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Yeah, since moving my brewing from Edinburgh (excellent brewing water) to Linlithgow (no idea) I need to get an analysis done to get a baseline. My beers aren't coming out as well and all other factors are the same....
Think I have found a malt supplier for part of project get-legit, so got a bag off them and did a test brew today. A summer ale - just the pale malt, a little cara-pils for head retention then some English hop additions. 1.048 OG and should be ~40 IBU.
Looks good!
Which supplier did you go for? Also, which malt is that? I bought a sack of Viking Pale Ale early spring and my mashes seems to be a lot darker than that, although they do lighten up in the fermenter.
You made a sprinkler head for it? What sort of pipe, copper?
Currently it’s a single plastic pipe (no copper in the garage) with holes at varying angles. Tested it all with water and it’s workzing and is leak-free.
Will try it on the next brew which should be in the next few days. If it works I’m tempted to revise it and use copper, probably into a cross or Y shape so it sits better on the top of the kettle.
The malt is from Crafty Malt - a small maltings on a farm in Fife, close to where I grew up.
Prices are good (they don't do a cheaper price for bulk buying, so good for the small amounts I'm working with - will be 25kg a month once I'm in production.)
It's just a pale ale malt. 3 SRM according to the spec sheet? That photo was near the start of the mash.
Crush was good - sparge went through OK and I hit my target volume and OG perfectly, so happy with its performance. Will see how the beer comes out!
That is the second time I have heard mention of Crafty Malt, I can’t remember who the first person was, but I think it was from something I watched on YouTube. Local is good though!
Just finished bottling the Nordic SMASH ( https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1007754/nordic-smash) I made the other week. The yeast had gone through the bulk of fermentation over a weekend and I had seen no signs of fermentation for about four days, so thought it was time. Gravity had dropped to 1.012, which was right on plan.
Beer is darker then I expected, more of a honey/golden than the pale colour i was expecting. Really bright and clear though. A crafty taste told me it was not as bitter As some of my beers, so I am interested to see what conditioning does to it.
The next beer is getting kveik... summer is here and I have no fermentation temperature control.
Screw it... I had a really nice local heffeweissen last night and have now changed my mind. I think my summer beer will be wheat!
Before I try and create one, does anyone have a trusted recipe for a Bavarian-style weissen?
I stuck a Leffe-esque saison type thing in the brew bucket at the weekend; Pale LME, Nelson Sauvin hops, some toasted, crushed, coriander seeds, saison yeast. Have done it a couple of times before, normally a pretty reliable summer tipple.
(First time treating water with a campden tablet too, so interested to see what a difference that makes)
I had a brew day on Saturday with a brewstore American amber ale grain kit. Third brew and first attempt using bottled water so I'm hoping it will come out better than the first two. I've refined my process for sparging and used my mash spoon in the drill to aerate, which worked nicely. And I've found a better place for the fermenter where it's dark and the temp is more stable. So I'm more confident about this one 🤞
Style: Weissbier
TYPE: All Grain
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 28.00 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 23.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 2.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 11.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 83.2 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.25 kg Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjun 1 4.8 %
3.00 kg Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 57.1
2.00 kg Pilsner (2 Row) UK (1.0 SRM) Grain 3 38.1
30.00 g Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 11.5
1.0 pkg Bavarian Wheat (Mangrove Jack Yeast 5 -
Mash Schedule: Grainfather
Total Grain Weight: 5.25 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperatur Step Time
Saccharification Add 17.68 l of water and heat to 67 67.0 C 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 75.0 C over 4 min 75.0 C 10 min
Sparge: Fly sparge with 14.58 l water at 75.6 C
Legend!! Thanks @yourguitarhero
Actually, I think I have both Saaz hops and that yeast in the fridge...
Right... I’m joining in!
I’ve done a kit Brew this morning. A beer works American pale ale. It’s only my third go at home brew, the last one went quit, quite wrong!
anyway my question. I’d like to bottle it as being a bit of a heathen I like a colder beer. Now the instructions say to pop a bit of sugar in each bottle, fill with beer and store to condition.
is there any reason I can’t siphon to another bucket add sugar in bulk (as if it was going in a keg) but then bottle from the second bucket?
obviously it adds a level of cleaning/disinfecting but am I missing something fundamental?
Welcome!
is there any reason I can’t siphon to another bucket add sugar in bulk (as if it was going in a keg) but then bottle from the second bucket?
None at all, it's called batch priming, it's what I do. Get another fermentation bucket with a tap and a bottling wand. Boil about half a pint of water and dissolve the appropriate amount of sugar in it (there's tonnes of priming sugar calculators online, basically more sugar means more fizz). Put that in the bucket, syphon the beer into the bucket, bottle it through the tap/wand.
Oh, and buy another tap for your existing bucket, much easier than pissing about with syphons.
And/or, give me a ring 🙂
anyway my question. I’d like to bottle it as being a bit of a heathen I like a colder beer. Now the instructions say to pop a bit of sugar in each bottle, fill with beer and store to condition.
is there any reason I can’t siphon to another bucket add sugar in bulk (as if it was going in a keg) but then bottle from the second bucket?
You've described batch priming - it's what I do as it guarantees the same amount of sugar in each bottle. My method is as follows:
Three days before bottling (and after at least two weeks in primary) I syphon the beer into a thoroughly cleaned and sanitised pressure barrel. One day before bottling, I make up a sugar syrup (amount depending on how much carbonation you want), boil, cool in a sanitised jar, and transfer gently to the keg. Give it a very gentle stir with a clean spoon.
On bottling day you should hear some gas escape when you undo the barrel cap, indicating that the sugar is starting to do its job. I then use a bottling wand attached to the barrel tap.
is there any reason I can’t siphon to another bucket add sugar in bulk (as if it was going in a keg) but then bottle from the second bucket?
obviously it adds a level of cleaning/disinfecting but am I missing something fundamental?
You can do that. However, you are potentially exposing the beer to a chance of an infection, not that much, as beer is pretty robust, not as likely to get infected as some make out. It's all about selling more cleaning chemicals.
You will be exposing the beer to more oxygen which is not a good thing at that stage of fermentation.
TBH adding sugar to the bottles is really easy and probably quicker than transferring to another bucket and the extra cleaning required.
A fair point made by both sides. I batch prime when I bottle and it seems to work ok for me now that I have a routine for it. The risk of oxidation is there, but I try to mitigate that as much as I can, same with infection by being super careful.
I see the main advantage of batch priming as being able to get a more consistent load on the priming sugar, so a more consistent carbonation with just normal table sugar.
Just be really careful on sanitising.
Heffeweissen done. Well sort of and I could really do with some advice from the more experienced brewers...
This was a small batch (10L to the fermenter) with only 2.1kg of grist (1.1kg of wheat malt, the rest pilsner) , aiming for a pre-boil gravity of about 1.032 and an OG of about 1.045.
Things were going well during the full volume mash, I had 17L in the kettle and it seemed to be working, with gravities looking like they were about right. Pre-boil, same thing, gravity a point below, volume on plan.
The problem came after the boil it seems... OG low by 10 points. The batch volume was higher than I expected, maybe be a litre (11L to the fermenter) but would that be the cause of the gravity being so low?
As it stands, the beer may get to 3.5% if it attenuates all the way, so still drinkable and good for summer, but it is disappointing to have it not turn out on plan. What went wrong?
How do you measure gravity?
Hydrometers and refractometers are designed around a temp of 20c, so measuring mash temp or boiling wort throws them off. Also, where did you take your wort sample from? Best is to take it from the chilled wort once the fermenter is full (being aware of contamination risk).
Generally, your beer will be about where you want it to be SG-wise, as long as you know your kit/process and grain is from a decent supplier (i.e. you didn't try malting it yourself). Differences should only be a few percent from what you calculate.
My readings are often all over the shop, but it's linked to mixing in the beer machine/temp/crappy instruments (in comparison to the Anton Parr stuff they use commercially).
The pre-boil gravity was taken and used a temperature correction to get the "right" value, the same with the OG. I took that sample from the remains of the wort from the various hoses to the pump. The temperature on that was around 23C.
The grain was _not_ malted myself! I'm ok having brewing kit and some bags of malt lying around, but I think that it would be going too far to have the spare room doing malting. Although I do have a shed at the house...
I have just been told that things have kicked off in the fermenter. Got to love Mangrove Jacks M20.
11L of summer weissen in bottles! Looking at the above, it seems that fermentation was done within a week, so I will have to see what it turns out like. Maybe it could have stayed in the fermenter until next week down in the basement where it was cool, but I was keen to get it conditioning so that it is ready for summer leave.
It appears to have attenuated down to plan (1.012), but does taste pretty weak, so I think the OG was right. It's a folk öl, about 3% according to the calculator. That's not a bad thing though and it should be a decent summer beer.
I also got to taste a two week old Nordic SMASH with the Korsta hops that I got sent. Even in a week since the first tasting it has changed. There's a lot more depth to it now and it is certainly more carbonated. It's still quite "beery", but there's something quite nice about it.
Well.... I batch primed my brew and bottled it yesterday. Should be ready in 3 weeks.
fingers crossed it turns out ok!
Should be ready in 3 weeks.
Give it four (ideally five, a week to carbonate then four weeks to condition)
I have a question for the brewing hive-mind; my Leffe-esque saison number is being drunk at the moment. It had been conditioning out in the garage for a month, and was clear as a bell in the bottles. However, when I bring a few in and put them in the fridge, they cloud up again. I get that some yeast might be disturbed by the movement of carrying them in from the garage, but some have been in the fridge for a week so I'd have expected that to have settled back. Any ideas whey they're going cloudy in the fridge?
Tastes fine FWIW.
Chill haze? Leffe is a little cloudy, so that would not bother me too much and if it tastes nice...
Chill haze - colloidal particles (polyphenols etc) form bonds at cold temps and make particles you can see.
That's why chilling a beer at the brewery gives it a clear look - those particles are heavier and fall out of solution.
I would expect a beer to secondary ferment/carbonate in 2 weeks at room temperature.
I always put some beer from a batch in a 500ml juice bottle so you can squeeze it to see if it's ready
Ah, gotcha, thanks.
That’s why chilling a beer at the brewery gives it a clear look – those particles are heavier and fall out of solution.
Is that 'cold-crashing' then? I thought I'd done that in the brewfridge once the initial fermentation had finished, I dropped it down to c.2degC, maybe I didn't do it for long enough?
I always put some beer from a batch in a 500ml juice bottle so you can squeeze it to see if it’s ready
That is a really good tip. Thank you!
Last Saturday I brewed an APA with Voss Kveik yeast. Pitched at 35C, kept in a water bath, and it had fully fermented (1.009) in less than 36 hours. Blimey!
That's the good news. The bad news is that it doesn't taste all that good. I can't detect any strong signs of infection, but the the flavour is tart and the hop aroma very muted. I'm hoping that it's just because it needs some proper conditioning time - so I've racked to secondary and will leave it a few days before bottling.
Finings adjunct in the fv after fermentation had finished will help to remove some chill haze forming protein. You will only nedd 20ml or so to have an effect
Or cold jold for longer will help if you want bar bright beer
I’m hoping that it’s just because it needs some proper conditioning time – so I’ve racked to secondary and will leave it a few days before bottling.
Bottled this evening. Flavour much improved.
Kveik ferments similarly to a whisky yeast - extremely fast at high temps and with very high attenuation. I had one kveik fermentation go to a couple of degrees under (0.098 FG). However, just because the gravity has fully dropped doesn't mean it's ready to drink - you still need to leave it to let the flavours develop.
A friend of mine recently told me his wife found him in a random flood of tears in the kitchen. He had been thinking about how much he missed a pint of Guiness in the pub! So I'm going to take a shot at making something in that ballpark for him today. Slightly limited by just using what I have in inventory - I would have used roasted barley and a different yeast, but hey ho.
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 28.00 l
Post Boil Volume: 25.50 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 23.00 l
Bottling Volume: 21.50 l
Estimated OG: 1.047 SG
Estimated Color: 26.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 83.2 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
3.50 kg Best Pale Ale Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 75.3
0.40 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt -240L (24 Grain 2 8.6 %
0.30 kg Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 3 6.5 %
0.25 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.4 %
0.20 kg Chocolate Malt (Bairds) (500.0 Grain 5 4.3 %
15.00 g Target [11.00 %] - Boil 60.0 m Hop 6 17.5
10.00 g Phoenix [8.00 %] - Boil 60.0 m Hop 7 8.5 I
15.00 g Bramling Cross [6.00 %] - Boil Hop 8 1.9 I
15.00 g Hallertau [4.50 %] - Boil 5.0 Hop 9 1.4 I
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermenti Yeast 10 -
Mash Schedule: Grainfather
Total Grain Weight: 4.65 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperatur Step Time
Saccharification Add 16.05 l of water and heat to 68 68.0 C 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 75.0 C over 4 min 75.0 C 10 min
Sparge: Fly sparge with 15.61 l water at 75.6 C
In other news, the pale summer ale I made to test out the new malt supplier came out very nicely. Bitterness is a little higher than I envisioned but it works, I was using some old hops and wasn't sure how denatured they'd be so just chucked them all in.
It's a very refreshing drink and a few folk who have tried it have always asked more. Having people round for a BBQ this weekend so will be dishing it up!
@yourguitarhero, thank you for that! I was thinking about a stout and was a little unsure about whether to kick of the 'Winter Stout' making that I had planned. It comes in pretty strong, so may not be a good choice for light summer drinking.
Finally got around to tasting the summer weissen that I bottled last week. It has carbonated well, which is good, and has a nice haze to it. If anything, I would say that the colour is too pale, but this would fit with the lower than expected boil off. There is certainly a "weissen" taste and smell to it, but it's a 3% beer and you can feel that; it is a lot more pale/weak/watery than, say, a Schneider or Erdinger.
But, all that said, it is a nice beer to drink and it will do well for the upcoming couple of weeks, assuming the nice weather holds. I still need to organise a brew day and use up the Zappa hops I have in the fridge, something Pale Ale I think.
However, just because the gravity has fully dropped doesn’t mean it’s ready to drink – you still need to leave it to let the flavours develop.
Yep, it seems to need the same amount of time to condition as any other yeast. It was finished at 1.010 though.
Thats nearer a porter recipe without 6 or 7% roast barley or black malt in it. Thats how they get the distinct acrid bitternes. And sulphite ratios, we add nacl to our stout grist and cut back the gypsum. Rest seems ok although i would add a few ibus and shoot for 1010 rack off and bottle carb it.
^ yeah, I agree. I see Guinness as a porter, not a stout.
To be fair, I would have added some roast barley etc if I had any. But I also don't like the bitterness those grains give. I did end up adding some more hops at the start of the boil to increase IBUs though, so we're on the same page there.
Seeing as we're talking about porters and stouts, I was reading about cold-steeping 'dark' grains the other day, i.e. those used for porter/stout.
I wondered if it could be done with 'normal' grains, i.e. those used for bitters (e.g. Crystal 140) for extract brewing? So, instead of heating the water and steeping the grains for an hour (say) before adding the extract/hops/boiling etc, steeping them in cold water overnight instead.
Would that work?
No
Whoah there, you're blinding me with the science 😉
It's for extract brewing by the way, the grains aren't being mashed.
Is there a reason you'd want to?
Laziness, mainly, instead of heating the water to temp (60ishDegC), adding the grains and wrapping the pot in towels to keep it at the temp for about an hour before taking the grains out and bringing it to the boil/adding the extract, I could just bung the grains in the water the night before, whip'em out the next day when I'm ready to brew and away I go.
Arrived at my local skydiving place the other day to find a large, 60L Digiboil and a tray of Cascade out on the deck. Turns out the club would like to brew and sell its own beer and have asked one of the members to help out. He called a friend and now there is a 50L Baruch of Cascade/Kviek Voss ale fermenting in the club house!
Had a decent chat with the chap. Seemed nice and likes brewing. Now all we need to do is buy some more John Guest bits to connect all the gas and liquid parts to the assorted kegs. And buy a shitload of sanitiser.
This also means we get to plan different beers...
IHN - that may work... I'm not sure though. Without the mash heat you won't get anything fermentable out of the grains, but I guess you might get colour and flavour? I'm assuming you expect to get your fermentable sugars from the extract? Roasted grains have very little fermentable potential anyway.
This article goes into a lot further: http://brulosophy.com/2017/12/04/roasted-grains-pt-4-cold-steeping-vs-full-mash-exbeeriment-results/
Seems like it may work and be less bitter but you need 3x more grains.
FWIW, I find DRC grains (Double Roasted Chocolate) to work like Black malt but much less bitterness.
I’m assuming you expect to get your fermentable sugars from the extract?
Yup, all the fermentables come from the extract, the grains are for colour/flavour only. And that Brulosophy link is where I got the original idea from.
FWIW, I sort of did what I was suggesting by accident at the weekend anyway. I picked up a cheap kit at the weekend, a Geordie Bitter, so though I'd have a play with it. I heated 8l water to mid-60sC, put the grains in ('normal' Crystal malt), then ended up having to go out, so they sat in there for about three hours (rather than the normal 30 minutes) before they got hoiked out.
Brought it to the boil, added the kit tin and 25g of leftover Fuggles that I had in the freezer, boiled it for half an hour, turned the heat off and added 25g of leftover Cascade. Topped up to 23l in the FB, left it to cool for an hour or so then added some ale yeast starter that I'd made up (not from the kit stuff).
Ended up pretty dark, but early tastes are really nice, quite rich. First brew of a bitter using campden-treated water too (from earlier posts on here) so we'll see what difference that makes.
D R C from simpsons is one of my favourite ingredients. Hazel nut or roasted raison flavours. Dark too fpr a crystal so deep red colours. 400 against 150 for normal crystal or 100 for crystal light.
Currently brewing a Raspberry Berliner Weisse for when the weather warms up! Rather than kettle souring, I'm having a go with Philly Sour a lachancea which produces lactic acid as a by product.
Really interested to see how this turns out.
Yes, DRC is the business. Glad I tried it out on recommendation of a local brewer.
Bakey - just be careful as hell with your cleaning after using souring bacteria - they are persistent buggers and can infect your next "straight" brews. Especially if you use a plastic fermenter instead of glass or stainless steel. I also keep a separate set of gaskets, tubing and bottling wand just for infected beers.
If that's too much hassle, then put your stuff in the dishwasher - the temps in there should kill them off.
Now planning a brew evening to attempt a stout. Speciality grains ordered and have some friends coming over to help, or “Help” depending on how it turns out.
Plan is that this will have an OG of about 1.100 and attenuate down to about 1.020. Dark, maybe hints of roasted and coffee, possibly with some raisin...