broadfordbrewer
Landlord.
I haven't posted on the forum for a while, but want to get back into it, so here goes. Brewday yesterday, and itâll be my entry for the Great British Homebrew Challenge 2013 http://www.gbhomebrew.co.uk/Home.html. I wanted to brew a strong bitter, but as a meddling homebrewer I also want to play around with it and have hopefully complimented it's English backbone with some New Zealand hop zing!â¦. well, spice actually, but you know what I mean.
Original Gravity (OG): 1.052
Final Gravity (FG): 1.010
Alcohol (ABV): 5.6%
Colour 17 (SRM): 33 (EBC)
Bitterness (IBU): 41.0 (Average)
(87%) Golden Promise Pale Malt
(5%) Caramalt
(4%) Biscuit Malt
(2%) Black Malt
(2%) Pale Wheat Malt
Pilgrim (FWH)
Green Bullet @10 minutes from the end (Boil)
Green Bullet @5 minutes from the end (Boil)
As you can see, itâs not the strongest of strong bitters, but Iâm trying to stay on the right side of âsessionabilityâ, given that the winning beer is destined for the pub. Iâd explain myself further, spelling out that I appreciate how strong beers sell too, but I canât be bothered :) . Iâm wanting to give the beer malt character and a pleasing colour with the crystal and biscuit malts, but with a punchy bitterness with the Pilgrim hops. I put a small amount of biscuit malt in my Black IPA and it gives a great flavour, and Iâm told that Pilgrim will provide the clean bitterness Iâll need if Iâm not to overpower the beer. Will this create a balanced beer? I hope so. The bitterness ratio (BU:GU) for a special/best/premium bitter is around 0.75, that is to say my target bitterness units (IBU) of 41 divided by my original gravity (OG) 1.052 = 0.78. (nb, you need to take the fractional proportion of the OG e.g. 0.052 x 1000 = 52). See more detail on BU:GU rations on Mark Dredgeâs blog http://www.pencilandspoon.com/2012/11/forgot-ibu-think-about-bugu.html. Iâm creeping a little out of best bitter territory and towards an IPA, but Iâm brewing for my tastes too, so there you go.
The complicating factor, as I understand it, is that attenuation can muck this ratio/balance up. For this beer I am using some yeast kindly given to me by Saltaire Brewery. The brewer told me that the yeast is feisty and will go to town on any sugars available. He also suggested that if I mashed high that this will help tame the b(y)east. So the mash temp will be 69C. Reason being for this is that I donât have the luxury of temperature control, therefore I canât stop the fermentation that easily. If the high mash temp doesnât seem to be working and the FG starts dropping below 1.010 then Iâll give it a stern talking to (while drinking a homebrew and chilling the f*ck out).
The brewday went well, although I managed to collect 20L at 1.061, so liquored back (a little too far, due to lack of concentration) to 24L at 1.052. I pitched the Saltaire yeast early evening and as of this morning there was no visible fermentation. If nothing after 24 hours then I'll pitch trusty US05.
One other observation from the brewday. My brewkit is annoying meâ¦. again.
Original Gravity (OG): 1.052
Final Gravity (FG): 1.010
Alcohol (ABV): 5.6%
Colour 17 (SRM): 33 (EBC)
Bitterness (IBU): 41.0 (Average)
(87%) Golden Promise Pale Malt
(5%) Caramalt
(4%) Biscuit Malt
(2%) Black Malt
(2%) Pale Wheat Malt
Pilgrim (FWH)
Green Bullet @10 minutes from the end (Boil)
Green Bullet @5 minutes from the end (Boil)
As you can see, itâs not the strongest of strong bitters, but Iâm trying to stay on the right side of âsessionabilityâ, given that the winning beer is destined for the pub. Iâd explain myself further, spelling out that I appreciate how strong beers sell too, but I canât be bothered :) . Iâm wanting to give the beer malt character and a pleasing colour with the crystal and biscuit malts, but with a punchy bitterness with the Pilgrim hops. I put a small amount of biscuit malt in my Black IPA and it gives a great flavour, and Iâm told that Pilgrim will provide the clean bitterness Iâll need if Iâm not to overpower the beer. Will this create a balanced beer? I hope so. The bitterness ratio (BU:GU) for a special/best/premium bitter is around 0.75, that is to say my target bitterness units (IBU) of 41 divided by my original gravity (OG) 1.052 = 0.78. (nb, you need to take the fractional proportion of the OG e.g. 0.052 x 1000 = 52). See more detail on BU:GU rations on Mark Dredgeâs blog http://www.pencilandspoon.com/2012/11/forgot-ibu-think-about-bugu.html. Iâm creeping a little out of best bitter territory and towards an IPA, but Iâm brewing for my tastes too, so there you go.
The complicating factor, as I understand it, is that attenuation can muck this ratio/balance up. For this beer I am using some yeast kindly given to me by Saltaire Brewery. The brewer told me that the yeast is feisty and will go to town on any sugars available. He also suggested that if I mashed high that this will help tame the b(y)east. So the mash temp will be 69C. Reason being for this is that I donât have the luxury of temperature control, therefore I canât stop the fermentation that easily. If the high mash temp doesnât seem to be working and the FG starts dropping below 1.010 then Iâll give it a stern talking to (while drinking a homebrew and chilling the f*ck out).
The brewday went well, although I managed to collect 20L at 1.061, so liquored back (a little too far, due to lack of concentration) to 24L at 1.052. I pitched the Saltaire yeast early evening and as of this morning there was no visible fermentation. If nothing after 24 hours then I'll pitch trusty US05.
One other observation from the brewday. My brewkit is annoying meâ¦. again.
