Hazelwood Brewday

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’ve just realised I completely missed the brewday for the mild I brewed. Time to put that right. I may have mentioned I’ve never brewed a mild and actually can’t remember drinking one. My plight wasn’t helped by the fact I wasn’t able to get one in my local supermarkets and time was critical with this month’s competition being so close. Fortunately, the BJCP guide had all the info I need - probably!

I had a chew on my crystal malts and decided on a blend of three. Crystal 30 for sweetness and caramel, crystal 113 for caramel and toffee, and crystal 225 for toffee and toast. My grain bill would also include chocolate malt and toasted barley. I’d be looking for about 4% ABV, 25 IBUs and 25 SRM. Trusty calculator to hand I designed the beer while collecting some RO water.

All went according to plan and a nice looking ale went into the fermenter. This is the colour I got from base malts, darker crystal malt, roasted malts, and going into the fermenter. The dark crystal added later to the mash and the roasted malts at the end.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this one turns out. I used a similar water profile and mash regime as for my English bitter and I chose Wyeast 1318.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Today I’m brewing the last of four beers in this latest tranche and my fermentation cabinet will be full. This one is a stout.

Yesterday I brewed a bitter and as with the last time I brewed this bitter, I added the dark crystal malts later in the mash and the roasted malts toward the end of the mash. After 40 minutes mashing with just the pale and base malts I had a gravity of 1053 and a clear straw coloured wort.

I then added the dark crystal and 20 minutes later the gravity was 1056 and the wort was more amber coloured.

By now I’m into the mash out and with ten minutes to go the roasted malt went in. Ten minutes later the gravity had risen another couple of points and the colour darkened to a brown colour.

At the end the OG was 1048 and the wort going into the fermenter looked like this. A nice clear brown wort. I’ll let this ferment for a couple of weeks now and may even get a bottle into this month’s competition

Right, I think my mash water is up to temperature so back to the stout…

 

[Wynne]

Hi @Hazelwood Brewery, your mash schedule is interesting. What is your thinking behind the timing of the different malt additions? Have you tested it empirically? To date, I’ve mashed in all grains at the start of the mash to give the the amylase enzymes in the base malt the opportunity to breakdown dextrins and starches in the specialty malts as well as in the those in base malts themselves.

 

[Lynx Brewery]

Right, time to get those other beers brewed. First though I wanted to do some periodic maintenance and a deep clean for some of the bits of kit that get most grubby - fermenting buckets, hoses, bazooka. Done.

View attachment 52362 View attachment 52363

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Now to get another batch of bitter on…

Sparkling, Hazel. What do you use to get your silicone tubing looking like that?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Hi @Hazelwood Brewery, your mash schedule is interesting. What is your thinking behind the timing of the different malt additions? Have you tested it empirically? To date, I’ve mashed in all grains at the start of the mash to give the the amylase enzymes in the base malt the opportunity to breakdown dextrins and starches in the specialty malts as well as in the those in base malts themselves.

Hi Wynne,

I’ve only started doing this recently after feedback in one of the competitions that my bitter had a harsh bitterness to it - I didn’t really detect it myself but decided to change the water profile and the timing for darker malts and found it gave a smoother flavour so have adopted the approach where dark crystal and roasted malts are used. If you think about coffee, a ten minute steep with ground coffee is great but after an hour of stewing?

So far the only empirical evidence is one batch of bitter but I’ve also brewed another bitter, a mild, and a stout using the same approach. They are all in the fermenter at present.

The gravity (original and finishing) for my bitter has been unaffected by this change, my stout will be interesting because the gravity profile through the mash has been different - though ended up at the same OG. FG will be telling in terms of fermentable sugars but that’s a couple of weeks away.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Sparkling, Hazel. What do you use to get your silicone tubing looking like that?

Hi Lynx,

Amazon! Sorry to disappoint but I replaced the silicon tubing.

I used sodium percarbonate to clean the quick-disconnects, fermenters, and bazooka.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I kegged my latest batch of Czech Pilsner today, one day earlier than I’d planned in order to get a beer in the fermenter a day earlier - it will be going into this month’s competition and every day counts!

As it happens the pilsner had reached FG anyway at 1010 for an ABV of 5.78%.

 

[Wynne]

@Hazelwood Brewery I recently brewed a trial batch of your Summer Breeze, substituting the Galaxy with Cascade. Very nice! I’m looking forward to trying it with Galaxy when I get hold of some. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

@Hazelwood Brewery I recently brewed a trial batch of your Summer Breeze, substituting the Galaxy with Cascade. Very nice! I’m looking forward to trying it with Galaxy when I get hold of some. Thank you for sharing.

You’re very welcome. Cascade is a great hop (my “Pilgrim” beer uses Cascade and Citra) but I think you’ll like Summer Breeze with Galaxy.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Today’s the day for kegging my first Mild.

Other yeast I regularly use achieves the higher end of it’s published attenuation range so when designing this beer I made an assumption that this yeast would perform similarly. It actually delivered at the lower end of the attenuation range giving me an extra couple of points for a final gravity of 1013. This isn’t a problem though, I’m still well within the style guide and just over 3.5% is a good strength for a mild.

It isn’t quite clear so I’ll give this a few days in the keg before I bottle it and that will reduce the sediment in the bottle.

Flavour and vitals all fit the BJCP guide for a mild so I’m happy with that and looking forward to hearing what the judges have to say about it.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Today’s the day for kegging my first Mild.

Other yeast I regularly use achieves the higher end of it’s published attenuation range so when designing this beer I made an assumption that this yeast would perform similarly. It actually delivered at the lower end of the attenuation range giving me an extra couple of points for a final gravity of 1013. This isn’t a problem though, I’m still well within the style guide and just over 3.5% is a good strength for a mild.

View attachment 52848
It isn’t quite clear so I’ll give this a few days in the keg before I bottle it and that will reduce the sediment in the bottle.

Flavour and vitals all fit the BJCP guide for a mild so I’m happy with that and looking forward to hearing what the judges have to say about it.

What percentage of slops and fag ash did you add to the recipe

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

What percentage of slops and fag ash did you add to the recipe

That’s the exam question for the judges!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Time is ticking away for this months competition so I’m pleased to be kegging one of my bitters (not “Challenge”, that will be in the fermenter until the 26th). This one has hit all numbers on the nose so I expect a good beer. Just need to get it conditioned, carbed, packaged.

It’s already clear and is drinkable out of the fermenter but will improve a little over the next couple of weeks.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

The day has arrived, the 26th. Time to get my latest bitter into the keg ready for this month’s competition. Because it’s brewed last-minute and with just a hint of jeopardy, this one is temporarily named “Challenge”.

It’s a little lighter in colour than my regular recipe but is just as clear out of the fermenter. The flavour is also a little lighter, a touch more fruity, and the yeast character is more evident. It hasn’t conditioned yet of course but already I like this batch a lot.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Also kegged today is my latest batch of stout. This was ready to keg a few days ago but I didn’t have any free kegs at the time - I managed to free up three over the last few days so I now have one empty after I’ve kegged the bitter and the stout. I don’t like having an empty keg so I’ll soon be getting another brew on.

This is the stout. It’s difficult to see but I think it’s fairly clear.

Now, what to brew next

 

[moto748]

I have a batch of your stout here, Hazelwood, but only bottled on the 17/8, so not tried yet, I intend to give it at least another ten days or so before tasting.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I have a batch of your stout here, Hazelwood, but only bottled on the 17/8, so not tried yet, I intend to give it at least another ten days or so before tasting.

That’s very disciplined!

 

[moto748]

That’s very disciplined!

As I was saying to my mate the other day, I just get fed up with this situation where you've nibbled away at a batch, and then you get to the point where it's tasting really good, and realise you only have three or four bottles left!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

As I was saying to my mate the other day, I just get fed up with this situation where you've nibbled away at a batch, and then you get to the point where it's tasting really good, and realise you only have three or four bottles left!

That’s why I often get another batch on straight away!

 

[moto748]

I am reluctant to repeat a batch that I have not tasted yet. But I'm sure you have greater faith than I have! Anyway, I am now drinking a pint of oatmeal stout, and after three pints of Guinness in the pub, still thinking this is so much better!