What did you brew today?

[Martin Kernick]

This week's brew is a slightly tweaked version of Kirkstall Brewery's Biscuit Brown Ale, the subject of a thread on the General Recipe Discussion board. I'll post there with my findings once it's brewed.

 

[Tanglefoot]

Batch #38 Moutere & Moteuka pale ale

18L Batch BIAB (no sparge)
24L total water

OG 1.053
FG 1.013
ABV 5.3%
EBC 14.8
IBU 41

4.2 kg Extra pale Maris Otter
.3kg Caramalt
.1kg Dark Crystal

Moutere 5gm 60mins

Moutere 10gm 10mins
Moteuka 15gm 10mins

Moutere 10gm 60min hopstand @80c
Moteuka 25gm 60min hopstand @80c

Moteuka 60gm dry hop 3 days

Safale US-05 Pitched at 19c

OG couple of points down at 1.051 but volume couple of litres over.

Hoping for a summery ale with piney citrus/grapefruit and tropical stone fruit
flavours and aroma.
Might downsize the dry hop after reading up on Motueka which sounds like it
could be a little overwhelming with lemon/lime.

 

[obscure]

A quick batch of Weissbier using Greg Hughes recipie, opted to use DME as Geterbrewed where doing a sale on it, brew day overall went fairly smoothly and beer is in the fermentor. Yeast wise I am using WB-06, and plan to ferment fairly high to hopefully get some banana flavour.

 

[evil.soup]

Started my very first brew today, coopers lager kit but swapped out the yeast for novalager yeast and Brewed a little short at 21ltrs with bottled spring water.

Will dry hop with 50g hersbrucker after fermentation is completed, just for a couple of days for a bit of flavour, then cold crash for a couple of days and bottle prime.

Think my OG is 1020 if I have read the hydrometer correctly...

 

[phildo79]

DK Strata Delight pale ale. Pre made AG kit from TMM. I had a discount code so got it very cheap. Think it's working out around 27p per pint.

 

[MrJay83]

A simple pale ale with El Dorado and Simcoe. Everything went great until I retrieved my ispindel from the bucket of sanitiser and discovered I didn't tighten the cap. Another excuse to buy something for my "cheap" hobby

 

[obscure]

Started my very first brew today, coopers lager kit but swapped out the yeast for novalager yeast and Brewed a little short at 21ltrs with bottled spring water.

Will dry hop with 50g hersbrucker after fermentation is completed, just for a couple of days for a bit of flavour, then cold crash for a couple of days and bottle prime.

Think my OG is 1020 if I have read the hydrometer correctly...

I suspect something might be going on with your hydrometer reading a 1.7KG kit with a kilo of sugar should be in the region of 1.040 or so for 21 litres a few potential explanations.

1. You haven’t mixed quite enough so the malt extract is sitting at the bottom of the fermentor it will likely dissolve given time.
2. Your hydrometer is inaccurate, (in 20°C water you should have a reading of roughly 1.000)
3. You have misread the hydrometer easily done
4. You didn’t add any additional fermentables apart from the 1.7KG tin of extract.

May be worth double checking as again 1.020 seems far too low.

 

[Mash Monster]

Started my very first brew today, coopers lager kit but swapped out the yeast for novalager yeast and Brewed a little short at 21ltrs with bottled spring water.

Will dry hop with 50g hersbrucker after fermentation is completed, just for a couple of days for a bit of flavour, then cold crash for a couple of days and bottle prime.

Think my OG is 1020 if I have read the hydrometer correctly...

Did you remember to add 1kg of sugar ?

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Tropical stout, used 3% coconut sugar let's wait and see, fermenting open with Wyeast1007.

 

[evil.soup]

I suspect something might be going on with your hydrometer reading a 1.7KG kit with a kilo of sugar should be in the region of 1.040 or so for 21 litres a few potential explanations.

1. You haven’t mixed quite enough so the malt extract is sitting at the bottom of the fermentor it will likely dissolve given time.
2. Your hydrometer is inaccurate, (in 20°C water you should have a reading of roughly 1.000)
3. You have misread the hydrometer easily done
4. You didn’t add any additional fermentables apart from the 1.7KG tin of extract.

May be worth double checking as again 1.020 seems far too low.

Yeah i did put 1kg of dextrose and spraymalt in there and mixed it all in really well. My mix ended a bit warmer than I wanted though, despite putting 4ltrs of chilled water in there it was sitting around 22 to 23°C when I took the reading, had to wrap the bucket in ice to start cooling it down.
Could that have affected it?
Also, I am not sure if I have read it correctly as the other reading I had was 1080, I really should have researched reading the AG in more detail before I set my batch off. Why does the hydrometer seem to have 3 different gauges on it? Does 1080 seem more what you would expect?

 

[Mash Monster]

Yeah i did put 1kg of dextrose and spraymalt in there and mixed it all in really well. My mix ended a bit warmer than I wanted though, despite putting 4ltrs of chilled water in there it was sitting around 22 to 23°C when I took the reading, had to wrap the bucket in ice to start cooling it down.
Could that have affected it?
Also, I am not sure if I have read it correctly as the other reading I had was 1080, I really should have researched reading the AG in more detail before I set my batch off. Why does the hydrometer seem to have 3 different gauges on it? Does 1080 seem more what you would expect?

I would expect the OG to be around the 1.040 / 1.042 mark with the correct volume of water but if you have brewed it short the OG should be a little higher but not as much as 1.080.
If you have followed the instructions I’m sure you will be just fine and wouldn’t worry too much.
Just let it do it’s own thing and don’t be in too much of a hurry to get it packaged Good luck

 

[evil.soup]

I would expect the OG to be around the 1.040 / 1.042 mark with the correct volume of water but if you have brewed it short the OG should be a little higher but not as much as 1.080.
If you have followed the instructions I’m sure you will be just fine and wouldn’t worry too much.
Just let it do it’s own thing and don’t be in too much of a hurry to get it packaged Good luck

Cheers, I did follow the brew to the letter, well, I added a different yeast of course but that doesn't influence this. I think i probably took the reading incorrectly.

Only time will tell of course but as long as I have drinkable lager that isn't weak nat water I will be happy lol!

 

[obscure]

Yeah i did put 1kg of dextrose and spraymalt in there and mixed it all in really well. My mix ended a bit warmer than I wanted though, despite putting 4ltrs of chilled water in there it was sitting around 22 to 23°C when I took the reading, had to wrap the bucket in ice to start cooling it down.
Could that have affected it?
Also, I am not sure if I have read it correctly as the other reading I had was 1080, I really should have researched reading the AG in more detail before I set my batch off. Why does the hydrometer seem to have 3 different gauges on it? Does 1080 seem more what you would expect?

As mentioned by Mash Monster if you brewed to the instructions the gravity should be around 1.040 as you brewed a little short ot may well be a tad higher (but not 1.080). Temperature does have an impact as hydrometers are typic calibrated at 20°C but again you wouldn’t see a huge difference at 23°C.

Your issue could be caused by the hydrometer being defective, or it just bobbing up and down a bit in the liquid making it hard to get an accurate reading, the scale on your basic hydrometer tend not to make things easy. With regards to the three scales, I assume you haVe a 3 scale hydrometer, these are typically specific gravity, Brix (which I had to google to check what it actually is it’s the amount of solids dissolved so in the case of brewing this would be sugar per 100ml) and potential alcohol.

The potential alcohol should be typically ignored this is primarily for wine makers as it assumes the gravity will drop to 1.000. The Brix scale however is interesting as from the looks of things 1.080 SG is roughly 20 on the. Brix scale. This does make me wonder of you hadn‘t quite stirred enough when you took your sample and if it was from the bottom of the fermentor where the malt extract had sunk to you could get an unusually high reading, or you simply misread the scale.

Ultimately I wouldn’t worry too much with kits if you make them to the instructions you will end up with the expected gravity, making it short to 21 litres will have a minimal impact but not enough to bring your gravity up to 1.080. You are likely around about 1.040+/- a few points or so and will likely finish around about 1.008+/- a couple of points so around 4.5-5% alcohol wise.

 

[evil.soup]

As mentioned by Mash Monster if you brewed to the instructions the gravity should be around 1.040 as you brewed a little short ot may well be a tad higher (but not 1.080). Temperature does have an impact as hydrometers are typic calibrated at 20°C but again you wouldn’t see a huge difference at 23°C.

Your issue could be caused by the hydrometer being defective, or it just bobbing up and down a bit in the liquid making it hard to get an accurate reading, the scale on your basic hydrometer tend not to make things easy. With regards to the three scales, I assume you haVe a 3 scale hydrometer, these are typically specific gravity, Brix (which I had to google to check what it actually is it’s the amount of solids dissolved so in the case of brewing this would be sugar per 100ml) and potential alcohol.

The potential alcohol should be typically ignored this is primarily for wine makers as it assumes the gravity will drop to 1.000. The Brix scale however is interesting as from the looks of things 1.080 SG is roughly 20 on the. Brix scale. This does make me wonder of you hadn‘t quite stirred enough when you took your sample and if it was from the bottom of the fermentor where the malt extract had sunk to you could get an unusually high reading, or you simply misread the scale.

Ultimately I wouldn’t worry too much with kits if you make them to the instructions you will end up with the expected gravity, making it short to 21 litres will have a minimal impact but not enough to bring your gravity up to 1.080. You are likely around about 1.040+/- a few points or so and will likely finish around about 1.008+/- a couple of points so around 4.5-5% alcohol wise.

Yes pretty sure I haven't read it correctly, plus there could be an issue with the hydrometer as it wouldn't sit perfectly upright in the tube, it was leaning over.
I guess it doesnt make a world of difference really, I am quite meticulous when it comes to following a process so I am confident it is as it should be.
The real alcohol test will be after 2 bottles, see how it feels lol!
Thanks for all the advice so far.

 

[Sadfield]

Brewed a small batch of Golden Ale using Ernest Hops (Pineapple, Citrus and Apricot), a simple base of Extra Pale Malt with 5% of Date Syrup for colour and a dry finish.

 

[RichardM]

Today's brew was a Scottish Export Ale
Maris Otter
Medium Crystal
Wheat Malt
Black Malt
Northdown
Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale Yeast
OG 1052
20 IBUs

 

[ChrisM]

Starting gravity a bit short at 1048, but the Lallemand Windsor yeast a bit too efficient and achieved a FG of 1013. Risking the old faithful for this batch.View attachment 85126

Taste test at 10 days conditioning - very drinkable fresh malty ale with subtle hops. Weaker attenuation from the Windsor yeast suits this style.

 

[ChrisM]

View attachment 85144
Five litre biab batch of raspberry pale ale, a combo of several Greg Hughes recipes to use up some leftovers: 1.125kg MO, 375g wheat, 7.5g Golding's at start of boil, 500g frozen raspberries once wort cooled, SG 1062. Safale US 05 yeast.

FG of 1012. Looked / smelled to have some wild yeast on the raspberries, but beer tasted fine - slight souring. Nearly 4 litres bottled - from the layer between the raspberries and the yeast. Now to try and disinfect the fermenter.

 

[Gingerbrews]

CML Oatmeal Stout.
A first try of this; hoping for a good outcome

 

[obscure]

CML Oatmeal Stout.
A first try of this; hoping for a good outcome

I’ve made this one a few times and it has made an excellent stout.