Posts Tagged ‘hops’
This years Homebrew review of the year isn’t going to be as lengthy as other years as I’ve simply not brewed as much and didn’t try that hard when it came to the National Homebrew Competition, some serious time was spent building a car-port style affair at the side of the house, so the list bellow is the best of what I had time to brew…
- AG #110 – Ring of Fire IPA
This one is also still fermenting, but it smells & tastes so good I thought I’d add it to my end of year round up, it has promise whether I dry hop it or not 😉 - AG #109 – Mittlefruh Junga Blonde
This isn’t actually bottled at the time of writing this but tastes from the FV have been displaying some the traits I was wanting so I have high hopes for another easy drinker like AG#108 but with more spicy character. - AG #105 – Summit 73 E366
This is bloody marvelous, I hope they re-release Experimental 366 in future years and let us know what its going to be called. - AG #104 – NZ Sour Wheat
My Sour Mashed wheat beer, this is a style I’d like to pursue further, I dropped lucky and got a really nice balance between the Sour and the balancing sweetness and body. - AG #103 – Farmhouse Rye Noir
My first attempt at a Saison and it turned out damn well too 🙂 - AG #102 – Gods of War
Easy drinking mix of under-used hops, worthy of a re-brew but with more cara/crystal/hotter-mash/flaked-barley. - AG #101 – SCAN
Mental but good, in hindsight I’d go a bit easier on things to ensure more of a crowd-pleaser. - AG #100 – Altitudinous Cable
Everything to the MAX, a touch too much Max which has taken time to settle down, VERY hoppy, this is going to age really well over a few years 🙂 - AG #99 – BoomStick
Massively easy drinking simple recipe. - AG #98 – Robust Wheat Porter
It seems these user-upper brews always turn out well, this is a mega solid porter with hints of smoke. - AG #96 – Bravo+Apollo=Citra?
An experiment that turned out good. - AG #94 – Hooded Embarrassment
Maybe not my best beer but it ticks enough boxes and made for enjoyable drinking. - AG #93 – Pacific Rim
Nice little hop-combo and worthy of a re-brew.
A nice surprise this year was this book through the post from Andy Hamilton featuring a couple of my homebrew recipes, its full of good stuff and obviously some cracking recipes 😉
Too many hops and so little time!
My Hop-Freezer is bulging, I should make 2014 the year when I don’t buy any hops!
Sad to say the 50L copper I am building and said in last years review I would finish, is still not complete just the hop-filter to sort out and a mate to finish the socket wiring, I obviously need to get my finger out once the wiring is done.
What I want to do in 2014 is get an upt-to-date Liquor test by Murphy & Son and maybe get my digital Thermometer calibrated so when I mash in at 69°c I am really mashing in at 69°c! (for most beers 69°c seems to be the mash temperature that makes us-05 get to the FG that BeerEngine says it will!)
Happy New Year to all
AG#110 – Ring of Fire IPA
Posted on: December 27, 2013
- In: Brewing
- 3 Comments
Ring of Fire IPA – if you recall sometime last year I did a brew called ‘Ring of Fire‘ which had some big orange notes to it from hopping, this is the IPA version with added Nelson Sauvin, the NS should add a good muskiness.
Fermentables:
Pale Malt – 70%
Flaked Wheat – 13%
Munich Malt I (Weyermann) – 10%
Carapils (Weyermann) – 4%
Cara Hell (Weyermann) – 3%
Hops:
NZ Pacifica – 6.1 % @ 60 mins – 40g
Pacific Jade – 15.1 % @ 60 mins – 23g
Pacific Jade – 15.1 % @ 5 mins – 30g
NZ Pacifica – 6.1 % @ 5 mins – 30g
Nelson Sauvin – 13.0 % @ 5 mins – 30g
Dry Hops:
Pacific Jade – 35g
NZ Pacifica – 35g
Nelson Sauvin – 35g
Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.055
Final Gravity: 1.013
Alcohol Content: 5.5% ABV
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 78 EBU
Colour: 11 EBC
Mash: 90mins @ 67c
Yeast: Safale us-05 x2
The Malts, it was actually 11c once it had settled down:
The First Wort Hops:
Recirculating the first runnings:
Sparge number 1:
Break material after cooling, just half a Protafloc Tab:
Running off to FV, 2 packs of yeast used rather than 1 pack which would be slightly under-pitching:
Bit of a late start, my day didn’t go to plan, but the wort tasted great and the hops smelled just right 🙂
*29th Dec ’13 – Gravity at 1023.5 and tasting all woody and musky, very nice, smells ace 🙂
*2nd Jan ’14 – Tasting really good before dry hopping so I’ve decided to leave it as it is, from experience the main hop character from dry hopping would have been the Nelson Sauvin.
*Bottled 11th Jan ’14 with 129g White sugar, tasting good.
*22 Jan ’14 – Tasting good, a nice blend of all three hops with nothing over powering, maybe a touch more bitterness would be nice.
Mittlefruh Junga Blonde – Another easy drinker which might just be ready in time for over Christmas, this time using German Mittlefruh & Polish Junga, I’ve tweaked the malt bill a tiny bit from my last brew loosing 2% Carapils and making sure I hit my 69°c mash temp.
I’m hoping the addition of Junga will add a spice-character, I’ve also increased the bitterness just a touch to try emphasize this.
Fermentables:
Lager Malt – 82%
Vienna Malt – 10%
Carapils (Weyermann) – 8%
Hops:
Junga – 12.3 % @ 60 mins – 11g
Hallertauer Mittlefruh – 4.9 % @ 60 mins – 10g
Junga – 12.3 % @ 5 mins – 24g
Hallertauer Mittlefruh – 4.9 % @ 5 mins – 24g
Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.037
Final Gravity: 1.009
Alcohol Content: 3.6% ABV
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 25 EBU
Colour: 4 EBC
Mash: 60mins @ 69°c
Yeast: Safale us-05
The malts:
Recirculating the first few jugs of wort and a tiny amount of FWH:
These Junga are smelling particularly nice:
Running off to FV:
Gave my FV a thorough clean/sanitise as the last thing that was in here was my Kraftwort smoked beer and it still had a slight taint to it.
Left it cooling really slowly while we went out, got back and it was at 12°c (oops) and I’d hot-liquored back on the FV with 2 litres from the HLT so only had 620ml to liquorback in the FV so no chance to warm things up with that, its now in the Fermentation Fridge set to 20°c so should warm up pretty soon.
*Bottled 30th Dec ’13 – with 127g of sugar
*8th Jan ’14 – Early-ish taster, this is rather good, a little bit of sweetness, a nice amount of body with subtle tasty hops. (I’ll taste again when my cold has gone, but I reckon this is a good one)
AG#108 – Vienna Blonde
Posted on: November 24, 2013
- In: Brewing
- 4 Comments
Vienna Blonde – fair enough, this is not a Vienna lager recipe but I’m after an easy drinking beer for Christmas which anyone can drink. All German hops and done with subtlety, used the Mild Water profile from THBF Liquor Treatment Calculator to give it a healthy dose of Chloride.
Fermentables:
Lager Malt – 80%
Carapils (Weyermann) – 10%
Vienna Malt – 10%
Hops:
Magnum – 12.7 % @ 60 mins – 13g (FWH)
Hallertauer Hersbrucker – 3.0 % @ 5 mins – 23g
Tettnang – 3.8 % @ 5 mins – 23g
Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.037
Final Gravity: 1.009
Alcohol Content: 3.6% ABV
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 20 EBU
Colour: 4 EBC
Mash: 60mins, Aimed for 69°c and got 68°c
Yeast: Safale us-05
The tiny amount of First wort hops:
This was the Mash pH:
A restrained amount of late hops:
The OG pre-liquorback:
After liquoring back I had around 24 litres, which will probably escape the FV once things start fermenting!
*30th Nov ’13 – Gravity at 1011.5, tasting those lageresque flavours with hints of honey, not bad at all its a nice little hop combo.
*Bottled 8th Dec ’13 – with 127g White sugar, hopefully be nice and crisp once its carbonated up.
*14th Dec ’13 – Early taster, a bready nose with some sweetness, woody with some floral in the mouth, a subtle decaying woodiness goes nicely with the smooth balanced bitterness, carbonation is a nice full pallet tingle, body is enough, just a hint of greenness. Maybe a slightly hotter mash and a lower percentage of Carapils.
AG#107 – iFuggle
Posted on: November 9, 2013
- In: Brewing
- 2 Comments
iFuggle – I’ve been threatening doing this for a while, a big-ass Fuggle IPA, its an experiment and I may not like it but thats no reason not to try! And its a while since I made a British IPA.
The Dextrose will go in with the Protafloc in the last 10 minutes so as not to effect the hop utilisation, I’m using a couple of @MagicRockStu’s tips too.
Fermentables:
Pale Malt – 80%
Dextrose – 12.4%
Vienna Malt – 5.5%
Amber Malt – 2%
Hops:
Cluster Pellet – 7.9 % @ 75 mins – 150g (Start of boil)
Fuggle Whole – 5.1 % @ 5 mins – 150g
Fuggle Pellet – 4.3 % @ 0 mins – 100g (Dry Hop in FV)
Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.083
Final Gravity: 1.019
Alcohol Content: 8.4% ABV
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 137 EBU
Colour: 15 EBC
Mash: 60-90mins @ 63°c (I actually hit 64°c)
Boil: 75mins
Yeast: Safale us-05 – 2 packs
The malts, a fairly full bucket with just over 7kg:
150g Cluster T90 pellets:
Second batch sparge running in:
In go the pellets at the start of boil:
The late whole fuggles go in at 5mins left:
I liquored back from 1085.5 to 1083, and ended up with 22.3L in the FV:
Yeast pitched at 20°c, in the fermenting fridge set to 20°c too, cleaned up, no fuss as usual 🙂
*16th Nov ’13 – Gravity at 1021, tasting rather sweet, could that 1°c higher than my planned 63°c mash temp be to blame? I was hoping for nearer to 1010 by now. I have dry hopped with with 100g Fuggles pellets and given it a good rouse, hopefully it will drop a few more points.
*18th Nov ’13 – Gravity at 1013 this is more like it, a couple more points and I’ll be happy.
*20th Nov ’13 – Gravity at 1008! Makes this 10% which is quite a big beer and about 2% stronger than planned 😀
*Bottled 30th Nov ’13 – with about 75g white sugar, my scales were messing me around, tastes strong and traditional, good dark straw colour. It actually finished fermenting at 1006.5 making it 10.2%!
AG#106 – Kraftwort
Posted on: October 20, 2013
- In: Brewing
- 3 Comments
Kraftwort – I really enjoyed last years brew of ‘Big Malty Smoke beer‘ so I thought I’d do a smokier one this year, and to add a little extra to it I’m doing a Double Decoction.
Fermentables:
Rauch Malt (Weyermann) – 56.3%
Oak-Smoked Pale Wheat Malt (Weyermann) – 28.2%
Munich Type I (Weyermann) – 14.1%
Carafa Special III (Weyermann) – 1.4%
Hops:
Spalt Select – 5.2 % @ 60 mins – 70g
Spalt Select – 5.2 % @ 0 mins – 30g
Final Volume: 25 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.064
Final Gravity: 1.015
Alcohol Content: 6.4% ABV
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 33 EBU
Colour: 57 EBC
Mash: Infusion to 52°c for 30mins, Decoction to 65°c for 60mins, Decoction to 71°c, Sparge at 78°c
Yeast: 2x Safale us-05 and a cool 18°c ferment
The malts & Temp:
Hops from Simply:
The First Decoction went well and took me upto saccrification temperature:
A rather nice deep colour from the first runnings:
Messy splattered mash tun after the decoctions:
In go the hops:
Chillin’ I left it to get nice and cold:
Liquored back hot in the copper with a couple of litres and the refractometer, ended up with 1063.5 so near enough, I have been using hot liquor to liquorback in FV with lately but I wanted to keep the temp in the FV nice and low, which i did.
Bit of a long brewday with the decoctions and rests, smells a tastes good already 🙂
*29th Oct ’13 – I warmed it up a couple of days ago and let it finish off, its at a steady 1009.5 making it 7.1%!!! I’m chilling it down now ready for bottling.
*Bottled 3rd Nov ’13 – with 122g white sugar primings, tasting good, tastes very smokey 🙂
*20th Nov ’13 – Taster time, this is starting to be good now, its plenty smokey but subtle all at the same time.
I went down to see Shane at www.cheshirebrewhouse.co.uk yesterday to do a collaboration brew.
The brew was to be a Black IPA made with, among other things, Weyermann Sinamar Carafa Extract and Warrior hops, we stuck to a simple malt bill with Pale malt and a little Munich and adding sugar at the end of boil to take us into the 6.7ABV area.
The dry goods in the Mash Tun, Shane Underlets to mash in, this was a first for me as I’ve always used a Hydrator so the malt and liquor are already mixing as they hit the tun. For those that don’t know, Shane built all his brewkit from second-hand vessels and insulated and clad them himself:
The FV’s:
Shane paddling hard at the mash:
All the FV’s have a name, this is the temp controller belonging to Gertrude:
Underback and pump:
Sparge arm spinning:
Shane rubbing up the 10minute hops:
This is his take on a hop filter (Used to be Hop-back), the copper has a big 4 inch butterfly valve on the base of the cone so the spent hops in the copper are simply poked down thru the outlet to clean out:
This was either the late sugar addition or the late Steep hops going in:
Some beery treasure I brought home with me 🙂
We had some fun and games with a stuck mash and the copper was on a go-slow at getting to the boil, it was hopped with first Wort Warrior hops then 10 mins before the end of boil more Warrior & US-Magnum, finally finished with a late 85c steep of Simcoe, Chinook and Experimental 366. The Sinamar was added while recirculating and the colour checked…. It was black 😉
The wort was tasting great with little to no roast character, this is what we were aiming for with the Sinamar… so look out for “Stormy Point” Dark and Moody IPA from @shaneswindells you might see @pdtnc or @SaltaireBrewAde on the bottle labels & Pump Clips etc
Cheers for a great day Shane
AG#105 – Summit 73 E366
Posted on: September 27, 2013
- In: Brewing
- 4 Comments
Summit 73 E366 – Bit of an experiment, I’m mashing for a 1040 wort but mashing high so as to produce lots of un-fermentable sugars and hoping for a full bodied 2.8% ABV, Phil Lowry recommends something like this for a low abv beer so I’m finally getting round to giving it a go though he recommended 74°c for the mash temp I’m resisting and going for 73°c.
My choice of malts is also high on the Dextrine and malty side to try and pack in a load of malt flavour while keeping the beer light in colour *Fingers crossed!*
I’m also not adding any hops for the first 45mins ‘Hop Bursting‘ of the boil with just a small charge at 15mins from end and a massive end of boil steep using ‘Summit‘ & ‘Experimental 366‘ in equal parts.
Fermentables:
Lager Malt – 65%
Carapils (Weyermann) – 15%
Munich Malt – 10%
Vienna Malt – 10%
Hops:
Summit – 17.5 % @ 15 mins – 15g
Experimental 366 – 15.7 % @ 15 mins – 15g
Summit – 17.5 % @ 0 mins – 85g
Experimental 366 – 15.7 % @ 0 mins – 85g
Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.040
Final Gravity: 1.010 (I’m hoping for a high FG)
Alcohol Content: 3.9% ABV
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 24 EBU
Colour: 7 EBC
Mash: 60mins @ 73°c
Boil: 60mins
Yeast: Safale us-05
Protafloc @ 10mins
Here are the usual batch of brewday photos 
The malts & malt temp:
The Exp 366 hops:
First batch sparging running to the copper:
The last 15mins:
End of boil steep for 20mins:
I liquored back in the FV with 2.4L and pitched the yeast:
The wort tastes quite bitter and smells amazing when you give it a good thrash to aerate.
*29th Sep ’13 – Its a weird ferment on this one, a slightly scummy bubble top yesterday and today I thought it had stopped until i had a close look and saw loads of little bubbles fizzing away.
*1st Oct ’13 – Just done a gravity, this is at 1018, and I hope its finished, as its bang on the 2.8% I was aiming for. It has bags of body and flavour, you can still tell that it lacks alcohol but the body is there!
*6th Oct ’13 – Dry Hopped with 40g of Summit & 40g of Experimental 366 both whole hops.
*Bottled 17th Oct ’13 – primed with 102g white sugar for about 21 Litres, tasting very nice, this will be drinkable as soon as its carb’d up 🙂
*24th Oct ’13 – taster, I’d say this is ready to drink, a nice smooth dry hopped character and its picked up some bitterness from the dry hops too, carbonation is smooth maybe a little too much but only just, Bags and bags of fruity goodness.
*9th Nov ’13 – I have had a few bottles of this now, lovely and cold from the fridge I’d rank this as one of the best beers I’ve ever made! The hop Character and carbonation work really well and it holds its own well with beers more than twice as strong.
Probably Due To Network Congestion 
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