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AG#13/14 – Bloody Nelson / Black Promise

Posted by: pdtnc on: November 21, 2009

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Its a two Batch day, I’m doing 12 litres a piece and actually taking my time over it. I decided to Mash then Sparge and collect, then Mash then Sparge and collect followed by 2 boils.

AG#13 – Bloody Nelson

Fermentables:
Golden Promise 2090g
Wheat Malt 260g
German Cara Red 260g

Hops:
Nelson Sauvin 60 mins 0 lbs. 0.4 oz 10g (FWH)
Nelson Sauvin 15 mins 0 lbs. 0.4 oz 10g
Nelson Sauvin 0 mins 0 lbs. 0.4 oz 20g (I’ve doubled this from 10g as the hops were smelling good)

Final Volume: 12 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.048
Final Gravity: 1.012
Alcohol Content: 4.7% ABV
Total Liquor: 18.8 Litres
Mash Liquor: 6.5 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 34 EBU
Colour: 15 EBC

The Grains, golden promise pale malt, wheat malt, carared malt, 1 tsp gypsum:

New toy with little Brewing calculator on it, mashed in @ 67.7c:

FWH & 1 Tsp Gypsum:

Floaters:

12g of Nottingham Yeast:

20min steep of flame Out hops:

Rehydrated Notts yeast within 1 degree of my wort temp:

All put to bed now, lots of yeast for the 12L length, should get going pretty quick.
I’m not too sure if the CaraRed Malt has done its stuff, looked a bit straw-like in the boiler, will see better at bottling.
Near as damn it hit my OG just a point or two out.

AG#14 – Black Promise

Fermentables:
Golden Promise 1880g
Wheat Malt 260g
Black Malt 100g
Crystal Malt 100g

Hops:
Northdown 60 mins 5g (FWH)
Whitbread Golding 60 mins 5g (FWH)
Fuggle 60 mins 5g (FWH)
Whitbread Golding 20 mins 20g
Home Grown Fuggle 10 mins 21g

Final Volume: 12 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.012
Alcohol Content: 4.1% ABV
Total Liquor: 18.5 Litres
Mash Liquor: 5.9 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 36 EBU
Colour: 86 EBC

Grain weighed out, golden promise pale malt, black malt, crystal malt, wheat malt, 1 tsp gypsum, 1/2 tsp Calcium Chloride:

New toy with little Brewing calculator on it, mashed in @ 66c:

Good deep colour, though tastes a bit mild I was hoping for more of the Black malt flavours:

FWH:

WGV going in!:

Home grown Fuggles going in:

Near enough for me:

All done, I just hope the Black malt comes through with the flavour as well as the colour.

AG#12 – Weights & Measures

Posted by: pdtnc on: November 7, 2009

In: Brewing
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Weights & Measures – A bit of a user-upper to get rid of a few bags of bits, now I’ve tried a few grains out its time to concentrate on a more general range.

Fermentables:
Lager Malt 1600g
Golden Promise 1400g
Rye Malt 490g
Caramalt 250g
Torrefied Wheat 245g
Vienna Malt 215g
Amber Malt 80g
Chocolate Malt, Pale 40g

Hops:
Fuggles 60 mins 75g
Bramling Cross 15 mins 28g
Saaz Whole 0 mins 17g

Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.041
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 4% ABV
Total Liquor: 32.6 Litres
Mash Liquor: 10.8 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 43 EBU
Colour: 17 EBC

The Grist and 5g Gypsum:

I’m trying to guide my time with a Google Calender Timetable:

Mashed in 1 degree lower than I wanted, Grain was 16c, Strike should have been 75c… I lost a degree somewhere, so if anyones seen one its mine:

Calibrated Boiler = No more Jugging my liquor into the Tun (Even though I did this time just to check my scale):

Tucked up for 90mins:

Lots of Lovely Fuggles:

FWH in with 1st batch of Sparged wort:

Mash Paddle and floaters:

Hot Break, the 38L stock pot has just the right amount of head space for it to boil pretty much without watching it:

Bramling Cross Hops going in @ 15mins:

Saaz Hops going in at 0mins for 10min steep:

Just a point or two high, 1042/44:

Dry Sprinkled Nottingham Yeast:

Not a bad brewday, the wort tastes good enough to drink as it is

**Bottled 17th Nov ‘09

Old Spot Brewery – Cullingworth

Posted by: pdtnc on: November 4, 2009

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Today I helped make award winning real ale at the ‘Old Spot Brewery’ in Cullingworth near Keighley.
They have recently Won the Leicester Beer Festival with a Gold for Spot O’ Bother which was also a 1st in the Porter/Stout category.
Please check their beers out when you see them
http://www.oldspotbrewery.co.uk

The brew is a pretty hoppy and mainly pale malt with some wheat, name yet to be decided.
Chris has a relaxed attitude to brewing and there’s nothing complex in his brewing process, knowing his process and customers tastes gives him plenty of room to experiment within his brewing experience in creating new ales.

Here’s a Few snaps from today:
The Brewery, Mashtun in front, Boiler back left and HLT’s at the right:

The 2 elements inside the boiler:

FV’s:

FV’s being cleaned and sterilised:

Sparging, Grains were Optic Malt and Wheat Malt:

Weighing out the hops, Todays hops were Fuggles for Bittering, Golding, Willamette & Fuggles for flavour/aroma:

Used hops in the boiler:

I’ve just drunk a bottle of a dark Mild Chris gave me which is well balanced and chocolaty, another bottle of something light is waiting for after though I forget what he called it. They don’t normally bottle their beers as they stick to dealing direct with pubs.

AG#11 – Pale, Wheat and Rye

Posted by: pdtnc on: October 24, 2009

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Pale, Wheat and Rye – Something with Rye malt, fairly pale with just a bit of sweetness coming from the Pale Crystal Malt

Fermentables:
Maris Otter 1040g
Wheat Malt 520g
Rye Malt 520g
Crystal Malt, Pale 205g

Hops:
Target @ 60 mins 16g (FWH)
First Gold @ 15 mins 10g
First Gold @ 0 mins 10g (I ended up doubling this to 20g)
Protafloc @ 20 mins

Final Volume: 12 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.042
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 4.1% ABV
Total Liquor: 18.5 Litres
Mash Liquor: 5.7 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 46 EBU
Colour: 14 EBC

1tsp Gypsum to each Mash & Boil, 90 minute Mash which stretched to 105 minute.
Yeast Safale s-04

The grains an 1 tsp gypsum for the mash:

Grist temp:

Mashed in spot on (I forgot to take an end of mash temp):

pH looks good:

The colour of the first batch sparge (with the second batch added its going to be a nice straw colour):

Running off, had a bit of sticking but the wort was going to be a bit cloudy anyway with the wheat:

Hops all sorted, I decided to double up the 10g 0 mins to 20g:

Just started boiling:

10min steep of 20g First Gold @ flame outs:

Cold break:

Hit about the right OG:

Splish splash:

Dry Sprinkled Safale s-04, left to sink for 15mins then thrashed with a paddle:

Left overs:

Front left is todays brew, back left is Yorkshire Trappist red with experiments on top, front right is the JBK Anniversary brew, back right is Amber Otter:

This morning

Fermentation less than 24 hours later:

I’m hoping the Target hops will have kept some flavour to add some extra zing to the First Gold.

*Bottled 3rd Nov ‘09

Tags: ale, beer, Brewing, craft brewing, first gold, first gold hops, grain, gypsum, home brew, home brewing, hops, Maris Otter, pale, pale crystal malt, pale malt, rye, rye malt, target, target hops, wheat, wheat malt

AG#10 – Yorkshire Trappist Red

Posted by: pdtnc on: October 17, 2009

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Yorkshire Trappist Red

Fermentables:
Lager Malt 3300g
Munich Malt 800g
Vienna Malt 800g
Golden Syrup 680g (to be added at least half way through-ish)
Belgian Aromatic Malt 400g
Caramalt 400g
Wheat Malt 300g
German Cara Red 200g
Total 6.2kg Grain

Hops:
Boadicea @ 60 mins – 31g (FWH)
Saaz Whole @ 10 mins – 23g
Hallertauer Hersbrucker @ 10 mins – 23g
Protafloc Tablet Pellet @ 20 mins

Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.070
Final Gravity: 1.012
Alcohol Content: 7.7% ABV
Total Liquor: 34.5 Litres
Mash Liquor: 15.5 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 26 EBU
Colour: 23 EBC

Whitelabs WLP500 Trappist yeast, 2 Litre starter.
90 Minute Mash @ 66 C (2 Tsp Gysum to grist)

Maybe 3 sparge batches as the Mash tun looks pretty full, but I’ll see as I go.
Water from the hot tap treated with Sodium Met, I made sure i treated lots in preparation this time:

The Grain bill, all mixed up, weighed out last night:

Mash on at 66 C for 90 mins:

Mash pH looks spot on, 2 heaped Tsp of Gypsum were added to the grist before mashing, though otherwise no other water treatment:

First Run-off:

FWH Boadicea, and Northdown as I ran out of Boadicea:

Saaz and Hersbrucker, Golden Syrup, Protafloc and Yeast Nutrient:

Lovely fat Northdown hop:

Spent Grains:

Spent Grain Recycling:

Coming to the Boil:

Saaz & Hersbrucker 10 minute hops:

Experiment with 3L and safale s-04 to see what I’m missing using the WLP500, and I saved a bit of my 2.5L starter to culture up a little more Trappist yeast, I let down my wort a little with bottled water:

This was shot with a white light LED torch behind to get some idea of the colour, I was aiming for something red, it looked better in the sunlight near the window:

OG:1066ish, just a few points lower than anticipated, won’t be worrying about that:)

A little Video Link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS3u1hUr5xU

Less than 24 hours later: Fermenting away with a good yeast head @ 18 Deg C this morning, I admit I was a little scared in leaving the FV on the cold cellar floor and not all tucked up and warm in my brewing cupboard. I’m going for the “earthy” character of the yeast…

After 4 days: Trial Jar and hydro says gravity 1026, so thats from pitched yeast on Saturday afternoon until now, is this normal for an 18 Deg C ferment????
The taste test btw,…. very different! Though there’s a fair amount of un-fermented sugars in there yet, has a very malty profile so far.

6 Days later: warmed it up to about 22 C.
The Smell is pears, taste is getting to a mild chalkiness with the pear coming through too.
Still tastes malty but it has gone a little now I’ve got the FV temperature up and Its dropped about 10 points though still quite actively fermenting with plenty of bubbles rising to the surface.
You also get a bit of warming in your throat from the alcohol.
Loads of yeast still in suspension.

*Bottled 29rd Oct ‘09 with 85g sugar to about 19-20 litres.

The yeast is surprisingly subtle, loads of malt flavour, still some pear flavour and aroma.
OG @ 1010 so its got to target.
Bottling about 19-20L with 85g sugar and bottling my s-04 3L with 25g sugar.
Tasted the s-04 batch, its like Wine, the alcohol comes straight through.

AG#9 – Amber Otter

Posted by: pdtnc on: October 10, 2009

In: Brewing
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Part 1 of a 3 Part Malt and hops experiment ‘Mild Otter’ and ‘Brown Otter’ to follow in future brewdays.

Amber Otter – an Amber beer with Celeia hops

Fermentables:
Maris Otter 1800g
Amber Malt 520g
Torrefied Wheat 100g

Hops:
Celeia 60 mins 27g
Celeia 15 mins 16g
Celeia 0 mins 11g
Protafloc Tablet 20 mins

Final Volume: 12 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 4.4% ABV
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 36 EBU
Colour: 38 EBC

Going to Pitch Safale us-05 so I get a full appreciation of the malt and hops

The Grains, Maris Otter, Amber Malt and Torrefied Wheat:

Mash paddle I made at work:

Mashing with my new spoon, no more floppy spoon syndrome:

Looks pretty damn good for pH:

Celeia Hops:

First batch sparge wort, tasting interesting… quite dry but sweet if you know what I mean:

First Batch goes on to warm up with FWH and 1Tsp Gypsum:

Coming to the Boil:

Cold Break:

Nice Clear Wort:

Hit around OG1042 @ 23 Deg C so that will do

Next malt Experiment will be using Brown Malt.

Less than 24 hours and its fermenting well:

**Bottled 23rd Oct ‘09 with 45g sugar

Tags: amber, amber ale, amber beer, amber malt, amber otter, beer, bitter, boil, Brewing, celeia, celeia hops, craft brewing, grain, gypsum, home brew, home brewing, hops, Maris Otter, mash, otter, pale malt, Torrefied Wheat

Stock in use

Posted by: pdtnc on: October 4, 2009

In: Stock Images
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Just done a bit of Google Image Search trawling… found a couple of things.

My view of Amsterdam again:

http://www.easyviaggio.com/studio/la-vecchia-europa-e-oltre-citta-d-eccezione/nel-vento-dei-paesi-bassi.html

And a shot of a sign post near Haworth:

http://www.placesonline.com/europe/uk_england/yorkshire_and_the_humber/haworth/photo_detail.asp?filename=haworth_9641

Tags: amsterdam, haworth, microstock, penistone, royalty free, sign post, Stock Images, stock in use, stock photography

AG#8 – JBK Anniversary Brew 09

Posted by: pdtnc on: October 2, 2009

In: Brewing
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AG#8 – JBK Anniversary Brew 09 – www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk

The instructions:

Jim wrote:I would look for something around a maximum of 55 OG, with crystal malt to give it body and a bit of darkness from roast barley and good old English hops – plenty of fuggle with a bit of golding for aroma and around 45 to 50 IBUs.

So this is what I’ve come up with:

Fermentables:
Maris Otter 1880g
Dark Crystal Malt 205g (no mention of which crystal, so this gives me a chance to try out some Dark Crystal)
Torrefied Wheat 78g
Roasted Barley 26g

Hops:
Challenger - 60 mins 19g
Progress – 30 mins 16g
First Gold – 5 mins 11g

Final Volume: 12 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.041
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 3.9% ABV
Bitterness: 48 EBU
Colour: 64 EBC

The Grain weighed out, 2 Tsp of Chalk and Gysum for the Mash:

The Intended Yeast slurry from a previous brew which is coming back to life and releasing some bubbles, will decant off the beer and pitch some of this:

The new manifold in my 15L tun, note the support sleeving to support my warm floppy pipe. I may need to make this a rigid arrangement in future:

Grist Temp:

The Mash Tun:

Mashed in @ 67C, leaving for 90 mins:

Mash pH looks near enough:

Hops, Generous weighing as I know the Burton Ale yeast will subdue them:

End mash temp:

First Runnings being recycles, sparging went brilliantly, no sticking and pretty clear wort:

First Wort Hops going in with first batch spargings:

Leftovers:

Bacon butty:

5 min hops addition with cooler already in:

Sanitising with Starsan:

Pretty clear hitting the FV and a good deep colour:

Pitching Whitelabs Burton Ale yeast Slurry @ 24C:

Well Aerated:

Hops and Trub:

My exceedingly happy brewing cupboard, FV1 is JBK, FV2 is Blauer Vogel, in the back the Top crate is full of TTL, underneath and to the left there is my Otter Dark Stout:

Just a bit of clearing up to do, hit OG1042 @ 24C so that’ll do me
Happy Anniversary JBK, Live long and prosper and all that
Hope this will be a good one, I needed a darker ale under my belt

Bottling Update FG hit 1010/1012 ish
Full Crate:

Sun shining through then bottle, lots of Burton Ale yeast in suspension, should take a few weeks for it to settle out:

2 weeks of warm followed by 2 weeks of cool and these should be ready.