What did you brew today?

[Tanglefoot]

18L batch of American amber ale, bittered with Northern Brewer then later additions and hopstand of Cascade.
Maris Otter, Munich, light and dark Crystal malts.
ABV 5.3%, EBC 26, IBU 34

A late start today so chilling overnight in the brewfridge, then pitch US-05 in the morning.

 

[Begbie]

Wife was away to a charity do and the weather was great, so that meant... brew day! 15L of my second brew of a Saison, based on Jon Finche's recipe.

Brew day went very smoothly until I transferred from the Klarstein to my FV and found I was 3L short! Pretty sure I got my water volumes correct, so I think they're was a much higher boil-off...or I was short on my mash volume.

Anyway, I liquored back to hit my planned volume and OG of 1.044. Using MJ M29 again, so should achieve at least 5.2% ABV.

I upped the coriander and orange peel on this one as I don't think it came through as much in my first attempt. Let's see how it turns out. Its now in the ferm fridge, set at 28degC.

 

[MashBag]

It's not a crime to top up the fv.

 

[Twostage]

An ESB although it's pre-boil SG was more like a best (which I might just live with or add some DME or demarera). I'll decide in the morning.

Tested out my induction hob. I like it. Was playing with the power level to see what worked best with the boil. I think the optimum setting would be 400 watts which is a shame as you have to choose between 300 or 500.

Anyway, good piece of kit.

 

[Begbie]

It's not a crime to top up the fv.

Yeah, given that my Klarstein is a 25L model, I've had to liquor back a few times in the past when I brewed larger volumes. It's not a problem but it did add more time to my brew day.

 

[Druss]

Tested out my induction hob. I like it. Was playing with the power level to see what worked best with the boil. I think the optimum setting would be 400 watts which is a shame as you have to choose between 300 or 500.

I've found that's a bit of a pain too, the increments are a bit too much of a gap. I tend to either get a furious boil or only just a boil so have to alternate between the two.

 

[Twostage]

An ESB although it's pre-boil SG was more like a best (which I might just live with or add some DME or demarera). I'll decide in the morning.

Tested out my induction hob. I like it. Was playing with the power level to see what worked best with the boil. I think the optimum setting would be 400 watts which is a shame as you have to choose between 300 or 500.

Anyway, good piece of kit.

Transferred to a couple of DJs (fancied watching the ferment this time). OG turned out to be 1.058 so all OK gravity wise.

Took the opportunity to measure how much DJs actually hold - 4 litres up to the shoulder, about 1/2 inch above that is 4.5.

As I thought I might be adding sugar to get the gravity up I revisited the 'how much sugar do I add' question and was surprised that my 28g per10 litre per gravity point calculation no longer worked in Brewmate which confused me. Checked with the Vinolab calculator (Vinolab) which said it should be 24.6. Eventually realised that Brewmate was using efficiency in its calculations and I've recently upped the efficiency in Brewmate to 90% from the default which is why the maths stopped working. I'm assuming that the efficiency of sugar is 100% (right ?) in which case roughly 25g per 10 litre is the correct value.

Having just checked, cane sugar IS 100% efficient (as you aren't extracting it from grain) so any recipe software that applies efficiency to it is going to under-calculate the OG. Probably not worth worrying about though .

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

Definitely won't be drinking any of it (yak) but brewed an English IPA today, just to use up some old hops from last year's Golden Ale swap. The hubby is happy to drink it, so I've made it much more bitter than I would for myself.

Hopefully it's not a drain pourer

 

[dad_of_jon]

Today's the Day for my most difficult beer of the year....

It's really for xmas 2024 but I thought I could get a few bottles cracked open for xmas 2023 when it's young and sweet. I normally brew this around feb/mar but house/room temps are the same at this time of year so temps will be ok. I Pitch high and let it fall down, needs 3 weeks at least in fv and 2 conditioning so first bottle opened around the week before xmas.

Risky-ish business (I'll know how risky it is when I get the OG and FG figures)

Mangrove Jacks French Saison Yeast M29 (26-32)
Spray Dried Malt Extract Amber 1kg
Belgian Candi Sugar Rocks Dark 500g
Simpsons Malt - Roasted Barley 500g
Simpsons Malt - Chocolate Malt 500g
Simpsons Malt - Crystal Dark Crushed 500g
Spraymalt Dark 2kg
710g GS
100g bobek 2.5% AA

at least 10% abv expected, i've not recided how many litres to make yet

This beer normally likes to climb out of the FV

 

[dad_of_jon]

Started the cleaning and prep of equipment at 8:30 (this includes the brewing area. Mrs DOJ knows I do a thorough job so kitchen is left from night before state and breakfast etc). Water's been treated waiting for it to get to strike temp. It's the first time I've brewed this with treated tap water and it does take more time and campden treated water plays havoc with the kettle so it's being heated in the mash pot.

 

[dad_of_jon]

Started the cleaning and prep of equipment at 8:30 (this includes the brewing area. Mrs DOJ knows I do a thorough job so kitchen is left from night before state and breakfast etc). Water's been treated waiting for it to get to strike temp. It's the first time I've brewed this with treated tap water and it does take more time and campden treated water plays havoc with the kettle so it's being heated in the mash pot.

I finally pitched the yeast at 4:30 and cleaned up was finished by 6:30 - OG was 1.099 - Think next year I'll use some chilled bottled water

 

[nickjdavis]

not what I brewed today but...

according to a F'book notification....I bottled my first ever batch of beer today, back in 2013. Was a Coopers Mexican Cerveza kit. The taste of Acetaldehyde had just about disappeared by the time the last bottled had been consumed a couple of months later!!!

 

[Twostage]

A red lager. I thought it would be original but a quick Google showed its not .

Noticed during the last ten minutes of the boil that I'd forgot to tick the 'no chill' box so it's going to be more bitter than I want unless I can be bothered to go back out and get the chiller going.

Mmmm. Bottled it today. I was expecting a red hue but it looks just like a bitter. Maybe it will get a bit redder as it carbonates. ("Yeah, right.")

Tasted like a lager though.

 

[Weatherman]

I brewed a NEIPA today from the Malt Miller using Idaho 7. No hop additions at all until flame out.

Usually I use a hop spider but just threw the 40gm in and then whirlpooled through the cooling time. Won’t be doing that again. Blocked the filter etc. lesson learnt. Recovered 20ltrs into FV at 1.047 which is what the recipe advised should be the OG.

Checked a Belgian Triple I have in a second FV too. It’s been bubbling like the clappers since last Sunday and is now at 1.007 making it 8.7%. It should have finished about 1.015 ish apparently. Should make Christmas go with a bang!

 

[RichK]

Today I'm doing the first of my two Christmas beers. It's a Belgian style table beer. Predicted to be a massive 2.1%abv. Just a half sized batch (12L). Vienna, Munich, CaraRed & Caramunich malt with Mittelfrueh hops.

 

[Brewed_Force]

This morning I did a Pre-1970's Boddingtons Bitter, recipe cobbled together from several online sources:
(14L Partial mash)
1Kg Light DME
350g Pilsner
45g Carapils
45g Torrified Wheat
35g Flaked Maize
120g Lyle's Golden Syrup
21g Northern Brewer 40m
25g Goldings 15m
7g Goldings 30m @ 80 deg C
CML Midland yeast @ 20 deg C
OG 1.037

The colour looks right, which is reassuring
Aiming for a sessionable 3.8% ABV for Christmas.

Now I will spend the next 2 months pondering what to brew next...

 

[samale]

I brewed a NEIPA today from the Malt Miller using Idaho 7. No hop additions at all until flame out.

Usually I use a hop spider but just threw the 40gm in and then whirlpooled through the cooling time. Won’t be doing that again. Blocked the filter etc. lesson learnt. Recovered 20ltrs into FV at 1.047 which is what the recipe advised should be the OG.

Checked a Belgian Triple I have in a second FV too. It’s been bubbling like the clappers since last Sunday and is now at 1.007 making it 8.7%. It should have finished about 1.015 ish apparently. Should make Christmas go with a bang!

1.007 sounds better to me, you don't want a sweet beer.

 

[MickDundee]

This was my brewday yesterday - a Percy Pig sour. I did it last year and it was a very balanced beer, not quite sour enough and not Percy-forward enough but a lovely beer. I’ve upped the Percies by 50% and added some caster sugar to help increase the sourness.

2kg lager malt
2kg wheat malt
500g oats
800g Percy pigs
400g caster sugar
1.25L Innocent smoothie (I couldn’t get the PP smoothie in my local M&S this time, Innocent summer fruits seems to be closest to the make up of the PP smoothie)

Initial ferment with CML Sour 3.5 and I believe this one unlike Philly Sour needs a second yeast to finish it off so I’ve got a sachet of five waiting to go in.

I’ll be adding a hibiscus teabag dry hop (or I might just make up some hibiscus tea and add it)

This one is a lot stronger than last year - SG of 1.075 instead of last year’s 1.052.

 

[Sadfield]

Brewing a pretty standard Porter/Stout

Water
Ca-180 Mg-10 Na-75 Co3-50 SO4-86 Cl-341

Mash - 60' @ 68c
Extra Pale Planet - 84%
Munich Malt - 10%
Black Malt - 3%
Chocolate Malt - 3%
First Gold (Home grown) - 40g

Batch -12.5L
OG -1.044
IBUs - 22
EBC - 45
ABV - 4.2%

Boil - 60'
Fuggle - 10g @ FW
Fuggle - 12g @ 10'
Protofloc - 0.3g @10'
Fuggle - 30g @ 0'


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

 

[brewSJ]

Brewed this year's cider: 5 gallons (US) of unpasteurized juice from my local orchard. Just straight juice and a traditional wild ferment.