What did you brew today?

[Pennine]

Having a bit of a clear out of my hop store and I've come a across a pile of Sovereign and Pilgrim that Jo from Stocks Farm sweet talked me into buying, and some Aramis and Barbe Rouge (Alsace) that I'd bought for an earlier project but the results were not as stunning as I'd hoped for. Also, a couple of hundred grams of Endeavour which didn't really shine in the SMaSH I'd made of it. . So: four, 12-litre sample brews to knock up over the next four days to see if these hops continue to deserve the fridge-space they're occupying.
All on my standard best bitter malt profile:
Aramis; bittered with Endeavour, late additions and dry hops of Aramis
Barbe Rouge: bitttered with Endeavour, late additions and dry hops of Barbe Rouge
Sovereign: bittered with Sovereign, 15' addition Sovereign, flameout and dry hops 50/50 Sovereign and EKGs
Pilgrim: Pilgrim hops throughout.
Will post details under Brew Days.
If the Alscase beers show promise I might well do an AIPA (Alsatian I P A) to use them up.
Here goes.

nice im curious to hear your thoughts on them. i have a pack of endeavour i was hoping to get to one of these days.

i have these 4l plastic containers i think i am going to use to explore new hops and various yeasts. i am just trying to work out a consistent brewing method to use.

 

[An Ankoù]

nice im curious to hear your thoughts on them. i have a pack of endeavour i was hoping to get to one of these days.

i have these 4l plastic containers i think i am going to use to explore new hops and various yeasts. i am just trying to work out a consistent brewing method to use.

Certainly. One of our members, I can't remember who, was really keen on Endeavour, but I found it a bit, one-dimensional in a SMaSH, however, it is reckiond to be an excellent bittering hop in the English style. I, too need to find some smaller fermenters for experimental stuff, but I probably won't as it's just another set of fermenters to have to find space for. It's a good idea to have a standard malt profile so you can get a comparison of the hops and not the malts. I use 85% Pale, 10% caramalt, 5% dark crystal and 5% flaked wheat for a bitter style.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

10 litres of Belgium Blonde Ale
60 m mash.
2500g Irish pale
300g Biscuit malt
200g Honey malt
200g Candy sugar 10m
Hops
12g Styrian wolf 60m
15g EKG 10m
20g bitter orange peel 15m
20g coriander 15m
Yeast CML Belgium ale yeast
OG 1068 Eff% 68%

 

[Edison]

10 litres of Belgium Blonde Ale
60 m mash.
2500g Irish pale
300g Biscuit malt
200g Honey malt
200g Candy sugar 10m
Hops
12g Styrian wolf 60m
15g EKG 10m
20g bitter orange peel 15m
20g coriander 15m
Yeast CML Belgium ale yeast
OG 1068 Eff% 68%

Sounds nice, have you used this yeast before? Love Belgian beers but don’t brew many so when I did this week I went with the liquid yeast in the recipe to be certain (La Chouffe yeast I believe).

 

[Clint]

Hmm biscuit....got none...can it be subbed?

 

[MyQul]

Hmm biscuit....got none...can it be subbed?

Amber, I think. You might even be able to make some in the oven

 

[MyQul]

@Clint

"The simplest of specialty malts to make at home is a toasted malt. A lightly toasted pale malt would be in the 20°l range and would be similar to biscuit malt"

https://www.myfermentation.com/beer/how-to-toast-specialty-malts-zerz1904zwoo

 

[An Ankoù]

Hmm biscuit....got none...can it be subbed?

You might try one of the other Belgian Speciality malts like aromatic malt or Special B. Special W and Special X are not far away but they're not Belgian.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I’ve used the cml Belgium before and the beer has turned out fine. I’ve never used liquid yeast so can only compare with Fermentis and MJ which it’s as good as.

 

[Edison]

I’ve used the cml Belgium before and the beer has turned out fine. I’ve never used liquid yeast so can only compare with Fermentis and MJ which it’s as good as.

Yeah it seems like MJ might come from the same OEM source as CML. I've successfully used cracked coriander and bitter orange peel with good results previously. I didn't add any this time around as I think the spicy character is traditionally more restrained in a Blonde so just interested to see what the yeast gives me on it's own.

The decanted starter definitely smelt 'Belgian' but not as much as WLP550 I used for Zot-a-Lot. Beer Recipe Cloud by BeerSmith - Homebrew Beer Recipes

 

[Kircky]

My first brew a Coopers Brew A IPA went into the pressure barrel today and I started a Coopers Australian Pale Ale this afternoon along with a Solomon Grundy Piesporter 30 bottle kit. Tried a drop of the Brew A and it was rather nice.

One issue, I forgot to add 1\2 a campden tablet to my beer - it is currently fermenting and giving off CO2 nicely (it started really quick) - should I add the campden to the brew now or just leave it?

 

[Clint]

Leave it. You should add it to your water before you brew.

 

[Kircky]

Leave it. You should add it to your water before you brew.

Thanks Clint I will leave it

 

[dan125]

Just got this Vienna IPA on the go
I've never used Vienna at more than about 10 - 15% before, so interested to see how this turns out.
I ended up a couple of points over target with almost 30L @ 1.061
Reusing some generation 3 Pia yeast saved from the last brew, and it'll get 100g each citra and cascade dry hop.

 

[strange-steve]

Today's brew is a best bitter. It's an unusual style for me, I rarely brew English beers (actually rarely anything <6%) and I think I've only ever brewed one decent bitter. This time though I've went for a fairly high mineral content, am using Munich malt as the base (probably not traditional for the style but who cares, it's my beer) and a characterful English yeast (which I've never used before).

Munich Malt Best Bitter

Specs
Batch Size: 20L
Estimated OG: 1.047
Estimated FG: 1.014
ABV: 4.3%
Colour: 15SRM
Bitterness: 32IBU

Grain
3kg Munich I
1kg Munich II
100g Crystal 40
100g Crystal 120
100g Crystal 160

Hops
20g Challenger @ 60 mins
15g Challenger @ 20 mins
15g Challenger @ 1 min

Water
Calcium: 150ppm
Sulphate: 180ppm
Chloride: 150ppm
Alkalinity: 100ppm

Notes
Single step infusion at 66°c for 90 mins
Ferment with WHC Brexit yeast at 20°c

 

[Edison]

Just got this Vienna IPA on the go
I've never used Vienna at more than about 10 - 15% before, so interested to see how this turns out.
I ended up a couple of points over target with almost 30L @ 1.061
Reusing some generation 3 Pia yeast saved from the last brew, and it'll get 100g each citra and cascade dry hop.

View attachment 25463
View attachment 25464

That sounds lovely. Made a nice Vienna lager with 100% and it turned out great.

 

[chthon]

I brewed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

On Sunday, I mashed for 15l wort of 1.045 OG. I then split this into two batches, one of the same gravity for 7.5 l, and one to be diluted to 1.030. These I then pasteurised and set them aside for Monday and Tuesday.

Monday afternoon I then boiled one wort to brew 7.5 litres of bitter.
Tuesday afternoon I boiled the other diluted part for a saison. Original plan was to use English hops, but I changed it and made it with Merkur hops only.

Both are bubbling nicely away.

 

[Rodcx500z]

just mashed in, a red ale well thats the plan 23L

 

[Rodcx500z]

I ain't taking my eye off this

 

[RockTKaz]

Tried out the white IPA with hibiscus from the Greg Hughes book. Flowers didn’t impart the colour I was hoping for, maybe it will deepen in the fermenter! Pretty good day other than that.