Aurora May

[arturobandini]

Brew on today to use up the last of my Marris Otter and what's left of my Aurora from Paul at http://www.barleybottom.com

Recipe - 23litres
Style - Pale/Golden Ale??

4.225g Marris Otter
400g Wheat Malt
40g Aurora (5.8% AA) 60 minute addition
Protofloc 1/2 Tablet - 15 minute addition
30g Aurora (5.8% AA) 80c Hop Steep
Yeast - Danstar Nottingham
26.5 EBU
Anticipated OG 1.045

Probably not the best time to brew as I've left my mashtun copper strainer at my Dad's whilst we butcher it to fit a Stainless Steel Keg. It does give me a chance to try the BIAB (Brew In A Bag) method pioneered by our Antipodean cousins. This is how I originally saw myself kicking off all grain but I wimped out and built a copper manifold so today it's a no sparge brewday. The mash went on at 9.45am I was a bit miffed as it was 63c instead of the usual 66c but I haven't had a drop in temperature over a 90minute mash yet so I'm optimistic.

First time I've used Nottingham and that too was a last minute change from the tried and trusted S-04. Nottingham , so i've read, has good attenuation so produces a dry beer with little yeast character which should bring the hops to the fore and as Aurora is a delicious beast I'm pretty hopeful. This Beer is intended for a party on the 12th of May for my girlfriend's birthday so I wanted to brew something I could chill down for the peasants which was lightly hoppy and pale so as not to offend their simple palates.

Edit - Reduced Boil time to 60 minutes

 

[prolix]

looks like a belter I love that style (usually Styrian though)

I find that Sa04 can be quite powerful in it so the nottingham should let you taste the hops more clearly without the fruity overtones. Have just bought some Sa05 to try with very similar reciepe.

 

[arturobandini]

It's going great guns on the boil now about 10 minutes in and it's nearly leaping out of the kettle. Never had such a vigorous boil and I only use one element so not sure how I would go about reducing the ferocity save turning off the element but then I'd have no boil at all! Kitchen smells of delicious malt and sensationally peppery flowery Aurora!

 

[Wez]

Hope it continues to go well :thumb: :

 

[llannige]

Can't beat a vigorous boil A.

Keep up the good work. :thumb:

 

[tubby_shaw]

Sounds good :thumb:
I love the smell of the hops when they first start to boil

 

[arturobandini]

Note to self - Hop Strainers are excellent and useful, do not forget them.

Painfully slow run off but it's no big deal. Forgot the hop strainer so a sanitised fine sieve is holding back any hops and crud. To be honest the hops must've flooded the tap as the steady trickle is remarkably clear and the fv is free from bits....just sloooow.

 

[prolix]

thats not slow thats aeration

 

[Vossy1]

Glad to see another brew day under the belt :thumb:

 

[arturobandini]

A very clear wort from this one, ended up with less fermentable wort than anticipated due to an absurdly vigorous boil from my soon to be retired single element boiler. Diluted with some treated water it came out at 1.040 for the 23 litres which is what I was after in truth.

Thoughts on BIAB? It was very easy to do but you'll need a big mashtun in order to mash enough liquor for your boil being as you have no means to sparge and the grains will obviously retain liquor as well. The grain bag I used held back everything very well but the run off provided to the boiler was considerably murkier than what I've had batch sparging with a copper manifold. That said I over compensated and tossed in a whole protofloc tablet with 15 minutes of the boil left and the result was a remarkbly crystal clear pale wort. I don't think I'd use BIAB again as i'm going to be building a 10gallon mashtun complete with copper manifold/false bottom so it was a one shot deal.

Just to add this is slightly different to putting a grain bag in your mashtun as you just hoist your grains out bag and all once the mash is finished rather than batch sparge/fly sparge using a grain bag in place of a filter/manifold.

It was a decent Brewday and my first since the baby was born so good to know I can still get them in even with a demanding infant to tend to.

Nottingham was pitched and it's time for the clean up which looks decidely messier than usual unfortunately...

 

[A T]

Well done, nice looking recipe Clean up is a pain, even worse when you leave it til the next day

 

[arturobandini]

Cheers AT, all the cleaning finished now except the sticky kitchen floor. The good lady has been fairly busy and I've been cooking dinner too so I decided to leave it till I'm done before mopping. Trying to find a decent looking photo after all the faffing with batteries mid-brew.

Edit - Farily busy as in she hasn't noticed the floor yet!

 

[Wez]

I hope you cleaned properly....!! :lol:

 

[arturobandini]

Crikey Wez! Giving me Nightmares...

Some random photographs...

You always think you took more but most of them end up steam covered!

 

[Wez]

I like that last pic - protofloc does the job

 

[arturobandini]

I think I overdid the Protofloc in the end but I kept thinking back to that big murky no sparge wort and lobbed the whole tablet in. No experience of Whirlfloc yet but Protofloc has given me very very clear wort straight out of the boiler thus far.

 

[Wez]

I used Protofloc granuals today, I got good floccing and lots of trub, my only concern with it is I often get cauliflower lumps in the FV.

We will see............

 

[arturobandini]

Not had that so far! Cauliflower isn't the nices thing to see in the FV. Nottingham isn't hanging around, already formed a yeast head on the Brew and bubbles rising up the sides. I just rehydrated and didn't make a starter this time to see the difference if any and it looks like rehydrating is paying off so far. Go Nottingham go

 

[Wez]

Thats good to hear :thumb:

Protofloc & S04 have produced some interesting cauliflower results ......... I'll add a pic if i can find it

Here you go....hope V1 doesn't mind me linking his pic...i had the same but worse but can't find the pic

 

[Vossy1]

:lol: ...no worries

I was thinking of giving protafloc another go...but that photo's brought back bad memories :rofl:
I still think I'll give it another go though. IMO it has given me the best break I have ever seen, in comparison with irish moss and whirlfloc. I'd like to be a bit more pedantic/accurate about qualities though, before I really compare the differences.