PilgrimHudds Brewdays

[pilgrimhudd]

Having a pint of my black ipa, bit green as its 6 weeks old, however first impressions are that it's got more alcohol in it than the last one and as such it needed more hops.

Positives are that it is darker and more 'black' than the last one, it tastes nice, has a rich toasty flavour. Negatives are that it needs more hops as mentioned, at initial tasting it almost seems 'fusely' but this improves the more you drink. There is a lack of head, although i poured carefully as my glass isn't a full pint.

Will leave it now for 2 weeks and see how it goes.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Bottled my abbey ale last night, of 1010 making it 5.8% a little drier than I felt it would be.

30x 500ml bottles, 100g sugar in 300ml water for priming.

Taste, as i said a little drier than expected though nice, has a spicy kick. Has a very banana aroma which doesnt come through to the taste. More complex than my usual beers.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Also had a bottle of my young licorice stout, probably needs another month at least but my goodness it's good. Smells very licorice and although there is some sweetness from it it's not overpowering. Black as the night, has a good mouthfeel and the right mix of alcohol, maltiness and licorice. Probably the best I've brewed, if theres any negatives it would be a lack of head retention.

 

[matt76]

Also had a bottle of my young licorice stout, probably needs another month at least but my goodness it's good. Smells very licorice and although there is some sweetness from it it's not overpowering. Black as the night, has a good mouthfeel and the right mix of alcohol, maltiness and licorice. Probably the best I've brewed, if theres any negatives it would be a lack of head retention.

Sounds good

I was looking back at your recipe etc - you said you infused the liquorice sticks in vodka... Dumb question maybe but is that liquorice you'd get from the sweet shop/supermarket or something more fancy for catering?

I finished off my last Baltic porter recently, 8.4% so maybe similar strength to your stout... So good, thick like motor oil!

Anyway, I conditioned that for 3 months so just give it time. It also didn't have much head retention - bit strange, not usually the case with dark beers I find. But as long as it drinks well I wouldn't sweat it

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Sounds good

I was looking back at your recipe etc - you said you infused the liquorice sticks in vodka... Dumb question maybe but is that liquorice you'd get from the sweet shop/supermarket or something more fancy for catering?

I finished off my last Baltic porter recently, 8.4% so maybe similar strength to your stout... So good, thick like motor oil!

Anyway, I conditioned that for 3 months so just give it time. It also didn't have much head retention - bit strange, not usually the case with dark beers I find. But as long as it drinks well I wouldn't sweat it

Not a silly question, at least I hope not as I asked @brewersdroop the same question. I used tescos own brand licorice, the old fashioned stringy stuff. I thought it would be something fancy from the homebrew shop but no.

Funnily enough I was only thinking about your Baltic porter yesterday, I defo need to nick your recipe. I have always known it but dark beers are my so much better, they seem to just have more flavour, when brewed right!!

I was going to give it a looong time to age, but it is perfectly drinkable now, I may try one again in June sometime.

2 more planned for this week the NEIPA that I brewed last time and @foxbats outback ipa.

 

[matt76]

My Baltic porter post is here - it was pretty much just the standard GH recipe.

I really want to do another one - that recipe from GH is very good, or I might try this Josh Weikert recipe as good stuff is generally really good too. Either way I think I will definitely use chocolate rye malt as this has worked really well for me recently.

One other thing I might do with such a high gravity brew is re-mash the grains to get a second be out of it - I suspect there'll be plenty of residual sugars left.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Hmmm that weikert recipes sounds good! Yes I've seen you say that about the choc rye. I'll have a look at your recipe in a bit.

Yeah I expect so, would you mash, drain the wort off and then start again with fresh water?

I'm not sure that I mentioned in my posts, I've done a few overnight mashed now and the beers definitely have more body than I would expect. Which is good in the fisherman's stout but less welcome in the Welsh ipa.

 

[matt76]

Basically yes - once I've squeezed the bag I'd probably stick it in 5-10L fresh water in a pot in the oven to mash like I did in the old days.

Then I'd carry on as normal with the first brew in the Klarstein. Once that's done I'd go back to the second brew.

It does add a lot more work to your brew day. I did something like this with my AG#30 Red IPA. In that case I only got about 8 X 500ml bottles extra but I was only starting from a 4.5% beer. I think it would be more worthwhile if you're starting from a 8.5% beer.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Basically yes - once I've squeezed the bag I'd probably stick it in 5-10L fresh water in a pot in the oven to mash like I did in the old days.

Then I'd carry on as normal with the first brew in the Klarstein. Once that's done I'd go back to the second brew.

It does add a lot more work to your brew day. I did something like this with my AG#30 Red IPA. In that case I only got about 8 X 500ml bottles extra but I was only starting from a 4.5% beer. I think it would be more worthwhile if you're starting from a 8.5% beer.

Ok, that's what I thought, so would you hop the 2nd batch or just over hop the first batch? I suppose you would waste a lot less, but I'm not sure I'm up for the extra work!!

 

[matt76]

Ok, that's what I thought, so would you hop the 2nd batch or just over hop the first batch? I suppose you would waste a lot less, but I'm not sure I'm up for the extra work!!

Umm... No, not exactly. You're splitting the two brews after mashing so you wouldn't have added any hops to either brew at that point.

And you're right, it is a lot of extra work. And having tried it, it's probably not worth the hassle from a modest gravity beer - but it's something I'd like to try next time I go large (which in my case will most likely mean a Baltic porter) when there's more to be had from it.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Ahhhhhh now it's clear!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Ahh so I seem to have neglected to jot down my OG for my orange wheat beer, I seem to remember it was around the 1050 mark, the FG is 1010 so around the 5% mark.

60g sugar in 170 mls, 15 bottles of various sizes, probably around 8l.

Aroma, lovely citrusy, perhaps not purely orange but very fruity. Taste is nice and orangey with a little bitter kick. Very nice at first, but then a slightly hoppy kick which hurts the throat a bit, hopefully will condition out. I'll post a pic so you can see what it looks like. For a user upper I'm very happy with it.

 

[matt76]

Ahh so I seem to have neglected to jot down my OG for my orange wheat beer, I seem to remember it was around the 1050 mark, the FG is 1010 so around the 5% mark.

60g sugar in 170 mls, 15 bottles of various sizes, probably around 8l.

Aroma, lovely citrusy, perhaps not purely orange but very fruity. Taste is nice and orangey with a little bitter kick. Very nice at first, but then a slightly hoppy kick which hurts the throat a bit, hopefully will condition out. I'll post a pic so you can see what it looks like. For a user upper I'm very happy with it.

Sounds good. I take it that was malted rather than unmalted wheat you used?

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Sounds good. I take it that was malted rather than unmalted wheat you used?

Yep, malted wheat matt!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

2 brews today, by accident really.

Went to do a neipa in the klarstein, however I kept getting an e4 dry message on the screen. Sh*t, I'd weighed everything out got hops ready etc etc so I fired up the cygnet. In the meantime played with the klarstein and got it running, because I'd put the grain in the klarstein inner tube bit I thought I would carry on with the neipa in the klarstein and do a simple apa in the cygnet.

So brew 1 apa.

4.5 kg marris otter
200g vienna
50 biscuit

Mashed at 62 for 60mins

25g first gold @60
20g simcoe @10
Protofloc @10

Cooled quickly to 21 and pitched us05, not used to the cygnet so came in well short in volume and only got 13l in the fv, as such the og was 1058 ibu's 38. Tasted lovely, simcoe is one of my faves, not sure whether to dry hop or leave it.....

2nd brew

6kg otter
500g wheat
500g oats

Mashed 90 mins at 65

20g tomahawk
20g amarillo
20g centennial @10

Same again @5 and at flameout.

The inner tube thing on the klarstein is not up for so much grain as a consequence my og took a big hit and only came in at 1062. I'm sure it'll be ok, but a bit disappointing, something to remember next time.

Still cooling but will pitch cml haze at 20 ish with a view to dry hopping twice with a mixture of things, the first dry hop will be at high krausen in a day or two.

 

[matt76]

Did you suss out the issue with the Klarstein or did it just magically start to behave? Only had that issue once, when the hearing element for badly scorched on account of rye malt.

By the way, how long long and what temp did you do the flameout hops for? The Scott Janish IPA book I'm reading at the moment has given me a variety of areas to experiment with, this being one of them - but no conclusions yet!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Did you suss out the issue with the Klarstein or did it just magically start to behave? Only had that issue once, when the hearing element for badly scorched on account of rye malt.

By the way, how long long and what temp did you do the flameout hops for? The Scott Janish IPA book I'm reading at the moment has given me a variety of areas to experiment with, this being one of them - but no conclusions yet!

Emptied water out, put water in, fiddled with reset button and had a scrape at the bottom which is a little darker than it was and it came back to life. Not sure what the problem was?

For me, and again very un scientific, flameout hops means that I put hops in at flameout and keep them in there till i decant into the fv, it's probably 5 mins till it gets under 80c or so.

 

[fury_tea]

Emptied water out, put water in, fiddled with reset button and had a scrape at the bottom which is a little darker than it was and it came back to life. Not sure what the problem was?

For me, and again very un scientific, flameout hops means that I put hops in at flameout and keep them in there till i decant into the fv, it's probably 5 mins till it gets under 80c or so.

I've just done an NEIPA also. When you dry hop do you remove them from the fermenter after a few days or do you leave them in there?

 

[pilgrimhudd]

I've just done an NEIPA also. When you dry hop do you remove them from the fermenter after a few days or do you leave them in there?

Well... convention states that with should be taken out, however I didnt last time and it turned out fine so I'm going to leave the bag in. Are you dry hopping early? My plan and again I did this last time is to dry hop tonight and then again maybe friday/saturday.

 

[fury_tea]

Well... convention states that with should be taken out, however I didnt last time and it turned out fine so I'm going to leave the bag in. Are you dry hopping early? My plan and again I did this last time is to dry hop tonight and then again maybe friday/saturday.

It's my first attempt at this style and I'm kind of winging it. Seems your hop additions were much bigger than mine if I read it correctly. I just did a 4x28g addition (of different hops) at flameout (80c). Bagged and left it in there for 30-40 mins while it cooled and I transferred. I'm working nights tonight so I'll probably do my first DH tomorrow afternoon when I get back. Was planning on leaving it 2-3 days then taking the hops out and DH again but I'm edging towards leaving them in. How many grams are your DH additions? I was thinking 140g for the first and 84g for the 2nd.

I'm just kind of making it up as I go along and it could be a ruined batch anyway, if you read my brewday post I forgot to campden my water until the sparge