Anna's Brewdays

[DocAnna]

Not done an update for a while. Last weekend bottled the Beaverdale Sauvignon Blanc, crystal clear and no sulphite taste, even fresh in the bottle I'm pretty pleased with this. Still to bottle the other Sauvignon Blanc which was the cheaper kit but need to find the time.

Both lagers are chilling at a nice 1 deg, I would take to 0 but a bit nervous about freezing the beer. I had originally planned to lager for a couple of weeks then add a bit of yeast for bottle conditioning. However, taking my lead from Brulosphy and the advice here, I'm going to give them 5 days at that temp, bottle and then after a couple of weeks warm, given then some cold again. Either that or 12 days if I don't get round to bottling them!

Really keen on getting my fermenting fridge back again for use fermenting as I'm keen to get my winter Wassail beer on which will be my first foray into a tweaked recipe based on one from a book. Rather excited about it which goes to show what counts as excitement in these COVID days sadly.

On a final note, all my colleagues now know just how potty I am about brewing as in a moment of over-sharing, I included a photo of my stacked crates in the garage on a Teams chat... the good news is they are all keen to come to a post COVID party at ours, so that's something to look forward to!

Anna

 

[LED_ZEP]

On a final note, all my colleagues now know just how potty I am about brewing as in a moment of over-sharing, I included a photo of my stacked crates in the garage on a Teams chat... the good news is they are all keen to come to a post COVID party at ours, so that's something to look forward to!

As I've gathered from many of your posts you have a scientific back ground and enjoy that aspect of this hobby. At the same time you're respectful and also enjoy the less scientific "common knowledge" of this art. I'm sure you'll be able to convince your colleagues that the mix of art and science is a rewarding pursuit, as they sample your brews.

 

[DocAnna]

As I've gathered from many of your posts you have a scientific back ground and enjoy that aspect of this hobby. At the same time you're respectful and also enjoy the less scientific "common knowledge" of this art. I'm sure you'll be able to convince your colleagues that the mix of art and science is a rewarding pursuit, as they sample your brews.

Thank you, that is genuinely lovely of you to say ☺ - I'm all too aware that I'm still a bit new at this and particularly here on the forum trying to find my way, be helpful where I can be but not put my foot in it either.

As for art and science, yes that's closer to the mark than you could have known! I've always liked blending the two in most areas of my work whenever I could find an opportunity (my dad wanted me to go to art college and my mum wanted me to do medicine). Brewing is a delicious fusion of the technical bits that keeps me on my toes, with blending of flavours and aroma that feels like an artform, it does seem like an extension of cooking and baking which I also love.... but am not all that good at baking.

Anna

 

[Brew_DD2]

It does seem like an extension of cooking and baking which I also love.... but am not all that good at baking.

Anna

Funnily enough, I'm the same. I really enjoy cooking and I'm pretty good at it. Baking on the other hand, I find that I go rogue too often to be any use at it.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

it does seem like an extension of cooking and baking which I also love....

Ahhh my other love - sourdough.... now there's an art form :-)

 

[Gingerbrews]

I think the combination of brewing, cooking and baking is pretty common.
Now I need to start my Xmas cake today, running late this year

 

[Deadhead]

I'm laughing at your post of working from home and trying to brew beer. I keep attempting to brew whilst I'm working in the other room, but something always goes wrong, stuck sparge, pump blocked, unable to get the wort up to a roiling boil, or wort is ready for chilling and I've got 3 hours straight of meetings and can't sneak off and chill it. Doesn't stop me, but don't tell my boss

 

[DocAnna]

I'm laughing at your post of working from home and trying to brew beer. I keep attempting to brew whilst I'm working in the other room, but something always goes wrong, stuck sparge, pump blocked, unable to get the wort up to a roiling boil, or wort is ready for chilling and I've got 3 hours straight of meetings and can't sneak off and chill it. Doesn't stop me, but don't tell my boss

Oh that makes me feel a bit better knowing I'm not the only one to try pulling off a brew day with working..... and that it doesn't always go quite as planned ! That you've tried more than once is impressive in itself, I'm not sure I'd try again though I might convince myself I could automate lots of it through careful planning and timing. There's always those risks as you describe - thankfully never had the stuck pump one though think that's just luck really.

Mind you we're both used to doing more than one thing at once .

Anna

 

[DocAnna]

So I’m going to write today up properly tomorrow- I’m feeling just a wee bitty weary tbh. However bottled 60 330ml bottles of Bohemian pils and 40 500ml bottles of light lager this evening - in between making a roast dinner and struggling with my new bench capper - including getting bashed on my chin by the handle (which was totally my fault)!

However, of course the big news today was winning the raffle for 2kg of hops which I feel almost guilty about since there are so many people here who would know better than me what to do with them. I have taken some advice (thank you lots) and have ordered a fair few kinds - which I will be seeking advice in the months to come of how to use.

I think I’m at risk of spending too much time on all things brewing ... and I’ve some deadlines on work to complete this week so I’m not going to do anything related to brewing till li’ve completed that ... a bit of motivation and reward for once I’m done.

Anna

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Bon courage... Blimey you have a busy life! But I really do reckon that the more you put in, the more you get out; and it certainly doesn’t sound like you’ll be running out of Pils or Light Lager (or, indeed, hops) for a while, so respect to you :-)

 

[DocAnna]

Rather (lots!) pleased with my latest brewing gadget that arrived today..a delicious 1 litre separation funnel to make rinsing and separating yeast much simpler. Eldest daughter just rolled her eyes at this latest parcel as she said she used these in the school lab. There's a good video on using one of these here:
Going to have a play with this over the weekend with the trub from the last lager ... in down time from doing the work I have planned.

Brewing is beginning to feel like a very adult chemistry set which is smart by me since I never had one when I was younger

Anna

 

[cheeseyfeet]

Very cool, do you have a holder for it or do you have to fashion something?

 

[An Ankoù]

I think I’m at risk of spending too much time on all things brewing .

I would argue that such an utterance has no cognitive value and is a logical contradiction.

including getting bashed on my chin by the handle (which was totally my fault)!

Never give a bench capper the benefit of the doubt. It's waiting there to get you when you least expect it. Develop a healthy sense of paranoia would by my advice. 🕶

Glad to see the work / life balance is coming together nicely.

 

[DocAnna]

Very cool, do you have a holder for it or do you have to fashion something?

At the moment I've a very Heath Robinson affair with the top of a Seedlip tube and some IKEA clips inside my fermenting fridge. I will though need to think of something a bit better than this since this is a bit precarious! I would like to keep it in the fridge though so it will need to be compact. While this is quite a fun thing to try it's rather tall so is fine while the fridge doesn't have any fermenters in but that's not normally the case.

I'll report back on successes or otherwise, as you can see this was yesterday's attempt at first use. I couldn't be doing with prolonged boiling of water for sterilisation so used bottled supermarket water for rinsing the yeast which was a lot more convenient.

Anna

 

[DocAnna]

I would argue that such an utterance has no cognitive value and is a logical contradiction.

Never give a bench capper the benefit of the doubt. It's waiting there to get you when you least expect it. Develop a healthy sense of paranoia would by my advice. 🕶

Glad to see the work / life balance is coming together nicely.

Oh you say the nicest things ☺ thoroughly enjoying the confirmation bias here about the time spent on homebrew, sadly I have a dissertation to write and I'm beginning to wish I'd chosen brewing as my subject, but I don't think my tutor would see that a treatise on yeast would quite fit.

As to the bench capper, lessons from first use are 1) Yes you really do need to secure it to a surface rather than have it slide all over the bench, 2) after struggling with 40 or so bottles, that a bit of oil on the return spring makes a whole world of difference, and 3) don't push up the stuck plunger when you are leaning over the handle (ouch...).

Anna

 

[DocAnna]

So I haven't written up this weekend past brewday which I really should before it get's too late and I forget. It wasn't my most organised day but I had a smack pack of Wyeast London ESB in the fridge and I was concerned about it being left too long, concerns that weren't helped by it hardly swelling over 5 hours after activating it. As I was holding the not very swollen pack willing it to miraculously expand in the few minutes before pitching I thought of my oh so careful pitching calculations with my lagers... felt a complete hypocrite... then poured it in thinking I'd give it 24 hours and see... I had some back up Lallemand London dry yeast just in case.

So the recipe was adapted from a book of American beer recipes I have.

7.2% /
All Grain
BrewZilla / RoboBrew 35L
75% efficiency
Batch Volume: 20 L
Boil Time: 75 min
Mash Water: 25.55 L
Sparge Water: 4.37 L
Total Water: 29.92 L
Boil Volume: 25.63 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.067
Vitals
Original Gravity: 1.078
Final Gravity: 1.023
IBU (Tinseth): 27
Color: 40.5 EBC


Mash

Temperature — 65 °C — 60 min
Malts (6.64 kg)
6.2 kg (93.4%) — BestMalz Pale Ale — Grain — 6 EBC
270 g (4.1%) — THBC Crystal - Crushed grain 113 EBC — Grain — 113 EBC
57 g (0.9%) — THBC Minch Chocolate Malt — Grain — 1060 EBC
57 g (0.9%) — Thomas Fawcett Red Crystal 340 EBC — Grain — 340 EBC
28 g (0.4%) — Warminster THBC Black crushed (Warminster) — Grain — 1400 EBC
28 g (0.4%) — Minch Minch Roast Barley — Grain — 1400 EBC
Hops (196 g)
18 g (7 IBU) — Styrian Goldings (Whole) 3.9% — Boil — 75 min
12 g (9 IBU) — Northern Brewer 7% — Boil — 75 min
28 g (6 IBU) — Hallertauer Hersbrucker 3.8% — Boil — 15 min
27 g (5 IBU) — Styrian Goldings (Whole) 3.9% — Boil — 15 min
56 g — Hallertauer Hersbrucker 3.8% — Boil — 0 min
55 g — Styrian Goldings (Whole) 3.9% — Boil — 0 min
Miscs
3.07 g — Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) — Mash
2.65 g — Epsom Salt (MgSO4) — Mash
2.65 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Mash
0.53 g — Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) — Sparge
0.45 g — Epsom Salt (MgSO4) — Sparge
0.45 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Sparge
Yeast
1 pkg — Wyeast Labs 1968 London ESB Ale 71%
Fermentation
Primary — 20 °C — 14 days
Carbonation: 2.4 CO2-vol
Water Profile
Ca2+ 62
Mg2+ 11
Na+ 8
Cl- 71
SO42- 100
HCO3- 22

That's the boring part... ok lessons learned from my first foray into water chemistry

1) After carefully measuring out the amounts of water mineral additions into a small IKEA bowl it's not a good idea to stand up quickly and knock them all over the floor (I didn't swear but was very tempted)
2) Brewfather's volume calculations are a bit naff. The volume of the mash was right at the top limit of the overflow pipe which really limited the recirculation rate. So we decided to go out for lunch and the mash was more like 2 1/2 hours which I think was a good thing.
3) The sparge was a tiny amount and it felt a real waste dumping all that nice grain that I wasn't convinced I'd got all the sugars out of that I'd have liked.
4) volumes in the boil off AGAIN! sheesh volume in the fermenter ended up being 21.5 litres and my OG down at 1.72 rather than 1.78 which means my efficiency was only about 2% off expected (Thanks to tea out and super long mash I think)
5) Full leaf hops are a pain - and I shouldn't have put them in the hop spider at whirlpool stage - felt a complete numpty for that.

So it's going to be 6.7% ABV I reckon which is a bit down from planned, probably not as bitter as hoped and a bit of a waste of good hops. Ho hum, putting it all down to the learning journey.

Oh one final thing ... fermenting with the London ESB yeast smells like baking parmesan and sun dried tomato bread . It's rather yum even if it is a bit confusing.

Anna

 

[DocAnna]

Almost forgot - in a moment of wild abandon, and miffed at my poor use of hops , I put in 5g of ascorbic acid at the same time as the yeast based on my conversations elsewhere about it helping reduce oxidation.

Anna

 

[Hanglow]

That certainly looks like a potent brew!

If you want to look into other information about anti-oxidizers and general science based homebrewing information I can thoroughly recommend this blog/website .

https://www.themodernbrewhouse.com/blog/

 

[Clint]

A good bit of cursing can really help!

 

[DocAnna]

A good bit of cursing can really help!

Fiddle sticks and suffering sausages - generally my level of expletive, though my youngest apparently heard me once say in the kitchen 'Damn blast and all the rest'... which I am thinking just about covers it at the moment. Had my first experience of oxidised beer yesterday. My deliciously clean and lemony Citra pale ale is now a somewhat darker sweeter and less citric affair... Grump... it was a beer I was really chuffed with, clean and delicious and now distinctly not .

So now seriously thinking again about that snubnose fermenter for carbonating while fermenting but really can't justify buying it for myself... have dropped big hints to my mum for the idea of a Birthday present next month!

Anna