The Chaos that is a Buffers Brewery brew day

[Buffers brewery]

Ended up with a little over 6.5 gallons of wort in the boiler and SG of 1.032. Started the boil and added 10 grms of Kohatu. Next addition will be 20 grms with 15 minutes to go with half a crushed protofloc tablet then 25 grms at flame out and the rest of the bag (45 grms) at 80C for 20 minutes.

 

[Buffers brewery]

Boil and chill finished. Transferred a little over 5 gallons to the FV...

OG of 1.047 I make it...

First proper use of the fanicular beer transfer system ...

Everything went smoothly. Fridge set at 20C and CO2 collection system ON. Now where's that beer?

 

[Buffers brewery]

It’ll be interesting to see how long it lasts after the closed fermentation, closed dry hopping, closed transfer and closed carbonation. Will it have been worth it?

Three weeks in

 

[Buffers brewery]

So, the Kohatu pale ale I made earlier this month is a week into carbonation, so still 2-3 weeks away from being ready and.....the barrel of NEIPA is about to run dry so I thought I better crack on and do another brew.
Decided to use up some of my dregs of grains so the grain bill is..
2kg Pilsner malt
1kg maris otter pale malt
500grm extra pale malt
500grm Vienna malt
250grm Carapils

Mashed at 68C for an hour with 3 gallons of strike water yielding a little over a gallon of first wort SG 1.083. Second 30 minute mash with 2.5 gallons of water, again at 68C yielded another 3.25 gallons of wort SG 1.031. Last 30 minute mash with 2.5 gallons of water yielded 2.5 gallons of wort SG 1.015.

One hour boil with no hop additions, just a half a protofloc tablet 15 minutes before the end of the boil.

Wort cooled to 80C and 50grm of both Simcoe and Amarillo added and left for 30 minutes before cooling down to 25C. Left for an hour to settle out then transferred to fermentation bucket.

Note the double floats....another silly idea of mine I’m trying out.

Now the exciting bit! The first test of the BUFFERS BREWERY DRY HOPPER!

Here it is with 100grm Galaxy and 50grm Citra..

The lid of the hopper is attached to the underside of the bucket lid using magnets and the hopper is also held closed against the underside of the lid with another magnet. The plan is to release the hopper 4 days in to fermentation to drop the hops into the beer to dry hop....simples

The OG came in at 1.043 so on course for a 4%ABV or thereabouts.

 

[Buffers brewery]

Forgot to say, using Verdant yeast.

 

[DocAnna]

I've just realised your dry hopper has your brewing name embossed in it! Did you 3D print this - a custom built plastic box . I'm not sure whether I'm impressed, or a bit worried!

Anna

 

[Buffers brewery]

I've just realised your dry hopper has your brewing name embossed in it! Did you 3D print this - a custom built plastic box . I'm not sure whether I'm impressed, or a bit worried!

Anna

Yes, it’s 3-D printed (don’t ask how much it cost!) I couldn’t find anything I could pimp so....
The problem I faced when dry hopping was I had to take the FV out of the fridge to get the lid off and then reseal it and put it back in the fridge. This way I just move a magnet on the lid and the hops (should) drop into the beer with no disturbance of the atmosphere over the beer.

 

[private4587]

Yes, it’s 3-D printed (don’t ask how much it cost!) I couldn’t find anything I could pimp so....
The problem I faced when dry hopping was I had to take the FV out of the fridge to get the lid off and then reseal it and put it back in the fridge. This way I just move a magnet on the lid and the hops (should) drop into the beer with no disturbance of the atmosphere over the beer.

Could you design one for the brew I’ll all rounder Keith, I can the create the model and 3-D print it

 

[private4587]

Could you design one for the brew I’ll all rounder Keith, I can the create the model and 3-D print it

Damm predictive text it should have read Brewzilla allrounder

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

If the hops fall into the FV when there's nobody there to watch them, do they really fall....? #schroedingersHops

 

[Buffers brewery]

If the hops fall into the FV when there's nobody there to watch them, do they really fall....? #schroedingersHops

They can be in the hopper AND in the beer .......at the same time!

 

[Buffers brewery]

Damm predictive text it should have read Brewzilla allrounder

Yes, I love predictive tits as well!

What’s wrong with the hop bag held up from the beer with a magnet? I thought there was plenty of head space in the All Rounder to do that. I use a bucket and when I tried to use a hop bag hanging from the lid the krausen reached the hop pellets and they had formed a brick-like structure when I released the bag into the beer.

Edit: There is a type of small bird with yellow and blue plumage that some people snigger at because of the similar word relating to a part of the human anatomy. Funny thing the English language. Perhaps in this time of woke this little bird should be renamed!

 

[JeffDragon7]

After an hour the first mash is completed and the wort is transferred from the mash tun to the temporary holding tank and SG noted using a refractometer.
View attachment 28992
Half the quantity of hot water is then transferred to the mash tun using the sparge thingy and then circulated through the HERMS circuit for about 30 minutes. The wort SG is measured and then transferred to the holding tank after which the remaining hot water is transferred to the mash tun for the third and final 30 minute mash. At the end of the third mash the SG is measured and the last wort transferred to the holding tank. This is where the net bag comes in handy as it can be used to squeeze out as much wort as possible from the grain.
View attachment 28993
The wort is then transferred back to the kettle for the boil. Salt and Epsom salts are added to the wort that is heated to come to the boil. I want this beer not to be too bitter so I added the hops after 30 minutes of the boil.

15grms Northern Brewer

I use leaf in a net bag together with a couple of stainless steel balls to help it sink. A small float is attached to the hop bag so it can be easily removed for a squeeze at the end of the one hour boil.

15 minutes before the end of the boil a protofloc tablet is added and whirlpool pump turned ON.

Flame out, hops squeezed and out. Water connected to the chiller coil. In the warmer months I use 2 chillers. One to chill the mains water by immersing the coil in a bucket of water and ice and the second the coil in the kettle to cool the boiled wort. While the wort is cooling the yeast (Lallemand English Style Ale yeast London) is re-hydrated as per the instructions on the packet.

40 minutes later wort temperature is 20 degrees C and is transferred to the now sanitised fermentation vessel, previously used as the temporary holding tank. SG measured using a hydrometer (1.054 - oops, a bit high! I think I over did the pale malt) and the yeast is pitched. FV lid on and my “adapted” airlock fitted. Had to make the “S” bend for the trap as there’s not enough headspace in my fermentation fridge.
View attachment 28994
The wort can be “wheeled” down the garden path to the shed where the (now raised) fridge is.
View attachment 28995
View attachment 28996
The following morning it’s going like the clappers!
View attachment 28997
Be back in 10 days or so.....

 

[JeffDragon7]

Always amazed by your set up

 

[Buffers brewery]

Always amazed by your set up

Is it a bit OTT?

 

[Buffers brewery]

So five weeks since I started drinking my first go at NEIPA.......the pressure barrel has run.....froffy...dry.....

Still looked and tasted good . Fortunately I had backup....a bottle I put at the back of the fridge in case of emergencies

Definitely going to make that again

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

"emergencies"

 

[cushyno]

So five weeks since I started drinking my first go at NEIPA.......the pressure barrel has run.....froffy...dry.....
View attachment 48195
Still looked and tasted good . Fortunately I had backup....a bottle I put at the back of the fridge in case of emergencies
View attachment 48197
Definitely going to make that again

That looks a cracking brew, nice bright colour for a NEIPA (said like I know what I'm talking about but I don't, though don't let that detract from the praise )

 

[Buffers brewery]

That looks a cracking brew, nice bright colour for a NEIPA (said like I know what I'm talking about but I don't, though don't let that detract from the praise )

Thanks for the encouragement friend .

 

[Buffers brewery]

Not had this before....

I left the flask and hydrometer on the kitchen window cill after brew day on Friday...and it looks like it’s fermenting! Wild yeast or some micro-organism having fun in there I guess. Time to wash up me thinks!