Mick Dundee’s Brewdays

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MickDundee

Landlord.
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im finding it pointless starting a new thread each time, and other people do this so this is my brew day thread. I still have to bottle my Brut IPA on Friday (https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/australasian-brut-ipa.81438/) but have started a brew today tonuse up what I had ready for my GEB delivery arriving today (and maybe another brew day Friday when my other fermenter is empty).

Today is a Belma APA.

Grain is whatever I had left of my 25kg bag of Propino Malt (I think about 5.75kg, I was just short of having 2 full hoppers on my Bulldog Mill)

Hops are 25g Belma for 60mins and 75g at flameout. I don’t really have enough Belma for a dry hop.

Fermenting with M44 in my Fermentasaurus.

2 “new” things in my brew day today - an Ikea extending sieve to help me drain the bag and sparge; and 1L Sodastream bottles in place of the 500ml Fermentasaurus bottles so I don’t need to do as much dumping (I bought some little kitchen risers from Ikea to raise my FS up to accommodate it).

Mashed at 68C

Just waiting for the wort to come to the boil
 
Here goes. Another disaster efficiency wise though. 1.052 which puts me below 65%. However it’s been a bit of a guesswork day so I don’t actually know how much grain I used, and it’s the first time in ages I’ve actually filled the boiler to the top.
 

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You could look at making a modification, this guy didn't like the little bottle so he did this, I reckon there would be an elbow that could fit directly to the bottom of the fementasaurus saving another 50 or 60 mm.
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You could look at making a modification, this guy didn't like the little bottle so he did this, I reckon there would be an elbow that could fit directly to the bottom of the fementasaurus saving another 50 or 60 mm.
Who needs a fancy elbow when you can stick the lid on upside down and replace the airlock with a balloon?
 
im finding it pointless starting a new thread each time, and other people do this so this is my brew day thread. I still have to bottle my Brut IPA on Friday (https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/australasian-brut-ipa.81438/)
It’s finished at 1.002 so just 2 points short of my target giving me 4.7%, but tasting the sample jar there’s a bit of fizz there so there’s a chance I did actually achieve 1.000.

For 175g of dry hops being in for 12 days it’s not actually particularly aromatic, hopefully once it’s carbed there will be some there.
 
My son has chickenpox so I’ve taken today off to give my parents a break. What could be a better background activity during endless watching of Toy Story than getting a brew on. I had considered making it a double brewday, and I still might depending when I get finished and how ill he is.

(Potentially) first up is Greg Hughes Mexican Cerveza. It’s my first ever lager, which is quite exciting, and I have loads of slices of lime in the freezer which will hopefully keep until this is ready.

I made one change to the recipe - I accidentally ordered twice as much Hallertau Tradition than I needed for my planned Kolsch so I’m using it in place of the Northern Brewer to give me an extra 10g of NB to use in my Cali Common (which will be brew number 2 if I decide to do back to back brews). Yeast choice is Lallemand Diamond.

Mash is currently on at 66C. I’m using my new, super fine mesh brew bag for the first time. It’s too small to fit over my boiler so I’ve got my old rubbish bag in first and hopefully the floury material will stay in the finer bag and the old bag can catch any bits of grain that escape.
 
Forgot to sanitise my jug before rehydrating the yeast. Oops! I’m sure it’ll be fine!
 
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Either my hydrometer is a dud or that was an absolute disaster of a brewday - 1.030! I’ll just have to wait and see whether my FG is super low. I won’t do a second brew today! Otherwise it’s looking good!
 
Keep an eye on the lad though!

I've still got a small scar right between my eyes where I scratched off a Chicken Pox scab 70 years ago!
Yeah I am, I Brew in the utility and the living room is the next room along. Finished before lunch and we are currently playing Crazy Chefs
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After Wednesday’s disaster (which I’ve hopefully saved, it was bubbling away on Thursday evening) I went out and bought yet another grain bag. This one’s much bigger than my other new one, and much finer than my Richie’s one so hopefully I’ll get the best of both Worlds.

I’d said on Wednesday my 2nd Brew would be a Cali Common but I’ve decided to do a Kolsch today instead, mainly because I didn’t buy enough Pilsner malt to cover both the Kolsch and the Common and it’s easier to sub pale malt into the Common than it is into a Kolsch. Also because I have an open bag of Hallertau Tradition.

4kg Pilsner malt
250g carapils
A handful of medium crystal to add a little colour

Hallertau Tradition is my new favourite European hop and it is going in at 60mins (30g), 10mins (25g), 5mins (15g) and flameout (30g)

Ferment at 15C with CML Kolsch yeast

I’ve now got the mash on at 67C and I’ll give it an hour and a quarter, so until 8AM.

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That’s more like it. Can’t quite work out if it’s touching the 1:044 line on my hydrometer but I’ve hit somewhere around 68-69% efficiency which is pretty much bang on my target.
 
How's the lad doing? By now the itchiness should have started calming down or stopped.
Yeah he’s just about completely crusted over and back to being his lively self. Kept him off his Rugbytots class yesterday and he’s not going to his swimming lesson tomorrow (chlorine won’t be good for his spots) but he’s fine and will be back at nursery on Tuesday.
 
Finally getting round to bottling the lager this morning. It’s had 2 weeks fermenting then 4 weeks lagering.

I broke my hydrometer this morning though so not completely sure what it finished at. Tasted lovely despite having to bung in some sugar and agave nectar in to bump up the starting gravity.
 
I start a new job on Monday and now have the rest of the week off, which means one thing - double brewday (and some South Indian cooking) tomorrow.

Ground my grain tonight for my 2 “house” beers - my 3rd version of a Falconers Flight “single hop” APA and V4 of my Common People steam beer.

APA is 50/50 pale/Vienna (pale ended up being 1kg propino, 1.5kg Crisp Clear Choice) and 35 IBU mainly from 15min and later additions. Target ABV 4.8%

Cali Common is 30% pilsner, 20% pale, 40% Vienna and 10% Crystal. 44IBUs from northern brewer hops spread across the boil and a little Hallertau at flameout for a little bit of a lagery aroma. 5.4% target ABV
 
I start a new job on Monday and now have the rest of the week off, which means one thing - double brewday (and some South Indian cooking) tomorrow.

Ground my grain tonight for my 2 “house” beers - my 3rd version of a Falconers Flight “single hop” APA and V4 of my Common People steam beer.

APA is 50/50 pale/Vienna (pale ended up being 1kg propino, 1.5kg Crisp Clear Choice) and 35 IBU mainly from 15min and later additions. Target ABV 4.8%

Cali Common is 30% pilsner, 20% pale, 40% Vienna and 10% Crystal. 44IBUs from northern brewer hops spread across the boil and a little Hallertau at flameout for a little bit of a lagery aroma. 5.4% target ABV

That Cali Common sounds ace. Love a brewday.
 
That Cali Common sounds ace. Love a brewday.
It’s probably my favourite brew style, although I’m craving a hop bomb like crazy at the moment.

I’m hoping I’ve nailed the recipe this time (although as a perfectionist I probably ever will) by upping the Vienna a little and adding the Hallertau at the end. I’ll also be fermenting it a bit colder with 2 sachets for the first time to see if I can increase the crispness
 
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