I use BestMalz for Vienna, Munich, Pilsner, and wheat malt. I use Simpson’s for Maris Otter, and I use Hook Head for pale.
Hazelwood Brewday
- Thread starter Hazelwood Brewery
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Now I understand why you use THBC. Geterbrewed are great but the grain selection is limited
I used weyerman Vienna in my first batch...it's exploded! The Krausen is very thick and creamy..
As long as it’s nice, it’s perfect!
Brew-day done and all cleared up.
Next brew will be another Summer Breeze on the 9th.
The following brew-day will be the 13th and, inspired by the Fullers Vintage Ales, I’m going to make a Vintage Ale of my own - a strong dark ale around 7%-8%.
Next brew will be another Summer Breeze on the 9th.
The following brew-day will be the 13th and, inspired by the Fullers Vintage Ales, I’m going to make a Vintage Ale of my own - a strong dark ale around 7%-8%.
That sounds interesting. Cant wait to see your recipe. Will it be an adaptation of your Brown Ale?
I think with even your enthusiasm and best intentions you're on to a loser with this given the type of beer....
Yes it will.
My brown ale already has some similarities with the Fullers Vintage Ale. I’ll add some dark candi sugar, and will probably do a stepped mash.
I have yet to review the grain and hopping to see if I want to make any changes but if I do they will be small changes.
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I think with even your enthusiasm and best intentions you're on to a loser with this given the type of beer....
Would you be referring to the conditioning time?
How did you ever guess?
It does sound like an interesting project though...
Not a brew day but a day working on the brew-shed. I have a few jobs left over from the shed refit because these were associated with cooling and I wanted to restart my brewing activities. Now I need to finish off those jobs before the warmer weather. To start I needed to increase the air flow through the cooler enclosure because the temperature in the enclosure was rising too quickly when the cooler compressor was running.
This is the cooler during construction. There is a vent on the left side (hidden by the cooler) that allows cool fresh air in, and an Expelair on the right that blows hot air out.
In this picture I’ve removed my wine fridge and the flooring to give me access to the shed wall where the air intake is located. I also had to take most of my cornys and a couple of PB out to get access to the cooler inside the shed.
View inside
I’ve now increased the air intake vent fourfold and while I had access to the cooler I added 5 litres of glycol to the water bath so I can now take the coolant below freezing. The ratio of glycol/water allows me to take the coolant to -20C but I don’t think I’ll need to go below -5. We’ll see in the summer!
All back together again for now. The cooler enclosure is in the bottom right corner, under the PBs.
If the air flow is still not adequate I may have to replace the Expelair with a more powerful blower fan but I’ll not do that unless it’s needed because the Expelair is very quiet.
This is the cooler during construction. There is a vent on the left side (hidden by the cooler) that allows cool fresh air in, and an Expelair on the right that blows hot air out.
In this picture I’ve removed my wine fridge and the flooring to give me access to the shed wall where the air intake is located. I also had to take most of my cornys and a couple of PB out to get access to the cooler inside the shed.
View inside
I’ve now increased the air intake vent fourfold and while I had access to the cooler I added 5 litres of glycol to the water bath so I can now take the coolant below freezing. The ratio of glycol/water allows me to take the coolant to -20C but I don’t think I’ll need to go below -5. We’ll see in the summer!
All back together again for now. The cooler enclosure is in the bottom right corner, under the PBs.
If the air flow is still not adequate I may have to replace the Expelair with a more powerful blower fan but I’ll not do that unless it’s needed because the Expelair is very quiet.
I’ve just realised my first anniversary of having joined this forum was a few days ago - Happy Anniversary to me! 
I’m going to have to mark the occasion somehow so (apart from a drink or two to celebrate) I’m going to name the vintage ale I have planned to brew next Saturday as my “Anniversary Ale”. Now I just have to hope it’s a nice ale!
I’m going to have to mark the occasion somehow so (apart from a drink or two to celebrate) I’m going to name the vintage ale I have planned to brew next Saturday as my “Anniversary Ale”. Now I just have to hope it’s a nice ale!
Anniversary Ale ~ 7.5%
I decided to make a vintage ale along the lines of Fullers Vintage Ale because I really enjoyed the 2020 edition. My vintage ale will be based on my brown ale recipe. First the water profile and treatment:
From testing my tap water I have alkalinity of 280ppm and calcium is 150ppm. These are a little higher than I would like so I’ll first dilute my tap water 1:1 with RO water, this gives me 140ppm CaCO3 and 75ppm Ca.
The water report from the local water company publishes figures for Chloride and Sulphate. The range is not great and the averages are Cl:51 and SO4:72. Because I’ve diluted my tap water with RO water my figures will be Cl:26, SO4:36.
At the moment the water profile favours a hoppy ale and I’d like to accentuate the malt character so will add a little Calcium Chloride, 0.1g/l will lift my Chloride by 48ppm and Calcium by 27ppm. This works out quite nicely giving me this overall profile:
CaCO3:140, Cl:74, SO4:36, Ca:102
I’ll use 20 litres of mash water so my “ingredients” for this are:
I decided to make a vintage ale along the lines of Fullers Vintage Ale because I really enjoyed the 2020 edition. My vintage ale will be based on my brown ale recipe. First the water profile and treatment:
From testing my tap water I have alkalinity of 280ppm and calcium is 150ppm. These are a little higher than I would like so I’ll first dilute my tap water 1:1 with RO water, this gives me 140ppm CaCO3 and 75ppm Ca.
The water report from the local water company publishes figures for Chloride and Sulphate. The range is not great and the averages are Cl:51 and SO4:72. Because I’ve diluted my tap water with RO water my figures will be Cl:26, SO4:36.
At the moment the water profile favours a hoppy ale and I’d like to accentuate the malt character so will add a little Calcium Chloride, 0.1g/l will lift my Chloride by 48ppm and Calcium by 27ppm. This works out quite nicely giving me this overall profile:
CaCO3:140, Cl:74, SO4:36, Ca:102
I’ll use 20 litres of mash water so my “ingredients” for this are:
- 10 litres RO water
- 10 litres tap water
- 1/4 campden tablet
- 2g calcium chloride
Next for my Anniversary Ale, the grain bill. Because this is based on my brown ale recipe I have a starting point but have made some changes. For example, I’ve reduced the quantity of torrified wheat because with longer conditioning the head from torrified wheat becomes more full and more “plastic”. I’ve also added in some melanoidin for maltiness and reduced the Vienna accordingly.
2.6Kg Pale Malt
1.8Kg Vienna Malt
250g Melanoidin Malt
200g Crystal 250
200g Brown malt EBC 140
150g Chocolate Malt 900 EBC
100g Torrified Wheat
I’m going to use a stepped mash for this ale because I was a well attenuated beer but I also want body. It’s not easy to get both using a single infusion mash. Also, because I’m using brown malt and that can be a bit mucky, I want to increase the beta-glucanase I get from my mash so will include a beta-glucanase rest in the profile. This is the stepped mash profile I’m planning and the rationale:
113F, 15m - beta glucanase (clear haze)
142F, 40m - beta amylase (fermentable)
152F, 20m - alpha & beta amylase
158F, 20m - alpha amylase (body)
170F, 10m - denature enzymes to “lock-in“ the wort profile.
2.6Kg Pale Malt
1.8Kg Vienna Malt
250g Melanoidin Malt
200g Crystal 250
200g Brown malt EBC 140
150g Chocolate Malt 900 EBC
100g Torrified Wheat
I’m going to use a stepped mash for this ale because I was a well attenuated beer but I also want body. It’s not easy to get both using a single infusion mash. Also, because I’m using brown malt and that can be a bit mucky, I want to increase the beta-glucanase I get from my mash so will include a beta-glucanase rest in the profile. This is the stepped mash profile I’m planning and the rationale:
113F, 15m - beta glucanase (clear haze)
142F, 40m - beta amylase (fermentable)
152F, 20m - alpha & beta amylase
158F, 20m - alpha amylase (body)
170F, 10m - denature enzymes to “lock-in“ the wort profile.
I’m still not decided on the volume of sparge water, I might go for 10 litres to get a worthy 23 litres in my PB. TBC.
Bittering will most likely be Magnum, it’s clean and has high Alpha acids so I won’t have to use very much.
Flavouring hops will be a blend to get a range of fruity herbal piney spicy notes which I’m hoping will lead to a complex but not confused hoppiness. I want the hop flavour to be there but muted so there will be one fairly small addition and no dry hop additions. Again, this is not decided yet but I’m thinking:
10g Magnum, AA=15.3%, 60m, 20 IBU
15g Simcoe, AA=13.2%, 10 min, 5 IBU
15g Mosaic, AA=11.3%, 10 min, 4.5 IBU
15g Bramling X, AA=5%, 10 min, 2 IBU
15g Citra, AA=13.6%, 10 min, 5.5 IBU
This should give all the flavour notes and provide somewhere between 35 and 40 IBU.
Because this is to be a stronger ale I’m going to add 2Kg of dark candi sugar. This will thin the beer a little but I think the stepped mash will provide enough body to accommodate it.
Yeast will be MJ M42 New World Strong Ale and I’ll make a starter because the OG will be quite high and I only have one pack. It will need a bit of help devouring such a feast.
So that’s it, just need to decide on the sparge volume and mull over the flavour hop combination - there might be one too many hops in the mix.
Bittering will most likely be Magnum, it’s clean and has high Alpha acids so I won’t have to use very much.
Flavouring hops will be a blend to get a range of fruity herbal piney spicy notes which I’m hoping will lead to a complex but not confused hoppiness. I want the hop flavour to be there but muted so there will be one fairly small addition and no dry hop additions. Again, this is not decided yet but I’m thinking:
10g Magnum, AA=15.3%, 60m, 20 IBU
15g Simcoe, AA=13.2%, 10 min, 5 IBU
15g Mosaic, AA=11.3%, 10 min, 4.5 IBU
15g Bramling X, AA=5%, 10 min, 2 IBU
15g Citra, AA=13.6%, 10 min, 5.5 IBU
This should give all the flavour notes and provide somewhere between 35 and 40 IBU.
Because this is to be a stronger ale I’m going to add 2Kg of dark candi sugar. This will thin the beer a little but I think the stepped mash will provide enough body to accommodate it.
Yeast will be MJ M42 New World Strong Ale and I’ll make a starter because the OG will be quite high and I only have one pack. It will need a bit of help devouring such a feast.
So that’s it, just need to decide on the sparge volume and mull over the flavour hop combination - there might be one too many hops in the mix.
Hi H, i think the bramling x may have a bit of a fight on it,s hands there 
Hi H, i think the bramling x may have a bit of a fight on it,s hands there
I like Bramling Cross but you might be right, it is the wildcard in this line-up.
Just had a look at the hop chart these are the alternatives, U.K. Kent Golding, U.K. Progress, Whitbread Golding Variety
