What did you brew today?

[Mrhandsome]

Brewed up a Russian Imperial Stout today.

Did a bit of experimenting with a double mash and long boil to get better efficiency with the large grain bill. Ended up with 81% which I'm very happy with, but I misjudged the amount of boil off and have an extra 1.5l of wort and a lower O.G. than I'd planned for at 1.080. I'm thinking about adding some dark Belgian Candi Syrup I made last week to up the gravity a bit.

 

[Druss]

I did a gallon of pale ale, still trying to perfect a simple as possible recipe, it's gone a bit weird though.

I used 875g Crisp pale ale malt (checked the scales, they're working fine), mashed at 65C for 45 minutes, boiled for 30 minutes with 14g of Saaz at 30 minutes, 14g Saaz at 10 minutes and 7g Saaz at flame out. Cold crashed to around 20C and poured into a demi john (got about 4.4 litres after boil), pitched about 5g CML real ale yeast.

The OG was 1066 (after temperature correction) which seemed a little odd, so I used another hydrometer and got the same result, I checked the temperature with three thermometers too just to be sure. According to brewfather (and several other online calculators) this puts my brewhouse efficiency at 105%.

My last brew (a simple wheat beer) came in at 93% efficiency, I'm still fairly new to AG brewing but I understand the average is about 70% efficiency with standard equipment (I'm just using a steel stockpot and a cheapo electric hot plate) so it's a bit of a head scratcher. Not that I'm complaining

 

[samale]

First run on the BrewZilla and brewing an ESB style of some description ...
3.5kg Pilsen Malt 3.5 EBC
1.0kg Wheat Malt 2 EBC
0.5kg CaraBeige 30-45 EBC
0.145kg Aciduated Malt
No water additions required as est pH was 5.37 though when checked was 5.09 and when I rechecked the recipe target profile was set to my own which has a pH of 7.2....bit low but we shall see.
50g Hull Melon 5.4% AA60 mins for bittering
20g ElDorado 14.8% AA 5 mins
20g Mosaic 11.4% AA 5 mins
20g ElDorado 14.8% AA 0 mins
20g Mosaic 11.4% AA 0 mins
MJ 54 California Common yeast is to be used as it is this or Kolsch but I'm sure it will be interesting.
Shall ferment @19deg.

Good to see your back in the saddle

 

[samale]

Brewed up a Russian Imperial Stout today.
View attachment 34265
Did a bit of experimenting with a double mash and long boil to get better efficiency with the large grain bill. Ended up with 81% which I'm very happy with, but I misjudged the amount of boil off and have an extra 1.5l of wort and a lower O.G. than I'd planned for at 1.080. I'm thinking about adding some dark Belgian Candi Syrup I made last week to up the gravity a bit.

Is that a 10 litre brew. Why two packs of different yeast's

 

[Gerryjo]

Good to see your back in the saddle

Right impressed with this yoke as it's cooling now after a 20min hoptstand at 80 deg and had to nip out to the offy then get my dinner all the while maintaining 90 deg.

 

[Mrhandsome]

Is that a 10 litre brew. Why two packs of different yeast's

Yeah I brew old school with a big pot on the stove, 10l batches.

I'm using London 3 for the yeast character, US West Coast for alcohol tolerance. In hindsight, with my lower O.G, I could have just used London 3 but I'd already pre mixed them.

 

[samale]

Yeah I brew old school with a big pot on the stove, 10l batches.

I'm using London 3 for the yeast character, US West Coast for alcohol tolerance. In hindsight, with my lower O.G, I could have just used London 3 but I'd already pre mixed them.

Good stuff I will brewing another imperial next week using WLP530 abbey ale yeast. Hopefully hit around 9%

 

[Mrhandsome]

Good stuff I will brewing another imperial next week using WLP530 abbey ale yeast. Hopefully hit around 9%

I've got WLP530 for my next two brews... A Belgian blonde followed by a dubbel/quad depending on what I fancy.

 

[samale]

I've got WLP530 for my next two brews... A Belgian blonde followed by a dubbel/quad depending on what I fancy.

My dubbel is busy fermenting. One week in, sitting at 21 degree's

 

[samale]

The plan is then to use the yeast cake for a Belgian oatmeal pale ale and an imperial stout

 

[Mrhandsome]

The plan is then to use the yeast cake for a Belgian oatmeal pale ale and an imperial stout

Same, I'll keep a 500ml bottle aside for future brews and chuck something strong on top of the yeast cake.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

I did my first Brewzilla brew today. A sort of Broadside ish style beer. I’ve been using a Peco boiler and doing BIAB for just over a year so I had to keep on my toes with a totally new process whereas I usually brew on auto pilot! I mashed very thin, 25 litres of water with a 4.8kg grist as I was fearful of a stuck mash or sparge since they seem to be the most common topics in forum threads about these type of systems. That is probably why I missed my OG by a few points. Got 1.044 instead of the 1.047 I got the last time I made this beer in the Peco. That and the fact I used to be able to squeeze the hell out of the bag! I’m not too fussed about missing my OG. I suppose if I end up with a decent beer at 4.5% abv instead of 5% that’s probably closer to what I should be drinking anyway.

 

[samale]

Same, I'll keep a 500ml bottle aside for future brews and chuck something strong on top of the yeast cake.

I could see a swap happening

 

[Mrhandsome]

I could see a swap happening

Well you've got my Weizenbock coming your way for the comp

 

[Cheshire Cat]

13 litres of Sour Raspberry Wheat beer

1500g Pilsner malt
1500g Wheat malt
100g Acid malt
60m mash @ 66C, 20m sparge @ 75C
45m boil
15g Saaz @ 45m
15g Saaz @ 10m
3g Irish moss @ 10m
15g Mosaic @ 0m
Yeast 5g Philly Sour, 5g CML Kristallweizen
OG 1050

 

[strange-steve]

13 litres of Sour Raspberry Wheat beer

1500g Pilsner malt
1500g Wheat malt
100g Acid malt
60m mash @ 66C, 20m sparge @ 75C
45m boil
15g Saaz @ 45m
15g Saaz @ 10m
3g Irish moss @ 10m
15g Mosaic @ 0m
Yeast 5g Philly Sour, 5g CML Kristallweizen
OG 1050

Nice. How are you adding the raspberries?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I add thawed raspberries to the 2FV and leave for two weeks. I've made an unsoured version and it came out very good.
PS raspberries in a muslin bag.

 

[strange-steve]

I add thawed raspberries to the 2FV and leave for two weeks. I've made an unsoured version and it came out very good.
PS raspberries in a muslin bag.

I'd love to try something like this, maybe with a little brett in there to make a sort of quick framboise but I'm a bit apprehensive about using raspberries now. Both times I've tried have been disastrous.

 

[MickDundee]

I'd love to try something like this, maybe with a little brett in there to make a sort of quick framboise but I'm a bit apprehensive about using raspberries now. Both times I've tried have been disastrous.

I used raspberry coulis from Amazon with great effect. It was 90% raspberries 10% sugar and worked well. It wasn’t cheap though (about £9 a kilo IIRC) and ideally I would have added more than just 1kg.

 

[strange-steve]

I used raspberry coulis from Amazon with great effect. It was 90% raspberries 10% sugar and worked well. It wasn’t cheap though (about £9 a kilo IIRC) and ideally I would have added more than just 1kg.

A little farm shop near me sells various natural fruit syrups, including raspberry, I've been meaning to get a bottle for a small scale trial to see how it tastes and if it's viable to scale up.