Probably Due To Network Congestion

Olicana Rutilus – This is my entry to the Ilkley Brewery / Leeds Homebrewers competition, an American Red/Amber/Brown style beer at 1038.

I’m doing a number of firsts for me with this brew:

• The first time using of my Plate Chiller which I’ve had for ages with intent to use!
• The first time I’ve done a 20 minute total boil time!
• The first time I’ve tried Hop-Bursting!
• The First time I’ve used Apollo hops!

Fermentables:
Lager Malt
Carapils (Weyermann)
Munich Malt I (Weyermann)
Chocolate Malt
Cara Munich Type III

Hops:
Columbus
Apollo
Apollo

Final Volume: 12 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.038
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 3.6% ABV
Total Liquor: 17.6 Litres
Mash Liquor: 4.9 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 % (got over 81%)
Bitterness: 35 EBU
Colour: 39 EBC
Yeast: Safale US-05

Today’s Malts:

First run out of the Plate chiller (Heat Exchanger), with my second Solar Project pump:

Ye Olde mini-Mash Tun:

First Wort Hops, Columbus, with a THBF calc Mild profile for my liquor treatment:

Apollo hops, I’m using up the dregs, still sticky as owt and stinky:

Oh… Nooo!!! Hot Side Aeration! Recirc to Sanitise:

Flameout Hops:

This was actually a pretty quick brewday, didn’t quite hit my 1038 OG and got 1035-ish, this will be down to me guessing and 5% boil-off, it was actually a lot less as I collected 14 Litres in the FV rather than the planned 12 Litres. So something to adjust for next time I do a 20min boil. The break material formed in the bucket after cooling, I back-flushed the Plate Chiller and set it on a recirc for about half an hour with hot clean water.
Its been a long day as I’ve bottled 50-odd bottles of Nit Wit after brewing, then cleaned the FV and fridge from the WLP400 mess!!
I’ll post the full recipe details after judging 😉

Here’s Dave’s brewday blog of his entry.
And this is Neil’s Blog of his entry.

*14th Jun ’12 – Dry hopping time 🙂
Apollo hops whizzed up in a clean blender, about 4g per litre, a tip from @dredpenguin and his blog A Beer on the Downs though I didn’t puree mine I just dry blitzed them:

Dry hops tipped on the yeast head and stirred in, I’ll leave at current temp for a couple of days then stir again and drop the temperature to 17c then 11c for about a week before crashing it down to 4c to settle the hop debris out:

*Bottled 21st Jun ’12 – with 60g white sugar in 13 litres of beer.