PilgrimHudds Brewdays

[pilgrimhudd]

Out of interest, what did you think of your Brett porter @matt76

Talking of porter, I found one of my Baltic Porters the other day in the shed, it is still as good as it was, must be almost 2 years old!

Looking forward to your beers tomorrow, I need to pace myself doing the cooking so your slightly lower abv beer will do the trick nicely!

 

[matt76]

Out of interest, what did you think of your Brett porter @matt76

Honestly I think it just tastes odd. I can totally understand you or anyone else saying nah, that's not for me, but I don't think it tastes off as such (which is not too say I think it's terrific because I don't). I think part of the problem is I just have no reference point, no idea what to expect.

Talking of porter, I found one of my Baltic Porters the other day in the shed, it is still as good as it was,

Good effort As much as I've settled into my niche of lower strength beers Baltic Porter is the one in particular that could easily tempt me into a re-brew

Looking forward to your beers tomorrow, I need to pace myself doing the cooking so your slightly lower abv beer will do the trick nicely!

Honestly that is exactly the idea! Whereas some like to brew stronger winter warmer Xmas beers, last Xmas I accidentally stumbled onto the idea of having 3 session beers on the go which are ideal for a spot of all day drinking

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Honestly I think it just tastes odd. I can totally understand you or anyone else saying nah, that's not for me, but I don't think it tastes off as such (which is not too say I think it's terrific because I don't). I think part of the problem is I just have no reference point, no idea what to expect.


Good effort As much as I've settled into my niche of lower strength beers Baltic Porter is the one in particular that could easily tempt me into a re-brew


Honestly that is exactly the idea! Whereas some like to brew stronger winter warmer Xmas beers, last Xmas I accidentally stumbled onto the idea of having 3 session beers on the go which are ideal for a spot of all day drinking

No I definitely wouldn't have said it's off, like you say if you have no reference point the it's purely down to whether you like it or not. For me sour beers and anything bretted seems to be a no no.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Righto, bottled my saaz hopped pils today, 31 bottles of clear, golden lager, beautiful looking. You can defo taste that saaz spiciness but not much on the nose yet. It finished at 1008, making it a slightly stronger than expected 5.4% abv.

 

[matt76]

Sounds good

I can't remember, was this one where you had started to dabble in water treatment and upped the calcium a bit, and if so has it made a noticeable difference to clarity?

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Sounds good

I can't remember, was this one where you had started to dabble in water treatment and upped the calcium a bit, and if so has it made a noticeable difference to clarity?

No,I left this one as I hadnt had any trouble with the pilsners I'd brewed. The IPA's that should be ready next week were my first dabble. I have completely forgotten to look at then since I stuck then in the shed. I'll have a look tomorrow

 

[pilgrimhudd]

That said, I'm brewing a cream ale tomorrow and have added 2tsp of gypsum and a campden tab to the water tonight in preparation.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Cream ale brewed, brew day went well, won't give out the recipe but it wasn't a smash as I had originally planned. Sat in the fv now, hit the predicted og dead on for probably the first time ever. . Hope it clears because at the mo it looks like the Mississippi after particularly heavy rain.

 

[moto748]

Mud Pie!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Mud Pie!

Not far off!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Jester and first gold crumble, hoping to get it going later or tomorrow. Comes out at 48 ibu.

 

[matt76]

My thoughts:

This is for a 10-12L ish batch right?

I think that's way too much crystal, mate. I'd be concerned it'll end up too sweet, plus I suspect it might not ferment so your FG will be high. I'd try to keep it to not much more than 10% tops. (To be honest I'd have thought 150g crystal would be enough, same as your Carapils and wheat.)

Also, assuming it's fundamentally a bitter I wonder if it's too heavy handed on the hops?

For comparison, in my Podium IPA I use 120g hops in an 11L batch, and half of that is dry hop.

I don't know this for sure but I wonder with British and old world hops, since they're much more subtle, if you can overdo it so maybe less is more?

Certainly with my English Amber Ale I think 100g EKG (in 11L again) was a bit one note, and over the top. So for my Mustang Ale I've dialled it back to 10g Magnum for bittering and 70g of a Cascade/First Gold blend.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Well it is supposed to be sweet, hence the fruit crumble, but.... you may be right i might drop the crystal a bit, 300g perhaps.

I was thinking of it as more of a pale than a bitter too, hence going heavier on the hops, the high ish bitterness would balance the sweetness.

Think I may drop the dry hop a little it too, I'll have a ponder this evening over your amber ale.

 

[matt76]

Ah, righto, I see what you're getting at. Balancing the malt sweetness with larger hop additions - I guess it could work, only one way to find out

 

[pilgrimhudd]

So I brewed my fruit crumble pale today, sorted the water overnight with 1/2 a campden and 2 tsp of gypsum.

Water heated to 72c for the mash in then set to 68c for the hour mash.

1.8 kg pale ale
200g wheat
150g carapils
400g crystal

30 min boil so

10g first gold @30
10g first gold & jester @10
20g first gold & jester @ 10
20g first gold & jester @5
Whirlpool 25g each for 30 mins.

Cooled and pitched mj liberty bell.

Og 1048, 4 points under what was expected, IBU 48. 21 ebc.

Plan to dry hop with a mix of these two in 7 days or so, probably with more jester than first gold.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Finally a picture worthy of @foxbat repertoire of hydrometer pics!

This is my version of a 5 points bitter, 16l full volume recipe, 30 min boil. I used 2kg pale, 150g each of wheat, crystal and biscuit.

30g fuggles @30
15g @15
40g @ 70c whirlpool for 25 mins.

Cml midland pitched at 18c, but I'm going to raise the temp to 22. Og 1050, ibu 31.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

And these two pics of my bottled cream ale and fruit crumble ale. Notice the difference in clarity. The cream ale had 6 days cold crash!!

 

[matt76]

Finally a picture worthy of @foxbat repertoire of hydrometer pics! View attachment 61246

This is my version of a 5 points bitter, 16l full volume recipe, 30 min boil. I used 2kg pale, 150g each of wheat, crystal and biscuit.

30g fuggles @30
15g @15
40g @ 70c whirlpool for 25 mins.

Cml midland pitched at 18c, but I'm going to raise the temp to 22. Og 1050, ibu 31.

Excellent effort Did you so anything different to get such clear wort or just luck?

The cream ale had 6 days cold crash!!

So the cold crashed one is actually more hazy??? Chill haze???

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Excellent effort Did you so anything different to get such clear wort or just luck?

Luck

So the cold crashed one is actually more hazy??? Chill haze???

Looks like it doesnt it but it's been consistently murky from the get-go.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Write up from yesterday...

It was another English Pale, this time with Challenger, Bramling X and Ernest. I was just digging through my pale of malt and found an extra pale malt in there, from experience i've noticed that i've tended to get less fermentable sugar from extra pale so I added a bit more than I was originally going to. Extra Pale Caramalt and Wheat in this one. Going for 19l in the FV.

Extra Pale 4.5 kg
Wheat 300g
Extra Pale Caramalt 300g

Mashed in at 70c, kept at 65c for a few hours whilst I went out with the kids.

34 IBU 13 EBC OG 1048

30 min boil

30g Challenger @30
20g Bramling X @10
20g Ernest @10
20g Ernest @5
20g Bramling X @5

30g of each Whirlpool @75c for 30 mins.

Cooled quickly and pitched Liberty Bell, bubbling away nicely now.