What did you brew today?

[DaveK]

I had a crack at Greg Hughes' "Northern Brown Ale" but despite everything seeming to go smoothly, I was well under my pre-boil SG again

I was aiming at 11 litres to the FV and got about 10.8 - so that seemed to work reasonably well - but something is going wrong with my mashes and I haven't a clue what. Strange thing was that I took a reading with my refractometer about half way through the mash and it was 11.5 Brix (1.046) which I thought meant I was on course for my 1.043 target comfortably. But after the sparge and a good stir I was getting only 9 Brix. I took a sample of the wort and let it cool to 20°C and my hydrometer later confirmed it to be 1.034 so the refractometer seems accurate and I really was 9 points down.

It went into the FV at 1.046 - a full 11 points below target OG.

I'm using an ACE microbrewery with the same Beersmith profile that everyone else is using, so I don't know where I'm screwing up. Its getting very frustrating!

 

[Sadfield]

Doing a SMaSH for a homebrew club informal competition.

Extra Pale Propino, Sorachi Ace, water and the new Safale BE-134 Belgian Saison yeast.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

 

[Martybhoy]

I had a crack at Greg Hughes' "Northern Brown Ale" but despite everything seeming to go smoothly, I was well under my pre-boil SG again

I was aiming at 11 litres to the FV and got about 10.8 - so that seemed to work reasonably well - but something is going wrong with my mashes and I haven't a clue what. Strange thing was that I took a reading with my refractometer about half way through the mash and it was 11.5 Brix (1.046) which I thought meant I was on course for my 1.043 target comfortably. But after the sparge and a good stir I was getting only 9 Brix. I took a sample of the wort and let it cool to 20°C and my hydrometer later confirmed it to be 1.034 so the refractometer seems accurate and I really was 9 points down.

It went into the FV at 1.046 - a full 11 points below target OG.

I'm using an ACE microbrewery with the same Beersmith profile that everyone else is using, so I don't know where I'm screwing up. Its getting very frustrating!

I'm not familiar with the ACE microbrewery system. Can u explain the mash process? And maybe someone will spot something which can be improved. How fresh is your grain and is it pre-crushed?

 

[Slid]

Today was my very first ever wheat beer. Wort made from 55% Maris Otter and 45% Wheat malt. As it is a 25L brew, I had 5.5kg of malt altogether. Used a sparse seeming 20g of Northern Brewer to bitter at first wort, some of which looked a bit like cabbage - but not much can be done about that now.

Was a bit nervous about getting sticky mashes and sparges with wheat, so I made sure I had a full 20L of water in the GF at doughing-in and also was very careful to give the process a full 25mins of OCD stirring along the lines championed by David Heath. Mash went well, as did the sparge for an estimated brewhouse efficiency at around 67% - very much as normal, really.

Lot of protein looking deposit at the end. I guess this is very much the usual thing with this style.

Only slight glitch was that the pump and recirculation tube got very clogged up with stuff. In the end I ran water from the tap back through the recirculation pipe, spraying the kitchen quite liberally in the process. Seemed to do the trick, though. I do not know whether the recipe is to blame or whether this is just an accumulation of stuff over the 17 months I have been using the equipment.

Will add the blackberries - 2-2.5kg or so, in paint straining nylon bags, at some point during the initial 2 weeks fermentation, then rack as usual for another week. Could be "good to go" once the bottles carbonate.

 

[marlon]

Brewed a kind of Dark Mild/ Porter using up bits n pieces of grains. When I weighed them out I found I only had 2.8kgs total. But, rather than brew a short batch I hit upon the brilliant but stupid idea of re-using grains I'd used a few days ago and bagged up for a friends chickens. (Don't bother trying it...! )
Topped up the grain basket to absolute full and brewed a full batch. SG came in at 1.032. ..bit low even for me. So chucked in the remnants of a bag of DME - about 125gms and 100gms plain sugar and a bit of vanilla bean paste to disguise the overwhelming chocolate grains taste. (Definitely over did the chocolate). SG now 1.038.....so I'm hoping it'll come in about 4% as a Dark Mild-Porter with overtones of biscuit, vanilla and chocolate. :pray: :?

 

[Martybhoy]

The brew I finally done today was Misspent Youth from DIYdog. They call it a Milk and Honey Scotch Ale.

I'm also using Crossmyloof yeast for the first time. If it attenuates as well as folks on here say, then my FG should be low enough to balance out the lactose and honey.

The grain bill had about 27% smoked Weyerman malt which I'm not too sure about.

 

[DaveK]

I'm not familiar with the ACE microbrewery system. Can u explain the mash process? And maybe someone will spot something which can be improved. How fresh is your grain and is it pre-crushed?

It's basically the same as the Grainfather, so the mash tun is basically a basket inside the boil kettle. It's like a metal BIAB setup. I mashed (and sparged) according to the Beersmith settings in the opening post.

Yes - grain was fresh and pre-crushed by The Malt Miller.

 

[Poochops]

The brew I finally done today was Misspent Youth from DIYdog. They call it a Milk and Honey Scotch Ale.

I'm also using Crossmyloof yeast for the first time. If it attenuates as well as folks on here say, then my FG should be low enough to balance out the lactose and honey.

The grain bill had about 27% smoked Weyerman malt which I'm not too sure about.

I was looking at this today planning my next order of malts, very nearly went for it but settled on the Brixton Porter in the end

 

[dan125]

Today I've tried to brew a hoppy citrus/tropical fruit pale ale using all british ingredients - an american best bitter if you will. Utilising the supposed 'new world' flavours of olicana & ernest hops :hmm:
This will be the first brew in ages without any dry hops as I'm planning on using some of the wyeast london III yeast cake in a neipa next
:

 

[Slid]

Today was my very first ever wheat beer. Wort made from 55% Maris Otter and 45% Wheat malt. As it is a 25L brew, I had 5.5kg of malt altogether. Used a sparse seeming 20g of Northern Brewer to bitter at first wort, some of which looked a bit like cabbage - but not much can be done about that now.

Was a bit nervous about getting sticky mashes and sparges with wheat, so I made sure I had a full 20L of water in the GF at doughing-in and also was very careful to give the process a full 25mins of OCD stirring along the lines championed by David Heath. Mash went well, as did the sparge for an estimated brewhouse efficiency at around 67% - very much as normal, really.

Lot of protein looking deposit at the end. I guess this is very much the usual thing with this style.

Only slight glitch was that the pump and recirculation tube got very clogged up with stuff. In the end I ran water from the tap back through the recirculation pipe, spraying the kitchen quite liberally in the process. Seemed to do the trick, though. I do not know whether the recipe is to blame or whether this is just an accumulation of stuff over the 17 months I have been using the equipment.

Will add the blackberries - 2-2.5kg or so, in paint straining nylon bags, at some point during the initial 2 weeks fermentation, then rack as usual for another week. Could be "good to go" once the bottles carbonate.

This has kicked off very quickly indeed for a dry yeast - Brewferm Blanche - for Wheat Beers.

 

[Bleery]

On Friday evening I did a Mosquito Amber Ale ��" from James Morton’s book ‘Brew’. 3000g Maris Otter, 2000g Munich Malt, 250g Pale Crystal Malt, 250g Crystal Malt, 200g Dingemans Special B, 100g Hops - Chinook Pellets, 100g Hops - Columbus Pellets.

60 minute mash at 66 degrees Celsius with a 4 litre dunk sparge to bring pre-boil volume up to about 23 litres. Hop additions at 60, 15, 10 and 5 minutes and a 95 gram aroma steep for 30 minutes at below 79 degrees Celsius. Into the FV with 1 sachet of rehydrated Safale US-05. Bubbling away gently at the moment and smelling very hoppy. I did manage to hit the target OG, so if the fermentation goes well, will get about 5.5-6% ABV and a malty but balanced brew!

 

[alsch890]

An APA with Centennial, Citra and Cascade yesterday.

 

[Slid]

This has kicked off very quickly indeed for a dry yeast - Brewferm Blanche - for Wheat Beers.

Well, it did settle down after only 2 days, so I added the Blackberries 2.5kg yesterday evening.

Seemed like a good idea to add some cane sugar - just 200g.

Yeast kicked off again, and what with the fermenter saying 28L, I have had some copper coloured wort through the air lock.

 

[JFB]

Couple of days ago, but I could well of brewed the last of the seasons saisons. A cascade number of 40g at the end and will get 60 for the dry hop. Pilsner and a little crystal malt with reused MJ yeast. Thinking about it ill save a bit more of this yeast as I want to try it with a stout or porter as I saw suggested by someone on this forum...

 

[Dutto]

Today I started a Wilco Hoppy Copper Bitter kit with 900g of Golden Syrup. Expected ABV of 4%!

Why?

I need something to mature on the way to France so that I can forbid French mates from drinking it "Before it's ready!" :whistle:

 

[Zephyr259]

Just finished the GH London Bitter. Scaled back to 18 L since I only had 3kg of Maris Otter to use up. I added 50g black malt as I didn't want it to come out too light as I was asked to make an amber ale, might have overshot a bit but it shouldn't be brown. I also bumped the 0 min addition of EKG to 10 g for a bit more flavour.

Probably my smoothest brew day yet, prepped everything last night and had the water heated for getting up. Hit all my volumes spot on but got a bit better efficiency so ended up at 1.048 rather than 1.044. It's now in the fridge at 20C with the Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale. Curious to see how the yeast does as the brown ale it made was very tasty but it got fermented cold and warmed by the fire as needed.

 

[davidgreen]

In the mash right now, brewing up a 10 gal batch of best bitter using Marris otter, Canadian 2 row, crystal 60, crystal 120, chocolate malt and roasted barley then hopping with 2oz Fuggles for 60 min, 2oz EKG for 30 min then 2oz of EKG for 5 min and fermenting with Nottingham ale yeast.
Meanwhile I'm happily drinking a nice can of hobgoblin I though it was only appropriate to do so.
Just hit 5.3PH mash so am opening another can to celebrate...

 

[Slid]

This is the GW recipe that appears in the Third Edition. Page 222.

First thing to point out, although it is very obvious, is that the amounts for bittering hops are not right and the most obvious reason is a bit of a typo.

If you look at the 23L recipe it has the only hop addition as 20g Challenger.

To get the Bitterness Units @ 40 requires 50g. So, by extension, the 25L version really needs 55g.

This is another beer recipe with quite a lot of Wheat and once again I had problems with the hop filter on the GF getting displaced during the boil. This led to blockage of the pump and the twiddly bits of the recirculating stuff and meant I had to bail out the contents into a BIAB bag lining an FV to get the GF cleaned up and the pipework / pump unblocked.

Fortunately, this has happened numerous times before, so I knew pretty much not to panic and just do some BIAB type stuff to sort things out. Coupled with removing and cleaning the ball and spring in the tubing and forcing some tap water back down the recirculating tubing, it was OK.

The BIAB bag trapped a huge amount of break material as well as the hops and after sorting that out, I returned the wort slowly to the GF and got it back up to 90C before continuing as normal with the chiller cycle.

So - Question - does anyone know how best I protect the filter as David Heath does, using a metal mesh wrap-around the removable end of the hop filter? And most of all, where to get the said metallic mesh from?

Thanks!
Slid

 

[DoctorMick]

This is another beer recipe with quite a lot of Wheat and once again I had problems with the hop filter on the GF getting displaced during the boil. This led to blockage of the pump and the twiddly bits of the recirculating stuff and meant I had to bail out the contents into a BIAB bag lining an FV to get the GF cleaned up and the pipework / pump unblocked.

Probably a stupid question but how does what cause the hop filter to get displaced?

Do you have the original filter or the new one?

 

[Slid]

Probably a stupid question but how does what cause the hop filter to get displaced?

Do you have the original filter or the new one?

Not a stupid question, for mine!

It is the "original" filter, I think.

On the beer before this one, a Wheat Beer, there was 2.4k of wheat and it was clear and obvious that the small volume of hops were not sufficient to keep the break material away from the filter.

On this one, with half the amount of wheat malt and 55g of hops, I think it may still have been a factor.

The attachment of the end plasticky thing could also be an issue, I feel, hence my question about getting some mesh to help keep it in place in future.