One Armed Bandit Ale

[clibit]

Just completed my first brew since coming off my cyclo-cross bike on a downhill on the Isle of Skye two weeks ago. Should know better at my age. Arm in a sling, damaged shoulder, but beer needs to be made! :-D

So I adapted to the situation, and did a 13L batch, stove-top partial mash, which took two hours from start to flameout, then chilled in sink in about 40 mins. Rapid brewday, much to be said for it. And ridiculously laid back and easy. Mashed 700g pale malt with the other grains in a muslin bag, added DME at the end of the boil. Transferred 10L to the FV and topped up with cold water. I got given "a load of old Rakau" (alternative name for the brew?) so decided to make some in-roads into it. Re-used some yeast, so a cheap brew too. No photos sorry, so chilled I forgot, maybe I'll do one of the final product:

One Armed Bandit Ale 13L
OG 1050
SRM 15
IBUs: Guessing around 40. Hops are old, and my chilling method often throws up unexpected bitterness levels, esp with high alpha hops added late. I did get the temp down quickly today though.
Mini-Mash: 45 mins, Dropped from 68 to 63C. Batch sparge for 15 mins, rinsed grains with kettle of very hot water after that.

DME Light 1kg
Dingemans Pale Malt 700g
Dark Crystal 170g
Caramunich II 140g
Brown malt 140g

Rakau 14 g @ 45 mins
Rakau 28g @ 2 mins
Rakau 28g @ 80C steep

WLP002 slurry re-pitched from last brew
I have 30g of Nelson pellets left over that I may throw in the FV later.
A remarkable easy and pain free 13 litres of beer awaits, despite the arm.

 

[Duxuk]

I've read previously that you could extract tannins by rinsing the grains with water at too high a temp. I have a 2l glass jug. 1 kettle full of boiling water and a top up to 2l with cold gives about 80C, so I use this method every time.
Sorry to hear about your accident. My analysis is that you wanna get a proper mountain bike. Someone has taken an MTB to every one of the Munro peaks, including the ominously named inaccesable pinnacle in Skye.

 

[clibit]

The water wasn't boiling, I didn't check the temp but it had boiled and cooled a while, 90C max, and I gave it the grain bag a quick swish about and took it out.

That'll be the pinnacle I didn't access in Skye! I was on a very minor road, narrow and loose gravel on a bend. Don't really go off road/track. I just misjudged the bend, tired at end of a long day.

 

[clibit]

First time this has happened to me. I left the steeping hops in when i transferred to the FV, and less than a day later this had happened:



The krausen is underneath the hops. :hat:

I've since stirred them back in, the krausen has already started to subside, and it smells ace. Yeasty malty hoppy joy.