Steve's Brewday

[alsch890]

Look forward to hearing how that American Pale turned out.

 

[Norfolk79]

Slight change of plan. No Brewday on Sunday just gone (ended up going to Pleasurewood Hills with my family at £5 a ticket!)

Going to get one in Saturday morning (SWMBO is taking the kids to the Zoo so I'll have the house to myself! :whistle:)

 

[Norfolk79]

Brew day is ready to go tomorrow. Grains have been crushed. Water has been adjusted for Alkalinity etc. Grainfather heat timer set for first thing tomorrow morning. All ready to go as soon as I get up!

 

[Norfolk79]

Got up just before 6 to start my brewday! Grains all mashed in and the recirculation pump going. 5 mins in test the ph, 5.4. All good [emoji3]

 

[The Idiot]

Got up just before 6 to start my brewday! Grains all mashed in and the recirculation pump going. 5 mins in test the ph, 5.4. All good [emoji3]

So I'm not alone in the early start brew days!!!

 

[Norfolk79]

So I'm not alone in the early start brew days!!!

Nope, I'm usually awake by 6. If it all goes well I can be done before lunchtime! Keeps SWMBO happy, well kind of [emoji23]

 

[Norfolk79]

Best Brewday yet on Saturday. Started just before 6am, was all cleared up and everything out away before 11.30am! A new record for me!:thumb:

Post boil gravity was 1 point higher than I was expecting (can't complain though!) and nothing went wrong at all. Probably drinking coffee rather than beer helps!:whistle:

With the water from the tap being 21 degrees I had to let the wort cool in the fermenter with some frozen bottles of water around it in a sleeping bag before pitching the yeast. Currently got 24 litres bubbling away nicely.

Think I may well continue to re-hydrate and pitch the yeast after clearing up as it gives me one less thing to think about:lol:

All in all a very successful brew day, 7 Grainfather brews in I'm getting the hang of this all-grain malarkey!:thumb:

 

[Norfolk79]

 

[Norfolk79]

Woke up at 6am on Sunday morning, couldn’t get back to sleep so got up and decided to bring forward my next brew, which I had planned on doing the following weekend.

A Greg Hughes American IPA, tweaked so that the ABV and BU:GU ratio remained consistent for my higher efficiency with my Grainfather.

Batch Size: 24 L
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.013
Boil Size: 29 L
Boil Time: 70 mins
IBU: 50.0
Efficiency: 80%
Colour: 7.7

4.9kg Pale Ale Malt
200g Vienna Malt
Mash for 60 minutes at 67º
Mash Out for 10 Minutes at 75º

Hop Additions
13g Citra Pellets (14.6%) 70 Minutes 18.6 IBU
15g Simcoe Pellet (13%) 10 Minutes 6.7 IBU
15g Citra Pellet (14.6%) 10 Minutes 7.5 IBU
40g Simcoe Pellet 10 Minute Hop Stand 8.1 IBU
40g Citra Pellet 10 Minute Hop Stand 9.1 IBU

Danstar BRY-97 Yeast

As I hadn’t planned on doing the brew I hadn’t got everything set up the evening before like I normally do (with the Grainfather set on a timer so the strike water is ready to go as soon as I get up) it added a bit of time before the start of the brew.

So everything set up, water heating, time to crush the grain. Obviously with me being outside in the garden due to the dust, with my Bulldog Mill at 6.35 in the morning I didn’t want to make too much noise with the milling so I probably had my drill going a little too fast to try and get it over with.

Looking at the milled grain there was quite a few uncrushed grains. Gut feeling was to mill it a second time, but decided against it. BIG MISTAKE!!

Was expecting a pre boil gravity of 1.048, based on 29 litres, ended up with a little over 30 litres with a gravity of 1.038! So I ended up boiling the wort for an additional hour to get the pre-boil gravity up to 1.042 before starting the actual 70 minute boil with Hop additions.

Post boil gravity ended up being 1.047, so hopefully it’ll end up being a 4.7-ish% brew, which isn’t so bad, although the bitterness might be a little high.

Now have 20.5 litres bubbling away in the fermenter and I have to say it did smell pretty good.

Used a clamp to hold the filter on this time so it didn’t come off, and I didn’t flood the utility room either!!:whistle:

The children did end up with the warm water which came out of the chiller in their paddling pool so at least they were happy!

Note to self, take time crushing the grain, and don’t do it at 6.35 in the morning trying not to make too much noise!:thumb:

Taste test, quite bitter which isn't unsurprising as i ended up 5l short of what I planned. Although I may well have to brew this again as it is pretty good [emoji4]. Good job I like my brews bitter [emoji23]

 

[Norfolk79]

6am start again this morning, came back from a week away in Tattishall Lakes. Apparently according to my wife this shows commitment to brewing :lol: Well after drinking every night for a week I need to get my stocks up :mrgreen:

Todays brew - California Common. Have tried another more basic recipe twice now and it came out tasting fairly good, albeit needing a little more body, so I'm trying a different recipe i came across on the t'internet.

OG 1.053
FG 1.012
IBU 39.6

4kg Pale Ale Malt
500g Munich
250g Crystal 60
250g Dark Crystal 80
250g Victory malt (Biscuit)

60 minute mash
60 minute boil

60 mins 33g Northern Brewer Pellets (8.8%AA) 27.5 IBU
20 mins 16g Northern Brewer Pellets 8.1 IBU
5 mins 16g Northern Brewer Pellets 2.7 IBU

10 minute hop stand 10g Northern Brewer Pellets 1.4 IBU
Dry hop with 25g Northern Brewer Pellets for 4 days

Ferment at 20 degrees (Hopefully I might be able to get this a few degrees lower)
Mangrove Jacks Californian Lager M54 Yeast

 

[Norfolk79]

With 16 mins left of the mash it's looking pretty clear [emoji3]

 

[Norfolk79]

Nearly forgot to switch the sparge water heater on. Turned the reminder off on the grainfather app as I found it annoying as I'd usually already have started the heater. Obviously first time without the reminder I forget [emoji849]

 

[Norfolk79]

Mash out time, looking very clear now [emoji41]

 

[Norfolk79]

Still bubbling away this morning, holding a steady 18.5 - 19 degrees C. The sleeping bag and frozen water bottle trick is working :thumb: