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i tend to use Nottingham or US05 for pretty much all my bitters, as its consistent and doesnt add too many variables to what i am trying to achieve.
when i have more experience and maybe another 50 brews under my belt and refined my IPA and house bitters, then i might start playing with yeasts to change the profiles. but for now i am more interested in the ingredients and hops and understanding that aspect of it.
 
My order from HBC has just been delivered, so time to get my brew on again! As my last bitter was a raging success, albeit lower efficiency than i expected - time to have another go

AG 30 Big Bitter mk2

5kg Minch HookHead Malt
50gm Chocolate malt
400gm Crystal 145ebc

18l mash at 65c for 2 hours followed by a 5l dunk sparge and a good bag squeeze
Leaving 22l wort for a 60 minute boil - ended up with 17l in the FV

Hops
20 g Fuggles 60 min
20 g First Gold 60 min
20 g Fuggles 0 min
20 g First Gold 0 min

Yeast, Llalemande Notty

Couple of minor changes, as i ordered Fuggles instead of progress hops and i have gone back to using Minch Malt again. Shouldnt make too much difference... Fingers crossed my efficiency will be much better than last time and i am hoping to back liquor and end up with 22l in the FV at IBU 31, SRM 25, OG 1.055
Once it's cooled, i'll do a measurement and report back tomorrow.
 
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Hi Nick I see you are carafe in this one, I am going to do the one you did with choccy in and target hops for bittering and challenger for aroma I just need to get to lhbs for choccy and crystal acheers.
 
Hi Nick I see you are carafe in this one, I am going to do the one you did with choccy in and target hops for bittering and challenger for aroma I just need to get to lhbs for choccy and crystal acheers.
Goddammit!
Thats what happens when you copy and paste - you also copy and paste the mistake.
Nope, i used 50gm Chocolate in it.
 
AG 30 Big Bitter mk2
Missed my numbers slightly, ended up with 21l at 1.053
Not that bothered to be honest. Near enough. However I got a refractometer for chrimbo and totally forgot about it and just used my hydrometer.

Anyway, going to do another brew today a nice session IPA. Let's get recipe building!
 
AG 31 - citrus IPA
3.5kg Minch HookHead Malt
250gm Rolled oats
250gm Crystal 30ebc

18l mash at 65c for 1 hour followed by a 3l dunk sparge and a good bag squeeze
Leaving 19l wort for a 60 minute boil - ended up with 15l in the FV

Hops
20 g Apollo 15 min
50 g Amarillo flameout
50 g Cascade flameout
20 g Amarillo dry hop
20 g Cascade dry hop

Unfortunately i forgot to order any yeast from the HBS, so as my bitter has exploded in to life, i am going to top crop some yeast from it and use that. So a bit of Notty, not ideal but will work.
Shooting for 15l in the fv with 5% and 35IBU and 7SRM
Should be a good one!

Edited to add: stop being stingy and up'd the flameout hops to 50g of each!
 
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Unfortunately i forgot to order any yeast from the HBS, so as my bitter has exploded in to life, i am going to top crop some yeast from it and use that. So a bit of Notty, not ideal but will work.
Shooting for 15l in the fv with 5% and 35IBU and 7SRM
Should be a good one!
Resourceful and pragmatic - like it! athumb..clapa
 
AG 31 - citrus IPA
Pre boil brix =10
Post boil brix =13
15l in the fv cooling and if the BF tool is correct it equates to 1.052, which is bang on the money.
Once the wort is down to 80c I'll chuck in the Amarillo and cascade and leave it till it's cool for maximum flavour extraction.
 
AG number 32

NotGoblin clone mk11

Time to revisit some of my earlier brews and see if they were good because i fluked it, or if its was psychologically good because it was homemade or it was good because it was genuinely good!
So fancy having another go at my notgoblin clone, but with a couple of very minor tweaks to account for some of my tasting notes first time round and experience.

3kg hook head irish malt
0.1kg Special X 300ebc
0.1kg Cara red
0.05kg chocolate malt 1000ebc

18l BIAB mashed at 65c for 60mins
3l dunk sparge and a good bag squeeze

Leaving 19l and a 60 minute boil giving me 15l in FV

15g target at 30min
No chill to 80c and add 20g challenger and 20g first gold

OG1.047 SRM 15 and 36 IBU
Nottys finest yeast to do the magic.
 
Brew day all went according to plan but only ended up with 14l in the fv.
Brix of 11 and a bit - get me with the fancy kit eh!
So that's bang on the money. I'll double check using a hydrometer tomorrow morning once it's cooled properly before I pitch the yeast.
Yeast is scavenged from a previous brew and has been washed (another first) and is currently in some watered down wort at 1.020 (and another first) as a starter.
It'll probably be a massive over pitch, but never mind
 
Brew day all went according to plan but only ended up with 14l in the fv.
Brix of 11 and a bit - get me with the fancy kit eh!
So that's bang on the money. I'll double check using a hydrometer tomorrow morning once it's cooled properly before I pitch the yeast.
Yeast is scavenged from a previous brew and has been washed (another first) and is currently in some watered down wort at 1.020 (and another first) as a starter.
It'll probably be a massive over pitch, but never mind
Oh, so you've invested in a refractometer then? What's it like, does it make much difference would you say?
 
Erm, its handy to check things like pre boil gravity and post boil gravity - as a couple of drops on the glass cools to room temp almost instantly.
But as my head still works in normal hydrometer scale - i have to use the online calculator to convert it! Also its not as accurate as a hydrometer. i can normally read it accurately enough to show a difference from say 1.050 and 1.052 - but that level of accuracy isnt possible on the brix scale in my hydrometer.
Its a gadget. Not a useless gadget, but not essential!
 
I preferred my second one - AG24 - as it used the whole 100g of hops and really tasted great.
Its still a delicate flavour and if I do another one, i will probably swap out the mandarina at 60min and use a general purpose bittering hop and use the whole 100gm bag split evenly between flameout and dry hop.
 
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