger.

More pics of first runnings, recycling first runnings, bright wort and first wort hops

It's come out a bit darker than I'd hoped but smells great boiling :thumb: . I have a very vigorous boil with the 3kw element so I might get some of that decoction mash simulator thingy that Aleman's been talking about.

 

[Ceejay]

Collected 17l of wort at 1050 so I liquored back to 1045, achieving an overall efficiency of 77.5% :thumb:

Yeasties were champing at the bit to get stuck into it so, they're pitched and all tucked up for a couple of weeks :party:

 

[robsan77]

good pics and a nice looking beer. Sounds like a good un :thumb:

 

[gurtpint]

:thumb:

 

[Ceejay]

It's been in the FV now for just under 2 days and the yeast head came and then went so I thohght I'd give it a cheeky try and see where it's at. B*gger me, if it's not already down to 1011! :shock: They weren't joking about the quick attenuation of SO4 yeast! I guess the fact I made a starter has something to do with this.

Initial tastings are really encouraging; lots of hop bitterness at first, then a nice smooth sweetness comes through with the tropical fuit aroma of the hops; the aftertaste is quite bitter but that should hopefully sudside once it's conditioned. I'm going to give this a full week in the primary FV, rack into secondary for another week, batch prime and bottle.

I bloody love AG brewing :lol: :party:

 

[rickthebrew]

S-04 (old faithfull :thumb: ) works really quick - I always keep a couple packets in the fridge as back up (along with some US-05 and nottingham)

Looks great CJ :drink:

 

[Ceejay]

Hehe, cheers. Down to 1010 today and it's stopped by the looks of things, so I've racked it off the trub into secondary which has a much tighter fitting lid, fit the airlock and I'll leave it for 7-10 days I think. It's pretty clear already, save for a few bits of yeast and some hop seeds that somehow made it into the FV. I've been worriying about the clarity as it didn't really seem to run very bright out of the boiler, after cooling.

I've been getting confused as to what it should look like coming out of the boiler! :lol: Cold break material precipitates out of solution and makes it cloudy? Or this happens, then it all settles out and is supposed to be filtered out by the hops? :wha:

 

[gurtpint]

I've been getting confused as to what it should look like coming out of the boiler! :lol: Cold break material precipitates out of solution and makes it cloudy? Or this happens, then it all settles out and is supposed to be filtered out by the hops? :wha:

I'm inclined to say it's the latter... The hops act as a filter bed and (with the aid of dome Protafloc) the last couple of worts I have boiled have flown out of the pot clear as a bell. :

 

[Ceejay]

That's what I thought, but if you look at the pic above, it's not clear at all. I'm thinking maybe I should have waited a while longer to run it off to allow the hops to compact down a bit more, perhaps.

Then, if you look at this pic, which is after 3 days in the FV, it's much clearer, so maybe I should just stop worrying/over thinking it!

Aaaaaaaaargh, so many things to think about! :cry: :lol: :wha:

My next brew's a blonde ale, hence why I'm trying to get it all right!

 

[rickthebrew]

I normally wait around 30mins before I drain the boiler - a lot of the break material will clump together and sit on the hop bed - the yeast will help you out a lot though, S-04 is pretty consistent at giving a clear beer.

 

[Ceejay]

Cheers; it's definitely clearing, so you're right there. Next time I think I'm going to lest it sit for 30 mins or so like you said, and try a few litres of recirculation.

Good to see you today, Rich. Many thanks again for the bottles of Hefe, and good luck with the DIY. Roll on 5.30, when I can get stuck into 'em! :drink: