There goes another brew day (AG BIAB #7), all that's left to do now is to clean out my boiler and some equipment I used.
Something different (for me anyway) this time around, I've taken a stab at a "clone" of Banks's Bitter (full disclosure, I actually can't stand Banks's Bitter, so did this one for my wife and her father). Making it even more different, this is the brew I decided to try out using Clarity Ferm on. My father-in-law, according to my wife, is prone to "wheat belly" when he drinks beer (even beer with no wheat in it.. lol), so decided to try this and see if he has less trouble with getting bloated from it. It may not have any effect on this, but I'm also seeing what effect it has on "chill haze" which it claims to reduce.
Anyway, the details. Started this at 8:45am for a change. I was aiming for 21 litres into the fermenter, target OG of 1.0138. Recipe is from Graham Wheeler's (RIP) BYOBRA, the first time I've tried one of his recipes. So:-
90 Minute mash at 66 degrees C (BIAB Medium Body) (25 litres (21 litres RO filtered, 4 litres treated tap water), strike at 68 degrees C). Varying from the book I also mashed out at 75.6 degrees C for 10 minutes (raising over 7, stirring the whole time until it hit 75.6 degrees C). I used a meat thermometer for temps, the digital one on the boiler doesn't do points of a degree, and isn't that accurate either. Sparged with 5 litres (RO filtered) @ 72 degrees C.
3330g Pale malt (mostly I used Crisp Maris Otter, but topped up a bit with IREKS Pale Ale rather than open a new bag of the Maris Otter for a few hundred g...)
34g Black Malt (scary eh? lol)
Mash SG was 1.035
Sparge SG was 1.018
Pre-Boil SG was 1.032
(take with a pinch of salt, I used my refractometer, which is pretty rubbish to be honest... lol)
90 Minute boil
36.2g Fuggles (whole hops) @ 90 mins
12.3g EKG (whole hops) @ 10 mins
1/2 Protafloc @10 mins
Tons of break this brew, both hot break and cold break. I'm going to put that down to the IREKS Pale Ale malt, I've noticed before I get a lot of break when I use that, very little using just Crisp Maris Otter malt. A huge gunky mess in the bottom of my boiler, thankfully I used whole hops and that's where it stayed.
23 litres of lovely clear wort into the FV, at an OG of 1.040... So yet again I overshot my target OG slightly, this time I also got an extra 2 litres too.... I really can't complain about the efficiency I'm getting.
Colour of the wort I estimated at 23-24 EBC (comparing to a colour chart), target was 23. I'd describe it as a nice mid-amber, which I would say is about right for Banks's Bitter from memory (my F-I-L drinks it regularly, my wife doesn't mind a pint or so of it either. I tend to find it tastes of paracetamol whenever I've tried a pint in pubs.... Could well be though that it's not supposed to...). Hard to capture the colour on camera, but had a go:-
A bit nervous too to be honest, as I re-pitched the yeast from my last Golden Ale. I wanted to get it done today, but didn't want to use CML Real Ale yeast, as to be blunt I really don't like the twang (lol, b'doing?) I get with it (reminds me of Belgian beers, such as Leffe brun). So yeah, too many trials in one brew really, tempting fate somewhat, so fingers crossed... I wont be heartbroken to be honest though if it doesn't come out well....
Next on the planned list, well it's going to either be Graham Wheeler's take on Banks's Mild (which I actually quite like, or at least I did when it was Banks's Original anyway... It lost the nuttyness about the time they renamed it), or I might finally get around to having a go at a Patersbier... Probably the former though, as if I brew the latter later on it will make a nice brew to drink when the sunshine returns to our shores. That said, loving the last Saison I made, so you can expect me to revisit it regularly... It's turned into an absolutely delicious beer, a lovely blend of tropical fruit with honey and lemon in the back, seriously moreish, but incredibly sneaky as it doesn't taste like the 6.8% ABV it likely is....
