AG#22 - Bramling XB (Bramling Cross Bitter)

The Plan... to make a solid wholesome malty pint with English hops and a fruity Blackcurrant flavour & Aroma from Bramling Cross hops :)
I'm starting this brew off and getting all my liquor from my hot & cold feeds in the garage today, probably try and tidy up a little while the mash is on too. (Note to self B&Q Pushfits are ****, can't get the buggers back off, glad I only bought one of them)

Bramling XB - (Bramling Cross Bitter)

Fermentables:
Maris Otter 2700 grams 60.8%
Flaked Barley 500 grams 11.3%
Brown Malt 500 grams 11.3% (Bag end from work which will hopefully balance the Blackcurrant of the Bramlings)
Munich Malt 500 grams 11.3%
Caramalt 200 grams 4.5%
Chocolate Malt 40 grams 0.9% (Just to add a little deeper colour)

Hops:
Challenger 20g @ 60mins (FWH)
Fuggle 30g @ 30mins
Bramling Cross 20g @ 15mins
Bramling Cross 20g @ 0mins for 80c steep

Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.042
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 4.1% ABV
Total Liquor: 32.7 Litres
Mash Liquor: 11.1 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 33 EBU
Colour: 46 EBC

Mash Temp aimed at 67c to keep some body
Yeast Safale s-04
1 Tsp Gypsum to Mash + 1 to boil
Mash on at 8.50am
Twittered some pics as I went https://twitter.com/Franklin

The Malt bill:

Mash Start temp, not far off my aim of 67c:

Hops all weighed out:

First batch sparge just sitting before running off, and it ran off beautifully:

First Wort Hops (FWH) just going in on the first spargings:

80c Steep hops left for 30mins before cooling to 23c:

Dropped from a good height caused a heck of a lot of foam:

Aiming for 1042, so this is near enough for me:


Brewday seemed to go really easy, very relaxed, it seems having a dedicated area for brewing is going to smooth things out considerably... and I'm far from organised at the moment! :)
The wort was tasting pretty nice, though there were lots of roasted and biscuit aromas while the boil was on, will be interested how this one turns out, its a nice deep tawny copper/brown by the looks of it too :)

Good looking brew and A good day :thumb:

Aye a good day, got a bit of the garage slightly tidier and my other half says "why don't you brew another"... not today, but another week I'll double up and see how long that takes (with a couple of 60min mashes and no 80c steeping) :)

I found a double brew with full 90 min mash and boils only adds 2-3 hrs to my day.
Mash, into boiler, whilst boiling set next mash on, as first boil finishes start your next boil. Work back for you timings from how long it takes to chill your wort from boil and things flow rather easliy. But you need to keep a good checklist and a clear head!
I think mashing twice and boil twice takes longer cos you lose alot of heat whilst waiting to boil.

Until I get a Brewery stand built and HLT I'll be slow as I only have the one Stockpot as my copper...

Soon-ish, I'm just getting everything together for plumbing and stuff... bit of 15mm Polycarbonate on order for a HLT sight tube and Mango Chutney barrels also on their way.
Just 1 more kettle to buy and a load of timber :)

Though, all after I've finished painting the garage walls with Masonry paint and sealed the floor with floor paint!

Sounds like me, 101 things to do before you can acheive the final goal

Final goal already achieved 'Great beer made by hand' :) I just need to work backwards and make life easier.

I should have spent the day decorating the house :whistle: Still, I got a bit of Garage wall painted

Although not strictly ready for drinking yet!!! :whistle: And not actually having the Blackcurrant aroma & flavour I was hoping for... this is actually very good drinking :) The Brown malt is the most dominant part but with good balance from the hops.