dan125's 2018 brewdays

[dan125]

Having my 2nd brewday of the year today, but I can't say much about it as its my entry for the 2018 SMASH off and entries are supposed to be anonymous.
Suffice to say, for a 28L batch I'm using;

6.2kg Malt A

130g Hop B in total;
10g @ 60mins
15g @ 30 mins
40g @ 5 mins
65g - steep @ 70C
No dry hopping alowed

Yeast C

Aiming for the upper end of the permissable strength and bitterness with an OG of 1.048 and 35 IBUs.

I should have a couple of spare bottles if anyone fancies a swap and wants to play guess the ingredients (I think it'd be pretty easy).
:cheers7:

 

[dan125]

Quick update.
The Very Pale Ale is living up to its name and drinking quite nicely now at 25 days since brewday. The very slight sulphur note has gone, its a bit bland and missing the dry hops but it's dangerously quaffable for 5.0% - which is what I set out for, so not complaining

 

[dan125]

Tonight I am sacrificing a few pints to the beer gods in the hope that they will be kind tomorrow and keep the rain away long enough to get this brew done - trying some Simpsons malts for the 1st time. But the forecast isn't good - could be a busy day though as I'll have to get the smash packaged while brewing to make room in the FS.

 

[Martybhoy]

Hi Dan, I'll swap with you if you like? I have a single hop IPA fermenting right now, not a SMASH though .

Recipe calls for 7-8 weeks conditioning and I'm 2 weeks from bottling so it'll be a while before it's ready. Gimme a shout if you're up for a swap

Cheers

 

[dan125]

Hi Dan, I'll swap with you if you like? I have a single hop IPA fermenting right now, not a SMASH though .

Recipe calls for 7-8 weeks conditioning and I'm 2 weeks from bottling so it'll be a while before it's ready. Gimme a shout if you're up for a swap

Cheers

You've got more patience than me mate but yes I'm defo up for a swap.
The smash will be ready to drink in a week or two, or todays brew in about three to four - let me know what you fancy.
What hop did you use in your IPA?

 

[dan125]

250g whirlpool addition about to go in -

 

[Martybhoy]

Hi Dan, I used Amarillo in my brew, using Greg Hughes recipe, bit with a dry hop and hop tea too. CML US Pale Ale yeast which I've never used before.

Seeing as my brew has a while to go before being ready, could I swap with your NEAPA? I'll DM you my address

 

[BeerCat]

Lovely looking beer Dan. Mine so far have been much darker than yours. I thought it was oxidisation but i had one the other day and there are no noticeable off flavours. Will get one of these soon.

 

[Hoddy]

Lov

250g whirlpool addition about to go in -

Great how we are both brewing a beer with the same total hop weight but clearly adding them at different times and in different ways.

The rain came early to me.....

 

[dan125]

Great how we are both brewing a beer with the same total hop weight but clearly adding them at different times and in different ways.

The rain came early to me.....

Yeah I just about got it chilled before the rain really set in - When are you adding the hops?
I got a better efficiency out of the simpsons malt that I was expecting and ended up at 1.057

 

[Hoddy]

Yeah I just about got it chilled before the rain really set in - When are you adding the hops?
I got a better efficiency out of the simpsons malt that I was expecting and ended up at 1.057

I’m adding my hops at high Krausen (200 grams @ 3 days of active fermentation) and then another 200 grams after fermentation is complete and I’ve harvested the yeast. I did 100 grams at whirlpool too

 

[dan125]

Saturdays brew is chugging away nicely now. I ended up with loads of hops and trub in the FS though. Thankfully I can get it out via the bottle but there's got to be a better way of filtering out hop pellet particles.
I've tried a bazooka, hop spider and lauter helix and none of them are any good - anyone got any better ideas???

 

[AdeDunn]

Saturdays brew is chugging away nicely now. I ended up with loads of hops and trub in the FS though. Thankfully I can get it out via the bottle but there's got to be a better way of filtering out hop pellet particles.
I've tried a bazooka, hop spider and lauter helix and none of them are any good - anyone got any better ideas???

I have, but you won't like it.... Switch to whole hops, they're easier to filter out. lol Pellets just join in with the trub in blocking your filter and making a mess. I sound like a stuck record, but since I started using whole hops instead of pellets I am getting faster transfer and less trub in my FVs, meaning I can get more beer out when it comes to racking or bottling time. I've bought a large 300 micron hop bag so I can use up the pellets I still have in the freezer, combining them with whole hops to help with the trub whilst keeping the pellet sludge contained.

 

[dan125]

I have, but you won't like it.... Switch to whole hops, they're easier to filter out. lol Pellets just join in with the trub in blocking your filter and making a mess. I sound like a stuck record, but since I started using whole hops instead of pellets I am getting faster transfer and less trub in my FVs, meaning I can get more beer out when it comes to racking or bottling time. I've bought a large 300 micron hop bag so I can use up the pellets I still have in the freezer, combining them with whole hops to help with the trub whilst keeping the pellet sludge contained.

Yeah I always used to use whole hops in the kettle and pellets for dry hopping but have switched to pellets in the kettle to try to reduce wastage, especially when using loads of hops as a whirlpool addition. Looks like I'm gonna lose about 1.5L to get rid of the pellet debris out of the bottom of the FS though.
Might have to give whole hops another go as the pellets are becoming a right pita.

 

[AdeDunn]

Yeah, I lost more wort and beer messing around with pellet hops than I lose to whole hops. A deep trub in the FV tends to make it harder for me to transfer the beer for bottling as I can't just use the tap, and my tremor is a pig for stirring up the trub when using a syphon.... I found I was getting way more into the FV in the first place with whole hops too.

The con is my wife complaining that her freezer is full of hops... lmao My thinking though is, so long as I have SOME whole hops to form a filter bed, and then contain the pellets in a bag, I should still get all of the benefits of using whole hops on the occasions where I need to use pellets too.

 

[dan125]

So the spring SMASHoff has been postponed until July, so I'll have to brew a new one nearer the time.
This does mean I can spill the beans about the ingredients I used - Red X & Citra.
Its not bad now, at 23 days from brewday, but IMHO it could take a few more IBUs than the maximum 35 permissable to counter balance the maltiness of the RedX, and some dry hops wouldn't go amiss

 

[BeerCat]

@dan125 That red beer looks excellent mate! Great idea for s SMASH. Really enjoying the read and looking froward to testing out a fermnentasaurus soon.

 

[dan125]

@dan125 That red beer looks excellent mate! Great idea for s SMASH. Really enjoying the read and looking froward to testing out a fermnentasaurus soon.

Thanks - this one's a big improvement on last year's effort that I made using mild ale malt - it wasn't until I used it in a smash that I realised how much I disliked it.
I really like the FS and would thoroughly recommend, but it would be even better with a wider dump valve at the bottom.

 

[dan125]

This morning I've kegged/bottled the NEAPA and I'm now mashing in this badboy - mash temp was annoyingly a couple of degrees lower than planned thanks to the very cold weather:

 

[dan125]

I got a couple of % better efficiency out of the chevallier than expected, and boiled off a litre more than expected with a 90min boil, so ended up with 27L @ 1.055 and a slightly darker looking beer than planned. I did put in the whole 2L starter though as it didn't really get going until this morning so hadn't settled out - that will dilute the OG down a tiny bit I suppose.
Thanks to @EddtheBrew for the recipe inspiration - there'll be a bottle with your name on it.:Cheers: