What did you brew today?

[samale]

Cocked up my sparge volume and had to get rid of some wort to prevent a boil over. Ended up with 23L in the FV instead of my expected 20L, at 1.053. A 90% attenuation from Belle Saison will give me a 6.3% beer but I’m hoping it’ll go a bit drier than than (1.005).

That puts my efficiency at 74% instead of my usual 65% - looks like the slow mash in makes all the difference.

What temp are you pitching the yeast at

 

[MickDundee]

What temp are you pitching the yeast at

Pitching at 22, will start ramping it up to 28/30 a couple of degrees a day from Wednesday.

 

[Cowman]

I made a 12l imperial stout yesterday that ended up as a 10l due to a cock up which led to me wearing half of it. I did hit my og in the end thanks to this so not all bad news! I shall also add 1tsp of vanilla extract after fermention.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Cocked up my sparge volume and had to get rid of some wort to prevent a boil over. Ended up with 23L in the FV instead of my expected 20L, at 1.053. A 90% attenuation from Belle Saison will give me a 6.3% beer but I’m hoping it’ll go a bit drier than that (1.005).

That puts my efficiency at 74% instead of my usual 65% - looks like the slow mash in makes all the difference.

Belle Saison is always impressive so I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you got better than 90%.

 

[MickDundee]

Belle Saison is always impressive so I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you got better than 90%.

I got higher last time I used it. 1.001 from 1.045ish IIRC

 

[AMyd666]

Cheers!
Although from a quick read through, mine will be be a tad darker and more bitter than stand Kentucky Common. Looking forward to trying it!

FG 1.010, leading to 4.6%ABV. Spot on. Colour actually looks OK and it tastes nice. I was right to dilute as the bitterness is just right for the style. This'll be a good summer drink!

 

[DavidHatton]

Mosaic & Columbus Pale Ale, bittered with Columbus not sure how much yet as its still cooling, going to re-use the top cropped voss from the other pale.
Will cool it to 40c add the yeast let it naturally drop to about 35c and they wrap it in a fleece blanket.
dry hop in 3 days.

 

[An Ankoù]

Not a "brew" as such, but 9 litres (2 gallon demijohns full) of Elderflower champagne. Recipe from Berry's "First Steps.." units in old money: 6lb rhubarb chopped into ½ lengths and covered with 6lb sugar and left overnight and all morning for the sugar to extract the juice. Syrup poured into 12 litre beer fermenter and rhubarb washed and rinsed with sufficient water to make up to 9½ litres, washing the rest of the undissolved sugar off the rhubarb. Pitched with yeast and nutrient. After primary fermentation, I'll rack into demijohns with an ounce of dried elderflowers in each demijohn tied in a hop bag. When fermentation's finished I'll rack into Lorina swingtop lemonade bottles (used to get them in Waitrose) with a teaspoonful of sugar and leave for 6 months.
Still got some of last years and had one earlier in the week. Splendid stuff, if I do say so myself.

 

[user 18729]

Not a "brew" as such, but 9 litres (2 gallon demijohns full) of Elderflower champagne. Recipe from Berry's "First Steps.." units in old money: 6lb rhubarb chopped into ½ lengths and covered with 6lb sugar and left overnight and all morning for the sugar to extract the juice. Syrup poured into 12 litre beer fermenter and rhubarb washed and rinsed with sufficient water to make up to 9½ litres, washing the rest of the undissolved sugar off the rhubarb. Pitched with yeast and nutrient. After primary fermentation, I'll rack into demijohns with an ounce of dried elderflowers in each demijohn tied in a hop bag. When fermentation's finished I'll rack into Lorina swingtop lemonade bottles (used to get them in Waitrose) with a teaspoonful of sugar and leave for 6 months.
Still got some of last years and had one earlier in the week. Splendid stuff, if I do say so myself.

I’ve always fancied giving this a go

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Today I did a summit pale ale and I’m pleased to say that I didn’t cock anything up this week!

Last brew day was my first ever Stout. All went well and I pitched the yeast at 20 degrees but I hadn’t yet kegged the brew in brew fridge so just left the Stout FV covered up in the garage. Unfortunately by the time I had a free brew fridge for it the next day the temperature of the Stout had risen to 26 degrees. I quickly got it down to 20 where it stayed for 2 weeks before kegging. Hoping it will be ok.

One before that was my Tally Ho clone. Again, all seemed to go well until I checked the OG and found it at 1.052. It should have been 1.069. It was then I realised that force of habit had led me to brew 23 litres from a recipe designed to make just 15 litres.

 

[MrRook]

Honorable Member mild: O G of 1.037.

 

[Tim Wilkes]

First AG brew based on @clibit's simple AG recipe and using Citra. Seemed to go OK. Temperatures there or thereabouts and twenty litres in the bucket. Smells like beer - we'll see!

 

[samale]

Might sound like a stupid question but how long does it take for a 2 litre starter to finish. Also how do you know, do you take a gravity reading or just pitch when you see no activity.

 

[dwhite60]

Coopers Real Ale kit. Used 500g ldme, 500g sugar, 5g yeast nutrient, kit yeast.

First kit I've done in over 20 years. Been doing all grain for 30.

This is just an experiment to see how kits have changed. Being able to put 20 liters together in 30 minutes has its attraction though.

 

[Keruso]

Really interested to hear how this one turns out, keep us posted

Transferred from FV to Keg this weekend, I tried a little sample. I'm quite astonished at the difference in mouthfeel compared to my usual brews, so much more pleasant, softer, smoother and balanced, even before any conditioning or carbonation time. Plus I tried the short and cool Dry Hop Method. Used @strange-steve target IPA water chemistry and his calculator. Give it a a couple of weeks in the keg, can't wait.

 

[Keruso]

D

Might sound like a stupid question but how long does it take for a 2 litre starter to finish. Also how do you know, do you take a gravity reading or just pitch when you see no activity.

Did you get an answer ? I have the same question. I've made a 1.5L starter for the 1st time, gave it 24 hours on the stir plate, simply because white labs suggest 12-18 hours for a 1L starter.....

 

[honeymonster]

10L batch of Scottish Heavy, recipie from Brewing Classic Styles, going to be pitching CML Beoir yeast.

 

[terrym]

I brewed a kit today. The first for 12 months. I bought one on the spur of the moment when I last bought some supplies last, a Coopers Draught which I have never done before. I did a grain steep with 100g crystal malt, and with the liquor did a 2 min boil with 25g Cascade. Also made up some invert sugar based on 500g cane sugar, and used 500g light DME. Made up to 21.5 litres and used the kit yeast from a quick starter with a little diluted wort. OG about 1.042. Its now in the water bath at 19*C, and four hours on the first airlock bubble is not far off, good for a dried yeast that was packed 3Q2018.
Fine so far. But what with fiddling about with grain steeps and making up the invert sugar the whole thing took over 3 hours after tidying up. When I do partial mashes and small volume AG brews it only takes just over an hour longer, Umm

 

[samale]

D

Did you get an answer ? I have the same question. I've made a 1.5L starter for the 1st time, gave it 24 hours on the stir plate, simply because white labs suggest 12-18 hours for a 1L starter.....

No one answered, but I pitched today. Decanted most of the liquid off. I did check it with a hydrometer and it was at 1.010. around 60hrs in total

 

[strange-steve]

Might sound like a stupid question but how long does it take for a 2 litre starter to finish. Also how do you know, do you take a gravity reading or just pitch when you see no activity.

It's definitely not a stupid question, and also not one that's easy to answer. I think it depends on how you plan to use it, if pitching the full starter then I leave it for a day, if decanting then I like to give it a couple of days to make sure it's fully fermented out before I chill it. But then Jamil says a 2L starter should reach max cell density within 12-18 hours, so maybe my method is too drawn out? It's also possible that the actual cell count isn't the be all and end all, and that the act of putting the yeast through a starter medium increases the vitality enough to allow for some leeway?