Hazelwood Brewday

[Hazelwood Brewery]

In post #232 I said I was going to try a different dry hop regime for my Summer Breeze which involved a daily dry hop addition from day 5. I was a bit worried about oxidisation but I don’t think that’s happened - I’m not tasting oxidised beer.

When it finished fermenting I got hop burn from the beer so it is definitely different.

Tasting the beer again tonight, it’s still quite murky, the aroma is strong but most of the smell is Galaxy and ALL the dry hopping was Citra! The hop burn has faded but the beer is more bitter than I’d planned. I don’t mind an assertive bitterness but most of the people I know prefer less bitterness than this so I need to revert to my old regime or adjust the bittering additions accordingly.

It is nice but I think in all honesty the older regime gives a better beer and without the fear of oxidisation.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

In post #238 I started an experiment where I wanted to brew four beers that were the same except each is flavoured with a different hop, and then blend those beers in various combinations to see which I prefer. I’ll then see if I can make a beer that is similar to the blended beer.

Here are my four candidate beers. From left to right: Azzaca, Simcoe, Ella, Citra.

Welcome to the pleasure dome!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

From the first round there is a clear winner for me. Using a very crude score out of 5 for preference I came up with the scores below. Some of the combos were quite surprising to me, for example I love Azzaca and I love Simcoe but the two are not so good together (for my palate of course). Adding Citra to the two, how does that work

1:1 Azzaca Simcoe = 2
1:1 Azzaca Ella = 3
1:1 Azzaca Citra = 3
1:1 Simcoe Ella = 3
1:1 Simcoe Citra = 4
1:1 Ella Citra = 2
1:1:1 Azzaca Simcoe Ella = 4
1:1:1 Azzaca Simcoe Citra = 5
1:1:1 Azzaca Ella Citra = 4
1:1:1 Simcoe Ella Citra = 4
1:1:1:1 Azzaca Simcoe Ella Citra = 3

 

[Pennine]

From the first round there is a clear winner for me. Using a very crude score out of 5 for preference I came up with the scores below. Some of the combos were quite surprising to me, for example I love Azzaca and I love Simcoe but the two are not so good together (for my palate of course). Adding Citra to the two, how does that work

1:1 Azzaca Simcoe = 2
1:1 Azzaca Ella = 3
1:1 Azzaca Citra = 3
1:1 Simcoe Ella = 3
1:1 Simcoe Citra = 4
1:1 Ella Citra = 2
1:1:1 Azzaca Simcoe Ella = 4
1:1:1 Azzaca Simcoe Citra = 5
1:1:1 Azzaca Ella Citra = 4
1:1:1 Simcoe Ella Citra = 4
1:1:1:1 Azzaca Simcoe Ella Citra = 3

so basically the data says 3 hops are the optimal combination. I think that has been my experience too.

just out of curiosity what would you rate them individually?

great idea for an experiment.

 

[DocAnna]

Dry hopped my Citra Pale today. The beer looked really clean despite being only 5 days in the fermenter. This one could be good

Anything with Citra tastes good in my book :) . Good to hear it already tastes good - it’s hard to resist adding it to everything. I’ve even been wondering whether I could dry hop a white wine with Citra.

[EDIT oops didn’t realise I was replying to a post from Monday. My bad]

Anna

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

so basically the data says 3 hops are the optimal combination. I think that has been my experience too.

just out of curiosity what would you rate them individually?

great idea for an experiment.

Great observation, yes!
(“data“ is too grand a word for what I’m doing but thank you for indulging me! )

I think individually my preference might actually be Simcoe but I do like Azzaca and Citra. Citra has been a little disappointing recently though so maybe it’s just not had such a good year in 2019?

For me Ella is the weakest link in the bunch.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Anything with Citra tastes good in my book :) . Good to hear it already tastes good - it’s hard to resist adding it to everything. I’ve even been wondering whether I could dry hop a white wine with Citra.

[EDIT oops didn’t realise I was replying to a post from Monday. My bad]

Anna

Time passes quickly when you’re having fun. A Citra hopped white wine? You have my interest!

 

[Pennine]

Great observation, yes!
(“data“ is too grand a word for what I’m doing but thank you for indulging me! )

I think individually my preference might actually be Simcoe but I do like Azzaca and Citra. Citra has been a little disappointing recently though so maybe it’s just not had such a good year in 2019?

For me Ella is the weakest link in the bunch.

Yeah agreed citra has been disappointing. Where do you buy your hops from? Wonder if it is distributor related?

What kind of 1-5 rating would you give your single hopped Simcoe? I am very curious how single hopped beers relate compared to combinations.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Yeah agreed citra has been disappointing. Where do you buy your hops from? Wonder if it is distributor related?

What kind of 1-5 rating would you give your single hopped Simcoe? I am very curious how single hopped beers relate compared to combinations.

Different places, most often the Homebrew Company. The last lot of Citra though came from Crossmyloof - I don’t use Crossmyloof often so can’t say if they are generally good or not but others on the forum rate them.

As a single hop maybe 3.5 for Simcoe?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Many people will know I had to tip some beer (40 pints so far) because the beer over-heated in the mini heat-wave we had recently. I may yet have to dump another 40 pints. I also tried cooling my beer by making a cooling jacket and using freezer blocks. That was actually quite successful but isn’t practical when you brew as many beers as I do - yes “greedy” is probably appropriate

So now I have a project on my hands and will keep you updated. I’ve already ordered a Maxi 310, some heat exchangers and some fans. More to come...

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Tonight I kegged my Citra Pale Ale from post #263. Exactly on the money finishing at 1006, it’s clean looking and clean tasting so with just a little luck it should be a good ‘un.

 

[Pennine]

Different places, most often the Homebrew Company. The last lot of Citra though came from Crossmyloof - I don’t use Crossmyloof often so can’t say if they are generally good or not but others on the forum rate them.

As a single hop maybe 3.5 for Simcoe?

sorry I missed this 3.5 isn't bad for simcoe.

yeah I have bought citra from HBC, geterbrewed, and malt Miller and have been generally dissapointed with all of them so likely the crop year. I was considering buying a kg or two direct from Yakima once the 2020 lot is released, should be soon.

also that centennial ipa I sent you is almost the exact same situation, centennial lately has had this weird flavor I don't like much, kind of an herbal woody thing and not like the flowery grapefruit I used to get. I was almost wondering if this was being grown in the Midwest rather than the west coast it's so different. anyway don't be too dissapointed it's just a mediocre beer.

edit: I also tried both leaf and pellet hops of citra and bother were similar and bland.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

sorry I missed this 3.5 isn't bad for simcoe.

yeah I have bought citra from HBC, geterbrewed, and malt Miller and have been generally dissapointed with all of them so likely the crop year. I was considering buying a kg or two direct from Yakima once the 2020 lot is released, should be soon.

also that centennial ipa I sent you is almost the exact same situation, centennial lately has had this weird flavor I don't like much, kind of an herbal woody thing and not like the flowery grapefruit I used to get. I was almost wondering if this was being grown in the Midwest rather than the west coast it's so different. anyway don't be too dissapointed it's just a mediocre beer.

edit: I also tried both leaf and pellet hops of citra and bother were similar and bland.

If you’re getting subdued or changed flavours from more than one hop maybe there is something else going on. Have you changed your brewing process, switched to a different grain supplier, started to favour a different yeast, been fermenting at a different temperature, changed your water profile, etc.?

I’ve only noticed a lack of usual oomph with Citra. Mind you, I’ve barely used Centennial so I wouldn’t have noticed any change there.

 

[Pennine]

If you’re getting subdued or changed flavours from more than one hop maybe there is something else going on. Have you changed your brewing process, switched to a different grain supplier, started to favour a different yeast, been fermenting at a different temperature, changed your water profile, etc.?

I’ve only noticed a lack of usual oomph with Citra. Mind you, I’ve barely used Centennial so I wouldn’t have noticed any change there.

ha well yeah everything different water, malts, hops, country. You might be right though, although I drank quite a few 2 hearted ales earlier this year and still got the typical centennial flavor but the recent centennials fro two suppliers have been very off and different. maybe I will bulk order some of those too?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

...so now I have a project on my hands and will keep you updated. I’ve already ordered a Maxi 310, some heat exchangers and some fans. More to come...

I’ve ordered some more bits to build the temperature control panel. This is going to control the temperature of the brewshed and the fermentation cupboard, and will drive cooling for a python when there is spare cooling capacity. The cooling system looks a bit like this:



Cooling comes from a Maxi 310 chiller and I’m using the built-in recirculation pump to circulate coolant into a manifold with three outlets each controlled by a motorised ball valve. Only one will be open at any time with the fermenter getting priority, the brewshed next, and the python gets what it’s given as last priority.

I’ll be using these Inkbird temperature controllers, one for the fermenter and one for the shed.



The ITC has contacts that close when heating is required or when cooling is required.



The heating outputs will be used to drive relays and supply mains power to heaters in the fermenter and shed.

I need to take the cooling outputs from the two ITCs and make them drive three motorised valves - but only one to be open at a time because the flow is not intended to be split three ways and could be insufficient.

This is the design I came up with for cooling control. The ITCs only show the cooling output for clarity.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Pretty much all the bits for the control panel have arrived now, just some cable glands arriving today. Time to get building...

 

[Buffers brewery]

I saw this and thought of you.....

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I saw this and thought of you.....
View attachment 33442

Applies to us both I think!

 

[Buffers brewery]

Applies to us both I think!

Some might say that mine would say “Say, there’s got to be a more complicated way to do this”

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Did most of the work on the relay board last night and finished this morning.

Next job is to wire up the power supply, the ITCs, the motorised valves, and the “valve open” LEDs so I can give it a test.