Wonkey Donkey Brewdays

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Jul 3, 2020
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Well it’s about time I got amongst it and started this AG lark!!

After months of reading, watching and contemplating I decided to go for a few kits; I love all things German so decided on an Oktoberfest and Dunkelweizen along with a raspberry pale and a Black Sheep clone.

Nothing like jumping in so I started with a double brewday…. I bought a 50l pot with element and decided to go full volume biab to minimise to variables for starters. I’ve also looked at water stuff so got the bits to treat to style….

Black sheep was up first, water measured out and additions in. As it’s new kit to me I wasn’t sure about timings so made notes on literally everything lol. All went surprisingly smoothly until I pulled the biab out after mashing and realised I had nothing to rest it on as it drained…. Bit of impromptu construction and I managed a makeshift balancing thingamabob that did the trick… note to self - buy a big colander!!! Otherwise no cockups and it went into the fv for overnight chilling. Numbers came back as expected at around 62% eff giving me a 4.2 abv if it ferments out as expected- just what I was after!

Quick clean down and straight onto the Oktoberfest! I only ended up doing this as I need it ready for a Halloween party next month…. Anywho, after the earlier practice all went well again. Water additions were minimal this time - bit of salt and lactic, then mashed in. A lot more grains with this kit which should give around 6.5% abv. similar eff at 63% so at least I’m being consistent. Again left overnight to chill and I’ll pitch the yeasts tomorrow evening.

all in all a bloody good day and something I’ve thoroughly enjoyed! The first of many brewdays for my little Wonkey Donkey Bar.

Cheers!
 
Quick update!! I left my Oktoberfest sample out last night and did a quick OG this morning at 21 degrees and it’s come in at 1.066 which gives me 70% eff- I completely forgot about the temp adjustments for gravity! Well chuffed
 
Well the Oktoberfest has hit fg of 1.012 and tastes bloody good! So is kegged and waiting to go into the keezer (once it’s defrosted- see other post!)

The black sheep on the other hand is 10 points off at 1.020…. Which I don’t quite understand, so I’ve given it a bit of a stir and bumped the temp up a smidge.. this has dry S04 pitched @20 and a bit of subsequent reading has highlighted it can be a bit of a diva so I’ll bear with it for another week….
 
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So i invested some cash and bought me a G40!! I had intended to buy a brewtank but that didn’t work out so….

First brew was a relatively simple Old Speckled Hen clone from MM. Only change I made was to use w1275 instead of the supplied yeast based on a bit of tinternet searching and I did full volume no sparge to test the heating power.

Once I’d done the water changes for strong bitter, which incidentally was the largest additions I’ve had thus far (I had to do a little recheck on brewfather to reassure myself..) Brew day went well, although i was spending so much time on the new kit I forgot to take gravity readings…. Wort came out nice and clear though and I had exactly 23l in the fv. Most importantly no cockups! except I forgot I’d used my last protofloc so went without this time.

Inital thoughts on the G40 are very impressive, it just works… I need to work out how to transfer from Brewfather to the Grainfather app for my next brew so I can test that aspect.

This brew is for the father-in-laws visit in Jun and will be going onto the handpull so I’ve got high hopes it’s a cracker!
 
So the OSH has fermented out really well.. tastes nice and clean coming out the fv and pretty clear already so I’m chuffed with that! Best get it onto the beer engine after a bit of conditioning.

Next up is the cml English tropical IPA Kit. I made a few tweaks to the 21l recipe though, I added another 100g of harlequin so played around with the hop additions to keep the same ibu (34) but squeezing a lot into a big hopstand @75°c. I also tried using ashbeck bottled for this as I have really hard water and wondered if it would make a difference…. Water additions were to the hoppy Brewfather style.

Brewday went well, although I found a bit of mildew in the counterflow so had to vwp it whilst the boil finished.

I also used kviek hornindal as I’ve not used kviek before and I thought it might add to the hop flavours!

pitched at 25° into the all rounder and it’s been working away at 33° for the last 3 days. I plan to drop it down to 20 odd then dry hop for a few days, then close transfer to avoid any oxygen pick up.

interested to see how this one plays out!

Next up a double brew day! Two dark rock kits.. Kolsch and Proper Job clone.

planning a raspberry blonde and a saison and maybe another Vimeo TC.
 
The Tropical IPA is now done and kegged after 8 days. Finished at 1.012 so on the button. Colour is a lovely light hazy yellow and the smell is awesome. Bit too green in the taste but all the flavours are there so I’ll set it aside to carb for a week or so.

next brew day was postponed until sun now so I can get out and indulge in the celebrations lol. Really impressed with the quality of beer I can chuck out on the G40 though. It’s already made my mind up that it was a good decision. 🍻🍺👍🏻
 
Hopefully a brew on tonight…. The father-in-law is stopping over so he’s going to pick one of the kits he wants to brew and I’ll introduce him to beer making!!

As follow up to above the OSH hasn’t cleared in the corny yet, but good god it’s a good pint through the engine. The IPA was really unbalanced when fresh but has settled wonderfully and the mother in law was very taken with it last night…. Although she’s feeling the 6.5% today lol.

So first two G40 brews are a success and I’m well happy. Just need to dial my own processes in and I’m sure the beer will get better and better!!
 
We have a little bar round the corner from me in peterborough called the wonkey donkey, is that you?
 
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