The Captain!! Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 Ended up bittering with centennial because I forgot I had no magnum. Oh well 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 On 12/9/2019 at 10:46 PM, Otto Von Blotto said: We don't really use the front garden so that's where they go to die. Haven't had any issues with birds so far, but they are kind of hidden by the hedges out there. Die in the front garden = microbial degradation and incorporation into highly positive organic matter in the soil providing improved water holding capacity, soil physical attributes and plant nutrition.... good stuff! Well done. Your front garden will be happy. Small possibility of pH lowering but spreading it out a bit and a tadge of lime in the future I suspect it will be all good. Sad if it goes into the bin. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyBrew2 Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 Just finished my english bitter. brew day was 4 hours which im pretty happy with. had no issues and finished two points up for OG at 1.058 5.4 kgs Maris Otter 300 gms Crystal Malt Medium 300 gms Gladfield Biscuit Malt 100 gms Acidualted Malt 100 gms Caraaroma malt 100 gms Joe White Chocolate Malt 50 gms EKG 60 mins 25 gms EKG 10 mins Cubed and 2 x Windsor yeast will be pitched when cooled Brewing in 40 degrees heat is great craic by the way . 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 16 minutes ago, PaddyBrew2 said: Just finished my english bitter. brew day was 4 hours which im pretty happy with. had no issues and finished two points up for OG at 1.058 Gold mate! Looks to be a beautiful brew! What temp and yeast are you going to ferment at? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 1 hour ago, Bearded Burbler said: Die in the front garden = microbial degradation and incorporation into highly positive organic matter in the soil providing improved water holding capacity, soil physical attributes and plant nutrition.... good stuff! Well done. Your front garden will be happy. Small possibility of pH lowering but spreading it out a bit and a tadge of lime in the future I suspect it will be all good. Sad if it goes into the bin. There's one main reason I don't throw it in the bin - it would stink to high heaven. However, I also figure it breaks down over time and does all that stuff. The hedges look good but we have finally had a bit of rain lately too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 8 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said: There's one main reason I don't throw it in the bin - it would stink to high heaven. However, I also figure it breaks down over time and does all that stuff. The hedges look good but we have finally had a bit of rain lately too. Yeah you gotta do what you gotta do but I would like to think you would put it in your garden to improve the soil quality and reduce waste to landfill and not just worry about what your bin smells like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyBrew2 Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 2 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said: Gold mate! Looks to be a beautiful brew! What temp and yeast are you going to ferment at? Ferment around the usual 18.5 mark then slowly ramp it up after a few days using Danstar Windsor yeast. Two packs to be sure to be sure 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 3 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said: Yeah you gotta do what you gotta do but I would like to think you would put it in your garden to improve the soil quality and reduce waste to landfill and not just worry about what your bin smells like. It's mostly habit too, although with the bins being near the entertainment area I'd also prefer it not to have stinky grains in it. I used to throw it up the back yard at the olds when I was there. The turkeys would scratch around in it and spread it out. Sometimes I notice a bit of a smell from it but it's only in the 2 or 3 days since it was dumped out there. After that it just sits there unnoticed and gradually disappears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted December 14, 2019 Share Posted December 14, 2019 On 12/12/2019 at 10:41 PM, Otto Von Blotto said: After that it just sits there unnoticed and gradually disappears. gradually disappears = beneficial microbial degradation and incorporation into soil organic matter enriching your soil profile for better plant nutrition and water holding capacity My neddy man loves my spent grain... but it's probably assisted by my non-excellent level of efficiency and the horses getting all those beautiful carbohydrates!?! He hasn't had many wins this year but the one recent race he got a First in was after what was probably my worst-efficiency mashing effort 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 14, 2019 Share Posted December 14, 2019 Sounds like lower brewing efficiency means higher racing efficiency 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted December 14, 2019 Share Posted December 14, 2019 11 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said: Sounds like lower brewing efficiency means higher racing efficiency I think it was the very strong field and his barrier placings for the next weekend when two of his ran badly... but that week's brew/horse feed was the most efficient I had ever done 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSands Posted December 14, 2019 Share Posted December 14, 2019 (edited) Rudstickle Bitter Continuing my 'exploration' with less common/ 'fallen out of favour' hops, today I'm brewing a fairly straight forward English best bitter using NZ hops Dr Rudi and Sticklebract: 3kg GF Ale Malt 250g GF Med. Crystal Malt 100g GF Biscuit Malt 100g GF Dark Crystal Malt 50g Roasted Barley 5g Gypsum 10g Sticklebract @40min 10g Dr Rudi @30min 15g Sticklebract @15min 15g Dr Rudi @5min M36 Yeast | ABV=4.2% | IBU=34 | EBD=30 | Edited December 14, 2019 by BlackSands 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 14, 2019 Share Posted December 14, 2019 Brew day today, red ale again. Next week I might brew my annual dark beer, this time the porter. Nice sunny day for once, the last few brew days have been cloudy. Might have to substitute some of the Cascade in it this time as I'm not sure there's enough left, certainly not enough for the dry hop. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris! Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 (edited) Brewing and mowing today. I did the same recipe, a tropical ale but wanted to get it to 1.050, so added some additional pilsner because I have been getting bad efficiency, around 60%. Today I got around 72% pre boil, with a 1.052 gravity. I stirred the mash twice during the 60 min mash and once again at mash out, which I had skipped the other brews. So not sure if it was the mash out step or the mixing but happy with that, now if I can do it again next brew. 5.2k pilsner malt 400g wheat malt 500g carapils 150g victory malt 10g horizon FWH 10g galaxy, Amarillo and citra cube hopped at 84c or so 40g of each dry hopped. I will dilute it to 1.050 at 23 liters with an extra 4.6 liters of water. So fill to 19 liters and add water. I am doing this brew again because it was on sale and I wanted to test the mash out step I kept forgetting on the same grain bill. Very happy So far. Cheers Norris Edited December 15, 2019 by Norris! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSands Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 4 hours ago, BlackSands said: Rudstickle Bitter Continuing my 'exploration' with less common/ 'fallen out of favour' hops, today I'm brewing a fairly straight forward English best bitter using NZ hops Dr Rudi and Sticklebract: | ABV=4.2% | IBU=34 | EBD=30 | Well that brew day went well, efficiency was WAY up this time though... 88%. It seems it all comes down to the sparging. This time I tried a different approach to the usual batch sparge. I lifted the grain bag and dunked it in a second pot containing the requisite amount of pre-heated water. That's consequently pushed the ABV up to around 5% and technically now out of style and more into strong bitter/ESB territory. Oh no! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 No change to the recipe as it turns out. Pre boil volume is a litre less than target so I've reduced boil time to 65 minutes as a result (normally I do 75). There was exactly 32g of Cascade left in the bag and the recipe called for 31g so it worked out well. Just waiting for the steep time to finish on that Cascade addition before I begin bringing the wort up to boil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 On 12/12/2019 at 5:06 PM, The Captain!! said: Ended up bittering with centennial because I forgot I had no magnum. Oh well That beer is looking up already. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 Boil done. Been nice to power it all from the roof today. Just gotta drain the hop sock/spider and whirlpool it for 15 minutes then into the cube to wait for a fermenter. Mash efficiency was 86.1%, ended up with 1.0366 in 34 litres, so should be able to hit the target 1.0434 post boil. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussiekraut Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 2nd AG batch is done. This time all went ok and I filled up the cube without any dramas. It's a no-chill chill batch. I cubed it and threw it in the pool for an hour. That took it down to 33C and now it is in the fridge being cooled to 18. It'll go in the fermenter later today. Looking good One thing I need to figure out is my boil off rate. Last batch was even less and I figured out that I need to compensate for the liquid contained in the grain and added 3 litres of water but still only ended up with 18l...down from from 33l mash at mash time. Target was 21. I guess I can just add another 3 litres of water in the FV? Forgot to take a pre-boil SG reading of course but will certainly take an OG reading once it's in the FV. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 That's a huge boil off rate, nearly 6 litres in 70 minutes going by the Beersmith thing there. I reckon most systems would be running around 3 litres an hour. The boil size looks about right for the batch size but you should have had about 25/26 litres left in the Guten prior to transfer to the cube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris! Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 @AussiekrautWas there a lot of wort still left in the grains? That much wheat can lead to a sticky mash which could of soaked a lot of the water up. I do about 35l for a 23l batch, probably could drop that volume by 1l or so but so far it works and I have enough wort to fill the cube. There could be a fair amount of wort left in the pump also, but not 3l worth. If you cannot figure it out check for a beersmith profile on google for your machine and see if your numbers match theirs and that could be the issue. At the end of the day, you still have beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 8 hours ago, BlackSands said: Continuing my 'exploration' with less common/ 'fallen out of favour' hops, today.... Just curious, why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussiekraut Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 1 hour ago, Norris! said: @AussiekrautWas there a lot of wort still left in the grains? That much wheat can lead to a sticky mash which could of soaked a lot of the water up. I do about 35l for a 23l batch, probably could drop that volume by 1l or so but so far it works and I have enough wort to fill the cube. There could be a fair amount of wort left in the pump also, but not 3l worth. If you cannot figure it out check for a beersmith profile on google for your machine and see if your numbers match theirs and that could be the issue. At the end of the day, you still have beer. I let it sit to drip dry while it was heating up to boil. When I put it in the bucket it might have lost another two or three hundred ml. The grain is wet but didn't seem sticky...not that I ran my fingers through it When I took the mash tube out, I had about 25l wort left, it should have been about 30. The previous batch was similar, with the same grain bill. I did a 30l mash and after the boil and my spillage, ended up with about 14l, according to my FV. Well, the next batch is going to be a SMASH with simple ale malt. Let's see what happens then. Well, I'm learning. I never thought I'd go AG in the first place, now here I am I just dry hopped last weeks attempt and took an SG sample. It's down to about 1010 since Tuesday and tastes quite nice, despite all the little disasters. Might bottle it around Wed or Thu. It won't make it in time for xmas but should be drinkable around NYE. Good enough for me 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussiekraut Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 2 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said: That's a huge boil off rate, nearly 6 litres in 70 minutes going by the Beersmith thing there. I reckon most systems would be running around 3 litres an hour. The boil size looks about right for the batch size but you should have had about 25/26 litres left in the Guten prior to transfer to the cube. I thought so. what should have been about a 30l boil ended up being a 25l boil. 8l lost in the mash seems a lot but the grain wasn't particularly wet I think. After being put aside, it had dripped out another few hundred ml by the time I started cleaning. Not a lot IMHO. Considering the lid was on during mash and mash out, that's a lot of lost liquid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 Yeah that's over the top IMO. You shouldn't be losing that much in the mash. I usually only lose about 2 litres if that. Are you meant to sparge with a Guten or is it similar to BIAB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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