AG#6a&b - Hop Picker

[Moley]

A bit late but I've only just got around to uploading the pics.

Thanks to everyone who helped with what hops to use and quantities thereof, 5kg of Pale malt plus 250g Crystal

went into 12 litres at 78°C giving a mash start at 68.2°C, finishing at 66.8° after 90 minutes

and after fly sparge I ended up with 30 litres at (temperature corrected) 1.046 which I halved.

I then did two separate boils with hops calculated to give 25-28 IBU.
First boil was with First Gold, 20g (90) plus 10g (15).

Second boil used 30g Bobek (90) plus 15g (15).

I ended up with 2 x 12.5 litres at 1.054

I've never used these fermenters for beer before but they were lying around doing nothing, and have the added advantage that they fit in the sink for cooling before S-04 was pitched.

 

[ilikerossi]

That looks interesting, nice :thumb:

 

[Sean_Mc]

Will be interested to see what you think of the different combinations Moley. Looks like you had a good day :thumb:

I was thinking about splitting my next stout brew, but using s04 and s05

 

[Moley]

Will be interested to see what you think of the different combinations Moley.

This is what I thought as I'm not sure what characteristics individual hops give to a beer. Next brew in a few weeks time will be exactly the same mash and then split between EKG and possibly Aurora.

Incidentally, Mrs. Mole didn't complain too much about the smell of the First Gold but moaned like hell about the Bobek.

 

[Vossy1]

Great pics M, hope the brews a good'un :thumb:

 

[bones]

Hi Moley, if you could have put the stock pot in cold water instead of the fermentor you could have form cold break.

Then taken the beer off it.

Just a thought

 

[TheMumbler]

Looks good :thumb: , I've been thinking of doing some brews to get a better knowledge of different hops.

 

[Moley]

Cheers Bones, the penny has only just dropped about cold break, I will definitely follow your suggestion for AG#7 :

 

[rickthebrew]

Looking good Moley - can`t wait to read your tasting notes : All for research of course

 

[Moley]

Just to wrap this one up, we went away for a few days so I bottled these brews last Sunday morning, day 15.

Fermentation of both finished at 1.011, so that's 6% abv as close as makes no difference.

As far as I could tell they looked pretty clear. Bear in mind that I used S-04 (which I already know drops out nicely), and Protafloc for the first time.

Those Young's fermenters are great for fermentation but can be a right PITA when it comes to racking or bottling, so I racked these beers into my big water bottles, disturbed a bit of sediment in the process, left them for half an hour and then bottled.

From every brew I have at least one clear glass bottle (wrapped in brown paper) and one 500ml pressure-test plastic cola bottle.

I checked them on Monday evening, about 36 hours after bottling, and could already properly read a newspaper through those in clear bottles. That's my own version of the Feck test.

The trial jar samples tasted bloody good :thumb:
My first impressions were that Bobek are very nice indeed and First Gold are even better.

After 5 days in the kitchen, pressure testers give a nice ‘ping’ when flicked, so all bottles have now gone down the cellar.

We've finished dinner, kitchen is cleared, washing up is done, Mrs. Mole is working in the morning :lol: so HLT, mash tun and buckets are ready to go for AG#7a&b, which will be the same mash with EKG and Boadicea (or maybe Aurora).

 

[rickthebrew]

sounds great Moley :thumb: First gold are great and i`ve some aurora to try to that are supposed to be really good

be good to hear how these taste :thumb:

 

[retourrbx]

Good stuff :

 

[Moley]

I ended up with 2 x 12.5 litres at 1.054

Fermentation of both finished at 1.011

54 - 11 = 43 / 7.36 = 5.84
Priming sugar adds another point

6% as near as makes no difference :

:rofl: You've removed the bit about a typo. while I've been typing :lol:

 

[corby_brewer]

hope you have a good one, tomorrow Mr Mole. :thumb:

 

[Moley]

Cheers Dave, everything's ready to go.
I'm an early riser so I'm hoping to have the mash underway before the F1 qualifying session starts at 07:00.

 

[retourrbx]

:lol: moi??

 

[Moley]

Well these are approaching 3 weeks in their bottles, so I just had to test one. And then another.

This wasn't planned and I will be doing a side-by-side comparison when they've had a bit longer down the cellar, so I haven't got proper tasting notes yet.

Both had some carbonation, neither kept much head for very long. Again, it's early days, and I don't like fizzy beer anyway.

The Bobek has very fruity notes, maybe could have done with a few more hops but I would certainly repeat it and scale it up for a Summer brew.

The First Gold has the bitterness spot on to my tastes, and is an absolute belter.

First impressions:
Bobek; good. :
First Gold; great. :drink:

 

[rickthebrew]

:party: nothing like a few tasters Moley :whistle:

 

[deebee]

Well these are approaching 3 weeks in their bottles, so I just had to test one. And then another.

This wasn't planned and I will be doing a side-by-side comparison when they've had a bit longer down the cellar, so I haven't got proper tasting notes yet.

Both had some carbonation, neither kept much head for very long. Again, it's early days, and I don't like fizzy beer anyway.

The Bobek has very fruity notes, maybe could have done with a few more hops but I would certainly repeat it and scale it up for a Summer brew.

The First Gold has the bitterness spot on to my tastes, and is an absolute belter.

First impressions:
Bobek; good. :
First Gold; great. :drink:

you could add a little wheat or torrified what to the mash to give better head.

Flaked barley also helps but watch the amount else it will give a haze.