YeastFace Brewdays

[YeastFace]

Brewday was fine and fairly relaxed. I sorted out the water and salts last night which always helps.

Mashed in

Mash pH came out at 5.6. Target was 5.45. Despite testing my water and adjusting in Brewfather, I can never get this quite right and always need to add an additional bit of lactic acid.

Pre-boil gravity was 2 points down, but I had 0.5l extra runnings.

A whopping 15g of Northdown really testing the capacity of the hop spider.

To account for the slight loss of gravity and additional wort I boiled more vigorously than usual for the first half hour. All ended well and and hit target post-boil gravity.

Looks copper but should be red once fermented.

This in in the ferm fridge at 19°. Pitched White Labs WLP004, which I'll repitch into next brew (a stout).

Have a dedicated nitro tap now and am toying with doing half and half Co² and mixed gas, as I think it would be interesting to do a side-by-side. Likely thoughthis will just be carbonated, and will leave the mixed gas for the stout; which shouldn't be too far behind.

I'm off the drink for at least the next 3 weeks (and possibly 5), so hopefully I'll have both ready for sampling once that's over.

 

[YeastFace]

Brewed an Extra Stout yesterday. Was quite pleased with my last attempt, although that was a bit of a user-upper and was possibly fermented slightly too warm.

Grist was Golden Promise, Flaked Barley, Pale Chocolate, Chocolate, and Roast Barley.

I stupidly missed a 0 off the Roast Barley in my recipe builder on TMM, but the additional 260g bag turned up in time.

I added half the roast barley during the mash, and the other at mash out. I didn't update Brewfather and this decision meant I was a bit higher on Mash pH, so had to add some additional lactic during the mash.

Hops were Northdown at FWH, and EKG at 15 mins.

Ended up with more wort, but missed my OG by 4 points. I've got my process on full batches down to a tee, but always struggle withe reduced size batches. Think I'll have to check my notes and adjust my equipment profile.

Collected some WLP004 Irish Ale yeast from the conical prior to kegging my Red, and added this to a vitality starter and pitched to wort at 19.5°.

All being well, this will end up around 5.5% and will be going on mixed gas.

 

[YeastFace]

Brewed my now-annual Pumpkin Pie beer today. Have opted for a strong Brown Ale this time.

Was originally going to be a smaller batch but as I'm probably going to drain pour my American Amber (too bitter) I went for a full 20l batch.

Grist was a mix of Golden Promise, Imperial, Biscuit, Special B, Pale Chocolate, and some malted oats.

I roasted 2 cans of pumpkin with brown sugar, half of which went into the mash half way through, and half into the fermenter (this was meant to be at flame out, but I forgot).

Gravity came bang on as intended at 1.065, have pitched a mix of Nottingham and Windsor. Should be looking at around 7% for this, but wouldn't mind it being a bit lower.

Should be ready for Halloween.

 

[YeastFace]

American Amber poured down the sink.

Strong astringency and has almost no hop aroma (despite 50g Simcoe dry hop). Isn't clearing despite 4 weeks in the keg.

This batch is where the iSpindel flooded, so wonder if an infection took hold.

Tasted fine on brewday and mostly throughout fermentation, but before kegging it did have the astringency. I thought perhaps polyphenols which would drop out, but probably should have tipped it away then.

🫡

 

[YeastFace]

Just dumped some pumpkin trub. Might try a spoonful.

 

[YeastFace]

One of the prizes for my second BOS at LAB Open was a brewday at Southwark Brewing, which I did today.

They aren't geared towards lagers, so instead of my Munich Dunkel, we agreed on an Altbier.

I had a read of the Dornbusch book and came up with a recipe that leans more towards some more modern examples.

They typically use dry yeast, I'm not a fan of K97 and whilst a clean ale strain would likely have been fine, I thought Novalager would be interesting. A hybrid yeast for a hybrid beer. I've also got some red fruit esters from it which I think will work well with the grist.

Conor and Sam couldn't have been more welcoming and hospitable. Got to try a couple of beers before I left and have a few bottles to try too, including a Russian Impy.

Hopefully I'll be able to get my local craft beer bar to order a cask when it's ready.

All in all, a great day. Thanks to Southwark for having me, and to LAB for organising the comp and such a wonderful prize.

Photo dump