Clear as a bellJust after kegging the bitter this afternoon I also kegged my latest Mild but didn’t post at the time because I was in a rush to get to the pub! I think this might be a good one too
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Hazelwood’s Brewday Part 2
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By the looks of those pictures you’ve posted who needs a pub? Your in one alreadyJust after kegging the bitter this afternoon I also kegged my latest Mild but didn’t post at the time because I was in a rush to get to the pub! I think this might be a good one too
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Variety is the spice of life! 
What I like about you H is that you simply don't waste a minute!
This is enforced by your earlier statement of.."in a rush to get to the pub".
This is enforced by your earlier statement of.."in a rush to get to the pub".
Thinking about it I’m always in a rush to get to the pub! 
Today I’m brewing another batch of my Czech Pilsner. It’s a very simple recipe (Pilsner malt, Saaz hops, M54 yeast) but very popular. The mash is in progress and 20 minutes in I’m reading a pH of 5.28 and gravity of 1043. The 100% Pilsner malt will get 90 minutes at 148F (64.4C) and a 20 minute mash-out at 170F (76.7C).
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I have one of those 9l kegs..I put the priming sugar in the keg fill it..then bottle from that keg..then I fill it again and force carb that half. The first half does a good job of purging the keg before filling the second time.Just bottled 9l of Belgian IPA and forced carbed the other half. Last year brewed a Witbier and did the same thing so I could rouse the yeast, the keg half was crystal clear after 2 weeks.
How do you photograph your hydrometer? I really need to learn this as my eyes really struggle to read mine sometimes.
Sparging now. I’m very pleased with the mash, after 90 minutes at 148F the gravity was 1056 according to my refractometer and after another 20 minutes at 170F the gravity was still 1056. I’m going to assume this means full extraction within the beta saccharification range and if so, this should give me a highly fermentable wort.
I’m using a fly sparge and employing my recirculating Valentine arm for maximum efficiency. All looking very good at this point.
I’m using a fly sparge and employing my recirculating Valentine arm for maximum efficiency. All looking very good at this point.
I just hold it to my phone camera lens. It’s a little bit fiddly to start but you soon get the hang of it. Here’s a picture of me doing it using my wife’s phone. Not such a good image trying to do it one-handed but you get the idea.
That's going to come in really handy during today's brew day. Thanks!
Pre-boil gravity was 1050 after sparging with 8 litres. Boil is done and now chilling down to 70F ready for the fermenter.
The brew-day is done. Original gravity was 1056 so a couple of points higher than my last batch, if I also get a low FG this might be export strength!
The wort going into the fermenter was nice and clear and I collected 20 litres, now in the fermentation cabinet.
The wort going into the fermenter was nice and clear and I collected 20 litres, now in the fermentation cabinet.
Today I’ve kegged my first ever Altbier. It meets all the vitals according to BJCP and seems to meet the description of the aroma and flavour. Appearance not so much, brilliantly clear it’s not - yet! The final gravity is 1014 and ABV is 4.46%, 26 IBUs.
Today I have an unplanned brew-day on account of me screwing up my last batch of Summer Breeze. The mash is under way and at the 20 minute mark I have a pH of 5.20 and gravity of 1042(ish).
Sparge in progress after a 90 minute mash (gravity 1058) and a 20 minute mash-out (gravity 1062).
Runnings are looking nice and clear, the recirculation does a good job of lautering.
Runnings are looking nice and clear, the recirculation does a good job of lautering.
Pre-boil gravity was 1049 so 1 point lower than expected. The rest of the brew went to plan ending up with 20 litres in the fermenter (with a tap) and an OG of 1053, 1 point higher than expected!
I’ve had quite a busy day today, kegging a beer and preparing for a double brew-day tomorrow - bitter and stout.
Speaking of stout some of you will know I’ve been wanting to improve my beers and in the case of stout I wanted a smoother flavour and a creamy head. I’ve made some progress here as you can see from this picture but I’ve learned a few things along the way so if you like stout and share my desire for a smooth nitro-stout, strap in…
On the subject of smooth flavour, this is of course a personal preference and many will argue a dry Irish stout is a different animal - agreed. That’s not what I want however. To achieve that smooth flavour I now cold-steep the roast grains. I did previously try adding the roast grains at the end of the mash but this didn’t go far enough. Here’s a picture of the dark grains steeping - this is 600g roast barley and 200g chocolate malt in 4l liquor. The grains are steeped overnight and the steeped liquor separated from the grain.
I initially added the steeping liquor at flameout and while this did produce a very smooth flavour there was also a raw grain flavour. The solution is to add the steeping liquor 10 minutes before the end of the boil to cook out that raw flavour.
The nitro dispense needs a different bottle of gas, 30/70 mixed gas (30% CO2, 70% Nitrogen). Mixed gas has a different fitting for the primary regulator so you also need a different primary regulator. Finally, you need a stout spout which is much like a regular tap spout but has a disk with about five small holes in it that the stout flows through - more on this in a moment.
A little bit of science (not hard) is needed to understand nitro-stout. Using regular 100% CO2 carbonation the CO2 easily dissolves in your beer and at dispense that dissolved CO2 is eager to escape and forms lots of big bubbles that rush to the surface coalescing into bigger bubbles on the way up and forming the head.
When using mixed gas the CO2 behaves just the same as above but Nitrogen doesn’t easily dissolve in your beer. It will do so though at high pressure and I’ll come back to this shortly.
Despite being hard to get into your beer, once there nitrogen isn’t in any rush to escape (related to the abundance of nitrogen in the atmosphere) and so a stout spout is used to create turbulence and encourage the nitrogen to form small bubbles - these create that creamy head. Because nitrogen is in no rush to escape the bubbles don’t rush to the surface or coalesce as quickly and that head can last. The CO2 in the meantime is desperate to get out and creates that cascading effect - the CO2 is tumbling the nitrogen bubbles! You’ll see you need the nitrogen for the creamy head of tiny tight bubbles and you need the CO2 for that cascading effect, if the balance is wrong one or the other effect will not be as good. This brings me back to pressure and I’m still talking 30/70 here. To get the right effect you need high pressure, depended on temperature of course. For my stout at about 12C the required pressure for carbonation and dispense is 52psi - yes, really. I tried lower pressure and you do get the head at about 45psi but no cascade.
Another interesting adventure…
Speaking of stout some of you will know I’ve been wanting to improve my beers and in the case of stout I wanted a smoother flavour and a creamy head. I’ve made some progress here as you can see from this picture but I’ve learned a few things along the way so if you like stout and share my desire for a smooth nitro-stout, strap in…
On the subject of smooth flavour, this is of course a personal preference and many will argue a dry Irish stout is a different animal - agreed. That’s not what I want however. To achieve that smooth flavour I now cold-steep the roast grains. I did previously try adding the roast grains at the end of the mash but this didn’t go far enough. Here’s a picture of the dark grains steeping - this is 600g roast barley and 200g chocolate malt in 4l liquor. The grains are steeped overnight and the steeped liquor separated from the grain.
I initially added the steeping liquor at flameout and while this did produce a very smooth flavour there was also a raw grain flavour. The solution is to add the steeping liquor 10 minutes before the end of the boil to cook out that raw flavour.
The nitro dispense needs a different bottle of gas, 30/70 mixed gas (30% CO2, 70% Nitrogen). Mixed gas has a different fitting for the primary regulator so you also need a different primary regulator. Finally, you need a stout spout which is much like a regular tap spout but has a disk with about five small holes in it that the stout flows through - more on this in a moment.
A little bit of science (not hard) is needed to understand nitro-stout. Using regular 100% CO2 carbonation the CO2 easily dissolves in your beer and at dispense that dissolved CO2 is eager to escape and forms lots of big bubbles that rush to the surface coalescing into bigger bubbles on the way up and forming the head.
When using mixed gas the CO2 behaves just the same as above but Nitrogen doesn’t easily dissolve in your beer. It will do so though at high pressure and I’ll come back to this shortly.
Despite being hard to get into your beer, once there nitrogen isn’t in any rush to escape (related to the abundance of nitrogen in the atmosphere) and so a stout spout is used to create turbulence and encourage the nitrogen to form small bubbles - these create that creamy head. Because nitrogen is in no rush to escape the bubbles don’t rush to the surface or coalesce as quickly and that head can last. The CO2 in the meantime is desperate to get out and creates that cascading effect - the CO2 is tumbling the nitrogen bubbles! You’ll see you need the nitrogen for the creamy head of tiny tight bubbles and you need the CO2 for that cascading effect, if the balance is wrong one or the other effect will not be as good. This brings me back to pressure and I’m still talking 30/70 here. To get the right effect you need high pressure, depended on temperature of course. For my stout at about 12C the required pressure for carbonation and dispense is 52psi - yes, really. I tried lower pressure and you do get the head at about 45psi but no cascade.
Another interesting adventure…
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I have been thinking of adding mixed gas and a suitable regulator to my setup, perhaps once I get a replacement kegerator. How much you paying for mixed gas and what reg do you have?
This is my first bottle so I paid £55 deposit on the bottle and £22 for the gas, 6Kg.
The primary regulator is this ODL regulator and secondary is one of my Redditch Controls regs.
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