Summer Lightning: 6th brew, 2nd BIAB.

[Thumper]

Finally managed to get my brew on! As it's such a lovely day, I decided to get sunburned while I was at it.

I went for the summer lightning clone from The Homebrew Shop. This time, things went well! I squeezed the bag and added a touch extra to the sparge, so ended up with a full 28l boil. I actually had more like 30l, and had to add the last bit after I'd had some boil off.

I messed about with the hop schedule a bit. My last brew didn't have the hop aroma I was hoping for, so I added two thirds of the aroma hops at 45min as per instructions, and whirlpooled the rest. To compensate for the potential loss of bittering, I added the bittering hops at first wort.

I also tried my hand at some basic water chemistry. 0.2g of gypsum per litre, and got the alkalinity down to 30-35ppm as per @StrangeSteve excellent instructions.

@Spapro trub/hop filter also got it's first outing, and definitely caught the worst of it (thanks again!).

As my last brew had a bit of an off flavour, my FV got a proper clean out with bleach, and very thorough rinse, before sterilising.

The only silly mistake I made was to leave the bittering hops lying around in direct sunlight after putting them in the hop bag. As they were still in pellet form I'm hoping it didn't do too much harm.

22l into the FV, and OG was bang on at 1048.

 

[Thumper]

Advice needed please, chaps and chappesses. I took a sample today, almost 2 weeks after pitching. Tatses lovely, but the SG is still quite high, at 1019.

More pressingly, it's cloudy as hell. Looks like a wheat beer. I believe you can fine in the FV with gelatin? I have some leaf gelatin in the cupboard. How much do I need for a 22l batch?

 

[jeg3]

What yeast did you use and how did you pitch it?

All my beers look cloudy as hell after a fortnight no matter what the style is and what yeast I've used.

The reading is high though, it might be stuck and need a gentle stir to rouse it.

 

[Thumper]

It was S04, rehydrated and pitched at 23c.

 

[jeg3]

Hmmm, never had any probs with s04, perhaps give it a rouse and wait another couple of days.

Do you keg or bottle?

 

[Thumper]

Ok, I'll give it a swirl tonight. I have got some Wilkos ale yeast, so I could pitch a packet of that?

I bottle.

 

[jeg3]

I use PBs mainly so I don't care if it's cloudy, I let the sediment collect at the bottom, but I can see why you don't want cloudy beer if bottling.

I'd leave it another 3-4 days and take another reading

 

[Thumper]

I gave it a swirl last night, I'll leave it a few days and see what effect that has had.

My last BIAB dropped lovely and clear with no help (used SO-5) but this one is very cloudy, basically opaque. I'm wondering if it's because I squeezed the bag this time. I think once I've got a consistent gravity I'll try fining with gelatin and give it another 4 days or so before bottling. Hopefully I can get it into bottles next weekend!

 

[Slid]

Here is my take on yeasts for brewing in a centrally heated house, without temp control, in which I am hopelessly outnumbered by women:
Jan US 05
Feb, Us 05

Mar US 05
Apr, Us 05
May US 05 / M31 Mangrove Jacks Belgian Trippel
Jun US 05 / M31 Mangrove Jacks Belgian Trippel
July US 05 / M31 Mangrove Jacks Belgian Trippel
Aug US 05 / M31 Mangrove Jacks Belgian Trippel
Sept US 05​

Oct S 04

Nov Some other weird stuff
Dec S 04​

 

[Thumper]

Thanks- that's handy! You reckon its been too warm for SO-4, then?

 

[foxbat]

I gave it a swirl last night, I'll leave it a few days and see what effect that has had.

My last BIAB dropped lovely and clear with no help (used SO-5) but this one is very cloudy, basically opaque. I'm wondering if it's because I squeezed the bag this time. I think once I've got a consistent gravity I'll try fining with gelatin and give it another 4 days or so before bottling. Hopefully I can get it into bottles next weekend!

No it's not because you squeezed. I squeeze with a vengeance and between the whirlfloc and the time in the fermenter my beer is virtually clear at packaging time and does not require finings.

Given good fermentation temperature and yeast health I would associate unusually cloudy beer (and poor yeast attenuation) with water pH and/or mineral content. Do you know what your final predicated mash pH and mineral profile was? If you used CRS as an acid then unfortunately you would have got sulphate and chlorides from it which is why I prefer lactic or phosphoric acid for that purpose.

 

[Slid]

Thanks- that's handy! You reckon its been too warm for SO-4, then?

I think S 04 is more resilient to heat than most of the other the English Ale yeasts, but not so much as US 05. Others may have different experience and advice, though.
I strongly suspect a brewing fridge is the way forward, but we don't have the room at present to dare suggest this to SWMBO. Some git has filled up what is left of the garage with beer.
We split the internal garage in half years ago to be half utility room and half junk/beer storage.

 

[Thumper]

I strongly suspect a brewing fridge is the way forward, but we don't have the room at present to dare suggest this to SWMBO.

I have the same issue. We're thinking about buying a place, and as soon as we do that's first on the list.

 

[Thumper]

Do you know what your final predicated mash pH and mineral profile was?

Unfortunately not. This was my first foray into water chemistry, so it was at a very basic level.

 

[jeg3]

A brew fridge is good, it can cold crash as well and when not used for brewing can cool bottles to whatever temp you like

 

[Thumper]

SG has dropped to 1017, so it's slowly getting there. It's still really cloudy though.

 

[Drunkula]

I had tons of stuck ferments with s-04 and so have loads of other people. Some articles say it can flocculate out early if you pitch warmer than you're actually brewing but it really gets good on the 2nd repitch.

 

[Thumper]

Ah, I did pitch at 23c, and while it was very warm the first week of fermentation I doubt the brew was sat above that. I'll pitch some wilko yeast tonight just to be on the safe side.

 

[MyQul]

Here is my take on yeasts for brewing in a centrally heated house, without temp control, in which I am hopelessly outnumbered by women:
Jan US 05
Feb, Us 05

Mar US 05
Apr, Us 05
May US 05 / M31 Mangrove Jacks Belgian Trippel
Jun US 05 / M31 Mangrove Jacks Belgian Trippel
July US 05 / M31 Mangrove Jacks Belgian Trippel
Aug US 05 / M31 Mangrove Jacks Belgian Trippel
Sept US 05​

Oct S 04

Nov Some other weird stuff
Dec S 04​

If you remember my little notty experiment last summer, you can use it up to about 27C if you want something cleaner than a belgian yeast

 

[Thumper]

Well this ended horribly. On Saturday, after almost 2 months in the FV, it was still so cloudy it looked like soup and smelled strongly of gone-off fruit and nail varnish remover. Had to chuck it