What's in Your Fermenter? 2020

[Otto Von Blotto]

Chucked the porter in the fermenter yesterday, OG 1.059 and about 21 litres. Pitched S-04 and fermenting at 20 degrees for the first few days then I'll bump it up to 22-23 to finish off. 

Once I get home from golf (104 off the stick today so some improvement), I'll be making up a yeast starter for the Magnum pale ale so it can be pitched later in the week or next Saturday. 

I'm enjoying being able to pitch one a week after another one, certainly helps with keeping up supply. 

[Beer Baron]

I put gelatin in my rice lager today. It has been cold crashing for 2 days and I’ll leave it for another 2 days and keg it on Tuesday. 

[Norris!]

2 minutes ago, Beer Baron said:

I put gelatin in my rice lager today. It has been cold crashing for 2 days and I’ll leave it for another 2 days and keg it on Tuesday. 

I have been wanting to do a lager and you and Greeny’s rice lager sound nice. Looking forward to the tasting.

[Beer Baron]

4 minutes ago, Norris! said:

I have been wanting to do a lager and you and Greeny’s rice lager sound nice. Looking forward to the tasting.

The plan was to lager it for a couple of months but I start annual leave in a month so it might not last

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

1 hour ago, Beer Baron said:

The plan was to lager it for a couple of months but I start annual leave in a month so it might not last

It will be good. Ive found asian brews dont need as much cold conditioning as all malt pilseners to hit there peak so i think you will be good.

[Norris!]

Ah snap, I think I am sold. Now to use some Google-fu to find your recipes.

Edited February 16, 2020 by Norris!

[Marty_G]

I have the ale I mashed yesterday in the my 25litre keg. Had it sitting in the ferment fridge at 21⁰ for 24 hours. I have now removed it and applied 5 psi pressure. It will now sit at ambient until it is 10 points from finished. I will then de-gas, dry hop and re-pressurise.  When done I will cold crash for 4 or 5 days. 

[Journeyman]

This just went in - close to spreadsheet calc for OG and settled in for 20° ferment. 

Also in the fridge from yesterday is my next attempt at XPA clone.

 

[Malter White]

KISS - Keeping It Simple, Stupid, with a SMOTY Ale for the Shortest Month Of The Year.

I can't believe how simple this recipe is, a spreadsheet is not required.

[Otto Von Blotto]

A spreadsheet isn't required for any kit beer.

[ChristinaS1]

11 hours ago, Journeyman said:

Also in the fridge from yesterday is my next attempt at XPA clone.

Hi Journeyman. Noticed you have both maltodextrin and brown sugar in your recipe. They are kind of working at cross purposes. Maltodextrin builds body by leaving behind unfermentables; brown sugar thins body by being 100% fermentable. 

Are you aware that Coopers has a recipe for their XPA in the recipe section? 

Cheers,

Christina.

[Marty_G]

Well the pressure ferment is racing along. it was a bit sluggish to start as I used a starter made from a slurry of US05 and I either under pitched or it was not viable so made a starter from some ale kit yeasts I had and tossed that in yesterday morning. Well over night it has taken off and the spunding valve is "doing its thang".  Listen to that constant sssshhhhhoooooo .   Today will get to 33^o . Just the right scenario for this set up, kit ale yeast and high ambient temp during pressure fermentation.  It will be interesting to see how this pans out.   

Note to self: next time check the pressure setting on the spunding valve more than once. Even though I did a test and set it to 12.5psi this morning the gauge was off the dial and I had to back off.  All appears well as that bugger is still fermenting.  

[Waynealford]

Brewed up the Coopers recipes for Julebryg and Boerderij Saison last night, while enjoying a ginger beer with Kahlua (dark and stormy-ish!).  Had issues keeping a rolling boil on the ceramic stovetop, which cements for me the difficulty of going all grain, being able to boil in a certain range for a period of time, etc, in my kitchen.

Also picked up a motza of bottles (thanks Blake!), that I now need to get pristine and ready for use.

Once I bottle these in about 2 weeks time, I will have my split batch of Beekeeper/Schwarzerweizen, Fruit Salad Ale, Pavlova Pale ale, and whatever might be left of the Honey Blonde and ginger beer to get through.  Might hold off my next projects (Chai Latte Stout and Hefeweizen) until I have some empty bottles to put them in!!  Noting that the stout and the Julebryg are intended for longer term conditioning, I need to make sure I have at least 3 dozen glass bottles free to bottle both of those recipes.

 

[Marty_G]

14 minutes ago, Waynealford said:

being able to boil in a certain range for a period of time, etc, in my kitchen.

Don't know what you mean by that. There is only one range for a boil and that is 100⁰  but that is not really an issue.  It doesn't matter if it is at a rolling boil or just simmering at 100^o as long as it is in the mid to high end of 90^o all is good. 

 

[Waynealford]

1 minute ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

Don't know what you mean by that. There is only one range for a boil and that is 100⁰  but that is not really an issue.  It doesn't matter if it is at a rolling boil or just simmering at 100^o as long as it is in the mid to high end of 90^o all is good. 

 

I've seen AG recipes that state to simmer grains at 65 degrees for a certain period of time, then 80 for a period of time, etc.  Can't remember where, but seemed a bit too precise for my equipment.

[ben 10]

16 minutes ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

There is only one range for a boil and that is 100⁰

Not quite true.

I am 800 metres above sea level and water boils around 97° to 98°c

[Hairy]

11 minutes ago, Waynealford said:

I've seen AG recipes that state to simmer grains at 65 degrees for a certain period of time, then 80 for a period of time, etc.  Can't remember where, but seemed a bit too precise for my equipment.

It's not really simmering at 65 degrees.

Steeping at 65 degrees for a period of time is the saccharification rest to extract 'sugars'. Then increasing it to 80 degrees (more likely mid to late 70s) is for the mash out. This creates a more viscous wort to assist with draining and sparging.

[Waynealford]

21 minutes ago, Hairy said:

It's not really simmering at 65 degrees.

Steeping at 65 degrees for a period of time is the saccharification rest to extract 'sugars'. Then increasing it to 80 degrees (more likely mid to late 70s) is for the mash out. This creates a more viscous wort to assist with draining and sparging.

this kind of shenanigans:

a) Mash in 19L to achieve 67.8 degrees C for 90 minutes
b) Sparge with 15.5 L at 75.5 degrees C

Apologies if I have terminology wrong (steep, rest, mash, flameout, whatevs), my point is if accuracy of temp is required for a period of time, I am unlikely to be able to do that on my ceramic stovetop.  I could possibly do it outside on my bbq wok burner, being gas, but I think I have enough challenges ahead of me with kit and kilo partial recipes, of which I have at least a dozen planned for the foreseeable future.

Edited February 18, 2020 by Waynealford

[Journeyman]

2 hours ago, ChristinaS1 said:

Hi Journeyman. Noticed you have both maltodextrin and brown sugar in your recipe. They are kind of working at cross purposes. Maltodextrin builds body by leaving behind unfermentables; brown sugar thins body by being 100% fermentable. 

Are you aware that Coopers has a recipe for their XPA in the recipe section? 

Cheers,

Christina.

Yep...  The Maltodextrin is there to help body and head, the sugar to boost ABV (I like them strong) and to assist the missus. She's never liked a single beer I've tried her with across 13 years, until I did HB and the ones she prefers all had brown sugar in them. While it is 100% fermentable it DOES leave a taste she likes. 

And the XPA is based on the Coopers recipe. Couldn't get lemondrop hops though, so I used citra in the boil and probably cascade for the dry hops, although I do now have mosaic and was thinking maybe that might be worth a try. I've liked beers hopped with mosaic out of the tap. e.g. Fixation IPA.

[Journeyman]

33 minutes ago, Waynealford said:

this kind of shenanigans:

a) Mash in 19L to achieve 67.8 degrees C for 90 minutes
b) Sparge with 15.5 L at 75.5 degrees C

Apologies if I have terminology wrong (steep, rest, mash, flameout, whatevs), my point is if accuracy of temp is required for a period of time, I am unlikely to be able to do that on my ceramic stovetop.  I could possibly do it outside on my bbq wok burner, being gas, but I think I have enough challenges ahead of me with kit and kilo partial recipes, of which I have at least a dozen planned for the foreseeable future.

Look into a sous vide system. Mine's a bit small at 7L but there are larger and also ones you can clip to the side of whatever pot you want. You might have to mesh the unit to keep grains out but allow water to pass and it's an extra cleaning step but even the cheap units do +/- 0.1° control. You can even get them with bluetooth or wifi control so you can do your mash without interrupting the footy...   

This one is $60 @ Kogan and they go up from there. There's a 10 L one at the same place that is its own container but if you're thinking AG eventually that's a bit small.

[Journeyman]

8 hours ago, MUZZY said:

KISS - Keeping It Simple, Stupid, with a SMOTY Ale for the Shortest Month Of The Year.

I can't believe how simple this recipe is, a spreadsheet is not required.

There's a recipe for that? Is it just dry hop the EKG?

[ChristinaS1]

1 hour ago, Waynealford said:

Had issues keeping a rolling boil on the ceramic stovetop, which cements for me the difficulty of going all grain, being able to boil in a certain range for a period of time, etc, in my kitchen.

Exactly why I have stuck with partial mash brewing BIAB style. I can brew pretty much anything I want partial mashing, using light coloured Coopers kits as the base, IanH's spreadsheet to calculate IBUs, and a free online recipe tool for grist percentages.

In my situation I had a choice between going all grain and buying a Grainfather or getting a kegging system. I went with the kegging system, and have not regretted it for a second. No longer have to bottle and the beer tastes better, due to being fresher and cold conditioned. And bonus: the kegging system cost less than half of what a Grainfather would have. 

Cheers,

Christina.

 

[Marty_G]

2 hours ago, Ben 10 said:

Not quite true.

I am 800 metres above sea level and water boils around 97° to 98°c

Yes, if you increase or decrease the air pressure boiling temp will either increase or decrease. 

[BlackSands]

1 hour ago, Waynealford said:

...my point is if accuracy of temp is required for a period of time, I am unlikely to be able to do that on my ceramic stovetop. 

As Christina has mentioned - partial mash is a good alternative to AG.  It's a kind of 'best of both' worlds approach, and I'd actually argue, if put to the challenge, that on a homebrew scale that for most it is actually the best option.  But that's a whole other debate! 

Mashing one, two or even three kilo's of grain is manageable at a stove top level. Maintaining mash temperature is easily done without any special equipment.  I typically mash 2- 3kg of grain in a 20 litre stock pot, and once at mash temperature I then place the pot in a pre-warmed oven.  This warm insulated environment  helps hold the mash at a pretty even temperature for the duration of the mash.  

[Marty_G]

2 hours ago, Waynealford said:

I've seen AG recipes that state to simmer grains at 65 degrees for a certain period of time, then 80 for a period of time, etc.  Can't remember where, but seemed a bit too precise for my equipment.

You will be ok.  it us surprising the thermal mass that is created by the grain and how it holds temp. Use a cheap digital thermometer when it hits the temp turn of the power cover it and wrap with a towel