Jeg3 brewdays

[jeg3]

MJ's Irish Stout update:

2 weeks in the bottle, so I cracked one to check on Sunday evening.

Quite fizzy, but a good flavour and reasonable head retention. Will leave for another 4 weeks in the shed to condition, by which point I would expect it to be very promising.

 

[jeg3]

Ercall bitter update:

Bottled Saturday 3rd April

39 bottles, with 55g sugar diluted to 210ml with water, 5ml in each bottle

 

[jeg3]

Weissbier brewday:

Salop Weisse
Weissbier

5.0% / 13.2 °P
All Grain

Grainfather G30
76.7% efficiency

Batch Volume: 23 L
Boil Time: 60 min

Mash Water: 17 L

Sparge Water: 15 L
Total Water: 32 L
Boil Volume: 28 L

Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.048

Vitals
Original Gravity: 1.053
Final Gravity: 1.015
IBU (Tinseth): 12
Colour: 6.7 EBC

Mash
Temperature — 65 °C — 60 min

Malts (5 kg)
2.5 kg (48.1%) — BestMalz Pilsen Malt — Grain — 3.5 EBC
2.5 kg (48.1%) — Crisp Wheat Malt — Grain — 4.1 EBC
Other (200 g)
200 g (3.9%) — Briess Rice Hulls — Adjunct — 0 EBC
Hops (40 g)
40 g (12 IBU) — Tettnang 2020 (Whole) 3% — Boil — 60 min

Yeast
1 pkg — Mangrove Jack's M20 Bavarian Wheat Yeast 72.5%

Fermentation
Primary — 22 °C — 14
-------
All went well, 80% mash efficiency, OG 1.050 which was a few points under, but I think I oversparged by half a litre.

In any case I think it will finish lower than 1.015 so it should still be <5%.

The M20 has been in my brewing box for almost 3 years, but this being a wheat beer I pitched it anyway, without hydrating, I just sprinkled it in. Activity 12 hours later, so it must be OK.

 

[jeg3]

So this brew went off explosively and I had to fit the blowoff tube for only the second time in 70 brews.

After 2 days it has gone from 1.050 down to 1.018...

 

[jeg3]

Mangrove Jack's Irish Stout update:

2 weeks carbonating and 3 weeks in the shed has resulted in a lovely smooth beer. It's lively when first poured but settles down to a lovely velvety pint with a stiff head.

Impressed!

 

[jeg3]

I forgot to add my tap water is really hard, and the additions necessary to remove the alkalinity were pushing the sulphate and chloride way too high, so I used Tesco Ashbeck instead.

 

[moto748]

Ercall bitter update:

Bottled Saturday 3rd April

39 bottles, with 55g sugar diluted to 210ml with water, 5ml in each bottle

That's not a lot of priming,

5/210 x 55 = 1.3 g per bottle, if my arithmetic is right.

 

[jeg3]

That's not a lot of priming,

5/210 x 55 = 1.3 g per bottle, if my arithmetic is right.

It's 1.5 vols CO2, which is what I like in my bitters. The yeast - WY1469 - is also a low attenuator but also is prone to carry on fermenting in the bottle, so I don't want any gushers.

I bottled my tin Miner's ale which was fermented with 1469 with the same amount of sugar and it is nicely carbonated after 6 weeks

 

[moto748]

That makes sense. Clearly, what yeast you use us a factor, so if you've found that's what works for you, it's all good.

 

[jeg3]

I've tried various levels of priming over the years and now go for lower levels than I used to and get more enjoyment out of the beer

 

[jeg3]

Bottled the weissbier last night and destroyed two bottles in the process. I've got quite a few Fullers bottles and always have trouble getting the caps on. Got a new batch of caps as well which seemed to make it worse. Anyway, I'd only cleaned 42 bottles, and had 41 bottles' worth of beer, so had to drink a tin miners ale for the bottle. Oh well...

But the Fuller's bottles' days are numbered I think...

 

[jeg3]

First brew for four months, which went on Sunday 8th August:

Wrekin Summer Ale
Best Bitter
4.2% / 10.5 °P
All Grain
Grainfather G30
76.7% efficiency
Batch Volume: 23 L
Boil Time: 60 min
Mash Water: 14.38 L
Sparge Water: 16.84 L
Total Water: 31.22 L
Boil Volume: 28 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.037
Vitals
Original Gravity: 1.042
Final Gravity: 1.010
IBU (Tinseth): 33
BU/GU: 0.79
Colour: 12.4 EBC


Mash

Temperature — 65 °C — 60 min
Mash Out — 75 °C — 10 min
Malts (4.03 kg)
3.75 kg (93.1%) — Crisp Extra Pale Maris Otter® Malt — Grain — 3.4 EBC
280 g (7%) — Thomas Fawcett Crystal Malt — Grain — 118 EBC
Hops (105 g)
17 g (10 IBU) — EKG 2020 (Whole) 5.1% — Boil — 60 min
12 g (8 IBU) — Bramling Cross (Whole) 6.4% — Boil — 60 min
16 g (7 IBU) — EKG 2020 (Whole) 5.1% — Boil — 30 min
30 g (8 IBU) — Bramling Cross (Whole) 6.4% — Boil — 10 min
30 g (1 IBU) — EKG 2020 (Whole) 5.1% — Boil — 1 min
Miscs
12 ml — CRS/AMS — Mash
2 g — Epsom Salt (MgSO4) — Mash
12.97 ml — CRS/AMS — Sparge
2.16 g — Epsom Salt (MgSO4) — Sparge
0.25 tsp — Irish Moss — Boil — 10 min
Yeast
1 pkg — Wyeast Labs 1318 London Ale III 75%
Fermentation
Primary — 20 °C — 14 days
Carbonation: 1.6 CO2-vol

 

[jeg3]

So I took a gravity reading today (3 days in) 1.024 and harvested the yeast for future use.

This is the fourth generation of this yeast and it is still performing superbly well. First taste (albeit very sweet) is malty and hoppy, just what I was after.

I made a change to water treatment in this one and didn't add any gypsum but upped the CRS. This resulted in higher chloride as a result of the CRS which accentuates the maltiness

 

[jeg3]

Update on the MJ Irish Stout.

It's nearly all gone, and it tasted lovely, but when I was bottling it some dry hop debris has made it into some of the bottles which in turn has turned those bottles into gushers. It's not a big deal, but for me certainly it is a note for future dry hopping attempts. I've not dry hopped for some time and next time I definitely won't use pellets

 

[jeg3]

Got a couple of updates as I haven't been online for a while.

First up Ercall Pale Ale (kind of the house beer):

Malts (4.13 kg)
3.7 kg (89.6%) — Crisp Extra Pale Maris Otter® Malt — Grain — 3.4 EBC
430 g (10.4%) — Crisp Wheat Malt — Grain — 4.1 EBC
Hops (42 g)
22 g (28 IBU) — Target 2018 (Whole) 11.7% — Boil — 60 min
20 g (4 IBU) — EKG 2020 (Whole) 5.1% — Boil — 10 min
Miscs
15 ml — CRS/AMS — Mash
2.7 g — Epsom Salt (MgSO4) — Mash
2 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Mash
17 ml — CRS/AMS — Sparge
3 g — Epsom Salt (MgSO4) — Sparge
2.2 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Sparge
0.25 tsp — Irish Moss — Boil — 10 min
Yeast
1 pkg — Mangrove Jack's M36 Liberty Bell 76.5%

Mash efficiency came out at 80%, for the first time in a few brews I went back to Liberty Bell. I found the harvested 1318 was making my beers very malty which didn't suit the summer ale.

Anyway 41 bottles on bottling day the other night, so pleased with that.

 

[jeg3]

Second brew day update:

Salop Pale Ale
Best Bitter
4.5% / 11 °P
All Grain
Grainfather G30
76.7% efficiency
Batch Volume: 23 L
Boil Time: 60 min
Mash Water: 14.84 L
Sparge Water: 16.52 L
Total Water: 31.36 L
Boil Volume: 28 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.039
Vitals
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.010
IBU (Tinseth): 35
BU/GU: 0.79
Colour: 6.5 EBC


Mash

Temperature — 65 °C — 60 min
Mash Out — 75 °C — 10 min
Malts (4.2 kg)
3 kg (71.4%) — Crisp Extra Pale Maris Otter® Malt — Grain — 3.4 EBC
1.2 kg (28.6%) — Crisp Finest Maris Otter® Ale Malt — Grain — 6.5 EBC
Hops (87 g)
32 g (25 IBU) — Challenger 2020 (Whole) 7.3% — Boil — 60 min
32 g (6 IBU) — EKG 2020 (Whole) 5.1% — Boil — 10 min
23 g (3 IBU) — Fuggle (Whole) 6.4% — Boil — 5 min
Miscs
20 ml — CRS/AMS — Mash
20.38 ml — CRS/AMS — Sparge
0.25 tsp — Irish Moss — Boil — 10 min
Yeast
1 pkg — Mangrove Jack's M42 New World Strong Ale 76.5%
Fermentation
Primary — 20 °C — 14 days
Carbonation: 1.5 CO2-vol

I added CRS to this but didn't add any salts this time, I put a lot of CRS in and with my hard water that ups the sulphate and chloride levels anyway. We'll see how it goes.

The M42 started within a few hours.

Managed to get 84% mash efficiency so I ended up with a slightly bigger batch as I wanted to stick the ABV. 23.5l into the FV.