UKSkydiver's Brewdays

[UKSkydiver]

I've been remiss and forgot to post my previous brew, so I now give you...

AG#6 - Oxfordshire E.S.B.

Based on a recipe posted in a pic by Cheeky Peaks Homebrew



Modified for a 10 litre batch and a couple of small substitutions.

Oxfordshire E.S.B.
Style: Strong Bitter
ABV: 6.0%
OG: 1.062
FG: 1.016
IBU: 32
Colour: 52 EBC

Mash
Temperature — 67 °C — 60 min

Malts (3.03 kg) - 10 litre batch
2.63 kg (86.8%) — Maris Otter — 4 EBC
140 g (4.6%) — Crystal Dark — 240 EBC
90 g (3%) — Amber Malt — 60 EBC
90 g (3%) — Crystal Medium — 179 EBC
60 g (2%) — Chocolate Malt — 1050 EBC
20 g (0.7%) — Black Malt — 1035 EBC

Hops (20.3 g)
7 g (28 IBU) — Columbus (Tomahawk) 14% — Boil — 60 min
13.3 g (4 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 5% — Boil — 5 min

Additions
0.5 tablet — Protofloc — 10 min

Yeast
0.7 pkg — S-04 SafAle English Ale

Fermentation
Primary — 19 °C — 14 days

OG ended up being 1.058 - It was in the FV for a tad over 3 weeks, including a week cold crashing and ended up at 1.014 giving an ABV 5.8%

I've just bottled this so will be able to update in a couple of weeks.

 

[samale]

Notes on over carbonation.

I found this (overly long) video that talks (drones on) about over carbonation and how to fix it.



By all means watch it, but believe me when I say it can be summed up (for bottles) thusly:

Take a long opener that does not bend / crease the bottle top.
Gently prise the cap until you hear a hiss. Do not open further. Release this CO2 into the head space repeat until you think you have released sufficient carbonation.

I did this maybe 6 or 7 times, leaving 30-60 mins between each. Once complete, nip the caps up with a capper.

It has certainly improved the carbonation levels and the beer tastes better as a result. Even my crappy, overcarbonated, astringent, kit stout is now drinkable!

I hope that's useful to someone.
Cheers Phil

Does this work I have a beer that's over carbonated. I am going to give this a try

 

[UKSkydiver]

Does this work I have a beer that's over carbonated. I am going to give this a try

Yep
(Clearly doing a whole batch waiting 60 mins between de-gassing would be a pain, so maybe do one with say, 20-30 mins between, chill and give it a try)

 

[UKSkydiver]

I'm getting rubbish at this - I have two brews to write up:

AG#7 - Oxfordshire Brown Ale

Based on the recipe in Greg Hughes Hone Brew Beer, with a couple of subs. and sized for a ~10 litre batch

Oxfordshire Brown Ale (Southern Brown Ale recipe)
Style: Brown Ale
ABV: 5.3%
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.010
IBU: 17
Colour: 50 EBC

Mash
Temperature — 67 °C — 60 min

Malts (2.3 kg) - 10 litre batch
2.2 kg (87%) - Maris Otter - 4 EBC
100 g (4.4%) - Crystal Ex Dark - 415 EBC
62 g (2.7%) - Special B - 290 EBC
45 g (2%) - Chocolate - 1050 EBC
45 g (2%) - Torrified Wheat - 4 EBC
36 g (1.6%) - Black Malt - 1035 EBC

Hops - 21.7 g
Celeia - 4.2% - 10.8 g @ FWH
Celeia - 4.2% - 10.9 g @ 15 min

Additions
0.5 tablet — Protofloc — 10 min

Yeast
0.5 pkg — S-04 SafAle English Ale

Fermentation
Primary — 19 °C — 14 days

OG ended up being 1.050 - It was in the FV for just over 2 weeks, including a couple of days cold crashing and ended up at 1.010 giving an ABV 5.3%

Note: Mashed on one day and boiled the next day due to time constraints with no apparent issues.

Bottled 8.94 litres - primed with brown sugar at about 4g / litre for 1.9 vols.

I've tried a couple of these, even though they're still very young and they are very nice. Seem to be making small improvements.

 

[UKSkydiver]

AG#8 - Oxfordshire Hefeweizen

Went to a new brewery a few weeks ago in Plymouth called Steel Brew Co - Plymouth Brewery and Taproom in the Royal William Yard and tried their Hefe. It was lovely so I had a look in my brew books and found a recipe in James Morton's Brew. Super easy and straight forward brew so I thought I'd give it a blast.

There is also a similar recipe in Greg Hughes Home Brew Beer, entitled Weissbier.

With a couple of subs. and sized for a ~10 litre batch

Oxfordshire Hefewezien
Style: Wheat Beer
ABV: 5.0%
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.014
IBU: 14
Colour: 6.0 EBC

Mash
Temperature — 65 °C — 60 min

Malts (2.3 kg) - 10 litre batch
1.2 kg (50%) - Pilsner Malt
1.2 kg (50%) - Wheat Malt


Hops - 21.7 g (was Hallertauer Mittelfrueh but I didn't have those so used what I had that was as close as I could find)
Celeia - 4.2% - 8.1 g @ FWH
Celeia - 4.2% - 8.1 g @ 15 min

Yeast
0.5 pkg — Mangrove Jack - M20 Bavarian Wheat Yeast

Fermentation
Primary — 19 °C — 7 days (the book says to bottle after a week with three days steady gravity readings, which seems a bit early, but hey.)

OG ended up being 1.054 as I left the boil too long to increase the ABV, but went too far, so ended up with a few points higher than I originally wanted, but I'm sure it will be fine in the end.

This will be the lightest beer I've made so I'm really looking forward to trying this in two or three weeks. Mash looked like dish water.

 

[UKSkydiver]

AG#5 - Pelforth Clone - Update
a.k.a. Contagion Saison

So we're a few weeks on. (70 days since it came out of the FV)

The addition of 1-3 grams of sugar, avoiding froth over, seems to have improved the carbonation. It's prob still a little under, but whatever head it does have is retained pretty well to the end.

I'm not convinced on the taste. It smells strong. I mean, like alcohol strong. Like sherry. It has that same warmth. Again, an alcohol heat. I suspect that that is down to the Saison yeast ripping through everything. Or some fusels (not that I know what I'm talking about) Can't really put a good description of taste. At one point I kinda got what I would describe as maraschino cherry.

Seems to be clearing nicely. It was clearer before I put it on the fridge.

I'd appreciate some feedback, so if anyone particularly likes Saison or is an expert in the Saison style, I'd be happy to send a bottle out.
Cheers

 

[UKSkydiver]

AG#9 - Forum Christmas Brew Chocolate Stout (with subs)

So after the shenanigans making invert the other evening, all the other stuff turned up so I could make this bad boy. I love a stout anyway, so I liked the idea of everyone brewing the same thing ready for Christmas. Still no idea what I'm doing

Vitals
Batch Volume: 11 L
Original Gravity: 1062
Final Gravity: 1017
ABV : 5.9%
IBU (Tinseth): 36
Colour: 67.5 EBC

Mash
Temperature — 67 °C — 60 min

Malts (2.82 kg)
2.2 kg (69.4%) — Maris Otter Pale Malt, Maris Otter — Grain — 4 EBC
220 g (6.9%) — Jumbo Oats, Flaked — Grain —
200 g (6.3%) — Chocolate Malt — Grain — 1050 EBC
130 g (4.1%) — Brown Malt — Grain — 170 EBC
70 g (2.2%) — Dingemans Special B — Grain — 290 EBC

Other (350 g)
190 g (6%) — Invert Sugar — Sugar — 0 EBC
160 g (5.1%) — Milk Sugar (Lactose) — Sugar — 0 EBC

Hops (37 g)
21 g (21 IBU) — Celeia 4.2% — Boil — 60 min
5 g (11 IBU) — Northern Brewer 9.5% — Boil — 60 min
11 g (4 IBU) — Celeia 4.2% — Boil — 10 min

Miscs
71.739 g — Cacao Nibs — Boil 2 min and shove in FV

Yeast
0.5 pkg — Mangrove Jack's M15 Empire Ale Yeast 72.5%


Couple of subs based on what I have in stock and trying to match as close to the original malt and hop bill.

Everything went well* I think - I had prepped the water and grains last night and set a timer to turn the boiler on at 06:00, ready for me to start at 07:00. Mash and sparge were done by 08:45 so off the the gym.

When I got back I fired up the boiler again to start the boil. The lactose and the invert I dissolved in hot wort that I
periodically took from and returned to the pot. I have my brew efficiency at 65%, but I actually think it's probably better then that as the numbers seem to be up a little.

Currently cooling in the sink (and further overnight) so I can get up early again and boil the nibs, chuck those in and pitch the yeast.

* - Notes:
- I didn't measure out the alkalinity beforehand and, having used, @strange-steve 's water calc, (dosing ~17 litres with 8.99ml CRS) I seem to have ended up with an alkalinity of 10ppm, which seems very low. I may have to recheck that.
- First time using calcium chloride and that seems to have brought the Ca spot on to 160ppm
- I think I've buggered up my boiler. I put the CaCl flakes in last night but forgot to mix it around and make sure they were dissolved. There is now a small patch of corrosion where the element is. Either a flake didn't dissolve and / or when I turned the boiler on remotely, it reacted with the SS and the heat generated from the element. Bit of a bummer.

 

[UKSkydiver]

AG#8 - Oxfordshire Hefeweizen - Update

Tried one of these last night. Only two weeks fermenting and one week in the bottle, and I am impressed. Super easy brew.

Light clove taste, not getting any banana, and much clearer than I'd have expected with out protofloc, cold crashing or long conditioning time.

Prob a little undercarbed for the style, as I only carbed to about 2.5 vols. but a nice refreshing tingly fizz. Doesn't hold the head for long, but the slight carbonation remains.

 

[UKSkydiver]

AG#6 - ESB - update
AG#7 - Southern Ale - update

ESB (left) ended up being 5.8% and the Southern Ale (right) 5.3%

Been drinking these for a couple of weeks now. A bit 'meh'.

As a non bitter drinker, they're actually quite hard to review / describe.

They're ok. Definitely beer. They're definitely on the maltier side, with very little hoppiness, but that's about it. They're pretty similar to each other, with the Southern Ale slightly better, in my opinion, but I can't take explain why.

Neither are really floating my boat. Maybe I need to try non-bitters. I do like really heavy flavoured stouts, so I should maybe try and do more of those. Or maybe a nice malty lager.

Am I expecting too much? Am i expecting something too close to commercial beers?

Many, many posts and articles seem to extol the virtues of homebrewing as "as good if not better" than commercial beers . . . But I'm just not getting it...

 

[Pennine]

AG#5 - Pelforth Brun Clone

Based on a recipe by @IPA here: Pelforth recipe - Home Brew Forum

My neighbour, bless him, keeps banging on about this beer and how difficult it is to get hold of. He will often bring a crate back from France when he's there. We both enjoy a Belgian brun beer, so I thought I'd try to re-create the Pelforth as it's one of his favourites. I'm good like that. Brewed on Sat 23 May 2020. As ever, I would appreciate your comments.

I've made a couple of changes; hops to match what I have 'in stock' and, given the provenance of the beer, went for a French saison yeast.

My modified recipe for a 10 litre batch (no sparge BIAB)
Final Volume: 10 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.070 (original recipe was 1.065)
Final Gravity: 1.012 - 1.014
Alcohol Content: 7.3% (original was 6.7% ABV)
Mash Water: 18.5 Litres
Mash Efficiency: Unknown by me.
EBU: 39
Colour: 46 EBC (should have been 80-odd)

Maris Otter 7 EBC 2530 grams 74.9%
Wheat Malt 3.9 EBC 320 grams 11%
Brewferm Special B 350 EBC 370 grams 9.5%
Light Soft Brown Sugar 0 EBC 160 grams 4.7%

Step Mash (as best I could)
52°c mash in
52°c 10 min (mashed a bit high @ 62 for 8 mins)
66°c 30 min
73°c 20 min
78°c 10 min

Hops ~33 IBUs

Columbus (14%) 10.7g FWH for 35 IBU
EKG (5%) 5.8g @15 mins for 3.3 IBU

Additions
Protofloc @ 10 mins

Yeast
MJ Saison M29 pitched about 22c, then let it sit at 24 for a couple of days - then up to 26.

Notes
Brewing with my new converted Buffalo. Seemed ok for the mash, except I had to keep an eye on the temp. Had to keep adjusting heat on / off. I'm sure I will get used to the kit and how it works.

Planned and brewed using the BrewFather app. Still getting used to the settings and water totals.

Added 0.2g sodium metabisulphate to the full strike water the night before. Also the first time reducing alkalinity using @strange-steve 's water calc. Ended up adding 12ml CRS reducing alk from 178ppm to 67ppm.

When it came to the boil.... well it didn't. It kinda sat in the high 90s for about 40 mins and then started to drop down... After an hour or so, and having already added my FWH, I thought I'd cut my losses, transfer to my stainless steel pot and boil in that for 15 mins. Added my 15 min hops and 10 min Protofloc.

Bit of a nightmare. Suggestions welcome.

Cooled that in a couple of sink fulls of water and then left overnight to cool.

Transferred to the FV and pitched the saison yeast, stuck in the fermenter fridge and raised up to 22 for a few days. Still going. I fully expect this to be amazing, given the amount of kit I've bought and research I've done to try and improve my brews Update to follow in a couple of weeks.

So finally getting to tasting this one, my apologies about taking so long. I was planning on having it last week but I ate some hot soup and proceeded to burn my tongue and lose all taste for the next few days.

It pours a basic brown its not hazy but its not clear either, more like a chill haze. Has a nice head that sticks around for a while and seems to be quite carbonated.

Aroma is unique, I get an initial whiff of alcohol, not surprisingly as its +7%, then a bit of caramel malts, plum and mango with a bit of pepper and spice in the background.

Flavor is like a belgian dubbel, lots of caramel malts and dark candi sugar, then right after I get this weird soy sauce like flavor, likely autolyzed yeast. The alcohol definitely shows up to the party and I have to admit I feel like this one is much closer to a 9% than 7% beer. Mouthfeel is pretty light and everything fades quickly with a bit of bitterness lingering, that's it for the hops as I didn't get them anywhere else.

Overall its quite a unique one, it tastes similar to a brown ale I did a while back with mosaic and waimea. My initial reservation with that beer was the fruitiness of the hops and the deep flavor from the malts made the taste a bit overwhelmingly flavorful. I think the yeast in yours does a similar thing to the fruity hops in mine. I really think your base recipe is quite good and would recommend making it again with the westmalle yeast or A'chouffe yeast, or even a basic US-05. But I think mixing that much special b with saison yeast seems to clash more than compliment. I am not sure where the soy flavor comes from but it could be from the high alcohol level maybe? Or possibly the secondary carbonation addition you had?

Thanks for sending this its nice to taste such an unusual combination of styles. Also I will post out my stout tomorrow, finally was able to get to the bottom of the kegerator to dig them out!

 

[UKSkydiver]

So finally getting to tasting this one, my apologies about taking so long. I was planning on having it last week but I ate some hot soup and proceeded to burn my tongue and lose all taste for the next few days.

It pours a basic brown its not hazy but its not clear either, more like a chill haze. Has a nice head that sticks around for a while and seems to be quite carbonated.

Aroma is unique, I get an initial whiff of alcohol, not surprisingly as its +7%, then a bit of caramel malts, plum and mango with a bit of pepper and spice in the background.

Flavor is like a belgian dubbel, lots of caramel malts and dark candi sugar, then right after I get this weird soy sauce like flavor, likely autolyzed yeast. The alcohol definitely shows up to the party and I have to admit I feel like this one is much closer to a 9% than 7% beer. Mouthfeel is pretty light and everything fades quickly with a bit of bitterness lingering, that's it for the hops as I didn't get them anywhere else.

Overall its quite a unique one, it tastes similar to a brown ale I did a while back with mosaic and waimea. My initial reservation with that beer was the fruitiness of the hops and the deep flavor from the malts made the taste a bit overwhelmingly flavorful. I think the yeast in yours does a similar thing to the fruity hops in mine. I really think your base recipe is quite good and would recommend making it again with the westmalle yeast or A'chouffe yeast, or even a basic US-05. But I think mixing that much special b with saison yeast seems to clash more than compliment. I am not sure where the soy flavor comes from but it could be from the high alcohol level maybe? Or possibly the secondary carbonation addition you had?

Thanks for sending this its nice to taste such an unusual combination of styles. Also I will post out my stout tomorrow, finally was able to get to the bottom of the kegerator to dig them out!

HI @Pennine - thanks for the review. I thought I replied to this, but I see no evidence, so apologies.

"Aroma is unique" - gave me visions of Lord Percy

I think Pelforth is on the Dubbel type scale, so that's good news.

Interesting description of soy sauce, I understand what you mean. I will look out for it next time (that said, I think I only have about 4 of these left)

Definitely plan to brew this again, but I won't be going anywhere near a Saison yeast. I will look up your yeast recommendations.

Thank you

 

[UKSkydiver]

AG#10 - X-Czech-er Pivo Cerne

Czech Dark Lager - Based on Josh Weikert's "Make Your Best" and a few subs based on stock items.

Vitals
Batch Volume: 11 L
Original Gravity: 1058
Final Gravity: 1015
ABV 5.6%
IBU (Tinseth): 27
Colour: 64 EBC

Mash
Temperature — 67 °C — 60 min

Malts (3.07 kg)
1.7 kg (55.4%) — Cargill EuroPils — Grain — 3.5 EBC
1 kg (32.6%) — Munich — Grain — 13.1 EBC
150 g (4.9%) — Dingemans Special B — Grain — 290 EBC
120 g (3.9%) — Chocolate Malt — Grain — 1050 EBC
50 g (1.6%) — Muntons Black Malt — Grain — 1035 EBC
50 g (1.6%) — Melanoidin — Grain — 50 EBC

Hops (28 g)
8 g (17 IBU) — Northern Brewer 9.5% — Boil — 60 min
20 g (9 IBU) — Hersbrucker 2.7% — Boil — 30 min

Miscs
2 g — (CaCl) — Mash
4 ml - CRS - Mash
0.09 g — Sodium Metabisulfite (Na2S2O5) — Mash
0.2 g — (CaCl) — Sparge
1.00 ml — CRS — Sparge
0.01 g — Sodium Metabisulfite (Na2S2O5) — Sparge

0.5 items — Protafloc — Boil — 15 min

Yeast
1.5 pkg — Mangrove Jack's M84 Bohemian Lager Yeast 74%

Fermentation
Primary — 10 °C — 4 days
Primary — 11 °C — 1 days
Primary — 12 °C — 1 days
Primary — 13 °C — 1 days
Primary — 14 °C — 1 days
Primary — 15 °C — 1 days
Primary — 16 °C — 5 days
Cold Crash — 5 °C — 7

 

[UKSkydiver]

UPDATE AG#9 - Forum Christmas Brew Chocolate Stout

Had one of these the other day, so this is from memory. Only two weeks in the bottle for carbing and no further conditioning. Couldn’t wait. Not overly chocolate-y. But nice nevertheless. Still has the background taste that all my brews seem to have. After some feedback on my other thread, I’ve stuck these in the fridge at 5c for a couple of weeks to cold condition, something I don’t normally do.

AG#10 - X-Czech-er Pivo Cerne

Just bottled this yesterday having been in the FV for three weeks. Fermented at lager temps then slowly up to 19-20 for diacetyl rest. Then down to 0.5c for 4-5 days before bottling straight from FV. Only managed to get to 1019 so ended up at 5%. Couple of trials during fermenting hinted at good things to come. Let’s hope.

 

[UKSkydiver]

AG#11 - Oxfordshire Belgian Tripel II

First time out with the new shiny BrewZilla kit. Very happy with that thank you very much.

Inspired by a Beer52 beer, I got the base recipe from @strange-steve with a little glance at Josh Weikert's Make Your best Belgian Tripel and then did what I could to try and use up what I had in stock. I don't know why, but I wanted have it a little darker so I put in a tad of black malt.

Only an 11 litre, no sparge batch to try out the new, shiny toy.

BrewZilla 35L - 11 litre batch - no sparge
70% efficiency
Batch Volume: 11 L
Boil Time: 65 min
Mash Water: 18.5 L
Total Water: 18.5 L
Boil Volume: 15.5 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1050

Vitals
Original Gravity: 1080
Final Gravity (Fixed): 1012
ABV: 8.9%
IBU (Tinseth): 37
Colour: 15.6 EBC

Mash
Temperature — 65 °C — 65 min

Malts (3.329 kg)
3.05 kg (78.7%) — Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner — Grain — 4 EBC
190 g (4.9%) — Weyermann Wheat Malt Pale — Grain — 3.9 EBC
50 g (1.3%) — Melanoidin — Grain — 50 EBC
24 g (0.6%) — Amber Malt — Grain — 60 EBC
15 g (0.4%) — Black Malt — Grain — 1035 EBC

Other (549 g)
549 g (14.2%) — Invert No.3 — Sugar — 0 EBC added during the boil

Hops (32.9 g)
16.9 g (34 IBU) — Northern Brewer 9.5% — Boil — 60 min
16 g (3 IBU) — Hersbrucker 2.75% — Boil — 10 min

Miscs
0.5 items — Protafloc — Boil — 15 min

Yeast
1 pkg — Fermentis BE-256 Safebrew Abbey Ale 82%
0.1 pkg — Fermentis S-04 SafAle English Ale 75%

Fermentation
Primary — 18 °C — 14 days
Carbonation: 2.4 CO2-vol


Holding the mash temp was super easy with the controller and recirc pump.

Not sure the boil off volumes are quite right. Ended up with 12.5 litres at 1070 compared to 11 litres at 1080, but that means that the brewhouse efficiency was the same. I may need to boil for longer or adjust my volumes in BrewFather.

Rehydrated yeast in 30c cooled boiled water and had the start of a nice krausen within 12 hours. With such a high gravity wort, albeit only 11 litres, the calc suggested I needed 1.4 packets of yeast, and I only had one, so I decided to add the remnants of a previous packet of S-04. I have no idea whether this is a stroke of genius or a home brewing no-no. I appreciate your thoughts. It smells like proving bread, so I think the yeasties are enjoying it.

 

[UKSkydiver]

AG#11 - Oxfordshire Belgian Tripel II - Update

I bottled this yesterday. After only 24 hours in the bottle, it's nearly as clear as a bell.

Process:
First time recirculating during the mash (so this may be the reason for such a clear brew)
I used half a protofloc at 15 mins boil (12 litre batch)
I pumped everything out of the BZ boiler, including any break matter into my SS FV (read: old SS boil pot)
Two sink-fulls of water to drop the majority of the temp and then I allowed to cool overnight.
Pitched rehydrated dry yeast at ~16 degrees and had a seemingly nice healthy krausen about 12 hours later.
Started the ferment off at the lower end, ~17-18c before popping it up to ~20c for the second week.
FG should have been 1012 but finished 1008
Cold crashed to ~1c for the last three days - I did not use any fining agents.
I thought the trub in the FV had dropped out really well, very compacted and very little floating about.
Bottling was via a syphon stuck in my sanitised hop sock to try and reduce trub being transferred to bottles.

I know that there will be some yeast in the bottles, but I don't think I've ever seen such clear beer this early on.

Have I inadvertently done something in my process that could mean that there is so little yeast in my bottles they fail to carb*?

*I know it's early days and I should just wait a couple of weeks** to find out
** I also have one PET bottle so I can check progress giving it a little hug every now and then.

Cheers all.

 

[UKSkydiver]

AG#12 - Oxfordshire Pilferer - Plum and Liquorice Ale

Any similarities with any other ale, whether current or discontinued, is purely co-incidental.

I brewed this on Sunday. I really wasn't happy in making a full batch of experimental brew (bear in mind my full batches are more like 11-12 litres than 22-23 litres) so I did a half batch of approx. 6 litres. I went back to my old 16 litre pot rather than the new Brewzilla.

Oxfordshire Pilferer - Plum & Liquorice Ale AG#12

Vitals
Original Gravity: 1055
Final Gravity: 1014
ABV: 5.4%
IBU (Tinseth): 37
Colour: 37 EBC

Mash
Temperature — 67 °C — 45 min
But actually ended up somewhere between 64-66 for about an hour.

Malts (1.369 kg)
1.182 kg (86.3%) — Maris Otter Pale Malt, Maris Otter — Grain — 4 EBC
124 g (9.1%) — Muntons Caramalt Malt — Grain — 26 EBC
47 g (3.4%) — Crisp Low Colour Chocolate Malt — Grain — 550 EBC
16 g (1.2%) — Muntons Black Malt — Grain — 1035 EBC

Hops (19.3 g)
11.5 g (27 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 5% — Boil — 60 min
7.8 g (9 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 5% — Boil — 15 min

Miscs
6 ml — CRS 18% — Mash
2.315 g — Anise, Star — Boil — 10 min

Yeast
0.5 pkg — CML Beoir 75%

Fermentation
Primary — 19 °C — 14 days

Water wise, I used 5 litres of Sainso's Caledonian and a little bit of Thames Water tap. Added 6ml (IIRC) of CRS to get to an alk of 10. Probably a bit low. Still not got to grips with water treatment.

My pre-boil SG was a point up, but looks like I underestimated my boil off, so added back about a litre of boiling water at the end of the boil to hit my post boil volume. I was five points under with my OG, but not too worried as I would be adding jam / compote to the fermenter after 2-3 days.

So I ended up transferring just under 6 litres to the FV, and pitching half a packet of rehydrated CML Beoir yeast. I did use a bit of wort in the rehydrate along with water up to 30c.

Ferment Day 3
Prepared 100ml wort, 100ml water and 200g of Mrs UKS's homemade plum and sloe compote and boiled for 10 mins. I also added another 3g of star anise as the original wort neither smelled nor tasted liquorice-y. The yeast that had begun to floc to the bottom, so added the compote mixture and I stirred it all up.

I can now see bubbles fizzing on top and underwater, guyser like 'bloops' bubbling from the yeast on the bottom. Exciting. The pre-jam SG was 1017 and the post SG was 1026, so I think that will have added a point to the final ABV.

Let's see what happens.

 

[matt76]

I'm not sure either how to account for fruit/jam/sugar additions like this, and the effect on ABV... However...

- I was just reading this post, which is an interesting idea.

- But when I did my recent kettle sour I simply assumed the measured increase in gravity due to the fruit could just be added on to the original gravity I measured when I pitched my yeast at the start. So in your case, add 9 points onto your OG of 1.055 => 1.064. Then use your FG (1.010 or whatever) to work out the ABV as normal.

By the way, how is your beer looking now in general? Have you finally cracked the problem at packaging (or whatever it was)?

 

[UKSkydiver]

By the way, how is your beer looking now in general? Have you finally cracked the problem at packaging (or whatever it was)?

Thanks Matt, I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.

In terms of my brews. Still work in progress.

The last batch I made before really changing anything was the Christmas stout. It's not bad. Prob better than earlier brews. I think its benefiting from just being longer in the bottle.

The next batch was the Czech dark. I nuked the bottles on that brew. That is also one I'm trying to leave to condition. Had one tonight and it's ok, but really under carbed. I did reopen the bottles to add more sugar but that may not have been the best idea. Not sure.

The next one after that is the Belgian Belgian Tripel. New Brewzilla brew process. Same nuking of the bottles and long conditioning. Not tried one of those yet.

So, improving but feels like two steps forward and one step back.

Cheers

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Enjoyed reading your brewday thread, i'm going to brew a saisson soon, were you not keen on yours at all? Ironically you've also inspired me to brew a southern ale even though it's a bit 'meh'!

 

[UKSkydiver]

AG#12 - Oxfordshire Pilferer - Day 4 Update

When I said it wasn't very star anise-y, I elected to pitch the second 3g dose of boiled star anise.
That may have been an error, so I'm going to remove from the FV.
It smells of star anise and something a bit funky, but I know it's still only 4 days in so that may dissipate given time.