What did you brew today?

[Drunkula]

lovely deep plumy, muscovado sugar flavour.

Man alive, I want. The first time I did my own DIY crystal malt I got it far too wet but that's just how it ended up after drying and toasting it. The sugar turned to a mahogany crunchy glass and it was incredible.

 

[MmmBeer]

Just made a Tribute clone, based on a recipe posted on here last week by Cheshire Cat.

I couldn't get the new Grainfather Connect app to start up properly, just kept getting a blank screen, so I decided to operate the unit manually. Later I tried reinstalling the app and it worked, but I was alresdy mid mash and couldn't get it to sync to the right place in the procedure.

As it was nearing the boil, I left it for a couple of minutes, keeping an eye on the temperature via the app. I headed back when it reached 98°C, to find foam gushing out through the hole in the lid and dripping down between the body and my homemade grain coat.

When the boil was complete, I set up the CF chiller and turned the pump on, but it seemed to be struggling to get more than a tiny dribble out. After 20 minutes I still only had about 3 litres in the FV and flow stopped completely, so decided bail it out with a jug, and strain into the FV hot. Only when I had reached the bottom did I realise what the problem was, some tool had fitted the filter over the thermowell rather than the pump inlet, when I put it back together after my previous brew.

So I thought I'd share my woes on here and put off for a few minutes the removing, stripping, cleaning and reassembling of the pump

D'oh!

 

[Trapdoor]

Today I brewed a failure.
I call it "failure porter", to be drunk while feeling sad and grimacing a lot.

Target OG: 1.070
Actual OG: 1.032

I am a sad potato.

 

[strange-steve]

some tool had fitted the filter over the thermowell rather than the pump inlet

 

[strange-steve]

Today I brewed a failure.
I call it "failure porter", to be drunk while feeling sad and grimacing a lot.

Target OG: 1.070
Actual OG: 1.032

I am a sad potato.

Yikes, any idea what happened?

 

[Trapdoor]

Yikes, any idea what happened?

Nope, not a scooby although im guessing my grain bill was too big for my setup. Maybe the fine material from the adjuncts grains clogged up the mash a bit although I didn't notice that the pump was struggling. I did notice that the temperature was a bit erratic and unstable at the start of the mash though.

 

[GerritT]

Bought 5 kgs of extract, before it's all sold out.

 

[HSD]

40 pints Muntons Belgian Ale, mis read destructions and failed to stop filling FV at 36 doh!
Am I wrong in thinking increasing the malt slightly (250g?) for the secondary ferment will correct my mistake? or just take a hit on the final Gravity, meant to be 7.5% abv but to be honest early days for me so anything over 5% would be fine!

 

[strange-steve]

Nope, not a scooby although im guessing my grain bill was too big for my setup. Maybe the fine material from the adjuncts grains clogged up the mash a bit although I didn't notice that the pump was struggling. I did notice that the temperature was a bit erratic and unstable at the start of the mash though.

Are you using a Grainfather?

 

[Trapdoor]

Are you using a Grainfather?

Braumeister 20. Old version.

 

[Jason42]

Finally got to try out my new Klarstein boiler last night
Went for my favourite, a nice strong Porter.

4kg Marris Otter pale malt
1.5kg Brown malt
500g medium crystal malt
250g Chocolate malt
Mashed 60min@67’C, boiled 70mins
40g Fuggles @ start of boil, another 28g at the end.
Ended up with 23l, SG 1.07 (I was aiming for 1.06ish).
Pitched S04 Crossmyloof English ale yeast@28’
It went really well, no dramas. The Klarstein performed excellently and the temp gauge was within 2’ of my spirit thermometer
Quite happy with my first attempt at an all grain brew, now for the hard bit... this brewing lark certainly teaches patience.

 

[Jason42]

40 pints Muntons Belgian Ale, mis read destructions and failed to stop filling FV at 36 doh!
Am I wrong in thinking increasing the malt slightly (250g?) for the secondary ferment will correct my mistake? or just take a hit on the final Gravity, meant to be 7.5% abv but to be honest early days for me so anything over 5% would be fine!

I did much the same first time out but in the opposite direction, misread the idea of replacing the brewing sugar with malt extract and ended up doubling it
Increasing the malt or sugar at the secondary fermentation won’t give you too much more abv, but will risk over fermenting your bottles or keg and could result in a nasty mess and wasted effort because of the over pressurisation. I’d take the reduced abv and chalk it up to experience. What ever you do enjoy the result, I’m sure it’ll be drinkable

 

[Richie_asg1]

Foxy should backlight all those conicals in a spooky green

Just got a Yorkshire bitter kit on from B2B. With everything going on I wanted something simple.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

For the first weekend since Christmas the only thing I’ll be brewing today is coffee!

I will be barrelling a cardamom saison though and maybe some bottling.

 

[HSD]

Recipe look great, Ive got my eye on one of the boilers, which model do you have and

I did much the same first time out but in the opposite direction, misread the idea of replacing the brewing sugar with malt extract and ended up doubling it
Increasing the malt or sugar at the secondary fermentation won’t give you too much more abv, but will risk over fermenting your bottles or keg and could result in a nasty mess and wasted effort because of the over pressurisation. I’d take the reduced abv and chalk it up to experience. What ever you do enjoy the result, I’m sure it’ll be drinkable

Its a double ferment kit

I did much the same first time out but in the opposite direction, misread the idea of replacing the brewing sugar with malt extract and ended up doubling it
Increasing the malt or sugar at the secondary fermentation won’t give you too much more abv, but will risk over fermenting your bottles or keg and could result in a nasty mess and wasted effort because of the over pressurisation. I’d take the reduced abv and chalk it up to experience. What ever you do enjoy the result, I’m sure it’ll be drinkable

Thanks Jason42, it’s a two stage ferment kit you add 500g spray malt to the second FV and ferment down to 1014 then I will bottle, just worried I’ve made it a bit thin! A lot to learn but enjoying the hobby, I’ve got my eye on one of the Klarstein’s they look good value when I upgrade, doubling up most of had some kick!

 

[Slid]

Brewed my first proper wheat beer, using M20 yeast. Problem is that I managed to badly scorch the wort, time will tell if it’s drinkable or not!

I did much the same on my first "proper" wheat beer and the wort looked like dirty dishwater. Turned out very good, though!

 

[Clint]

I did exactly the same with that Muntons Belgian kit. It turned out fine...well,it wasn't off but took me a couple of years to shift it as I don't like Belgian beers....

 

[AlDaviz]

NEIPA
My 4th attempt, after a few months away from brewing due to a polytrama and still recovering. It’s been a hard day brewing but I’ve 25L of hazy looking wort in my fermenter. I’m gonna give it 3x days then dry hop, and hopefully add some wonderful flavours without too much bitterness !!

 

[Jason42]

Recipe look great, Ive got my eye on one of the boilers, which model do you have and

Its a double ferment kit


Thanks Jason42, it’s a two stage ferment kit you add 500g spray malt to the second FV and ferment down to 1014 then I will bottle, just worried I’ve made it a bit thin! A lot to learn but enjoying the hobby, I’ve got my eye on one of the Klarstein’s they look good value when I upgrade, doubling up most of had some kick!

Ah, I misunderstood. I thought you were talking about bottling or kegging. In that case I guess you can add a bit extra malt but I’m pretty new to this myself and I’m sure there are wiser heads on this forum that will have a better idea.
As for the Klarstein, I went for the Fullhorn mashing kettle. It’s a bit cheaper and more basic than some of their gear but a really good bit of kit for the money.
The doubled up beer I made was, er... interesting. Very heavy, sweet and overpowering. A pint was nice but 2 was hard work. A valuable learning experience

 

[Shaft]

I had planned to do an American wheat / pale ale cross which I've done before, but was out of several grains. Decided to order some ingredients in, and in the meantime do what we would have called a 'Jumbalaya' freestyle from leftovers I had. Have attached the recipe sheet. Gravities were spot on throughout, although I had too much sparge water left over. And my estimated boil off % was much lower than expected. I'm still fine tuning that. Also the first time I'm re-using yeast I'd saved from a previous batch - so was a bit worried. But seems to have taken well and is bubbling away this morning +12 hrs later.
If drinkable, this should turn out to be a darker Quad hopped - Vermont Ale at about 4.5% But who knows. I did like the colouring when I racked it. Light golden brown. Fingers crossed!!

Have any of your local pubs been offering barrells / kegs for sale? Mine is offering a few at £60 a pop. Might consider one, for my second tap just to tide me over like....