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What's in Your Fermenter? 2017


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Low-cost Kiwi Pale Ale

(partial mash)

 

1 x Coopers (OS) Real Ale

2.20 kg Gladfield Vienna Malt

400 kg Gladfield Toffee Malt

300 g Sugar

10.00 g Wakatu (boil 20 min )

20.00 g Wakatu (flameout Steep 30 min)

2 x pkt Kit Yeast

 

(OG=1.050, ABV=5.1%, IBU=33.7, EBC=16)

 

The challenge I set myself with this one was to try brew my favourite style (APA) as cheaply as possible without imposing any serious compromises.

 

The Coopers OS cans are the most economic way for me to get LME and today I paid $12. As the Real Ale kit was a favourite back when I was brewing kits and as it's already loaded with a bunch of specialty malts I've therefore limited the specialty grain additions to 400g of Toffee Malt. I could have probably even opted for less... or in fact none at all and just used more Vienna base malt.

 

This can is quite bitter already too so the hop additions are mainly there for a bit of fresh hop aroma and flavour, targeting 20 mins for max flavour and a flame-out steep for optimal aroma. Wakatu are one of the cheapest hop varieties here @ $4.90/100g

 

I'm accumulating kit yeast pkts so two of those for this one, cost=$0 !

 

Total Grain cost = $11.10

Coopers OS can = $12.00

Wakatu Hops = $1.50

Sugar (incl. priming) = $1.26

1 x Whirlfloc = $0.59

 

A mere $26.45 for what I hope will be a very pleasant 23 litres of Kiwi Pale Ale cool

 

 

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Hi guys.

 

I added the 30gm dry hop addition into my Budvar Enterprising Lager a little earlier today that is currently sitting at ambient temperatures. It will remain like this for the next 2-3 days, after which I will then remove the dry hops & begin cold conditioning the beer back in the brew fridge.

 

I also emptied the little 4.2% ABV Falconer's Flight pale ale into a keg & fast carbed that up. Shortly I will re-attach the gas-in line & have this beer under continued pouring pressure. I have a work shift starting later this afternoon & will likely pour one when I get home to see how it's looking.

 

It really smelled terrific from the FV! love

 

My timing for this beer couldn't be better as we are at the beginning of some pretty hot weather here in Adelaide for at least the next 6 days (3 of them forecast @ 37/38°C). As luck would have it, 3 of those days I am not rostered to work (the really hot ones!) biggrin

 

That keg could really be copping a beating! lol

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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simple pale ale : 1x coopers pale tin

1x LME tin

250g each light and dark malt

10g citra steeped in the tin then thrown in before yeast

nottingham ale yeast, dry hop 30g mosaic, in the fridge @ 18

 

 

 

 

 

cheers folks, 1st time using mosaic so keeping it simple

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I've just taken the first FG sample from my English ale with the home made crystal in it and it's sitting at 1.0133 at the moment so I'd say it's done. The predicted FG was 1.014. Will take another reading on Thursday to confirm. It's tasting pretty good too, I can definitely pick up the influence of the crystal grains and it's very nice although it is different to anything I've bought from a brew shop. I'll definitely make crystal grains again on the occasions where I have the time to do it.

 

Looking forward to this being on tap soon!

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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Hi guys.

 

I have just squeezed the goodness from my dry hop bag into my Budvar Enterprising lager beer, then removed them & placed the fermenter back in the brew fridge to cold condition for the next 5-6 days. It's smells terrific.

 

I've hummed & harred about whether I would use finings on this brew, but given it is a lager after all, it should present clear & bright so I've decided to use some even if it has some negative impact on the hopping notes of the beer. I can always up those levels on the next brew if I am unhappy with the end result here. I'll add the finings after about 2 days cold conditioning in the brew fridge. wink

 

If it turns out well, god forbid, I might brew a few more lagers. w00t

 

All looking good so far. happy

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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I went to church a short while ago & made confession.

 

I said, "Forgive me father for I have sinned".

 

The priest said, "Tell me my son what it is you have done, & I will give you your penance"

 

I said, "I used beer finings on a brew today!"

 

The priest said, "Scull 3 hoppy pale ales, & one bitter IPA, & pray for the hop survival of your current brew. I hope you've learned your lesson, now be gone with you!".

 

biggrin

 

So I'm now praying for the hop survival of my Budvar Enterprising lager. tongue

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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Ended up tipping the stout due to a nasty infection, and the Rogers clone was also infected, but yet to see final impact on the finished product. But got back on the horse this weekend with particular attention to sanitation. Put down my take on the Big Island ipa but may have over done it with the oak chips (100g - brain fart moment). Today I also put down a porter based on the English bitter kit with specialty grains. Will see how we go this time...

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First time using the stir plate, flask and liquid yeast this brew night.

First time using cara-rye as well

Used Wyeast 1469 for an Adnams Ghost Ship inspired Ale

 

Brewed 6/3/17 8pm

 

Coopers Real Ale can

Coopers Light LME can

500gm Light DME

200gm white sugar

250gm Cara Rye steeped 30 mins

30gm Citra 5 min boil then 15 min steep

20gm Cascade 5 min boil then 15 min steep

Will dry hop 25gm Citra on day 5

Wyeast West Yorkshire Ale 1469

Made a 2litre starter keeping 600ml for next brew.

Ian H xls says about 41 IBUs

6.1% ABV

Brew fridge set to 19.5degC

 

Also did a bit of an ESB brewed 6/3/17 8pm

 

Coopers English Bitter Can

Coopers light LME

500gm light DME

200gm White sugar

150gm medium crystal malt

100gm chocolate malt

20gm Goldings 2 minute boil then 15 minute steep

20 gm Mosaic same as Goldings

Harvested Nottingham yeast into 2 litre starter, keeping 600ml for next brew

Ian H xls Says:

6.1 % ABV

35.5 IBUs

Brew fridge set to 19.5 degC

 

Checked the FVs this morning and both had about a 15mm Krausen on them after pitching the yeast at 8pm last night

 

Happy days

 

James

 

 

 

 

 

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lol Lusty, what finings did you use? Coincidentally I just threw some Polyclar into my English ale brew that will be kegged on Friday. I've still yet to notice any reduction in hop influence from using these things in my beers. Maybe it's only gelatine, which I never use, that potentially strips it? unsure
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Hi Kelsey.

lol Lusty' date=' what finings did you use?[/quote']

As you know, I don't use finings normally. It was just a sachet of Mangrove Jacks beer finings. It looked like it might be gelatin? unsure

 

I added it this past Sunday after the beer had cold conditioned for a couple of days.

 

I'm thinking it should have done it's thing by this Thursday when I'm planning on kegging it. How many more days would you leave it before considering kegging?

 

P.S. If it is gelatin I've used, I hope the hopping notes aren't affected too badly.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

 

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Just started the cold crash on the Munich Dunkel I put down the Saturday before last. Ended up only getting down to 1014 from 1047, which is unusual for W34/70 in my experience but may be explained by the relatively high temp / long second step of the mash this time around (not entirely intentional!) It tastes good! It even hits style by all measures, other than potentially being 4-6 IBUs too high at around 35. Not too worried about that - it's hardly a hop bomb to taste and I think that calculation may be overzealous anyway.

 

Looking forward to drinking this one for sure.

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It most likely is gelatine, that seems to be what most of the brew shop finings are unless you specifically buy isinglass or one of the other ones. I think Sunday to Thursday should be plenty of time for it to have done its job so you should be fine to keg it then.

 

Because I add two different ones to my beers I do give them a week. Isinglass goes in first to get rid of the yeast as much as possible, then a couple of days later I add the Polyclar and give it a few days to totally settle into the trub, although in reality it probably only takes it a few hours.

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So brewed my Roger Roger Ale today after kegging a Cerveza yesterday (its for SWMBO).

Decided to dry hop with 50g of Wakatu, tasting really nice at this stage giving a nice citrus flavour.

 

Anyway the Roger Roger was going well, until my strainer fell into fv with hop muck from the boil, oh well, I cold crash so hopefully not a prob.

 

Then I watched KR video and saw about putting more boiled water in than required to take temp, easier to tip out some than add some. Seemed like an awesome idea. Except stupid me forgot to empty out some water. So I rehydrated the US-05 with 300ml of water instead of 110ml.

 

Hopefully it turns out OK. Got it sitting in the fridge at 18.5 deg now.

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So after the last disaster things seem to be back on track, at least so far. Big island IPA variation in one, has just seemed to have hit FG. JS porter clone in another, also appears to have hit FG. And a saison based on a coopers kit out in the shed still chugging away merrily and probably a few days out yet from FG. happy

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Rye Session Ale

Just took an SG sample and dry hopped with 25g of Cascade. Comes in at the targeted 3.8% and has more bitterness than my current session ale so I am a happy home brewer.

 

Cheers & Beers

Scottie

Valley Brew

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Distant Cousins 80/- Scottish Ale

(Partial Mash)

 

Measured OG was spot on, that doesn't happen very often with my PM brews. It got off to a good start too... surprising really given that at the last minute I opted to use US-05, which in my experience normally has a fairly extended lag period.

 

 

1.70 kg Coopers (OS) Lager - 39.3 %

1.8kg Gladfield Ale Malt - 41.6 %

350g Gladfield Light Crystal Malt - 6.9 %

200g Gladfield Aurora Malt - 4.6 %

200g Gladfield Dark Crystal Malt - 4.6 %

50g Gladfield Dark Chocolate Malt - 0.7 %

100g Sugar, 2.3 %

30.00g Goldings, New Zealand - Boil 15.0 min

Yeast US-05

 

Estimated:

OG=1.046, IBU=25, EBC=26, ABV=4.4%

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I've got my almost 4 Pines pale ale in the fermenter now, brewed with all but one of the hops they use. It wasn't intended as a clone attempt though, I just happen to have those hops except Amarillo and they obviously work well together so yeah. It was pitched yesterday about 11am or so with the 1272 yeast after the usual oxygenation for a couple of minutes and fermentation was underway around 24 hours later when I checked on it again. It's currently at 18C, I'll check the SG on Wednesday and up the temp to 21ish.

 

OG was 1.0504 and I got the full 25 litres into the fermenter for an efficiency of 74.4%.

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New England IPA , hoping for Hazy , fruity juicy goodness out of this brew !

Basic grainbill just Vienna and GP and a little Rye of course

 

Hop bursted in last 10 mins for total 50 ish IBU ....got a few hundred grams to go in at high krausen and another few hundred dry ....I do like my hops !

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Chucked down a Family secret amber ale with 1kg of ldm + 200g dextrose and US05 yeast about 5 days ago, didn't add any hops etc to it as i've been told it's quite nice by itself? Guess i'll find out in a few weeks.

 

 

Cheers,

Hoppy

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Checked the SG yesterday (4 days since pitching) and it was sitting around 1.023, so the controller was raised up to 22C and the brew allowed to rise naturally. That sample is sitting on the kitchen bench and looks to have dropped to around 1.011-12 or so, but it's a bit hard to tell with the yeasty krausen muck on it. I'll clean it all up tonight and then take another sample of the brew tomorrow, and again on Monday since I won't be here this weekend.

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