Today’s brew was Hazelwood Mild. Although previous milds have been enjoyable, they’ve had a slight astringency that I’d rather wasn’t there. So I nicked Hazelwood’s recipe because it had the dark malts added at the end of the mash. It jumped the queue as the previous mild had become infected and gone down the drain…
It didn’t exactly go well. Despite the hangover, it was an early start, I’d decided to replace the ball valve on the fermenter as it couldn’t be taken apart for cleaning. This was the first failure, I couldn’t tighten up one of the fittings as I don’t have the right size spanner and the gap is too narrow for an adjustable. So, carry on with the original. At least I’d had the foresight (for once) to remove it and treat it to percarbonate, chemsan, boiling and then a dry in the oven. It was over an hour before it went back on without leaking.
So, to the mash and 15 minutes in, the realisation that I’d put in 2.8 kg of Maris Otter instead of 2.28 kg. Frantic activity on Brewer’s Friend and the amount of water, later malt and hop quantities were updated. It was about then that I referred to a youtube video (forget why) when it suddenly dawned on me that my chemsan solutions were far too dilute. One of those moments where the feeling of abject humiliation is balanced by now knowing where the infection problem lies.
That wasn’t the end of it, either. The wort was clearly boiling but the temperature on the display read under 100 so the timer wasn’t going down. No idea how long the boil was in the end, though it was more than 30 minutes when I cut it so I guess it’ll be fine. I blame the false bottom lifting. Helix about to be ordered.
Then the pump blocked, which matters on a Brewster Beacon 40 when transferring as there’s no tap. An auto-syphon saved the day (it was also useful when unblocking later on). They're not all bad.
Battered and bruised but the wort ended up in the fermenter. The predicted OG was spot on and it was half a litre over. There may be something worth drinking after all.
It didn’t exactly go well. Despite the hangover, it was an early start, I’d decided to replace the ball valve on the fermenter as it couldn’t be taken apart for cleaning. This was the first failure, I couldn’t tighten up one of the fittings as I don’t have the right size spanner and the gap is too narrow for an adjustable. So, carry on with the original. At least I’d had the foresight (for once) to remove it and treat it to percarbonate, chemsan, boiling and then a dry in the oven. It was over an hour before it went back on without leaking.
So, to the mash and 15 minutes in, the realisation that I’d put in 2.8 kg of Maris Otter instead of 2.28 kg. Frantic activity on Brewer’s Friend and the amount of water, later malt and hop quantities were updated. It was about then that I referred to a youtube video (forget why) when it suddenly dawned on me that my chemsan solutions were far too dilute. One of those moments where the feeling of abject humiliation is balanced by now knowing where the infection problem lies.
That wasn’t the end of it, either. The wort was clearly boiling but the temperature on the display read under 100 so the timer wasn’t going down. No idea how long the boil was in the end, though it was more than 30 minutes when I cut it so I guess it’ll be fine. I blame the false bottom lifting. Helix about to be ordered.
Then the pump blocked, which matters on a Brewster Beacon 40 when transferring as there’s no tap. An auto-syphon saved the day (it was also useful when unblocking later on). They're not all bad.
Battered and bruised but the wort ended up in the fermenter. The predicted OG was spot on and it was half a litre over. There may be something worth drinking after all.
