What did you brew today?

[foxy]

I wasn't going to brew this until later but I had the ingredients and some time so brewed my Nancy Naylor Landlady.

In light straw depths, a brew divine,
Nancy Naylor's, a taste refined
From barley fields to frothy head,
Nancy's beer, where dreams are fed.

33 litres of brewing liquor, 4.95 kg of grain mashed @ 67C

One of my favourite pieces of kit takes the strain out of lifting, bought it for my 60 litre HopCat but works just as well with the 40 litre Guten.

After the boil was over wort cooled,
21 litres into the fermenter, so clear it is a pity I have to cloudy it up with yeast.

Right on target 1,044

 

[Twostage]

Random weekday brewday coming up......

I don't have enough bottles, so it looks like the one that's cold crashing might be kegged (unless I simply throw away some of this saison that just isn't really right)

Or buy more bottles.

Tomorrow in my village, it's glass collection day. I'm so tempted to go bin diving.

I buy boxes of 40 brown bottles from a seller on eBay.

Our village pub leaves bottles in trubs outside so people can grab what they want.

 

[Stu]

I buy boxes of 40 brown bottles from a seller on eBay.

Our village pub leaves bottles in trubs outside so people can grab what they want.

I live behind a pub. They lock their bins away and didn't want to talk about it.
I'm very friendly with most of the folk at the local brewery. Sadly, they don't use bottles, only cans and key kegs (we use the latter for planting tomatoes and cloches)

Can you link me up to the eBay seller? I've used JazJar a couple of times, but cheap they're not!

 

[Twostage]

I live behind a pub. They lock their bins away and didn't want to talk about it.
I'm very friendly with most of the folk at the local brewery. Sadly, they don't use bottles, only cans and key kegs (we use the latter for planting tomatoes and cloches)

Can you link me up to the eBay seller? I've used JazJar a couple of times, but cheap they're not!

Strange they aren't happy with you taking the bottles, they are waste after all.

I've bought from here :-

Bottles

Looks like they've recently upped their price by a fiver.

 

[Stu]

So as above, random brewday.

Had a bit of a boilover. The dog loves it

Otherwise, I followed the instructions on the kit. I was able to easily do it in around 3 1/2 hours which is outstanding.
I read a few reviews and people said don't use your senses, just following the instructions and it works perfectly.

So mash for 45 minutes
Sparge
Boil for 45 minutes (with a teeny tiny bit of hops 15 minutes from end of boil)
At the end of the boil, dump another 60g of hops in (I let it cool to 90c) for literally 10 minutes before cooling!

I'm used to whirlpool for anywhere between 30 and 90 minutes.

The instructions made me laugh. Pitch the yeast and dry hop once fermentation finishes in 7-14 days.
I mean, have they used Verdant before? It's normally done after day 3!

I'll give it a week anyway before dry hopping.

 

[Twostage]

Might be worth sticking some of the hops in on day 2-3. Some yeast can bio transform hop oils to release fruity flavours/aromas when they are actively fermenting.

 

[Stu]

Might be worth sticking some of the hops in on day 2-3. Some yeast can bio transform hop oils to release fruity flavours/aromas when they are actively fermenting.

I can see this being repeated, so I'm going to follow the instructions to the letter this first time. Then I can improve it as I go along.

like most men, I hate following instructions

 

[Sadfield]

@Stu Not sure on postage cost (I'm local and collect), but £4.40 for 12 here, plus the option for 25kg malt.

https://www.staffordshirebrewery.co.uk/bottlescaps/

 

[dlowe1992]

British Golden Ale
Harlequin, Jester and Olicana Hops

Golden Promise, Carapils and Wheat Malt with a bit of Clear Choice as I was short on GP..

OG - 1.046
FG - 1.011
EBC - 7.3
IBU - 36
ABV - 4.6%

All went pretty smoothly and 23 litres of clear bright wort into the fermentor.


View attachment 99175View attachment 99176

Checked on progress last night and we're down to FG, bang on 1.011, no doubt helped by the warmer temps.
Sample wasn't quite as hoppy as I'd like, but certainly no off flavours which is a relief. Thinking back, I think I had the lid off during the hop-stand as the immersion chiller was sat in the wort. I'm thinking quite a bit of hop aroma could be evaporating away here and lid should definitely be on at this stage...

Anyhow, 20g each of Harlequin, Jester and Olicana in and I'll keg on Friday eve.

 

[PK]

Have

Checked on progress last night and we're down to FG, bang on 1.011, no doubt helped by the warmer temps.
Sample wasn't quite as hoppy as I'd like, but certainly no off flavours which is a relief. Thinking back, I think I had the lid off during the hop-stand as the immersion chiller was sat in the wort. I'm thinking quite a bit of hop aroma could be evaporating away here and lid should definitely be on at this stage...

Anyhow, 20g each of Harlequin, Jester and Olicana in and I'll keg on Friday eve.

Have Jester and Olicana lined up for my next brew too. Never used the latter, looking forward to trying it.

 

[Stu]

Bottled my bitter NEIPA tonight. Had a quick taste. It's nowhere near as bad as the last one.
I think I may have over hopped it tbf which is why it tastes so weird. The last one was so bitter, it tasted mouldy.
I mean, I went completely over the top - 100g Azacca and 50g El Dorado (I really needed to use it up) on whirlpool ~70c and then the same dry hopped.

It smells so sweet and tropical, but has an odd bitter taste.

Used the abscorbic acid trick when I dry hopped it, used the bottling wand and it's a bright, bright yellow so no oxidisation so far.

I think I'll just leave it for a wee while to sort itself out. Try it every week. If it's still not great after 8 weeks, I'll give it up as a bad job.

 

[Stu]

I've also realised that I didn't take an OG reading from the Dark Rock kit.
We'll play the roulette

 

[Agentgonzo]

Brewed a witbier today. Doing a couple of new things. First, a glycoprotein rest at 72° for 20 minutes (was supposed to be 10 but I forgot to start the sparge heater)

Second, I'm saving the trub, letting it settle then freezing it to use as a starter for some frozen yeast in a future brew

For some reason, I always get nervous to see wether the OG matches the recipe target. This one hit it on the button exactly at 1.048

 

[Twostage]

Bottled my bitter NEIPA tonight. Had a quick taste. It's nowhere near as bad as the last one.

Damned by feint praise .

 

[Sadfield]

Onwards and upwards, how it should be.

 

[foxy]

Bass Pale Ale clone.
OG 1049 FG 1,012 ABV 5% IBU 40.7 SRM 11.5 Mash pH 5.4
5.00 kg Veloria Schooner Malt
0.500 g flaked barley
0.230 g light crystal malt fermenter addition
0.130 g dark crystal malt fermenter addition
0.015 g roast barley fermenter addition
30 g Northern Brewer hops 60 mins
7 g Northern Brewer hops 15 mins
10 g Challenger hops 5 mins

34 litres of mash liquor with 5.7 kg of grain.

Same observation as last time the foam raises the temperature at the top, tried slowing the flow made no difference, cleared some of the foam to let the heat escape worked a treat. Even temperature all around.

Fermenter addition, silly having to put that but late mash addition doesn't work as it adds points to OG.

Close enough.

Temperature in fermenting room. Setting is at 17C with 0,5 discrepancy

 

[Sadfield]

Brewing for an upcoming homebrew club comp, Olympics inspired where I have to brew something with a connection to a randomly drawn country. I have the brewing powerhouse that is Switzerland. One vaguely unique beer I've found is Maisgold Spezial, a pilsner brewed with 30% corn from the Linth plain, so I'm riffing on that using Safale S-189 originating from the Hürlimann brewery in Switzerland. The gold reference and Zutter 1896 name also ties in with the Olympics, in reference to Louis Zutter who won Pommel horse Gold at the inaugural Summer Olympics in Athens, 1896. Might try and find a gold cap to put on the bottle to really hammer home the tenuous link.


ZUTTER 1896 Maisgold Spezial.

Batch -12.5L
OG -1.045
IBUs - 28
EBC - 5.6
ABV - 5.0%

Water

Ca-50 Mg-6 Na-11 Co3-15 SO4-60 Cl-60

Mash - 60' @ 67c.

Extra Pale Planet - 55%
Munich Malt - 15%
Torrified Maize - 30%
Lactic Acid - 3g
First Gold (Home grown) - 20g

Boil - 60'

Saaz- 25g @ FW
Protofloc - 0.3g @ 10'
Nutrient - 1g @ 10'
Saaz- 25g @ 0'

Fermentation

Safale S-189

This will also be an experiment in warm fermenting a Lager in an open, shallow FV, with S-189 having a temperature range from 9-22C. Going to pitch as cold as possible and let free run. “Faster, Higher, Stronger" as the Olympic motto goes.

 

[Twostage]

View attachment 99590

Brewing for an upcoming homebrew club comp, Olympics inspired where I have to brew something with a connection to a randomly drawn country. I have the brewing powerhouse that is Switzerland. One vaguely unique beer I've found is Maisgold Spezial, a pilsner brewed with 30% corn from the Linth plain, so I'm riffing on that using Safale S-189 originating from the Hürlimann brewery in Switzerland. The gold reference and Zutter 1896 name also ties in with the Olympics, in reference to Louis Zutter who won Pommel horse Gold at the inaugural Summer Olympics in Athens, 1896. Might try and find a gold cap to put on the bottle to really hammer home the tenuous link.


ZUTTER 1896 Maisgold Spezial.

Batch -12.5L
OG -1.045
IBUs - 28
EBC - 5.6
ABV - 5.0%

Water

Ca-50 Mg-6 Na-11 Co3-15 SO4-60 Cl-60

Mash - 60' @ 67c.

Extra Pale Planet - 55%
Munich Malt - 15%
Torrified Maize - 30%
Lactic Acid - 3g
First Gold (Home grown) - 20g

Boil - 60'

Saaz- 25g @ FW
Protofloc - 0.3g @ 10'
Nutrient - 1g @ 10'
Saaz- 25g @ 0'

Fermentation

Safale S-189

This will also be an experiment in warm fermenting a Lager in an open, shallow FV, with S-189 having a temperature range from 9-22C. Going to pitch as cold as possible and let free run. “Faster, Higher, Stronger" as the Olympic motto goes.

Looks interesting.

 

[brewhaha]

Split batch of a no boil Berliner Weisse today. 3kg pilsner & 2kg wheat should give me around 35 litres of 1.041 OG wort. I'll liquor that back to 40 litres to give me 2 x 20 litres batches fermented with Lallemand's Philly Sour.

One will get around 3kg of fresh rhubarb added & the other 3-4 preserved lemons. Super refreshing & perfect for the summer.

With no boil, it's a shorter brew day & I end up with twice the beer, what's not to love!

Rhubarb added to batch 1 today. Whizzed it up in the food processor to try & get maximum flavour & colour out of it.

Batch 2 will get the preserved lemons mid week ready for kegging next weekend.

Both are down to 1.008 & with the liquored back OG at 1.033, it's looking like a very sessionable 3.3%.

 

[Frisp]

Bass Pale Ale clone.
OG 1049 FG 1,012 ABV 5% IBU 40.7 SRM 11.5 Mash pH 5.4
5.00 kg Veloria Schooner Malt
0.500 g flaked barley
0.230 g light crystal malt fermenter addition
0.130 g dark crystal malt fermenter addition
0.015 g roast barley fermenter addition
30 g Northern Brewer hops 60 mins
7 g Northern Brewer hops 15 mins
10 g Challenger hops 5 mins

34 litres of mash liquor with 5.7 kg of grain.
View attachment 99579
Same observation as last time the foam raises the temperature at the top, tried slowing the flow made no difference, cleared some of the foam to let the heat escape worked a treat. Even temperature all around.
View attachment 99581
Fermenter addition, silly having to put that but late mash addition doesn't work as it adds points to OG.
View attachment 99580
Close enough.
View attachment 99584
Temperature in fermenting room. Setting is at 17C with 0,5 discrepancy
View attachment 99582

How many L do you get into the fermenter ?