MyQul's Brewday

Northern_Brewer said:

one would assume it's probably the same source as Mangrove Jack M54 Californian Lager, which is assumed to be Mauri 497.

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You'd think that. I've used both but the MJ one seems to have a significant lag whereas the CML doesnt. So they appear to be different. CML also does a kentucky common yeast. I havent used this one. Perhaps it's the MJ calicommon yeast?

Is that 1.25kgs of flaked barley? If so what's it like using what 30-40% in a recipe?

I've tried the CML Kentucky and it is not similar to m54 more like an estery british ale yeast to me.

Funny enough I always have lag times from MJ but never CML. Makes me think they are using more fermentis products, which also never seem to lag for me.

Pennine said:

Is that 1.25kgs of flaked barley? If so what's it like using what 30-40% in a recipe?

I've tried the CML Kentucky and it is not similar to m54 more like an estery british ale yeast to me.

Funny enough I always have lag times from MJ but never CML. Makes me think they are using more fermentis products, which also never seem to lag for me.

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Oops no. Thats supposed to be 125g. The most I've used is 20% and thats in the Guinness recipe. I'll have to try the CML Kentucky but you really have to keep an eye on CML's ebay site at the moment because the yeast's seem to be selling out really quick

MyQul said:

To crank it down to 1.000. This will do a couple of things for me. Dry it out and make it very low carbohydrate (which is why I'm making this beer.) Apparently this beer will taste very lager like. Its very much based on this reciepe/thread from HBT

Blonde Ale - Miller Lite (Really Triple Hopped)

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I have a psudo lager in the FV at the moment. OG 1.048 now at 1.010 after 8 days at 18 degrees using MJ M54 yeast. I’d like to get this a bit lower and dryer and have some Amylase but don’t want to rack to secondary. I used the Amylase once before in primary when I had a stuck fermentation but can’t remember if iIjust added it as the powder or mixed it with something first. What do you do?

Just chuck a teaspoonful of the power (no need to mix it with anything) in the FV but


a) you wont be able to harvest and reuse the yeast

b) Put a few L of boiling water in the FV after you clean it. This should denature any residule amylase and stop it effecting any future brews ( I think and it wont do any harm anyway if you do it)

MyQul said:

Just chuck a teaspoonful of the power (no need to mix it with anything) in the FV but


a) you wont be able to harvest and reuse the yeast

b) Put a few L of boiling water in the FV after you clean it. This should denature any residule amylase and stop it effecting any future brews ( I think and it wont do any harm anyway if you do it)

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Thank you. I’m not planning to reuse the yeast and use boiling water and thin bleach on the FV after every brew.

I hope you don't mind if I ask a few qu's... ignore me if dumb questions!

I've decided to get a mini biab thing going on at home as I can't cope with having an extra day at work each week to brew, it's killing me! I'm thinking that your short 10L brews would be perfect and allow a load of experimentation with less risk.

I've got a 17L (to the brim) pot, a hand held sous vide thingy to maintain temp (pot won't fit in oven), unlimited 10 or 5 L brew buckets and a bag.

How much water do you add in for your 10L batches? (I've never done biab before!).
Sounds like a 60min mash and a 60 min boil works ok for you? Any circumstances where that doesn't work with this brew length? Any time you can go quicker than that?

I made your blonde brut and it smells fantastic btw!

nixhaz said:

I hope you don't mind if I ask a few qu's... ignore me if dumb questions!

I've decided to get a mini biab thing going on at home as I can't cope with having an extra day at work each week to brew, it's killing me! I'm thinking that your short 10L brews would be perfect and allow a load of experimentation with less risk.

I've got a 17L (to the brim) pot, a hand held sous vide thingy to maintain temp (pot won't fit in oven), unlimited 10 or 5 L brew buckets and a bag.

How much water do you add in for your 10L batches? (I've never done biab before!).
Sounds like a 60min mash and a 60 min boil works ok for you? Any circumstances where that doesn't work with this brew length? Any time you can go quicker than that?

I made your blonde brut and it smells fantastic btw!

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For a 10L batch I would normally start off with about 11L water. Then I usually do 2.5L/kg for the mash and then do a dunk sparge of 1.34/kg. I then drain the mash bag (and squeeze the bejesus out of it). I then top up the pot with whatever is left of the 11L and do the boil. After the wort is cool I put it in the FV. This normally comes out to around 7-8L. I then top up to 10L.
I/you could of course put ALL the water in the pot but this would mean working out what the boil off rate for your particular pot is (I do know what mine is as I worked it out when I first bought the pot). But I prefer to do it this way and make a little bit of a concentrated wort that gets diluted in the FV

I'd do 60min mash/boil for this. In fact if you can stand to do it, do a 90min mash. As a longer mash means a lower FG/drier beer, which is what your aiming for with this one. You could do a 30min boil if you want but it'd mean re-working the bittering addition IBU's (not a problem. I could do it in a couple of minutes if you want to go for a 30min boil). For bitters or mild where the OG is low I mash for only 40mins to get more body into the final beer (the opposite of what your trying to achieve with the blonde brut(e)

That's perfect, thanks so much @MyQul . I'll let you know how my first attempt goes!

Im bottling today but Im making this on Saturday. I've been wondering what a beer would taste like if you took the Guinness recipe and replaced the roasted barley with chocolate malt. This is the recipe from GW's BYOBRA. I've tweeked it very slightly so the amounts are round figures for 12L

Chocolate Guinness 12L

Original Gravity (OG): 1.036 (°P): 9.0
Final Gravity (FG): 1.008 (°P): 2.1
Alcohol (ABV): 3.73 %
Colour (SRM): 25.8 (EBC): 50.7
Bitterness (IBU): 32.4 (Average)

1.5kg Pale Malt
500g Flaked Barley
250g Chocolate

18g Challenger (7.2% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)


Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes. Boil for 60 Minutes

Fermented with CML CaliCommon Slurry

Looks nice! Do you mash the dark grains? I'm looking to brew my first stout soon and have read a lot about cold steeping instead of mashing them..

nixhaz said:

Looks nice! Do you mash the dark grains? I'm looking to brew my first stout soon and have read a lot about cold steeping instead of mashing them..

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Yes, I do mash the dark grain. I've tried cold steeping the roasted barley for a stout once. It produced a much smoother/mellower flavour. Tbh I much prefer a more aggressive roastyness so I've never done it again.

I cant find my little bottler so cant bottle the blonde ale I have which means I cant brew on sat. I've had to order another one as I've looked everywhere. I suppose I could brew on sat, as I have enough FV's but I dont have loads of room to keep two full FV's in. I've probably end up brewing the chocolate guinness next week

nixhaz said:

Looks nice! Do you mash the dark grains? I'm looking to brew my first stout soon and have read a lot about cold steeping instead of mashing them..

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It depends on the style of stout you want to drink. If it's Guinness then mash the dark grains. If your looking a less bitter and more smooth flavour then cold steep or add the last 10 mins of the mash. You will probably have to try each technique to see what suits your taste.

Thanks guys, the raunchier the better imo, so I'll mash them.
I had to order another little bottler too, super annoying isn't it.

MyQul said:

Yes, I do mash the dark grain. I've tried cold steeping the roasted barley for a stout once. It produced a much smoother/mellower flavour. Tbh I much prefer a more aggressive roastyness so I've never done it again.

I cant find my little bottler so cant bottle the blonde ale I have which means I cant brew on sat. I've had to order another one as I've looked everywhere. I suppose I could brew on sat, as I have enough FV's but I dont have loads of room to keep two full FV's in. I've probably end up brewing the chocolate guinness next week

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funny enough ive never heard of a little bottler, that would save a lot of time and heartache. any one you recommend?

Pennine said:

funny enough ive never heard of a little bottler, that would save a lot of time and heartache. any one you recommend?

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I bought this eplacement one from ebay. It's almost identical to my original one (that I've had for years and came with my original coopers starter kit) except this one is spring loaded

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spring-L...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

@Pennine colchester homebrew has them complete with a tap too.

cool thanks both!

Just put a Liberty Bell starter on for a brew on Thursday or Friday. I'll be doing a mild made with black malt and golden syrup

MyQul said:

Just put a Liberty Bell starter on for a brew on Thursday or Friday. I'll be doing a mild made with black malt and golden syrup

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Is that with your dried yeast? I'm giving drying a go for the first time today. Got my fingers crossed it works!