Archive for September 2011
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Something a little different today and almost all made up with a little reference to a recipe I found online, could taste pants, but hopefully it will be a hot ‘n spicy 4.4%-ish Ginger Ale.
The Ingredients & recipe go something like this:
- Approx 21-23 Litres of hot liquor from the HLT
- 1.4Kg Ginger root, finely sliced
- 6 Lemons, finely sliced
- 1 Lime, finely sliced
- 1.5Kg Caramalt, steeped in Mash Tun then all hot liquor Sparged through it
- 1.25Kg White Sugar
- 250g Soft Dark Brown Sugar
- 150g Demerara Sugar
- 40g Ground Ginger followed by 4 Heaped Tsp of the same
- 1/2 Tsp very hot Indian Chilli powder
- 3/4-1 Tsp Cream of Tartar
- Yeast Safale s-04
Put all the ingredients in a very large pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30mins, followed by chilling down with the Immersion Cooler and running off to the FV.
I tweaked the OG to 1038 (the ingredient sugars reflect this) and also the extra Teaspoons of Ground Ginger & Chilli Powder were added near the end to adjust the spice / heat level. If the yeast ferments down to dryness it will be a 5.4% Ginger Ale 🙂
Most of the Ingredients:
Caramalt which I steeped then sparged thru to get my liquid volume in the large pan:
Lemons & Limes all sliced up:
All the Ginger chopped up:
The Steeping Caramalt:
Sparging:
Fruit Salad anyone?:
Quite an easy couple of hours this morning, time will tell what it turns out like 🙂
*Bottled 22nd Oct ’11 with 80g Demarara Sugar, fermented right down to 1000! so its dry, tastes a bit pants so I hope some carbonation lifts it, Needs sweetness!!!!
AG#65 – Nelson Brucker II
Posted on: September 18, 2011
Nelson Brucker II – This will actually be my third use of this Hop combo but this version is truer to the first brew with tweaks and will be an entry into the www.gbhomebrew.co.uk competition. I’ll update the recipe after the closing date.
Malts:
Pale Malt – 79%
Crystal Rye Malt – 8%
Munich Malt – 8%
Wheat Malt – 5%
Hops:
Hallertauer Hersbrucker 6EBU @ 60mins
Nelson Sauvin 25EBU @ 60mins
Hallertauer Hersbrucker 60g @ 0mins
Nelson Sauvin 40g @ 0mins
Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.011
Alcohol Content: 4.3% ABV
Bitterness: 30 EBU
Colour: 26 EBC
Yeast: Safale US-05
Mash: 66c for 75mins
Boil: 60mins
Liquor: General Purpose Salts as per GW Calc
Malts etc:
Sparging Liquor Temp:
Mash Efficiency 77.4%:
Hops being weighed:
First Wort Hops, Hersbrucker & Nelson Sauvin:
Immersion Chiller in to sanitise during the last 15-20mins of the boil:
Wort cooled to about 80c before adding the Steep hops:
Lots of lovely Hersbrucker & Nelson Sauvin hops:
Break material while cooling, I cooled to 20c:
Its a lovely wort colour, I liquored back about 800ml to ensure I was getting 1044:
The wort is smelling fantastic, I’m looking forward to tasting this beer again 🙂
*Bottled 3rd Oct ’11 with 71g of White sugar, tasting great 🙂
York Brewery Tour
Posted on: September 11, 2011
An informative tour for people who know nothing or very little about the brewing process, a fair amount of talk with malt munching and hop sniffing followed by a fairly short tour around the viewing gallery above the mash tun & copper.
The bar / Brewery Tap is a quaint rustic affair, it was nice to talk to one of their brewers (front left in their photo above) while we were having our beers, Nice to meet you.
Had an enjoyable pint of Guzzler at the ‘Last Drop Inn’, one of their pubs, here are the brewery’s beers.
Top left is the Grist case (Malt Hopper) with chute leading into the Mash Tun at the Back right, 20 Barrel copper boiler in the front right:
Looking down thru the viewing windo into the fermenters:
The opposite view of the Brewhouse:
Here is what Tripadvisor has to say about them. Find them on Twitter @Yorkbrewery
AG#64 – Mild Ale II
Posted on: September 11, 2011
Mild Ale II – The second of my brews for the www.gbhomebrew.co.uk competition, a Mild Ale based on my last Mild so slightly tweaked but hopping remains very similar. It wasn’t intended to have Pale Crystal in it but I ran out of Crystal Malt so had to substitute some.
Malts:
Pale Malt – 70%
Munich Malt – 10%
Crystal Malt – 6%
Flaked Oats – 6%
Crystal Malt, Pale – 4%
Chocolate Malt – 2%
Chocolate Wheat Malt – 2%
Hops:
Golding 21g – 4.2% @60mins (FWH)
Fuggle 21g – 3.8% @60mins (FWH)
Golding 13g – 4.1% @10mins
Fuggle 13g – 3.8% @10mins
Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.038
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 3.6% ABV
Bitterness: 23 EBU
Colour: 67 EBC
Yeast: Windsor
Mash: 60-90mins @ 69c
Boil: 60mins
Liquor: Treated to Mild Profile using GW Calc
Malts, Temp and Liquor treatments:
The Mash at 69c:
Hops weighed, small common salt addition to go in the Copper and Protafloc tablet for last 5 mins:
First run-off onto First Wort Hops:
In go the 10 minute hops:
Windsor yeast rehydrated as the packet suggests, using 2 packets as I hear things about Windsor yeast stalling:
Aerated and in the FV:
I forgot to take a OG shot, it was 1040 with the hydrometer, Refractometer said 1038 so near enough either way.
I had 86.5% Mash Efficiency and hit my 69c mash temp.
*18th Sep ’11 – Word to the wise… Forget Windsor, it stops really high and in theory would leave me with a 2.8-3% Beer…
Soo….
I’ve rehydrated 26g of Nottingham yeast, added it and 90g of dissolved Demerara Sugar to the FV and given it a rather good stir… Fingers crossed for a few more points!
*Cornie 22nd Sep ’11 with Allkleer finings, 4 500ml bottles primed with 1/2 Tsp sugar, FG 1018 so about 2.8% beer! First & last use of Windsor yeast I think! When brewed again I’ll use my usual us-05 yeast.
AG#63 – London Porterish II
Posted on: September 3, 2011
London Porterish II – Maybe to be re-named, my first brew for the www.gbhomebrew.co.uk competition. The brew is based on my last London Porter which was based on the Fullers London Porter, the Fullers is a lovely beer.
Malts:
Pale Malt – 70%
Brown Malt – 15%
Crystal Malt – 8%
Chocolate Malt – 5%
Extra Dark Crystal Malt – 2%
Hops:
Goldings – 11EBU @60mins
Challenger – 17EBU @ 60mins
Goldings – 11g @ 0mins
Challenger – 30g @ 0mins
OG 1060
Predicted FG 1016
ABV 5.7%
EBU 29
EBC
Yeast Safale US-05
Liquor Treatment to Porter profile in the GW Calc less the common Salt
I had a Brew Monkey today, Dave, BroadfordBrewer from THBF… he took a few phone pictures throughout the day… Thanks
We had a few beers, brewed a little, ate some food, and had a few more beers, a jolly good natter along the way made for an enjoyable day 
Hit our OG near as damn it, couple of litres down on volume tough, Mash efficiency a rather poxy 70%.
I’m hoping to better my last London Porter with more Maltiness and a slightly more assertive hop flavour presence.
Malts, Temp and Liquor treatment:
Mash temp of 66c aimed for and achieved:
Doughing in:
Weighing a few hops:
First Runnings:
Spooning the copper:
Preparing to run to the fermenter:
1060 (2 divisions in the meniscus):
*Bottled 18th Sep ’11 with 65g of Sugar, tasting very good.
*4th Dec ’11 – After initially tasting bloody gorgeous about a week after bottling it tailed off a bit, but now after a good bit of maturation in bottle is is bloody gorgeous again 🙂 Very happy, a pretty perfect winter tipple 🙂
Probably Due To Network Congestion 