Hello,
Yesterday I brewed a "Cardinal's Ale" mini-mash kit from the Design a Brew range in the UK. I also wanted some more hop aroma similar to that of UBU from the Warwicksire-based Purity brewery, so I added some Cascade hops at the end of the boil.
When testing the OG once in the FV, I was a bit concerned at the level of bitterness, so thought I'd post here to see if anyone has any thoughts / reassurance / 'oh you buffoon' type comments to make.
So, in brief, but with what I think are the key facts, this is what I did.
Heated 11l of water to 68c. Steeped the grains in a grain bag for 35mins at 67c. Removed them.
Dissolved the Breiss Light LME x 3kg and 0.5kg Breiss Light DME, and tried to bring it to the boil. I only have an electric hob, and it struggled with the size of the pan (18l with about 13l in it) so after 40mins of watching the temp struggle to get above 75c, I scooped some out in my sterilised jug and put it into an 8l stockpot and a large saucepan, where it boiled no problem on other rings on the hob. For the rest of the boil, I never managed to get the large stockpot to boil. It is a new purchase specifically for this, and I am somewhat disappointed, however I should have known and did suspect, but thought I'd give it a go anyway..... You've got to experiment, eh?
So, I did a 1 hr boil in the 8l stockpot with about 6l of wort in it, and with the hops from the kit from the start, which I assumed are for bitterness. I asked in the shop and they said they were Goldings.
I then added 30g Cascade at 15mins and another 15g at 5 mins.
When the boil finished, the majority of the wort had not reached the boil in the large stockpot, so I may have an issue with the volume of the smaller boil with all of the hops in. Attenuation...?
I then tried to cool the hoppy boiled wort in a sink with a gently running cold tap taking the heat down the overflow, but I saw no cold break. The larger pot I simply tipped into the FV and added cold water to bring the temp down to about 37c. It had managed to get up to about 98c after an hour!
Once the boiled wort was down to about 40c, which took about 20 mins in the sink, I added this into the FV, too, and topped up to 20l with cold water.
I have another concern here that the cascade hops, rather than simply adding aroma, have also added bitterness due to the slow cooling, and may have continued to change from aroma to bitterness during the cool. I also think 15 mins may have been a bit too long in the boil for aroma alone. Hindsight, eh? Having said that, this is what was suggested in the shop when I was describing what I wanted the end result to be....
So, once all this was done I had 20l in the FV (I've brewed it short, it should be 22.5l, but I wanted a bit more strength) at an OG of 1056. It was a bit warm to pitch the yeast so I've let it cool overnight to 22c and pitched this morning.
The bitterness came from when I tasted it from the hydrometer testing jar, and the hop pellet dust had pretty much all settled out by the time I tasted it, just before bedtime. Didn't mix well with the subsequent toothpaste!
So, my main thoughts are that :
1) everything is fine, time, fermentation and conditioning will do their thing and the bitterness will mellow down. I am brewing for Christmas, so this would be perfect.
2) My concerns are founded, for one or more reasons as described above, and I need to see how it turns out and if undrinkable, then tip it, or give it away as Christmas presents to unkind relatives.
All thoughts and comments welcome, please. As I said, this is the first time I've added hops to a kit to 'tweak' it, and I may have simply got it wrong.
Oh, and I now need to get hold of a gas ring to get the boil going properly in the bigger pan, or simply stop being stingy and splash out on a proper boiler!
Dog.
Yesterday I brewed a "Cardinal's Ale" mini-mash kit from the Design a Brew range in the UK. I also wanted some more hop aroma similar to that of UBU from the Warwicksire-based Purity brewery, so I added some Cascade hops at the end of the boil.
When testing the OG once in the FV, I was a bit concerned at the level of bitterness, so thought I'd post here to see if anyone has any thoughts / reassurance / 'oh you buffoon' type comments to make.
So, in brief, but with what I think are the key facts, this is what I did.
Heated 11l of water to 68c. Steeped the grains in a grain bag for 35mins at 67c. Removed them.
Dissolved the Breiss Light LME x 3kg and 0.5kg Breiss Light DME, and tried to bring it to the boil. I only have an electric hob, and it struggled with the size of the pan (18l with about 13l in it) so after 40mins of watching the temp struggle to get above 75c, I scooped some out in my sterilised jug and put it into an 8l stockpot and a large saucepan, where it boiled no problem on other rings on the hob. For the rest of the boil, I never managed to get the large stockpot to boil. It is a new purchase specifically for this, and I am somewhat disappointed, however I should have known and did suspect, but thought I'd give it a go anyway..... You've got to experiment, eh?
So, I did a 1 hr boil in the 8l stockpot with about 6l of wort in it, and with the hops from the kit from the start, which I assumed are for bitterness. I asked in the shop and they said they were Goldings.
I then added 30g Cascade at 15mins and another 15g at 5 mins.
When the boil finished, the majority of the wort had not reached the boil in the large stockpot, so I may have an issue with the volume of the smaller boil with all of the hops in. Attenuation...?
I then tried to cool the hoppy boiled wort in a sink with a gently running cold tap taking the heat down the overflow, but I saw no cold break. The larger pot I simply tipped into the FV and added cold water to bring the temp down to about 37c. It had managed to get up to about 98c after an hour!
Once the boiled wort was down to about 40c, which took about 20 mins in the sink, I added this into the FV, too, and topped up to 20l with cold water.
I have another concern here that the cascade hops, rather than simply adding aroma, have also added bitterness due to the slow cooling, and may have continued to change from aroma to bitterness during the cool. I also think 15 mins may have been a bit too long in the boil for aroma alone. Hindsight, eh? Having said that, this is what was suggested in the shop when I was describing what I wanted the end result to be....
So, once all this was done I had 20l in the FV (I've brewed it short, it should be 22.5l, but I wanted a bit more strength) at an OG of 1056. It was a bit warm to pitch the yeast so I've let it cool overnight to 22c and pitched this morning.
The bitterness came from when I tasted it from the hydrometer testing jar, and the hop pellet dust had pretty much all settled out by the time I tasted it, just before bedtime. Didn't mix well with the subsequent toothpaste!
So, my main thoughts are that :
1) everything is fine, time, fermentation and conditioning will do their thing and the bitterness will mellow down. I am brewing for Christmas, so this would be perfect.
2) My concerns are founded, for one or more reasons as described above, and I need to see how it turns out and if undrinkable, then tip it, or give it away as Christmas presents to unkind relatives.
All thoughts and comments welcome, please. As I said, this is the first time I've added hops to a kit to 'tweak' it, and I may have simply got it wrong.
Oh, and I now need to get hold of a gas ring to get the boil going properly in the bigger pan, or simply stop being stingy and splash out on a proper boiler!
Dog.