Anna's Brewdays

[DocAnna]

Ooo counterflow chillers are definitely cool ! First time using and with the pump full on its taking the wort from the high 90’s C to 21 deg… in a single pass ..WOW ..this is making cooling so much easier.

 

[Clint]

What temp is your incoming water?

 

[cushyno]

What temp is your incoming water?

It's Scottish water, it'll be -5°C during summer

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Ooo counterflow chillers are definitely cool ! First time using and with the pump full on its taking the wort from the high 90’s C to 21 deg… in a single pass ..WOW ..this is making cooling so much easier.
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Yep counterflows just ROCK - the key is that the temperature differential is maintained at all points along the pipe, which maximises the amount of heat transfer.

 

[DocAnna]

What temp is your incoming water?

It's actually about 15 -16 deg C at the moment which is warmer than I'd expect. I found I could get the outflow down to 18 if I slowed it to a trickle but since my pitching temp needed to be 12 deg I knew I was going to have to chill it first. The brew was a bit odd, my fault I over sparged about so had about a litre over expected fermenter volume, but the OG was 1.050 rather than the expected 1.048 even though I was over volume. Not quite sure how that happened.

my starter has nicely settled out over the last 24 hours too, this is looking ok even if the volumes are a bit off.

 

[DocAnna]

I had thought I might squeeze in a brew today but instead spent it outside working in the garden, and this morning finished off the labels for my recent brews, sourced a bit from labelizer then fiddled with, just need to get round to bottling them now.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

I had thought I might squeeze in a brew today but instead spent it outside working in the garden, and this morning finished off the labels for my recent brews, sourced a bit from labelizer then fiddled with, just need to get round to bottling them now.
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Those are very, very good

 

[chillipickle]

Next level label's anna, more often than not it's pishing doon, with a soggy rich tea

 

[Deadhead]

It's Scottish water, it'll be -5°C during summer

I’m in the Highlands and I can cool my beer quickly with my GF chiller in the height of summer!

 

[DocAnna]

Upped the temperature on the cerveza from 12 to 18 yesterday and today wondered about how to add the lime flavour. After reading around the subject I've added the juice and peeled zest of 6 limes. I washed them in dilute chemsan first, then soaked the zest and juice in about 100ml of vodka for the afternoon before adding them to the fermenter. From reading, there are sugars in the juice that will ferment but I've set it to crash chill to 1.5 deg C reckoning any sugars in that small amount will be consumed on the way down. It all smells rather delicious I'm just hoping I've not underdone the lime! I also need to decide if I'm adding sea salt or not as originally intended, it could be rather risky .

Oh as a bit of a tip.. I'd forgotten to attach one of the foil balloons in the last few days in prep for crash chilling, so wondered how I could fill a balloon with CO2 without disconnecting JG fittings from gas lines?
I didn't take a photo but I used one of these carbonation caps pushed into one of my gas lines and slowly turned on the gas from the manifold holding it onto the pipe going to the balloon - worked perfectly .

So I now have my fermenter fastened to its life pack for the cold chill journey.

I also posted out some beers to a few people to try so I hope they arrive safe and sound.

Anna

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

loving the sound of the Cerveza - I’m curious about the purpose of the balloon?

 

[DocAnna]

loving the sound of the Cerveza - I’m curious about the purpose of the balloon?

I'd read about adding lime and sea salt to a Mexican Cerveza and thought it was worth trying, it does smell wonderful at the moment which seems to be specific to this yeast. I'm really pleased I over built the starter and have some of the yeast for another lager type beer sometime. The balloon is a CO2 'life pack' which stops the fermenter sucking in air while it cold crashes and ensures air is not sucked in during lifting and moving of the fermenter when I eventually take it out for kegging/bottling.

I do appreciate that being a lager it doesn't necessarily have to be kept as fastidiously clear of oxygen as would a highly hopped beer, but I now use either a balloon or ferment under a tiny bit of pressure as standard now as from my reading over time, keeping O2 away from beer appears to be a worthwhile effort whatever the style being brewed.

Anna

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

The balloon is a CO2 'life pack' which stops the fermenter sucking in air while it cold crashes and ensures air is sucked in during lifting and moving of the fermenter

Ah! Yes - that makes perfect sense, thanks for explaining :-)

 

[matt76]

I'd read about adding lime and sea salt to a Mexican Cerveza

Bit late not obviously, but I made Josh Weikert's Mexican Lager last winter which just uses Motueka hops to get that lime flavour. Still have a few bottles left and the lime flavour is still there

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Bit late not obviously, but I made Josh Weikert's Mexican Lager last winter which just uses Motueka hops to get that lime flavour. Still have a few bottles left and the lime flavour is still there

I'm going to have to try this - but I'm a bit late for this year "Brew up this beer now so you’ll have it on hand when the dog days of late July and early August start beating down."

 

[samale]

Any update on the imperial stout. Have you tried it yet

 

[MirtazaPaul]

Good job, well done

 

[DocAnna]

Well I was feeling a bit down this morning as last night I tried a small glass of my NEIPA that I was so proud of, and it had already lost that punchy pineapple and fruit edging into floral finish. Oh it was ok, not oxidised, haze stable. I know I shouldn’t really complain, it’s just that I sent out the beer to a couple of people to try and think it if it tastes like that I’ve under delivered a bit.

So I ended up labelling this one as ‘Thrice as Nice’ as it was my third go at an NEIPA. Next is to work on flavour stability and aim for ‘Four-ever yours’ though that is a bit bad as puns go.

Needing a bit of that @LisaMC positivity I think - and a bit of head down technical reading on hop flavour stability for good measure !

Anna

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

It still sounds blooming delicious and I can't wait to try some! I'm afraid my first offering might not be great, but I'll do my absolute best to send you something nice

 

[Brew_DD2]

Well I was feeling a bit down this morning as last night I tried a small glass of my NEIPA that I was so proud of, and it had already lost that punchy pineapple and fruit edging into floral finish. Oh it was ok, not oxidised, haze stable. I know I shouldn’t really complain, it’s just that I sent out the beer to a couple of people to try and think it if it tastes like that I’ve under delivered a bit.

So I ended up labelling this one as ‘Thrice as Nice’ as it was my third go at an NEIPA. Next is to work on flavour stability and aim for ‘Four-ever yours’ though that is a bit bad as puns go.

Needing a bit of that @LisaMC positivity I think - and a bit of head down technical reading on hop flavour stability for good measure !

Anna

I can thoroughly recommend "The New IPA" if you don't already have it. Very technical and science-heavy, so it should be right you your street.