LarryF Brewday

I thought I'd just do all my brews on one thread that I update as I do them, so today I bottled a Wilkinsons Sweet Newkie Brown

Wilko Sweet Newkie Brown 23L - 16/02/16 - 28/02/16 20-21c
Re-pitched Mangrove Jacks Workhorse yeast + 1tsp Yeast Nutrient
1kg Youngs Beer Enhancer + 60g Honey
35g East Kent Golding pellets - 20m boil, tea and hop bag added to FV
OG:1050 - FG:1005 - 6%

It's not a kit I would have bought but for Valentines day last year SWMBO bought me this kit and I brewed it much the same as above (but without the honey) and really liked it so as they were going for £8 I thought I'd have another crack at it.

Not sure how much the honey taste will come through at just 60g but I'm just finishing of a mini keg of honey porter (I added 500g, first time using honey as an adjunct) which is fantastic at only two weeks conditioning.

Romantic gesture = beer kit for Valentine's day. I like it. Good luck with it. Never used honey, do you expect that amount to have any affect?

HebridesRob said:

Romantic gesture = beer kit for Valentine's day. I like it. Good luck with it. Never used honey, do you expect that amount to have any affect?

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Sorry for not getting back to you earlier, the honey is just the cheapest way I've found of bumping the ABV up to about 6%. I never tasted the honey, I only ever use it to up the ABV but when I've given a bottle to mates without me telling them they've mentioned the honey. I have to be brutally honest here, it's Iceland honey £1.50 for 500g but the 60g used did bring my ABV up to 6%. I'm thinking that 50g for 15p is to bump up the ABV is probably an expense I can live with.

MyQul said:

Not sure how much the honey taste will come through at just 60g but I'm just finishing of a mini keg of honey porter (I added 500g, first time using honey as an adjunct) which is fantastic at only two weeks conditioning.

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With kits I've maxed out using 120g of honey and I hit the 7% mark with the resulting alcohol tang so I've reigned it in quite a bit. My other favourite was 454g of Lyons Golden Syrup (I have a tin in the cupboard) that also brings the ABV up to about 6% but it costs a whole £1 more.

1.50! You were ripped off. I'm sure it's cheaper in Tesco lol.

Honey is honey, unless it's that Manuka 9 quid a jar stuff. That's magic apparently ;-)

My brew buddy primed a mini keg with honey, he sent me the aftermath photo. He did use half a jar though.

I've added golden syprup, honey, Brown sugar, muscavardo sugar etc to brews. Often find a lot of the flavour is lost during fermentation. :-(

#AG2

AG1 was a bit of a disaster TBH, I did everything right then turned on the heatband 24 hours after pitching the yeast and the exothermic reaction of the yeast and the heat band brought the FV up to 27.3c. S05 is not very forgiving at that temperature and I’ve ended up with a beautiful looking dark beer that has a great head and tastes like liniment, I don’t know if I should drink it or rub it on. What really galls me is that I got the whole AG thing right, mashing, sparging, etc, and then got the fermenting wrong. If I could go back and have a word with myself I’d bring a stick.
Anyway, I digress, AG2, here’s the figures using BIAB with a 21L pot.
23L ��" 26/01/16 ��" 17/02/16 ��" 20-21c
MGJ Workhorse yeast starter ��" 1tsp Yeast Nutrient
Strike 16L 76c - 6L sparge 80c
4.5kg MO
200g Crystal 150
Mashed into 16L for 90m 66c (started at 66.8c and lost 0.8 over 90m with a mid-point stir)
60m boil
45g Hallertau 7.1% 60m
25g Saaz 3.1AA% ��" 25g Summer 4.1AA% 15m
5g Irish moss ��" 15m
25g Saaz 3.1AA% ��" 25g Summer 4.1AA% 0m
No chill
OG:1060 ��" FG:1010 (there was a lot of debris at the bottom of the FV when I took the OG but the beer is strong enough to make me thing it was somewhere near the 1050 mark, which I’m over the moon with)
Post boil topped up to 23L
13/02/16 ��" 38g Perle hops 7%AA dry hop for four days.
I gave it the usual 2 weeks hot, 2 weeks cold then tried it, but being the Ally Pally Village idiot I mixed it up with AG1 and was gutted. Anyway, just tried it properly now and it’s a stunner, it’s a very dark ale I’d say about 5.5% but the flavour and mouth feel is gorgeous. I finally see what everyone means about the jump from kit to AG. Can’t wait to do the next one but I’ve got one kit on and three in reserve, but, like everyone says, the most important ingredient in brewing is patience and this is a tough way to learn it. Anyway the bottom line is, I have 40 pints of this nectar to drink, it’s dirty work but someone’s got to do it. Lastly, Clibit, I fought the dark side for a long time and I’m a great advocate of kit brewing but this really is a different level, it really is something that I’d stand up and say, “I brewed that.”
Loading the fridge up now, guess who’s got tomorrow off?

Looks a good drink ;-)

brumbrew said:

1.50! You were ripped off. I'm sure it's cheaper in Tesco lol.

Honey is honey, unless it's that Manuka 9 quid a jar stuff. That's magic apparently ;-)

My brew buddy primed a mini keg with honey, he sent me the aftermath photo. He did use half a jar though.

I've added golden syprup, honey, Brown sugar, muscavardo sugar etc to brews. Often find a lot of the flavour is lost during fermentation. :-(

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I think it depends on how much you use. I've used honey and golden syrup as adjuncts and in both there was a definate flavour coming through. Also in both I used about 500g

LarryF said:

With kits I've maxed out using 120g of honey and I hit the 7% mark with the resulting alcohol tang so I've reigned it in quite a bit. My other favourite was 454g of Lyons Golden Syrup (I have a tin in the cupboard) that also brings the ABV up to about 6% but it costs a whole �£1 more.

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Thats the thing with kit vs AG when adding honey/Golden Syrup etc, as mentioned 500g seems to be needed for the flavour to come through (I'm definately not an expert on addin sugar adjuncts as I've only done it twice) so if you add it to a kit it might end up beeing too strong with that alcohol twang. But with a kit you can just sub base malt for the adjunct which you cant do with a kit

Welcome aboard Larry. Resistance was futile, and just delayed the inevitable. :thumb:

John Bull IPA (2) - 23L
28/02/16 - 14/03/16 - 20-21c (controlled)
Mauribrew 514 + 1tsp Yeast Nutrient - Starter
1kg Youngs Brew Enhancer + 50g honey
25g Saaz - 20m boil - Tea and hop bag added to FV
OG:1052 - FG:1010 - 5.7%

Looking good, tasted nice in the testing tube. I bottled this into 600ml bottles with 1tsp of sugar.

Newkie Brown update - had my first taster on Friday after 12 days in the warm and 2 days in the fridge and it's a very nice beer, looking forward to it in a month or so............Like I'm ever going to last that long before I'm visiting the crate again.

Simply Yorkshire Bitter - 23L
14/03/16 - 30/03/16 20-21c (controlled)
Wilko Gervin yeast +1tsp Yeast Nutrient - Starter
1kg Youngs Brew Enhancer + 454g Lyles Golden Syrup
23g Summer hops + 12g Hallertau - 20m boil - Tea and hop bag added to FV
OG:1051 - FG:1008 - 5.8%
500ml bottle primed with 1/2tsp sugar

This looked very clear coming out of the FV and tasted great, two weeks on Friday I get my first taste.
Had a bottle of the John Bull I bottled on 14/03/16 last Friday, very nice looking forward to them as they get better in the bottle.

I bottled this on Monday and may have just been a tad off with my extra fermentables, on that note I'm going to call it Simply Imperial Stout.
For my chocolate flavour I used coco stick which is the first process of the coco bean, my Mother in law brings it over from St Lucia for me. I also used Fortnum & Masons Sandringham blend ground coffee, here goes:

23L - 30/03/16 - 11/04/16 - 18-20c -controlled
Wilko Gervin yeast - Re-pitched + 1tsp Yeast Nutrient
1kg Youngs Brew Enhancer + 454g Lyles Treacle
40g Coco stick, grated and boiled for 20m
20g F&M ground coffee steeped in the hot water with the coco when it came off the gas for 15 mins
30g Aurora hops 20m boil, tea and bag added to the FV
OG:1074 - FG:1007 - 9%
Bottled into 600ml bottles with 1tsp of sugar to prime

Tasted really nice in the trial jar but I was in no way expecting 9%, I'll try a bottle in a fornight as I always do but I think this one's going to need a good few months to condition which is no problems it's going to be such a winter drink I won't want to look at it until the summer's over. If it does work out I may try and stash ten bottles or so for Christmas but being this strong it's really going to be a night night Stout.

LarryF said:

I bottled this on Monday and may have just been a tad off with my extra fermentables, on that note I'm going to call it Simply Imperial Stout.
For my chocolate flavour I used coco stick which is the first process of the coco bean, my Mother in law brings it over from St Lucia for me. I also used Fortnum & Masons Sandringham blend ground coffee, here goes:

23L - 30/03/16 - 11/04/16 - 18-20c -controlled
Wilko Gervin yeast - Re-pitched + 1tsp Yeast Nutrient
1kg Youngs Brew Enhancer + 454g Lyles Treacle
40g Coco stick, grated and boiled for 20m
20g F&M ground coffee steeped in the hot water with the coco when it came off the gas for 15 mins
30g Aurora hops 20m boil, tea and bag added to the FV
OG:1074 - FG:1007 - 9%
Bottled into 600ml bottles with 1tsp of sugar to prime

Tasted really nice in the trial jar but I was in no way expecting 9%, I'll try a bottle in a fornight as I always do but I think this one's going to need a good few months to condition which is no problems it's going to be such a winter drink I won't want to look at it until the summer's over. If it does work out I may try and stash ten bottles or so for Christmas but being this strong it's really going to be a night night Stout.

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Wowsers trousers Larry, sounds a beast. I fancy making an Imperial Stout and sticking it away until Christmas. Was thinking about a one based on Clibit's Black Sabbath recipe; using the Weiss yeast for spiciness and adding some rum at bottling to poke it in the **** a bit.

Notlaw said:

Wowsers trousers Larry, sounds a beast. I fancy making an Imperial Stout and sticking it away until Christmas. Was thinking about a one based on Clibit's Black Sabbath recipe; using the Weiss yeast for spiciness and adding some rum at bottling to poke it in the **** a bit.

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Funny you should say that Notlaw, I have a Coopers Stout there to do and I'm thinking of adding Tia Maria to it with no hops to really bring the coffee flavour out in it. Ikg of BE and 454g of Holland and Barratt malt extract as I've never used it before. Trouble is, it could be another beast in the making and I could be in a coma until February. That stout you have planned sounds nice it'll be interesting to see what the Weiss yeast does with it.

Working my way through my remaining kits but it does seem to be taking an age, SWMBO and my daughter have been complaining that I'm brewing too many dark ales so today I bottled a Coopers Cerveza.

Coopers Cerveza
23L - 11/04/16 - 22/04/16 18-20c no temp control
2 x Coopers Yeast + 1tsp Yeast Nutrient - made a starter
1Kg Youngs Brew Enhancer + 65g honey
30g Ella hop pellets 14.6%AA - 20m boil, tea and hop bag added to FV
OG:1054 - FG:1011 - 5.8%

Looking like a good'un, very light and clear, I'm wondering if that's down to the FV temp being around the 18-19c mark a lot of the time, tasted very nice in the sample jar, I'll have my first try in two weeks. Not that my opinion will matter that will be down to SWMBO and my daughter.

I put on my second to last kit today, a Coopers Stout, just a Simply Yorkshire Bitter to go and then it's AG for at least half a dozen brews as I want to try and get six brews out of 25kg of MO, but I'll come to that in a later post. Today I bottled:

23L John Bull IPA (3) 22/04/16 - 15/05/16 - 19 - 23c no temp control
Re-pitched Coopers yeast + 1tsp Yeast Nutrient
1kg Youngs BE + 454g Lyles Treacle
30g Aurora hops steeped at 70c for 30mins, tea and bag added to FV
OG:1066 - FG:1009 - 7.5%

I wanted a dark IPA so I thought I'd use the treacle but I have to say that when I've used the Lyles Treacle twice lately I'm getting higher OG readings than I'd expected. I think there's a significant difference between the Lyles Golden Syrup and their Treacle in the amount of fermentable sugars that they bring to the party with the Treacle adding a noticeable increase in OG. The coopers yeast performed well with an attenuation rate of 86% but with the warmer weather I suppose it's to be expected. This one looked lovely and clear when bottling I think the three weeks in the FV really helps clear the beer with the yeast having plenty of time to convert everything it can.

One last thing, as I don't have a brew fridge I ordered my hot weather yeasts this week, two packs of Mauribrew 514 and two packs of Mangrove Jacks Workhorse. I'll re-pitch twice out of each pack so that should see me through the summer getting a total of 12 brews out of the four packs. The Coopers Stout I put on today is currently at 27.1c, just waiting for that to drop to 24 and I'll chuck in the Mauribrew starter. I added 1kg of BE and 454g of Holland and Barretts Malt Extract so I've got the blow off tube already set up I'm hoping I won't be mopping up first thing in the morning at any point in the next three or four days, fingers crossed.

Today I'm bottling a Youngs Harvest Pilsner, I used 1kg BE and 50g of honey. 9 days in I dry hopped with 30g of Polaris hops and I'll be bottling into 600ml bottles with 1tsp of sugar. As I'll be chilling them well before drinking I'm hoping to tread the line of a lot of carbonation without them gushing on me. I'll then be putting on a John Bull tradional ale that I'll bump up to about 6% (honey or sugar, not decided yet) and add a hop tea, 20g of hops steeped at 80c and a 20g dry hop at nine days. I'll decide what hop when I'm in the freezer. I'll be re-pitching the Wilko yeast from today's brew so it should kick off nice and quick.

...isn't sugar cheaper than honey if you're only looking to bump the abv?

Cheers

Clint