YeastFace Brewdays

[dave_77]

FFS, I put the dip tube on the wrong carb cap, and then added the spunding valve. to that. Some wort has splurted out of the valve over the kitchen floor.

Why couldn't I have worked from home today?

Thankfully don't think that much has ended up on the floor.

View attachment 90759

That's called Pumpkin karma....sorry each to their own . Sounded a good brew but not into the pumpkin beers, especially 19 litres.
I have nearly done that a couple of times, now I'm paranoid, shining my phone torch in the fermzilla before attaching the spunding valve

 

[YeastFace]

A lesson well learnt and hopefully a cautionary tale to others.

 

[YeastFace]

Forgot to update with latest brewday. Not too many photos and will keep this brief.

Heller Bock.
OG: 1.068
FG: 1.016
ABV: 6.8%
IBU: 30
EBC: 14.8

11.5l batch. Enough for a baby corny and a couple of bottles.

Grist - Mix of Warminster Lager, Warminster Munich, and a touch of Crisp Dark Munich.

Hops - Tettnanger for bittering and a dash of Mittelfrüher for Aroma.

Yeast - 2l starter of WLP835 German X Lager (The Andechs Strain). Fermented at 10°c, will spund for natural carbonation towards the end.

Mash - Hochkurz with single decoction to mash-out.

Draining through the malt pipe took a while, even though I use a mash bag. Looks like this can happen with decoctions as removing the grain to decoct can leave flour which compacts at the bottom of the malt pipe. Next time I'll either add some husks when removing the decoction portion, or be more liberal with the stirring.

Didn't account for increased efficiency with decoction in my recipe design, but happily ended up at 1.072 so 4 points ahead and may hit 7%.

Pre-decoction

Post-decoction. Did 15 mins. Not sure if it comes across in the photo due to steam but there was some colour change. May get some gauntlets as having hot steam up your arm whilst constantly stirring probably isn't wise.

 

[Caramel Ox]

I hadn’t really thought about the need to stir a decoction or how thick it would be so very helpful.

 

[YeastFace]

Just taken delivery of grain for next 5 brews (4 20l batches, and one 10.5l batch).

£53.58 from Brupak's Home Brew Outlet with free shipping.

10kg Maris Otter, 5kg Extra Pale, 2kg Pale, 2kg Europils, 1kg Chevalier, 1kg Flaked Barley. Then 500g each of Caramalt, Crystal 150, Crystal 240, Pale Chocolate, Chocolate, Roasted Barley (all Crisp), and Castle Biscuit, Café, and Special B.

Also 1kg Simpsons Imperial and 500g Red Rye Crystal from TMM.

Got some yeast and hops from CML, some mystery hops from TMM, so am set for the forseeable.

Might source a vacuum sealer to help keep the speciality malts and hops fresh as these will be used in different batches.

 

[YeastFace]

Not a brewday, but bottled some liqueurs. These are small Christmas gifts so went fancy with bottles and made up some labels.

 

[YeastFace]

Pastryish Stout done. I say ish as it's not going to the extremes of some of those beers. This is an homage to one of the first beers I made and will be flavoured with hazelnuts, cacao nibs, and vanilla.

Grist is quite complex. Partly to get layers of chocolate and biscuit, and partly because this was originally designed as a user-upper recipe (but I've ended up doing it first as hopefully be ready around Christmas).

75 minute mash went smoothly.

Got to use the new PH meter. Aim for 5.35, but this meter only displays to a single digit.

Single addition of Magnum (close enough to 32g)

Boil uneventful. 500g of lactose mixed with some wort and added back in for last 10 minutes.

Finally have cold water so can get wort down to pitching temp without needing to chill further in the fermenter.

Ended up at 1.068 which was 2 points above expected. Wort was dark with ruby highlights and decent clarity.


Tucked up and fermenting away with 2 packs of Midland at 16°.

Aiming for an FG of around 1.022 for an ABV of 6%.

Will tuck away for 2 weeks then add flavourings before kegging.

 

[YeastFace]

My last few batches have been lagers, so it's nice to see a big ol' krausen developing on this one.

 

[YeastFace]

Looks like active fermentation is winding down. Bumped up a few degrees yesterday to ensure full attenuation and as a bit of a diacetyl rest.

Will leave for 10 full days and then the fun starts

 

[YeastFace]

Roasted cacao nibs and vanilla paste added into fermenter. 5-7 days and will then keg.

Am splitting this batch into two 8l Oxebar kegs, one will stay as is, and the other will receive a special addition at kegging.

Nibs were already roasted, but an additional roast has bought out some more chocolate and nuttiness.


Before

After

 

[YeastFace]

My next brew was going to be a Dunkel, but as I don't want to drink all my Helles just yet, and everything else was lagering, my thoughts turned to a quicker to turn around ale.

Decided it was time to brew another Irish Red. Refined the recipe slightly since previous versions and had to change hops as couldn't find any recent harvest Progress. Giving CML Beóir a try too.

Weighed out the grains and liquor last night to save on some time.

Ended up with slightly better efficiency resulting in an OG at 1.046, so should end up about 4.5%, higher than my target 4.2% but still within style.

Not too many photos of this brewday.

Looks more copper, but should come red after fermentation and carbonation.

A weird disc of hard jelly-like substance was left in the kettle, maybe a dud protofloc tablet.

 

[YeastFace]

Hail the krausen

 

[YeastFace]

Was going to bottle some of my Helles to make room in the keezer for the Irish Red keg.

This was all that was left

Looks like I won't be entering this beer into the Scottish Nationals then. Clearly my tally to keep track of how much was left was not accurate.

 

[YeastFace]

First brew of 2024 is a tart saison.

Grist of Lager/Wheat/Rye up to 1.046. Hops are a mix of Brewers Gold, Styrian Goldings, and Strisselspalt.

Fermenting with Philly Sour until PH is down to about 3.5/6, then adding WHC Farmhouse Vibes.

 

[YeastFace]

PH is down to 3.8. Sample was pleasantly tart. Have turned temp up a couple of degrees (it was at lower end of range) to hopefully drop those last few points tomorrow before pitching the yeast. I think it's probably tart enough my my tastes so no bother if it doesn't.

 

[Twostage]

First brew of 2024 is a tart saison.

Grist of Lager/Wheat/Rye up to 1.046. Hops are a mix of Brewers Gold, Styrian Goldings, and Strisselspalt.

Fermenting with Philly Sour until PH is down to about 3.5/6, then adding WHC Farmhouse Vibes.

View attachment 94425

Strisselspalt, is that the low alpha hop that's used in San Miguel ?

 

[YeastFace]

It is low alpha, yes. Grown in Alsace so think used in 1664. Not sure on San Miguel.

 

[YeastFace]

Got there.

The Philly Sour has produced some really nice mango and lychee esters, which I hope remain.

I've racked this onto 5l of Gewurztraminer juice and pitched the WHC Farmhouse Vibes. Will ferment around 25° to get a balance of ester and phenolics.

Once this has got to work, I will pitch Brett.

 

[Twostage]

It is low alpha, yes. Grown in Alsace so think used in 1664. Not sure on San Miguel.

On the SM website they refer to using a French hop. So I put 2 and 2 together (might have got 5 )

 

[YeastFace]

Despite not forming a krausen this is clearly fermenting quickly. Sample was down to 1.012 yesterday and quite fizzy.

A friend has suggested the low ph reducing surface tension possibly explaining the lack of krausen. Have read some reports of those brewing pre-soured wort (Berliner Weisse, Gose) experiencing no krausen, so may be something in it.