Posts Tagged ‘temperature’
HLT Temperature Control
Posted on: June 30, 2010
- In: Brewing
- 8 Comments
Hot Liquor Tank (HLT) temperature control with an STC-1000 Temperature controller from Ebay.
Temp controller in place from the rear:
Case internals so far, thought I’d include an Earthing block (which I didn’t use, though I might earth the Pipework on the HLT sometime):
Temp sensor fitted to side of HLT http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=0461159 :
Controller fitted to case front with approx positions of the Heating & Cooling Sockets:
This box will be on the wall next to the HLT and wired from a fused Spur, When I get a fermentation fridge I’ll just get an extension lead and plug it in, though I may have to figure out a switchable Temp sensor to I can swap between two… though I suppose I could just buy a second Temp controller (*a couple of small 2-pin plugs & sockets would do this).
Holes cut and sockets in position:
I decided, seeing as I have plenty of case depth, I’d use the full pattress boxes to secure the socket fronts:
The Wiring:
Live Feeds to in series:
- -Temp Controller
- -Heating Relay
- -Cooling Relay
Switched Relay Feeds to:
- -3 Pin Live! on both sockets
To Neutral Feed in series:
- -Both 3 Pin Socket Neutrals
- -Temp controller
Wall Mounted and Wired into a Fused Spur:
The Inside, knot tied in sensor lead so I don’t go pulling it:
Heating LED on, heating up:
No LED indicator showing, Heating OFF, set to 81c with a 1c drop so it stays 80c or above:
🙂 I just need to finish painting the walls, Paint the floor, and complete my Brewery Stand!!
The Plastic box came from www.rselectricalsupplies.co.uk
AG#16 – Once were Warriors
Posted on: December 12, 2009
- In: Brewing
- 3 Comments
Pale and Hoppy could be an NPA (New-Zealand Pale Ale)… and a nice NZ film reference for the name 
After tasting my other recent Nelson Sauvin hopped beer I see there is a good rounded mouth filling full hoppiness to the hops so I’m more than doubling the amount that I put in my last brew and going for a 80c steep for the lates.
Next weekend I may do a mad mix of Nelson+Cascade+Centennial with an almost identical grain bill.
Once Were Warriors
Fermentables:
Golden Promise 2240g – 86%
Wheat Malt 260g – 10%
Crystal Malt 100g – 4%
Hops:
Pacific Gem @ 60 mins – 8g (FWH)
Nelson Sauvin @ 15 mins – 26g
Nelson Sauvin @ 0 mins – 26g (Going to let it cool a bit then do a 20 minute steep)
*maybe Dry hop, but probably not, will see…*
Final Volume: 12 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.049
Final Gravity: 1.012
Alcohol Content: 4.8% ABV
Total Liquor: 18.8 Litres
Mash Liquor: 6.5 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 51 EBU
Colour: 15 EBC
Maybe a bit of Burtonisation to the liquor, if I can be arsed, if not just a good helping of Gypsum to the Mash & Boil
The Pics…
The grain bill, Golden Promise pale malt, Standard Crystal malt, Wheat malt, 10g of Gypsum 5g of Epsom salt added to my liquor:
Doughing in:
Aiming for 67c so not far off:
pH looks spot on:
Nelson Sauvin and Pacific Gem hops weighed out with half a Protafloc tab crushed to the right, if this was a full 23L brew it would have taken a full packet of hops but as I am just doing a 12L I managed to just have enough Nelsons in a part bag from the other week :
End of 90 minute Mash:
Sparge water running into Tun for first batch:
Collected wort 1022/24 ish @ 55.5c and 17.5 litres collected in boiler makes for up-to 82% Mash efficiency:
Just coming to the boil:
Nottingham yeast to rehydrate:
Big ugly cold break!!:
Hit the OG right on the nail:
Aeration:
Did a 20 min steep @ 80c for those last hops, lovely clear wort running off the boiler which tasted pretty good though not as bitter as hoped.
Pitched rehydrated Notts yeast at about 23c, I’ll expect activity before long 🙂
***Update*** Bottled 22nd Dec ’09 with 50g DSM, the bitterness has come through now should be good 🙂
- In: Brewing
- 2 Comments
Today, I shall mostly be making a Timothy Taylors Landlord 🙂 www.timothytaylor.co.uk
The recipe will be coming from the Graham Wheeler book.
12 litre brew length in my 15L mash tun with just a couple of additions to the recipe:
2% Crystal
10g Bobek @ Zero Minutes
Caramelise the first 2L runnings.
Apparently the Taylors spring water comes from Limestone country in the Yorkshire dales so I’ve added some Calcium Carbonate to the mash along with Gypsum
The Grain, Chalk and Gypsum:
Mashed in @ 66.8 C:
pH is around about right, maybe a little low:
Hops prepared and Stacked in order of use, water treatment and a little yeast nutrient and Protafloc tablets:
These are looking good:
Clive the Brewers assistant, happily sun bathing while I was taking pictures of the hops:
Mash finished at 65 C, ran over 15mins to 105 minute mash:
Recirculating the first couple of litres:
First Batch Sparge, the big jug in the back ground has the 2 litres for caramelisation, second batch sparge stuck and took some prodding to get it to run off, I might sack the False bottom and make a copper manifold:
First Wort Hops (FWH) and water treatments:
Boiling the heck out of the 2L:
Bandit, Brewers Second assistant:
Anyone for Toffee?? This stuff tastes yummy! This was added back to the boiler:
The Cooler doing its stuff:
Pitching Whitelabs Edinburgh Ale yeast, 1 litre starter from a tube I’m splitting:
Round about right, give or take the odd point or two, which means my volumes were pretty much on target:
Not a bad one, breakfast and lunch had amongst it, the caramelisation took about 90 mins so that has slowed me down a touch, wort tastes pretty good with a good kick of Styrians (Bobek).
**Update** 19/09/09 – Had a sneaky sample from the trial jar, its down to its FG nicely and it taste, well… rather Landlordy 😉 Maybe lacking a bit of Crystal Malt or Dark Crystal, maybe worth adding a bit more next time. Time will tell when its fully matured.
**Update** Bottled 22/09/09 with 50g household sugar, bottled in Timothy Taylors bottles and I’ll be printing some labels like this:
… Subtle changes 😉
All Grain Brew #1 – Deuchars IPA
Posted on: June 28, 2009
- In: Brewing
- 4 Comments
Deuchars IPA – www.caledonian-brewery.co.uk
Time to pop my Cherry, Started at 8.30am, the Mash is now on at 9.20am 🙂 I’m going to do a 90 minute Mash and a Boil of 60 mins… which should hopefully time well with the Bacon & Egg butties for breakfast with the other half 😉 *so we can actually use the cooker and grill ‘cos its not got a fecking huge pan on it!* 🙄
I’ve just slightly over estimated my grain weights to be on the safe side as have I with the Batch Sparge volumes using DaaB’s Batch Sparge Calculator.
Fermentables:
Maris Otter Malt 2180 grams
Crystal Malt 105 grams
Hops:
Fuggle 9 grams @ 60 mins (FWH)
Aurora 9 grams @ 60 mins (FWH)
Willamette 9 grams @ 15 mins
Bobek 10 grams @ 5 mins
Fuggle 9 grams @ 5 mins
Copper Finings:
Protafloc Tablet – Last 15-20 Minutes
Predicted stuff:
Final Volume: 12 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.043
Final Gravity: 1.010 *final reading was actually 1010*
Alcohol Content: 4.2% ABV
Total Liquor: 18.5 Litres
Mash Liquor: 5.7 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 33 EBU
Colour: 15 EBC
The Mash:
Recipe done in BeerEngine software www.practicalbrewing.co.uk and notes scrawled!
The original recipe came from www.hopandgrain.com
Most of the ingredients from www.barleybottom.com
Pre-heating the Mash tun with hot tap water, good pinch of Sodium Met treating the Hot tap water in the FV
Grain Temperature 18.5 Deg C
The Maris otter malt and Crystal Malt
Water at Strike heat and Grain ready to mash
Strike Temp, tweaked with a dash of boiling water as I decanted from the boiler with a jug and lost a few degrees
Starting Mash Temperature, Mash to last 90 minutes
All tucked up and monitored with a cheap Fish Tank thermometer from Dealextreme.com 🙂
Wort to the Copper:
End of Mash period, I actually went 15 minutes over the planned 90mins
Mash topped up and stirred ready for first runnings
First runnings, which are returned to the mash until it runs clearer (Which was at least 3 Litres)
Filling FV before transfer to boiler (Think you’d call this an Under-back)
Hops all weighed out, First Wort Hops, 15min hops, 5 minute hops and half a protafloc tablet
First Wort Hops with boiler filling
Spent grains
The Boil:
15 minute hop addition + Protafloc
5 minute Hop addition
The Wort (still hot)
Left overs (Still hot as I haven’t made an IC yet)
Safale s-04 Pitched once this had cooled down in the bath 🙂 Now its cooled I can really see the cold break forming as its gone all clumpy and is slowly settling.
All done, not bad for about 6 hours, not including cooling time as it will be a while sat in cold water in the bath 🙂
And all pretty stress free, I’m glad I have been doing some extract brews as its got me fairly confident with the boiling and hop schedules, the Mash was a piece of cake with no problems.
Lessons learned:
I need to do is calibrate all my buckets and my boiler pot.
It would be handy to have an IC.
HLT isn’t necessary for the moment.
Time to look into water treatment a little.
🙂
Mash details:
about 18-20 Litres collected @ OG 1022 / 62.1 Deg C
In the FV:
Final Volume was about right looking for my 12 litre brew length, maybe slightly more than planned which would probably be due to Sparge Volumes / 60 vs 90 minute boils.
OG 1026 / 72.8 Deg C *Actual OG is 1046, just a little higher than its supposed to be.
I think this makes my efficiency pretty good. 🙂
**Update** Bottled today 10th July 2009, tasted pretty good 🙂
Probably Due To Network Congestion 