Stu's brü's

[stubrewworx]

Why not maintain a bit of a blog?

Brown Porter II
A tweaked rebrew of a monthly dark beer winner.

80% clear choice
10% brown
5% black
5% torrefied wheat

Ebc 46.5 - Brown and black have both been increased, so darker than previous and wheat added.

Ekg at 30 and 10 mins to give around 21ibu, similar to before.

1/2 pack of Windsor to start and a full pack of something which came with a wilko kit to finish it, same I did on the v1.

OG 1052, expected 1049. Mash efficiency was like 79% (75% planned). I'll be expecting 5 to 5.3abv depending how the yeasts do.

I've learnt the thermoprobe is reading 3-5c low, so previous batch was mashed a little higher than this at 67c.

 

[stubrewworx]

Checking the baby monitor is a tad addictive!

 

[stubrewworx]

English IPA

Not quite what I was after. Finish is a bit sweet, og 1062, fg 1010. Whc old English. 30 days in the bottle, carbed ok.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

View attachment 105199
English IPA

Not quite what I was after. Finish is a bit sweet, og 1062, fg 1010. Whc old English. 30 days in the bottle, carbed ok.

I had something similar recently, an English ipa (fuggle hopped) with a similar abv by the sounds of it that also was a bit sweet, ill try and dig out the recipe later. I couldn't quite work out why it was overly sweet, friends loved it but I was slightly disappointed.

 

[stubrewworx]

Theres 9% light brown sugar in there, but with 80% aa, I thought it would be nicely dried out

 

[pilgrimhudd]

5.8 kg Pale
200g Crystal (medium)

Mashed for 90 mins

Challenger 25g @60
Fuggle 40g @30
Fuggle 50g @10
EKG 45g @5

OG 1070, diluted with 2l preboiled water down to 1063, didn't take long to cool today! Down to 24c and pitched CML House. Hoping for an attenuation of about 70% making it around 6%

My memory must have faded a bit, I think using cml house at 70% attenuation would probably explain it. Though annoyingly have not written down the fg.

 

[stubrewworx]

There may be trouble…

Just bottled my brown porter after 23 days. Didn’t plan for it to be that long, but work etc.

activity was quick with Windsor, so I pitched I pitched the ale yeast (from an old kit) on day 3 at 1.016.

Slight drop to 1.015, Then nothing, according to spindle for over a week.

Returning from holiday I took gravity reading of 1.013, 2 pts away from target. Tasted promising too. ispindle still showing 1.015, no problem as it was already offset at +9, so I assume differences is not so linear.

Couple of days later, scheduled bottling day… ispindle activity!

A week ago ispindle shows 1.011 (then stopped output), took a sample and hydrometer reads 1.011?

Taste seemed a littler harsher

Finally get round to bottling tonight and fg is 1.006 88% apparent attenuation, 6% abv.

Taste? Could be harsh or the brown and black are just playing their part more?

Bottled regardless and hope for the best

 

[DocAnna]

You'd be really unlucky to have an infection late like that as bacterial contamination that drops ABV is usually early when there's plenty of sugar around. Bottling will help as it limits the oxygen available - Don't give up hope but maybe don't condition the bottles near anything too valuable .

 

[stubrewworx]

Oatmeal Stout
Malt bill is based on Crisp Malts Oatmeal Stout

76.7% pale
11% torrefied oats
6.9% black (@ 5 mins end of mash)
2.7% brown
2.7% dark crystal 400

51.5 ebc

Mashed at 66c, slight drop on mash efficiency at 73% but that's fine.

Fuggles at 30 and 10 mins for 29 ibu

Target OG 1.046, post boil gravity 1.043. Which should end with 4.3% abv.

It's now no chill chilling in the bath.

Yeast will be Windsor followed by Notts.

 

[stubrewworx]

Bottled the stout, attenuated a little more than ideal and tasted a little thin for an oatmeal stout but hey ho.

Tested the porter at 21 days bottled. Nice, slightly warming alcohol feeling in the stomach but more time might round it out???

 

[stubrewworx]

Light Mild

85.7% Vienna
8.6% Light crystal
5.7% Torrefied wheat

First gold at 20 and 5 mins.

15.8 ebc, 19 ibu, og 1.043.

Windsor to bring it around 3.9%.

Mashed at 65c, although I left the hob on so it raised to near 70c for a few minutes early on

Had to adjust hop quantities on the fly as brewfather didn't update the recipe with the actual hops.

Also used the spent grain to bake some dog treats.


Full, but still a little space


Marmite dog treats

 

[.Peter.]

Light Mild

85.7% Vienna
8.6% Light crystal
5.7% Torrefied wheat

First gold at 20 and 5 mins.

15.8 ebc, 19 ibu, og 1.043.

Windsor to bring it around 3.9%.

Mashed at 65c, although I left the hob on so it raised to near 70c for a few minutes early on

Had to adjust hop quantities on the fly as brewfather didn't update the recipe with the actual hops.

Also used the spent grain to bake some dog treats.

View attachment 106682
Full, but still a little space

View attachment 106683
Marmite dog treats

That's very interesting - thank you. Be interested to know your thoughts on Windsor for this and (eventually) how this turns out

 

[An Ankoù]

I'm becoming increasingly concerned by the number of folk who seem to rely on "brewing software" to formulate their recipes. Can't people do it in their heads or with a pocket calculator any more? Do we really know how dark a particular batch of malt has been kilned off at, when the range is 40-50 ebc, or the current alpha acid content of our year-old hops that had a content of 7.39% at the moment if testing?
This really is the "painting by numbers" approach to the art of beer making. In my opinion.

 

[.Peter.]

I'm becoming increasingly concerned by the number of folk who seem to rely on "brewing software" to formulate their recipes. Can't people do it in their heads or with a pocket calculator any more? Do we really know how dark a particular batch of malt has been kilned off at, when the range is 40-50 ebc, or the current alpha acid content of our year-old hops that had a content of 7.39% at the moment if testing?
This really is the "painting by numbers" approach to the art of beer making. In my opinion.

Maybe a 'number' of folk just enjoy the brewing day and are very happy with the end results - not everyone wants to be a brewing geek

 

[An Ankoù]

Maybe a 'number' of folk just enjoy the brewing day and are very happy with the end results - not everyone wants to be a brewing geek

I've come across that argument in all walks of life, along the lines of "as long as it works, I don't need to know how or why it works!" with the implication that those who do try to inform themselves are geeks or anoraks or eggheads. I've never been convinced by that argument, it has the same ring of self-satisfied ignorance to it as those who proudly claim "I don't do forin, innit!" There are "geeks", I suppose, but their quest for knowledge borders on the obsessive.

 

[.Peter.]

Sorry not agree and if I might say a little condescending

 

[fury_tea]

I'm becoming increasingly concerned by the number of folk who seem to rely on "brewing software" to formulate their recipes. Can't people do it in their heads or with a pocket calculator any more? Do we really know how dark a particular batch of malt has been kilned off at, when the range is 40-50 ebc, or the current alpha acid content of our year-old hops that had a content of 7.39% at the moment if testing?
This really is the "painting by numbers" approach to the art of beer making. In my opinion.

"Painting by numbers" is a bit harsh I think. It's a tool that makes it much easier for beginners to build and replicate their recipes. Whenever a tool makes it easier to do a task you will get people that don't learn the "old way" because they don't have to.

This is a hobby that works at loads of different levels and that's what I like about it. You can get a can of Coopers or you can be a master brewer and all the levels in between. There's always something new to learn and there's loads of tools that mean you can still get great beer without having to know every detail about why.

 

[stubrewworx]

I can honestly say I do not have the mental capacity to retain all the variables that come with brewing. But that said, I keep my beers simple, so wouldn't necessarily require software to brew a simple bitter for example, now I know my 'system'.

I actually enjoy using brewfather to create recipes, many I never brew; to me it's almost as enjoyable as drinking the beer itself.

I'll let you know how it does turn out, I've used Windsor on it's own before, with mixed results.

@An Ankoù
@.Peter.

 

[An Ankoù]

I can honestly say I do not have the mental capacity to retain all the variables that come with brewing.

Haha, me neither! But trying to know how things (ought to) work is going to keep things in the hands of the next generation of brewers rather than the guardians of the holy algorithms.
I though "painting by numbers" was a great analogy. It's produced some lovely pictures, but is it art?

 

[An Ankoù]

Sorry not agree and if I might say a little condescending

Congrats. You've caught the irony of your own post perfectly.