Malty Caledonian 80 shilling

[Kev888]

Well I thought it was time to brew something malty, and I've not posted a brew day on this forum yet so took lots of pics. I've not tried this recipe before: its based on the Caledonian 80 shilling in BYOBRA, rounded a bit to make it convenient for hop pack sizes and so on, and with some pale malt swapped out for some Munich.

Pale Malt (optic) 67.5%
Munich Malt 23%
Crystal malt 6%
Wheat malt 3%
Chocolate malt 0.5%

Goldings 100g 90mins
Fuggles 100g 90mins
Goldings 100g 10mins

I have some 2nd generation US-05 slurry that I'm hoping will work out okay for this one

I estimate around 1.047 OG and 36 IBUs

I did all the water treatment andf filled the HLT last night; it came on with the immersion timer so was heated ready when I hauled myself out of bed this am.

The Ingredients:

Got the Strike temperature right without any manual adjusting, which is rare for me - normally I overdo it a bit (its the bottom left readout - the top one is the HLT heating the top-up liquor I added after filling the MT).

Here's my secret weapon for doughing in; its only chrome plated but only takes a minute or so before I can rinse it off, and so far the plating has survived a couple of brews:

A bit of headroom in the MT (it gets v tight with higher gravity recipies), mash ratio 2.5L/kg:

Mash temperature - was aiming for 66c, so not too bad - think the grain was a bit warmer than last time.

And the mash PH. Its difficult to tell exactly but i'd say about 5.6, so not terrible but a bit higher than I aimed for..

Here's the sparge underway (the block of wood under the lid was only for photographic purposes!):

The last runnings and pre-boil gravity, both at 20c. I got a bit close/far for comfort with the last runnings at 1.006 - possibly because its a malty one but it didn't seem to taste as low as that:

The hops in the kettle. I've been trying them at this stage lately rather than at the start of the boil - not sure if it makes any difference that I can taste but it hasn't made things any worse.

And the boil being reached:

Hmm, thats not as expected; I seem to have an OG of 1.057 rather than the 1.047 I'd estimated..

Theres a lot of cack floating in there so maybe its not reading accurately, or maybe I'll be short on volume.. seems unlikely that my efficiency suddenly rocketed. I'll know once its cooled and in the conical.

Heres the after-math of the boil - lots of break as well as hops, which formed an excellent filter bed as I got a fast run off from the boiler.

And in the conical; it was slightly short on volume, but only by three or four litres out of an anticipated 85..

Most odd - I'll have to go back through the volumes and gravities, but I seem to have an extra 10 points of gravity and almost the volume I expected even after it cooled/shrank... I could top up (or more to get the expected OG) but I think I'll just go with it and see what it tastes like.

Anyway, its done now - apart from hours of cleaning up :-/

Cheers
kev

 

[graysalchemy]

Looking good :

By the way I always thought an 80/ should be a higher gravity beer. Anyway I am sure it will taste good.

 

[Kev888]

Thanks! Yes, I can't claim to be disapointed with the extra gravity, just a bit pleasantly surprised!

Cheers
Kev

 

[leedsbrew]

It's funny cos there is a guy on another forum who brewed one of these today and got the same result! :grin: :grin:

hows the hefe coming on mate?

 

[Kev888]

Haha! Well it was a bit quiet on the other forum a while back so thought I'd join this one too - and then of course its only fair that I should post stuff as well as to ask questions..

I've had the Hefe carbonating for a bit now so will give it a go in a few days and see if its woken it up any; it'd still be early days if this were one of my normal/british beers but I'm imagining a wheaty one may be a bit quicker - fingers crossed!

Cheers
kev

 

[Runwell-Steve]

A bit complex having 2 forums. I came here as the other one was quiet, now I don't know where I should post so I tend to do both which seems silly.

 

[Kev888]

Yeah, I guess a brew day can be shared easily enough between two forums but I can see it may be tricky to follow two different conversations about the same thing. I'm hoping once I get into this one I may find the different forums better for different types of posts or something like that; I've still a lot to learn but I guess many of my questions/thoughts can be a bit specific these days. And occasionally its just nice to have a change - I guess its natural but sometimes there seem to be more antagonistic and/or disagreeable posters than others.

Cheers
kev

 

[anthonyUK]

Looks good Kev. I've just made an 80/- kit which I'm looking forward to. It was a Brupak kit though which was 1/2 price so couldn't resist.

 

[Kev888]

Thanks! I've not made an 80/- before either, and I guess with the extra munich perhaps I still haven't quite, but I was recomended it as a good malty brew (which I'm hoping will provide a contrast to the IPAs I always make for summer). I hope it turns out well for you!

Just a small update: had a sneeky peek in the FV this morning, its already got about 2" of foamy activity so the repitched US-05 seems to be up for it. Which is thumbs up for yeast washing, as the slurry was harvested from a brew done back in March and I pitched direct with no starter. Just hope it doesn't attenuate too far; its nice and clean but does tend to get enthusiastic after re-pitching.. although with the unexpectedly high OG it may be good not to leave too much unfermented.

Cheers
Kev