What did you brew today?

[Tanglefoot]

Bit of a late start but this is now chilling in the brew fridge.

AG#46
English IPA
18L batch BIAB no sparge
24.3L total water

OG 1.058
FG 1.013
ABV 5.9%
IBU 50
EBC 19.7

Extra pale MO 4.5kg
Crystal 250gm
Caramalt 175gm
Amber 125gm
Dark Crystal 75gm

Admiral 10gm 60mins
Challenger 20gm 15mins
Admiral 5gm 5mins
Goldings 50gm hopstand 80c
Admiral 35gm hopstand 80c

Goldings 50gm dry hop
Admiral 50gm dry hop


Temp adjusted gravity reading looks okay, Verdant IPA yeast to pitch when chilled.

 

[Begbie]

I managed to squeeze in a brew day on Sunday. I reduced some times slightly and changed a couple of ways that I do things to try to keep the brew day shorter as I was on a tight schedule.

Cali Common
3.15kg Pilsner malt
0.4kg Munich malt
Hallertau Mittelfruh
CML Kentucky

45 minute mash at 65degC
10 minute mashout at 75degC
45 minute boil
5 minute hopstand

I decided not to use my hop basket this time but to use my ever growing collection of small hop bags provided with my previous grain orders. When I was done, I simply chucked the bags out. I also emptied my grain basket into another container, allowing me to thoroughly rinse the basket using the warm water from my cooking coil.

I managed to hit my target volume of 16.5L and the OG of 1.046. Might need to use this process again!

Between the reduced mash and boil time, reduced cleaning time, I probably saved about an hour on my brew day.

Cheers!

 

[RoboBrewBot5000]

I managed to squeeze in a brew day on Sunday. I reduced some times slightly and changed a couple of ways that I do things to try to keep the brew day shorter as I was on a tight schedule.

Cali Common
3.15kg Pilsner malt
0.4kg Munich malt
Hallertau Mittelfruh
CML Kentucky

45 minute mash at 65degC
10 minute mashout at 75degC
45 minute boil
5 minute hopstand

I decided not to use my hop basket this time but to use my ever growing collection of small hop bags provided with my previous grain orders. When I was done, I simply chucked the bags out. I also emptied my grain basket into another container, allowing me to thoroughly rinse the basket using the warm water from my cooking coil.

I managed to hit my target volume of 16.5L and the OG of 1.046. Might need to use this process again!

Between the reduced mash and boil time, reduced cleaning time, I probably saved about an hour on my brew day.

Cheers!

A lot of people brewing cal commons on Sunday it seems! We should all post pics of the resultant brews for comparison!

 

[Tanglefoot]

Impressive 2" krausen on my Verdant English IPA after three days !

 

[RoboBrewBot5000]

Impressive 2" krausen on my Verdant English IPA after three days !

I'm here for it!

 

[MashBag]

It's too cold, I am drinking stock

 

[obscure]

Well its cold but dry so decided to do my first batch of beer of the year a 9L batch of ‘Stoutly Mild’ recipe comes from the Crossmyloof website although I swapped out standard pale malt for Warminster Mild Ale Malt as Maltmiller had it.

https://www.crossmyloofbrew.co.uk/beer-recipes?pgid=kxiv4pte-49af7ae4-3c66-4f38-b105-4129c7f3f79a
I’ve made it before and it’s a fairly decent mild but the roasted barley just gives it that slight stout like note, it’s all mashed out now and I’ve just added the first lot of hops to the wort.

 

[Sadfield]

Having to brew a Porter for next months homebrew club. Going American with the obligatory overcomplicated grist, smoking it up with some Oak smoked wheat.

Batch -12L
OG -1.049
IBUs - 39
EBC - 61
ABV - 5%

Water

Ca-141 Mg-10 Na-100 Co3-50 SO4-100 Cl-300

Mash - 60' @ 68c

Maris Otter - 57%
Oak Smoked Wheat Malt- 20%
Crystal 77L - 5%
Aroma 150 - 5%
Flaked Wheat -5 %
Chocolate Malt - 5%
Roasted Barley - 3%
First Gold - 30g

Boil - 60'

Chinook- 10g @ FW
Protofloc - 0.3g @10'
Chinook- 10g @ 10'

House Blend (2 parts S-33/Windsor, 1 part K-97, 1 part BE256) + Yeast Nutrient.

 

[MashBag]

I might pop a mash on tomorrow night. I have some malts to use up.

 

[Twostage]

Looks like it is fermenting away (wort is now warmer than the brewfridge ambient).

Kegged/Bottled the Chinook SMASH.

Some firsts for me.

1 - Used the Christmas present Bench capper. So much easier/quicker than using a hand capper. Its not the top of the range bench capper as it doesn't auto-adjust for bottle height. Not that its too painful adjusting the height but for the next bottling session I'm going to make sure all the bottles are the same height.
2 - As a test one of the bottles was a 750ml sparkling wine bottle, you need a bench capper for that. As @MashBag said previously, bottling 750ml speeds the process. Looking forward to a bottle share session. If that works I'll do more 750s.
3 - (Don't know why I've never done this before) I filled the bottles and then added the sugar. I normally put the sugar in first and over estimate how many bottles and have to re-wash the left over ones to get the sugar out.

Force carbed the corny, looking forward to an early taste later on.

 

[Sadfield]

Bench Cappers also remove the fear of spliced arteries through not breaking the necks of bottles like hand cappers do. Which is nice.

 

[Tanglefoot]

Having to brew a Porter for next months homebrew club. Going American with the obligatory overcomplicated grist, smoking it up with some Oak smoked wheat.

Batch -12L
OG -1.049
IBUs - 39
EBC - 61
ABV - 5%

Water

Ca-141 Mg-10 Na-100 Co3-50 SO4-100 Cl-300

Mash - 60' @ 68c

Maris Otter - 57%
Oak Smoked Wheat Malt- 20%
Crystal 77L - 5%
Aroma 150 - 5%
Flaked Wheat -5 %
Chocolate Malt - 5%
Roasted Barley - 3%
First Gold - 30g

Boil - 60'

Chinook- 10g @ FW
Protofloc - 0.3g @10'
Chinook- 10g @ 10'

House Blend (2 parts S-33/Windsor, 1 part K-97, 1 part BE256) + Yeast Nutrient.

Looks very nice ! I made a similar Chinook porter from a Jon Finch recipe that
I've been meaning to brew again.
It was styled as a 'Robust Porter' though, more IBU's and darker but much to my taste. I don't make many dark beers but it was a standout success in early attempts.

 

[Twostage]

Finally bottled it. The temperature bump to kick off the d-rest made it burst back into life which went on until today. Only dropped an additional gravity point since the end of the initial fermentation spurt. Very clear so I'm expecting it to take a while to carbonate. Due to under-carbonation of some of my brews, which I think was down to using different spoons, I've now chosen a carbonation teaspoon (the new SI unit) so I can hopefully get some consistency. Tasted nice. Finished at 1.014 so around 4% ABV which is fine.

Did a side by side comparison of Abbot's ale v. my attempt (original on the left). And the results are :-

As you can see I've brewed mine too dark, mine is deeper and reddish. So missed the target there.
The head retention on mine was better. I poured more AA in after the photo and the head on mine was still there after the second pour head had gone.
The head on mine was white whereas the abbot was creamy.

I had the chief taster on hand (the Missus) and she described the AA flavour as having a hole in it. We often describe flavours as shapes (synesthesia affect I think). You could taste it around the outside of your mouth but not on the tongue so much. Mine had a fuller flavour and a creamier mouthfeel (with no hole in it). Overall she said that the original was more drinkable as it was lighter. She said mine tasted nicer but she couldn't drink lots of it because of its fuller flavour. More for me then .

Does this mean I have to design out flavour from future recipes ?

By the way, had a hand-pulled AA at a pub last week and it was lovely with a nice creamy head.

 

[Tanglefoot]

@Twostage for what it's worth your Abbot's ale looks more appetising to me
Like you say, EBC could be a little lower but looks decent.

 

[Caramel Ox]

Did a side by side comparison of Abbot's ale v. my attempt (original on the left). And the results are :-

As you can see I've brewed mine too dark, mine is deeper and reddish. So missed the target there.
The head retention on mine was better. I poured more AA in after the photo and the head on mine was still there after the second pour head had gone.
The head on mine was white whereas the abbot was creamy.

I had the chief taster on hand (the Missus) and she described the AA flavour as having a hole in it. We often describe flavours as shapes (synesthesia affect I think). You could taste it around the outside of your mouth but not on the tongue so much. Mine had a fuller flavour and a creamier mouthfeel (with no hole in it). Overall she said that the original was more drinkable as it was lighter. She said mine tasted nicer but she couldn't drink lots of it because of its fuller flavour. More for me then .

Does this mean I have to design out flavour from future recipes ?

By the way, had a hand-pulled AA at a pub last week and it was lovely with a nice creamy head.

View attachment 95054

With you there - flavour, shape, colour whatever comes to mind.

 

[foxy]

Nancy Naylor Landlady. 21 litres

1,043 OG 1,010 FG ABV 4.3 IBU 39.8 SRM 6.6 Mash pH 5.3

4.25 Voyager Veloria Schooner
0.500 Joe White Munich Light
0.150 Weyermann Carapils Fermenter addition
0.100 Simpson light Crystal Fermenter addition

40g Fuggles FWH
30g EKG 10 mins
28g Styrian Goldings Hop Stand

Dough in and Mash @ 67C. Ball valve on return pipe fully open throughout

Iodine test @30 mins. shows no trace of starch.

The big squeeze and an extra 2 litres of wort.

21 litres in fermenter OG 1,047

Another 2 litres from the dregs in the kettle. So total 23 litres.

 

[NormanHurst]

Hello everyone. My first post in 2 months - and my first brew too. All things Christmas and then dry January has kept me away.

Brewing a simple (ish) German Lager today. Loosely based on some Dortmunder Export recipes - not that I've knowingly ever drunk such a beer.

95% Pilsner
5% Munich
Hallertau Hersbrucker to 25 IBU with some later additions
WHC Einstein yeast

Hoping for 5.5% abv if all goes to plan.

And I'm very much looking forward to my first beer of 2024 next weekend!

 

[matt.]

Hello everyone. My first post in 2 months - and my first brew too. All things Christmas and then dry January has kept me away.

Brewing a simple (ish) German Lager today. Loosely based on some Dortmunder Export recipes - not that I've knowingly ever drunk such a beer.

95% Pilsner
5% Munich
Hallertau Hersbrucker to 25 IBU with some later additions
WHC Einstein yeast

Hoping for 5.5% abv if all goes to plan.

And I'm very much looking forward to my first beer of 2024 next weekend!

Next weekend?
Wow - what's the time between brewing and drinking?

 

[NormanHurst]

Next weekend?
Wow - what's the time between brewing and drinking?

Ah! Next weekend is end of dry January so first pint of the year. It won't be this brew though: )

This one will be ready in 6-8 weeks depending on my patience!

 

[matt.]

Ah! Next weekend is end of dry January so first pint of the year. It won't be this brew though: )

This one will be ready in 6-8 weeks depending on my patience!

Thanks - I understand now. Let us know how this brew goes - in 6-8 weks
Thanks