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What's your starter recipe @foxbat ? I'd guess you're not checking the gravity every time but rather you just know from experience it's X amount of DME, Y off water and boil for Z minutes???

But it seems like you vary the volume of the starter depending what you're doing - so maybe the amounts change but the ratios are the same?
 
What's your starter recipe @foxbat ? I'd guess you're not checking the gravity every time but rather you just know from experience it's X amount of DME, Y off water and boil for Z minutes???

But it seems like you vary the volume of the starter depending what you're doing - so maybe the amounts change but the ratios are the same?
I use 100g DME per litre of Ashbeck and a simmering boil for 10 minutes to sterilise it with the lid on to stop it boiling off. I've never measured the FG of a starter before but this time given that I'd managed to carbonate it (🤦‍♂️) I thought I'd check that all was well!
 
Oops. I said that the previous time I made a starter with this yeast and it overflowed I was using a 2 litre flask. Well apparently I can't read my own write-ups because I actually used a 3 litre flask - the same as this time - and it overflowed.

Here's what it looks like now after 21 hours. I hope this is high krausen.

1B4IIoh.jpg


I've given the whole foil area and flask a good spray with Starsan in anticipation of the same mess as last time.
 
Time for an update on my Simple Autumn Ale. It's conditioned, carbonated and I've been drinking it for a couple of weeks now:

w3IiToU.jpg


The Archer hops are not like any other UK hop I've tasted before. I get the peach and apricot flavours that they say you're supposed to get and they're rather pleasant. I think they'd go well with Fuggle.

The Brewlab Yorkshire yeast has cleared up quickly and has left behind a nice bright beer. Despite finishing at 1.004 the main characteristic I get from this yeast is a smooth, rich and silky full mouthfeel. I still can't identify the brewery which is annoying given that I'm from 'up there' and really ought to get it. Maybe after a few more brews!
 
Today was brew day for my Landlord-style bitter. The overflowing Brewlab Yorkshire yeast starter was taken off the stir plate after 3 days on Friday night, 500ml saved back in a kilner jar and the remaining litre chilled until today. I seemed to make a lot of yeast this time even allowing for some of it stuck in sticky chunks around the neck of the flask!

The recipe today has a few changes from my usual procedure. The first is that shock horror I'm not brewing with Ashbeck this time. The reason for this is that I want to test out Brewlab's claim that this yeast favours a high-mineral wort and with all the gypsum Ashbeck's bicarb level would result in a low mash pH somewhere in the 4's.

So for the first time in as long as I can remember I'm not brewing with Ashbeck. Instead I'll be using what Tesco sell as Elmhurst (you can get the same water under other names at other supermarkets). The base profile for Elmhust is Ca:40 Mg:14 Na:6 SO4:6 Cl:11 CaCO3:136 so it's a low mineral water with a medium alkalinity. I'll need to beef it up with a lot of additions to even get close to what Murphy's consider to be a good profile for a bitter. Here's the recipe:

Code:
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Date: 14 November 2021
Batch Size (fermenter): 24.00 L   
Estimated OG: 1.042 SG
Estimated Color: 16.5 EBC
Estimated IBU: 38.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.6 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Water profile: Ca:236 Mg:39 Na:6 SO4:353 Cl:177

Ingredients:
------------
Amt        Name                                              Type         %/IBU    
29.41 L    Tesco Elmhurst                                    Water        -        
10.70 g    Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash)                   Water Agent  -        
6.30 g     Calcium Chloride (Mash)                           Water Agent  -        
6.10 g     Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash)                         Water Agent  -        
3.500 kg   Crisp Maris Otter (7.9 EBC)                       Grain        81.7 %   
0.750 kg   Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner (4.0 EBC)              Grain        17.5 %   
0.035 kg   Weyermann Carafa II  (1150.0 EBC)                 Grain        0.8 %    
2.20 g     Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Sparge)                 Water Agent  -        
1.30 g     Calcium Chloride (Sparge)                         Water Agent  -        
1.30 g     Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Sparge)                       Water Agent  -        
28.00 g    East Kent Goldings (EKG) [6.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop          22.1 IBUs
28.00 g    Styrian Goldings [4.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop          13.0 IBUs
20.00 g    Styrian Goldings [4.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min         Hop          3.4 IBUs 
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 7.0 mins)                  Fining       -        
1.0 pkg    Brewlab Yorkshire (Brewlab #Yorkshire)            Yeast        -        

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 4.285 kg
----------------------------
Name                      Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Mash In                   Add 24.44 L of water at 74.6 C          68.9 C        60 min        

Sparge: Dunk sparge with 5L

I expected it to be difficult to dissolve 12.9g of gypsum and indeed it was. Even after splitting it into a couple of grams a time and using a stick blender I still ended up with a small amount of it sitting undissolved on the bottom of the kettle.

A0qMtAP.jpg


I had a bit of pilsner malt left over from all the lager brewing so I used some of that along with the more traditional Maris Otter and some Carafa II to adjust the colour. I mashed in at 68C, a little higher than usual to try to stop the yeast attenuating all the way down to 1.004 like it did last time.

I0N7hhR.jpg


I got the planned 24 litres of wort and was able to chill quickly down to 22C.

hsbWbu2.jpg


Extraction was higher than planned and I ended up with an OG of 1.044. High efficiency seems to be a feature of Crisp Maris Otter for me so I'm going to start bumping up my expected efficiency in future brews. Although this started off as a Landlord recipe I can see that a combination of the high efficiency and the high yeast attenuation means that I'm probably in for a Landlord ESB at the end of the day.

It's now sitting in the Brewfridge at 20C with the blowoff tube routed through the keg that will hold this beer so it gets CO2 purged during fermentation.
 
It's that recipe really right @foxbat , it's just MO plus a bit of Carafa for colour? I'm stunned that there's no crystal malt in there!
Yes that's the recipe from the Camra book: all pale malt with some black malt for colour. Makes you wonder if the brewery is using something that's difficult for homebrewers to get hold of like invert sugar.
 
Yes that's the recipe from the Camra book: all pale malt with some black malt for colour. Makes you wonder if the brewery is using something that's difficult for homebrewers to get hold of like invert sugar.
I did this one a few months ago, using Golden Promise and a touch of 150 crystal. I was going to add a small amount of black malt, but had forgotten to buy it! It's my best brew to date, sadly running out of bottles. I bought a landlord from Tesco to compare (mainly to see how the colours match), but haven't managed to do that yet. I top skimmed my 1469 when brewing, hoping to use it again soon. I may have to brew this again with it. Thx for you write up regarding how you did your starter, will be very useful for me. 👍
 
I did this one a few months ago, using Golden Promise and a touch of 150 crystal. I was going to add a small amount of black malt, but had forgotten to buy it! It's my best brew to date, sadly running out of bottles. I bought a landlord from Tesco to compare (mainly to see how the colours match), but haven't managed to do that yet. I top skimmed my 1469 when brewing, hoping to use it again soon. I may have to brew this again with it. Thx for you write up regarding how you did your starter, will be very useful for me. 👍
Good to hear that you found it to be a good recipe even with some small changes. I'm sure I won't notice the pilsner malt that I subbed in to mine. Fermentation had kicked off at pace this morning so I'm on track.
 
Good to hear that you found it to be a good recipe even with some small changes. I'm sure I won't notice the pilsner malt that I subbed in to mine. Fermentation had kicked off at pace this morning so I'm on track.
I looked around when making mine and mostly followed the recipe in this thread

https://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41529
A few posts down someone said their recipe won Silver in a competition, so I thought I'd give that a go rather than the one in BYOBB. I didn't have Worcester hops so just used Goldings (or EKG). I need to start looking at my water profile and slowly think about making changes when needed. Thankfully a tablet addition the night before is working great. 🍻
 
Hey Foxbat
Been meaning to ask you for a while. Where did you source yourtight scale hydrometer from ( 1.020 - 1.000).
Any advice will be very much appreciated.
Regards
Patch
It's a Herculometer by Northern Brewer. I bought it from Beerhawk in the UK some years back when they were importing NB products which sadly they don't seem to do any more.
 
Indeed - I got my finishing hydrometer from the old incarnation of Hop and Grape and it's invaluable for someone as geeky as me, it's a lot more accurate than 1.060 ones. I have mentioned it to the Malt Miller guys but they didn't seem too interested - I guess they would much rather sell Tilts!
 
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