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What's in your fermenter? 2019


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15 minutes ago, ChristinaS1 said:

What is Bunyip?

Sorry, Bunyip is a mythical creature to Australians. I forgot about Aussie slang, what I meant by that is, lemon myrtle, you can put it on any Aussie meat and it’ll be nice (apart from crocodile) to eat but leave it out of beer. 

My personal opinion on lemon myrtle is that it can be removed from menus across the world, just to make the world a better place.

Edited by The Captain1525230099
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I've just checked the SG on Christina's SFWH Pale Ale that I have in the FV atm. It's right on the expected FG of 1.010-11, so the WLP001 has done a good job.

I had to of course have a swig of the hydro sample. It's really good. It's muddled a little with the yeast still in suspension, but the Cascade flavour is good, & the aroma is good also.

Given FG has been reached, I've just added in the 100gm dry hop. The beer will be left under somewhat ambient conditions (temp controller & fridge are switched off) over the next 3-4 days where upon I will remove the dry hops, give a good squeeze, & then place the beer into cold conditioning mode. I will look to keg the beer the following weekend.

It's early days yet, but I'm most pleased with the beer at this early junction. 🙂

Cheers & good brewing,

Lusty.

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I am in awe of those who can pick the flavours .... I know things taste good but I find it hard to separate the yeast flavours from the hops and malt in beer flavour profiles ... particularly in beer that are balanced ... it is the same with wine the wife is brilliant, she tells me all the fruit, herbaceous flavours and anything else that is in wine but I don't pick it ... I can tell when it is good but the flavour profile I have no idea of ...   sorry it is a bit of a lie .... good with acids and tannins ... 

Edited by MartyG1525230263
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I used to be that way until I started to remove a lot of the variables and just kept it simple, not quite a SMASH but pretty close for extract brewing. I would use a clean neutral yeast with just light malt extract and then brew single hop beers. I did this for like 6 brews to understand what I was getting from the hops, malt, and yeast profiles. After I was tired of that I switched the yeast up for 3 brews and then just brewed what I thought would taste good. Still working on the malt side if things. It helped me understand what citra, galaxy, centennial, Amarillo, cascade and Vic secret brought to the table. They were good beers, with the centennial and Amarillo being my favorites and citra close behind. Vic secret was pretty good also but I didn't use any in a boil just flameout and missed my numbers because I didn't steep long enough, it was tasty but I expected more bitterness so I was disappointed in my process and for not taking the full 20 minutes to steep for something I would drink for a month or so.

After all that I still get the flavours muddled up sometimes but just focus on what I preceive. If at the end of the day I like the taste and flavour, I don't care. I will try to figure out what I am picking up for better or for worse, it is all perception anyways. Cat pee vs citrus is a perfect example.

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1 hour ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

I am in awe of those who can pick the flavours .... I know things taste good but I find it hard to separate the yeast flavours from the hops and malt in beer flavour profiles ... particularly in beer that are balanced ... it is the same with wine the wife is brilliant, she tells me all the fruit, herbaceous flavours and anything else that is in wine but I don't pick it ... I can tell when it is good but the flavour profile I have no idea of ...   sorry it is a bit of a lie .... good with acids and tannins ... 

That is perfectly normal Marty, not being able to pick out flavours when you are just starting out. It comes with experience, and knowing what ingredients are in there. If you are good with acids and tannins, that is a start. 😉 What helped / helps me is to keep very careful notes. With the first bottle of the batch, then again a week or two later, and then near the end of the batch, I pretend I am a beer judge and comment on every aspect of the beer. Play free association. Take a sip of beer, close your eyes, and think of what it reminds you of. What is the first thing that pops into your head? First evaluate for off flavours, then malt flavours, then hop flavours. Maybe keep a list of flavour descriptor in front of you and do it together with your wife? I agree with Norris that using a clean yeast, and fermenting it cool (so it stays clean), is helpful in the beginning.

Are you a smoker by any chance? If so, that might interfere with your ability to taste....

Cheers,

Christina

Edited by ChristinaS1
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17 minutes ago, ChristinaS1 said:

That is perfectly normal Marty, not being able to pick out flavours when you are just starting out. It comes with experience, and knowing what ingredients are in there. If you are good with acids and tannins, that is a start. 😉 What helped / helps me is to keep very careful notes. With the first bottle of the batch, then again a week or two later, and then near the end of the batch, I pretend I am a beer judge and comment on every aspect of the beer. Play free association. Take a sip of beer, close your eyes, and think of what it reminds you of. What is the first thing that pops into your head? First evaluate for off flavours, then malt flavours, then hop flavours. Maybe keep a list of flavour descriptor in front of you and do it together with your wife? I agree with Norris that using a clean yeast, and fermenting it cool (so it stays clean), is helpful in the beginning.

Are you a smoker by any chance? If so, that might interfere with your ability to taste....

Cheers,

Christina

Thanks heaps Christina, I am a non smoker ... some great tips there ...  hopefully after a year of kits and kilos and now having graduating to  partial mash, hops additions and special yeast I can start improving as I have a better Idea of the ingredients in the brew  so I may be better with taste profiles 

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I have a hydrometer sample sitting in a tube and it is at 1.010, 1 day ago it was ar 1.012,  which is what it is supposed to get to but honestly I thought it was done a day ago but it keeps dropping. I like this set up, I stole the idea from Otto. This brew is on a 14 day cycle to fit my schedule so it is in the ramping up phase for another 4 days then crash for 4 days and keg/bottle. Interested to see where it finishes, honestly I don't take samples after the 2nd one until I bottle. I usually grab the initial sample to confirm OG and then another one a day or two after day 6. I figure if it tastes good then it should be right. I probably have been overstating my FG.

Edited by Norris!
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The reading in the sample will change depending on temperature as well. If I sit it there and it's 30 degrees ambient* then I figure the real reading is a couple of points higher than where the hydrometer is sitting. 

*Obviously having been sitting there for some time.

Edited by Otto Von Blotto
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Hi all,

Just made my SFWH experimental partial mash brew. It is an English Bitter, using mainly Cluster hops, with a wee bit of Centennial thrown in for some geraniol. This is my first time using Cluster hops. I have been wanting to try them for a while. At one time they were the most common hops in North America, but they aren't used much anymore, except for bittering, and sometimes in California Common and historical recipes. But from their description it sounds to like they would be good in an English Bitter: floral, earthy, spicy, mango. I was quite impressed with their aroma in store. They are a high cohumulene hop, but I am going to use them anyway. 

Cluster Bitter 

750gm Maris Otter

150gm Munich

225gm Crystal Wheat

75gm Crystal 120L

60gm Thomas Fawcett Pale Chocolate

12gm Cluster hops SFWH x 30 minutes + 20 minute boil

5gm Centennial hops SFWH x 30 minutes + 20 minute boil

10gm MJ's Liberty Bell M-36 yeast (rehydrated)

22L 

10 gm Cluster DH

10gm Centennial DH

For those interested in how I do my partial mashes, I use an 8.5L picnic cooler like this: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/coleman-hard-cooler-8-5-l-0854077p.html#spc as my mash tun. The lid was hollow and did not hold the heat very well, so years ago I drilled some holes in the lid and squirted spray foam insulation into it; now it keeps the mash temp very stable. I use 3L/kg water to grain in a mesh bag. My partial mashes are typically 900gm-1.25kg. I mash for 60 minutes. After squeezing the first wort out of the bag I put the grain bag back into the mash tun with some new water and mash that for an additional 30 minutes, for a second batch of wort. Then I combine the two worts and boil for 20 minutes. For this batch I put my short first wort hops into the kettle before pouring the first runnings onto them, gave the kettle a short blast of heat to bring the temp back up to mash temp, wrapped the kettle in a towel, then let it stand for 30 minutes while the second batch of wort was mashing. I then chilled the wort ASAP before adding the yeast. For this batch I did not add any hops later in the boil, nor did I do a hops stand. The dry hop will be just 20gm. 

Between Lusty's test and this one, I think we should get a sense of the potential of the SFWH method.  I am very curious how it will turn out. I usually have a batch drunk 6-7 weeks after bottling, but this time I plan to save four or so bottles beyond that and test one every week or so to see how the flavour changes.

One observation so far is that this method uses very little hops. Without any later hop or hop stand additions straining the hop matter out of the wort was a breeze.  Because of how I do my partial mashes, it didn't lengthen my brew day at all either. Because I did not do a hop stand, it actually shortened it by 20 minutes.  Mind you, for an APA, I would likely still do a hop stand.

Cheers,

Christina.

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5 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

The reading in the sample will change depending on temperature as well. If I sit it there and it's 30 degrees ambient* then I figure the real reading is a couple of points higher than where the hydrometer is sitting. 

*Obviously having been sitting there for some time.

yep that is why I decided not to use this method unless the sample is returned to the fridge.... fermentation will be quicker at the higher temp so an adjustment needs to be done ... all this method all indicates is that fermentation is continuing ... and it may be finished in the hydrometer sample but not the FV if the temp of the sample has been higher for a day  or so ...  I would return it to the fridge after the 1st test and all subsequent tests ... 

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I will keep it in the fridge from now on, cheers. I did like popping out and checking it sitting on the fridge, now I have to open the fridge and get it out!?!? That is a lot more than I signed up for.

Hahaha. Truly appreciate that Kelsey and Marty anything to improve my process is a plus.

 

Edited by Norris!
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1 minute ago, Norris! said:

Hahaha. Truly appreciate that Kelsey and Marty anything to improve my process is a plus.

Glad I helped .... I really know bugger all compared to some of the guys on here but that to me just seemed highly logical ... growth and metabolism of the yeast is dependant on temp and substrate (sugars)  high the temp the quick the metabolism so the quicker they will use the sugar ... 

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7 hours ago, ChristinaS1 said:

...One observation so far is that this method uses very little hops.

This is one of the main reasons I promote FWH'ing. A way to retain an increased level of hop flavour & also bitter your beer suitably with a single addition, whereas a traditional bittering addition would have most of the aromatic oils vaporized &/or blown off by the end of a long standard boil. I feel the technique gives you way more bang for your buck by hop weight vs more traditional hopping schedules & a more enduring hop flavour as the beer ages.

If using simple mathematics, I'm aiming & hoping for a 50% increase in retained hop flavour given the shorter boil time, & a much more notable aroma given I've used 4 times the dry hopping weight this time around than what I used in my original single hop FWH Cascade beer.

Best of luck with your SFWH EB Christina. I'll look forward to your thoughts down the track.

Cheers,

Lusty

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A quick S.G. check of my 'frozen' pilsner revealed that it has dropped from 1.055 down to 1.025 at day 5.

I have adjusted my temp control from 10°C to 18°C for the diacetyl rest. I'll let it rise up by itself, with the warmer temperature in my brew shed ATM I would expect it will be 18°C by tomorrow night or Monday morning. 

When I begin the ramp down back to 10°C I'll be using Kelsey's schedule of gradually stepping the temp. down over a few days. 👌

Had a little taste of the sample tonight and there is no sign of any bad or off flavours. So far so good....

Cheers, Lee 🍻

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Re: Cluster Bitter. This is my first time using MJ's Liberty Bell M-36 (formerly Burton Union) and so far I am impressed with it. I rehydrated it and it was developing krausen five hours post pitch at 23C. Dropped the temp to 22C at that stage, and the airlock was bubbling by the ten hour point, when I dropped the temp again to 21C, which is where I will keep it.

Interested in pulling some esters from this yeast. I considered fermenting at 23C, but thought I would play it safe the first time around and go with 21C.  Might try 23C next time, for a Bitter. Supposedly also good for Pale Ales, but I imagine that must be at the cooler end of its range (18-23C).

Cheers,

Christina.

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10 hours ago, ChristinaS1 said:

This is my first time using MJ's Liberty Bell M-36 (formerly Burton Union) and so far I am impressed with it

Ditto. I started using it for the first time last year -  brewed several bitters (and others) with it.  I used to regularly opt for S0-4 and Nottingham but M36 and M42 are both worthy contenders!

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10 hours ago, ChristinaS1 said:

This is my first time using MJ's Liberty Bell M-36

I am currently have a Golden ale with the Liberty Bell and Amarillo hops in the FV  ....  tastings are encouraging .... start cold crash on Tuesday then will bottle next weekend ... 

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