What did you brew today?

[Twostage]

Back in the saddle after an inadvertent 4 months hiatus. Bramling Cross ESB today, pushing the limit of my kit to get 30 litres so I can fill a corny & 2 X mini kegs to serve through my beer engine.

Hitting the numbers so far!

I want a beer engine

 

[brewhaha]

I want a beer engine

It's definitely an extravagance but I love cask beer! Managed to find a bit of kit on eBay that means I can attach it to a 5 litre mini keg which is perfect for a weekend (or a particularly thirsty evening!).

 

[foxy]

Milk Stout.
1,054 OG. 1,017 FG. ABV 4.9% IBU 25 SRM 37 pH 5.5
Hochkurz Mash 34C 20 minutes 67C 40mins
4,2 kg Veloria Schooner
0,500 kg SM40 Schooner
0,300 kg Flaked Barley
0,300 kg Flaked Oats.
0,200 kg Crystal light Mash out
0,200 kg Crystal Dark Mash out
0,200 kg Chocolate malt Mash out
0,250 kg Midnight Wheat Mash out
0,375 kg Lactose Boil 15 mins
3g Gypsum
4g Chloride.
Hops 30g EKG 60 mins

I had fears of having to stir the mash for the duration but it settled down within 15 minutes top probes were showing some temperature variation but less than 1C.

Iodine shows no starch presence.

In with the remainder of the grist.

Two points over and one extra litre in the fermenter, squeezed out more wort than I expected.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Finally managed to get the time to brew again. Only the second time this year.

Going for a pale ale for spring. Got a bunch of cascade from CML. Smells amazing out of the pouch.

Going to dry hop with a bunch of leftover hops from the freezer. Citra, Simcoe, Nelson and motueka in a few days time.

 

[Caramel Ox]

I have a 10l keg free so doing a half batch test Golden Ale with cascade and moutere as that’s what I had.

First time Biab in the Fullhorn in over a year. With the smaller brew length it’s been easy so far.

 

[Twostage]

Trying to make some of this...

Had it hand pulled in a pub and liked it enough to order some bottles from the brewery. The cask version is gluten free so I'm making it gluten free using NBS Clarity. At first I wondered how .3ml was going to get mixed into the brew then I remembered fermentation , reckon that will do the job. I think I might make all my beers gluten free from now on. Had a slight issue with the mash. I'd done a factory reset on the BZ when I was trying to swap the WiFi and this had reset the hysteresis to 2c from the .3 I'd set it to. That and a vet related emergency meant that the mash lasted about three hours which I doubt will have done any harm at all.

 

[Agentgonzo]

I've just "invented" a new way to sanitise my fermentation vessel. Use it as a lid during boil and the steam will sanitise it

I'll probably still use starsan - this is primarily to nuke a saison yeast I used in the previous brew to prevent any contamination to the next brew

 

[Caramel Ox]

Finally managed to get the time to brew again. Only the second time this year.

Going for a pale ale for spring. Got a bunch of cascade from CML. Smells amazing out of the pouch.

Going to dry hop with a bunch of leftover hops from the freezer. Citra, Simcoe, Nelson and motueka in a few days time.

I have leftover hop envy!

 

[Agentgonzo]

I have leftover hop envy!

My wife wants the space back in the freezer for peas.

I don't get it personally

 

[Twostage]

My wife wants the space back in the freezer for peas.

I don't get it personally

Get a little fridge freezer. That's what I did after the "what's all these silver bags in the freezer ?".

 

[dlowe1992]

Managed a couple of brews over the Easter weekend and didn't write up details.

First up an American Red / Amber, hopped with Columbus, Citra and Amarillo.
OG - 1.051 FG - 1.011 ABV - 5.3% EBC - 30 IBU - 32
https://share.brewfather.app/XuLiBncjYeO2xt

Had a nightmare with the mash. Bought a digital temp probe as I was a little wary of the temp controller on the Klarstein. Drove me mad as it was constantly showing 10-12 deg lower than expected. Cue some fiddling around with mash temps. Only realised when the temp topped 70deg that the display on the new temp probe was faulty. The '6' in then tens column reads as a '5' (calculator style numbers) meaning when I expected to read something like 67 I was actually seeing 57. Fortunately the display flips if you hold it the other way round, so I now remember to use upside down! Hopefully no negative effects on beer as the mash temp did jump about a bit while I questioned my sanity and I missed the numbers a bit as a result. OG was 1.045, though I think this might be down to mash pH being too high. Working on this..

Secondly, Vienna Lager V2. Enjoyed my first attempt last year, made some tweaks to hopefully emphasize the malty backbone.
OG - 1.046 1.010 ABV - 4.6% EBC - 18.3 IBU - 23
https://share.brewfather.app/Ycb4e2PwMDbqLM

All ran smoothy with this one and hit the numbers pretty much on the nose. Plan is to bottle this and try to leave alone for a couple of months. Emphasis on try...

Next up will be a British Golden Ale

 

[Twostage]

Managed a couple of brews over the Easter weekend and didn't write up details.

First up an American Red / Amber, hopped with Columbus, Citra and Amarillo.
OG - 1.051 FG - 1.011 ABV - 5.3% EBC - 30 IBU - 32
https://share.brewfather.app/XuLiBncjYeO2xt

Had a nightmare with the mash. Bought a digital temp probe as I was a little wary of the temp controller on the Klarstein. Drove me mad as it was constantly showing 10-12 deg lower than expected. Cue some fiddling around with mash temps. Only realised when the temp topped 70deg that the display on the new temp probe was faulty. The '6' in then tens column reads as a '5' (calculator style numbers) meaning when I expected to read something like 67 I was actually seeing 57. Fortunately the display flips if you hold it the other way round, so I now remember to use upside down! Hopefully no negative effects on beer as the mash temp did jump about a bit while I questioned my sanity and I missed the numbers a bit as a result. OG was 1.045, though I think this might be down to mash pH being too high. Working on this..

Secondly, Vienna Lager V2. Enjoyed my first attempt last year, made some tweaks to hopefully emphasize the malty backbone.
OG - 1.046 1.010 ABV - 4.6% EBC - 18.3 IBU - 23
https://share.brewfather.app/Ycb4e2PwMDbqLM

All ran smoothy with this one and hit the numbers pretty much on the nose. Plan is to bottle this and try to leave alone for a couple of months. Emphasis on try...

Next up will be a British Golden Ale

I recently bought yet another digital temperature which works great. I was looking for a fridge thermometer for the new fridge and a probe cost 4 quid more than a simple fridge only thing (so about 8).

Beware if you ever use an induction hob that it interferes with temp probes so you either have to pause the heating, take the pot off the hob or use a gold old fashioned glass one.

 

[dlowe1992]

I recently bought yet another digital temperature which works great. I was looking for a fridge thermometer for the new fridge and a probe cost 4 quid more than a simple fridge only thing (so about 8).

Beware if you ever use an induction hob that it interferes with temp probes so you either have to pause the heating, take the pot off the hob or use a gold old fashioned glass one.

Yeah, I found myself questioning my sanity over something as simple as getting a correct temperature reading. I smashed my 'old school' glass thermometer as well, so didn't have that to check against.. Ah well!
We're still a gas hob fortunately, though I am regularly reminded by the better half how lovely it would be to have nice wipe clean induction hob...

 

[AnimatedGIF]

I've just "invented" a new way to sanitise my fermentation vessel. Use it as a lid during boil and the steam will sanitise it

I'll probably still use starsan - this is primarily to nuke a saison yeast I used in the previous brew to prevent any contamination to the next brew

View attachment 97876

Is that the Malt Miller fermenter? If so, does that break the thermometer (only goes up to 40 IIRC)?
Love this idea!

 

[Agentgonzo]

Is that the Malt Miller fermenter? If so, does that break the thermometer (only goes up to 40 IIRC)?
Love this idea!

It's the BrewMonk, which is the same as BrewDevil, MaltMiller, Klarstein, SS Brewtech. They all look identical, so I assume they all come out of the same Chinese factory.

I took the thermometer out before doing this. It would likely break it (but I think mine is a bit broken already as it gets stored outside and I think the -5 degrees over winter made it unhappy. It now reads 3 degrees below true. But I use the thermometer in the iSpindel instead, so don't miss it.

The body of the fermenter got up to scalding temperatures within a few minutes. I left it there for 5-10 mins before removing it (with oven gloves!). The rim of the fermenter (where it overlapped with the rim of the GF) wasn't quite as scaldy as the rest of it. But I'm thinking this probably steam-sanitised everything else, including the inside of the taps etc.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

It's the BrewMonk, which is the same as BrewDevil, MaltMiller, Klarstein, SS Brewtech. They all look identical, so I assume they all come out of the same Chinese factory.

I took the thermometer out before doing this. It would likely break it (but I think mine is a bit broken already as it gets stored outside and I think the -5 degrees over winter made it unhappy. It now reads 3 degrees below true. But I use the thermometer in the iSpindel instead, so don't miss it.

The body of the fermenter got up to scalding temperatures within a few minutes. I left it there for 5-10 mins before removing it (with oven gloves!). The rim of the fermenter (where it overlapped with the rim of the GF) wasn't quite as scaldy as the rest of it. But I'm thinking this probably steam-sanitised everything else, including the inside of the taps etc.

Nice one, I'll gove this a go myself later. Thanks for the additional info!

 

[Agentgonzo]

It drips a bit/lot. The condensation forms and drips from the rim of the fermenter around the outside of your kettle. So be ready for it.

 

[Twostage]

Yeah, I found myself questioning my sanity over something as simple as getting a correct temperature reading. I smashed my 'old school' glass thermometer as well, so didn't have that to check against.. Ah well!
We're still a gas hob fortunately, though I am regularly reminded by the better half how lovely it would be to have nice wipe clean induction hob...

I learned that when buying glass thermometers and hydrometers to buy at least 2 at a time. I strongly believe (having dropped a hydrometer onto a concrete floor and it bounced) that they only break if they are the only one you have.

I've got one of those portable induction hobs, its used mainly to heat up sparge water these days but also useful for doing short run brews.

There are some really clever hobs now. I like the look of the ones that don't have rings, they sense where you have put a pan and that becomes a virtual ring. You can then move the pan to another part of the hob and the ring follows it . (Don't show the other half this post ).

 

[MashBag]

No time to brew today. I had a tour of a whiskey distillery. Hic

 

[Agentgonzo]

No time to brew today. I had a tour of a whiskey distillery. Hic

Oooh, nice! Which one?