Own recipe bitter revisited.

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Portreath

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After the frustration of my first (own recipe) all grain best bitter, the second attempt is coming along quite nicely. The second brew was started on the 15/07 and left to cool down over night, so the yeast was pitched on 16th at a temp of 23c. The vol I was aiming for was 19ltr, however after a hot sparge (1 kettle of water) and a 30 min boil with the lid off I’m left with 17 litres, which I’m fine with for now. I was aiming for and OG of 1.051, but actual OG is 1.053, after 4 days fermentation the reading is 1.009, giving an ABV of 5.8% Wowzers!!
The thing I did differently were:
• Turning off the power to the mash bin and holding the temp through good insulation, so no direct heat to the grain.
• Reducing the mash temp to between 63-65 c
• Fermenting in doors in a room were the temp was more constant than the garage as temp fluctuate over day and night.
My plan now is to dry hop with 30 g Fuggles for 4 days and get cleaning those bottle out.
Given the projected ABV I think this one should be called a strong bitter.
 
Good idea, I think next time I'll give it another 2 liters of sparg, but I'll leave this one as is. I think it was the tinkering that was my undoing in the first attempt.
I'm still waiting for my fuggles to be delivered, but I do have unopened packest of striayan/bobek and cascade, so I'm toying with the idea of dry hopping with either of these, but I have no experience of using these.
 
From what I've read, that sort of mash temperature gives a very fermentable wort, so your ABV is likely to be higher.

Which yeast did you use?
I'm at a similar stage - just bottled my first AG brew last night. FG ended up at 1.005 with ABV of 5.5%.

I'll be interested to read how your second effort turns out.
 
I used mangrove jack new world strong ale yeast. I've done two mid ales, a London porter, all BIAB using this yeast. These recipes are from Graham Wheeler's book. But this bitter is my own recipe.
 
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