BREW DAY!! WATCHA' GOT, EH!? 2020

[Pezzza]

18 hours ago, Ben 10 said:

Looks good apart from that garbage yeast. 

So why this dislike of US05 Ben?  No funky flavours... ?

If you want the malt and hops to do the talking... and it seems to behave well in terms of get up and go and flocc and drop when you want it to...

[Pezzza]

Brew Day Yesterday.... BB Pale and Voyager Veloria Schooner Malt as the base... then some of the below special malts and a bit of wheat... EKG the hops...

[ben 10]

6 hours ago, Beerlust said:

Hopefully it turns out nice & I get a decent mouthfeel from the oats.

I assume you will just get starch from the oats?

[ben 10]

5 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said:

So why this dislike of US05 Ben?  No funky flavours... ?

Nah, just does absolutely nothing for me.

[Beerlust]

44 minutes ago, Ben 10 said:

I assume you will just get starch from the oats?

Hopefully I will have got some conversion from the Pilsner malt grain I used in the mash, but if not, no big deal. You won't see the haze in a stout, & I heavily doubt you would taste any starchy flavour over all the darker & heavy roasted malts.

If I was making a lighter coloured beer I would certainly be more attentive & do a proper beta-gluc steep beforehand. Something to definitely try out with the new AG setup down the track.

I had to clean & sanitise the krausen collar for the first time in about 4 years today! LOL 

Cheers & good brewing.

Lusty.

[Beerlust]

On 6/5/2020 at 3:00 PM, MitchBastard said:

Today’s brew day resulted in a Kolsch. 
 

bout 90% bestmalz pilsner

munich and some carapils 

halletaur middlefinger @60, 30 &15

ibu 27 

OG 1.042

pitched lallemands koln Kolsch yeast at 22, now sitting at 18.5.

this is the first brew I’ve built a water profile from scratch. RO water in the mash and sparge. Was shooting for a mash pH of 5.2 but landed on 5.17 so I’ll take that as a win. Probably went OTT with the lactic acid.  Put my new filter through it’s paces today. 
 

Also liking the clarity im getting when chilling. 
 

 

 

 

+1 to the improved clarity by chilling. I'm looking forward to this myself once AG brewing. I like your little filter too. I've been thinking about how I might go about it.

What was your timeframe from boiling to yeast pitching temp with the immersion chiller technique with the ice?

Nice work, & please post a pic of the Kolsch when you have it on the pour. 

Cheers,

Lusty.

[Beerlust]

1 hour ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Brew Day Yesterday.... BB Pale and Voyager Veloria Schooner Malt as the base... then some of the below special malts and a bit of wheat... EKG the hops...

Ingredients sound nice Burbler, what did you make? 

[MitchBastard]

@Beerlust Ey Lusty, cheers mate. 
 

this brew day started a little later than normal, Was maybe mashed in by 10am, yeast was pitched at about 3Pm. Cleaned up by 3:45pm. 
 

chilling from 90ish degrees down to pitching takes me about 45/50mins and three bags of ice. Saves a bit of water that way that either goes back into my guten for cleaning and on the garden. 
 

the filter was only $6 and slots into the hole  of the pump inlet. 
 

will post a pic for sure. 

[Beerlust]

1 hour ago, MitchBastard said:

...chilling from 90ish degrees down to pitching takes me about 45/50mins and three bags of ice. Saves a bit of water that way that either goes back into my guten for cleaning and on the garden. 

I'll post a timeframe up on the plate chiller method when I have my setup going. Cheaky Peak dispatched it this morning. 

Cheers,

Lusty.

[Clinto73]

1st Brew in the New Fandangle Craft Fermenter

Based on California Riptide Pale Ale:

1.3kg Amber Malt , 300g BE 3 , 25g Cascade Hops 15 min boil, 12 g Galaxy Finishing Hops in,  Safale 04 yeast.

OG 1048 Temp 17 C will try and keep around 18-19C.

Anyone tried something similar'. I am not a Hop Head so hope haven't gone in too hard on hops....

Cheers

Clint

[MitchBastard]

@Beerlust please do. Been contemplating a plate chiller. The coil doesn’t worry me but brew day efficiency is always good 

[The Captain!!]

1 hour ago, Beerlust said:

I'll post a timeframe up on the plate chiller method when I have my setup going. Cheaky Peak dispatched it this morning. 

Cheers,

Lusty.

Im looking forward to a review on the blichmann chiller. It may make up my mind on which way I sway for my next setup

[JoeB7]

Bottled up a Euro lager (dog bowl drip tray), then put down my Frankenstein Brew

 

[Beerlust]

5 hours ago, The Captain!! said:

Im looking forward to a review on the blichmann chiller. It may make up my mind on which way I sway for my next setup

Blichmann claim...

Quote

Chill 10 gallons (37.85 litres) in 5 minutes to 68°F (20°C) using 58°F (14.4°C) cooling water at 5 gallons per minute (gpm).

I plan to use my brew fridge to chill down something the size of a typical FV 30-35 litres full of water 2 days before the planned brew day & have a second one just sitting around full of water at ambient temps only because I won't have enough space to refrigerate it as well.

Re-circulate the ambient temp water through the chiller first as the temp difference between that & near boiling wort will be fine to start with. The additional pump I have will pump 20 litres a minute so will likely only do two full passes. About 2-3 mins depending on the cooling water temp by then. Hopefully the wort temp is down around or below 60°C by then & I'll then switch the hose over to the refrigerated water with maybe a bag of ice in it & run that until I achieve the pitching temp needed. It's all purely speculation on my part right now until I have a chance to do a trial run with it, as to how rapidly the heat transfers into the cooling water is unknown to me at this point.

Blichmann's figures require approx. 95 litres of water to be used over the 5mins to cool 37.85 litres of hot wort. I'll only be cooling approx. 21-23 litres of wort so if their figures are accurate, in theory I should be able to get the wort down to pitching temp in 5-10mins using approx. 60-70 litres of stored water, especially given 30-35 litres of it is very cold water.

My initial idea may not work perfectly straight off the bat & require some tweaking, but I'll get it to work at some point, of that I'm sure.

Cheers,

Lusty.

[The Captain!!]

23 minutes ago, Beerlust said:

Blichmann claim...

I plan to use my brew fridge to chill down something the size of a typical FV 30-35 litres full of water 2 days before the planned brew day & have a second one just sitting around full of water at ambient temps only because I won't have enough space to refrigerate it as well.

Re-circulate the ambient temp water through the chiller first as the temp difference between that & near boiling wort will be fine to start with. The additional pump I have will pump 20 litres a minute so will likely only do two full passes. About 2-3 mins depending on the cooling water temp by then. Hopefully the wort temp is down around or below 60°C by then & I'll then switch the hose over to the refrigerated water with maybe a bag of ice in it & run that until I achieve the pitching temp needed. It's all purely speculation on my part right now until I have a chance to do a trial run with it, as to how rapidly the heat transfers into the cooling water is unknown to me at this point.

Blichmann's figures require approx. 95 litres of water to be used over the 5mins to cool 37.85 litres of hot wort. I'll only be cooling approx. 21-23 litres of wort so if their figures are accurate, in theory I should be able to get the wort down to pitching temp in 5-10mins using approx. 60-70 litres of stored water, especially given 30-35 litres of it is very cold water.

My initial idea may not work perfectly straight off the bat & require some tweaking, but I'll get it to work at some point, of that I'm sure.

Cheers,

Lusty.

Yep completely aware of the claims by blichmann. In practice I’m not. 
Especially from someone like yaself who will say exactly what happened not just be happy due to the amount spent on said chiller. 
I would expect blichmann stuff to be pretty awesome though

[Beerlust]

3 minutes ago, The Captain!! said:

Yep completely aware of the claims by blichmann. In practice I’m not. 
Especially from someone like yaself who will say exactly what happened not just be happy due to the amount spent on said chiller.

I think there's a bit of confusion out there in conversations about plate chillers. They are not all made the same, & I admit I didn't know that much about them until fairly recently as I've never needed a chiller until now. The quality of them appears to be represented best in the amount of plates they have. The more plates, the more contact between wort & chilled liquid in the chiller itself that equals less passes & faster cooling from what I can tell.

The cheaper plate chillers have less plates (as low as 20 I think?), thus take more passes & take longer to cool the wort. I've seen lists of them quoting 20, 30, 40, 50 & 100 plates. Each getting more expensive the more plates. Blichmann claim 316 plates in the Therminator. I'd say that's why it cools more rapidly & costs what it does.

14 minutes ago, The Captain!! said:

...I would expect blichmann stuff to be pretty awesome though

The pro's use them so they must be good.

Cheers,

Lusty.

[Beerlust]

On 6/8/2020 at 1:24 PM, Bearded Burbler said:

So why this dislike of US05 Ben?  No funky flavours... ?

Such is Ben's commitment & support of Belgian yeast influenced beers in this country, he was bestowed the following title from the Belgian government...

 

Cheers,

Lusty.

[Pezzza]

23 hours ago, Beerlust said:

Ingredients sound nice Burbler, what did you make? 

Ha ha Lusty you ask all the hard questions mate!!!

Well.... and I can feel the Monk's fire coming through the ethernet right now....

 

So the Malt profile and the EKG long and short really are heading towards a classic Stout Profile (and whoops I forgot to add - I also cooked up some oatmeal porridge and added it to the mash as well)....  and have got the Nitro Cylinder and Regulator working again for the creamy top.

But as I had only US05 for Ale Yeast... ((which has been downgraded to 'tasteless' ; ) ) and no Irish Ale Yeast yet as helpfully recommended by @Greeny1525229549 Greeny...  getting Liquid Yeast via the post is possible but maybe not ideal (am in Booneyville)...

I thought... if the malt bill is doing the talking... with a little spicy tickle from EKG.... well why not try W34/70 Lager Yeast at around 14-16 degC... and then go Nitro Pour.... ?

 

So I fear that I probably will be seriously @#$%canned for this but... am hoping to push back the frontiers of brewing science.... and still end up with a tasty brew?!

Would welcome all Brewers for any commentary of how they think this might develop!  Greeny kindly advised I may now be brewing a Schwarzbier - so am targeting a Nitro Schwarzbier ha ha!

And thanks for the hard question there Lusty!

[Beerlust]

Hi Burbler.

Ahhh....Schwarzbier hey! Good stuff. 

W34/70. I hope you pitched enough yeast for the ABV you're aiming for. Try & keep the ferment temp at 15°C & under with this strain for a good lager outcome (IMHO).

Don't listen to Benny dissin' (did I say that right hommies?) the US-05. ATM he is apparently stuck in some bizarre Austin Powers/Gold Member Belgian brewing time-wheel! 

Best of luck with the brew. I hope the beer turns out well for ya!

Lusty.

[Pezzza]

11 minutes ago, Beerlust said:

Best of luck with the brew. I hope the beer turns out well for ya!

Cheers Lusty!

The Larder ambient is at 12 and brew at 14.5 degC so I just removed some blankies to allow a bit more chillin'....

Will let it keep going nice and cool but take it up via the Inky-and-warming plate for a Di-Acetyl Rest in a few days.... probably just to 18 am thinking...

And one day I too will try some yeast that is a little more adventurous ha ha!  But enjoying very much the Temp-controlled 'plain-Jane yeast' AG Keg outcomes... ; )

Edited June 9, 2020 by Bearded Burbler

[Beerlust]

3 minutes ago, Bearded Burbler said:

...Will let it keep going nice and cool but take it up via the Inky-and-warming plate for a Di-Acetyl Rest in a few days.... probably just to 18 am thinking...

Your gravity readings will tell you when to begin the diacetyl rest. @Otto Von Blotto has a really good grip on when this should begin as he brews lager yeast fermented brews regularly in his cycle.

With ale yeast fermented brews the primary flavour attributes are generally considered as being imparted after 3 days of noticeable activity, & ferment temperatures can be lifted without fear of imparting unwanted flavours & esters to the beer. Lager yeast fermented brews take longer to primary ferment so this time-frame takes longer than an ale brew to reach a similar point where the ferment temperature can be allowed to rise safely without fear of the same unwanted flavours & esters being produced.

Again Otto man is my choice to ask about these differing lager time-frames before elevating the temperature to diacetyl rest temps as he would know them back-to-front by now provided certain initial primary ferment temperatures are adhered to. 

Cheers,

Lusty.

[Pezzza]

2 minutes ago, Beerlust said:

Again Otto man is my choice to ask about these differing lager time-frames

Thanks Lusty - yeah I largely follow the Cold-Temp-Protocol I got off @Otto Von Blotto Kelsey before I did my first Lagers... so that is good... and been reading some in Mr Palmer re managing yeast for best outcome which maps very closely to what I have from Kelsey...  I think that I have not been as judicious in my approach as what Palmer recommends and Kelsey carefully does... but still have had ripper results from W34/70 even so.  I believe that W34/70 may be a little forgiving and even if you don't get the timing spot-on, that you usually end up with good results.  Cheers mate.  Good stuff. BB

[Beerlust]

1 minute ago, Bearded Burbler said:

... but still have had ripper results from W34/70 even so.  I believe that W34/70 may be a little forgiving and even if you don't get the timing spot-on, that you usually end up with good results.

I agree with you. It's my goto strain when I want to make clean pilsner/lagers generally. In recent years I have become particularly fond of the Mangrove Jacks M76 Bavarian Lager yeast. I have been experimenting with it to produce a hybrid hoppy lager aiming towards a terrific beer that was originally made here in SA about 15-20 years ago.

@The Captain!! take notice of the yeast specs. 

I'll nail it eventually if it's the last beer I ever make, it was that good (IMHO).

Cheers,

Lusty.

[Otto Von Blotto]

It's pretty simple what I do, just let it rise by itself up to 18 when the SG is in the low 1.020s. I think as long as it's not done too late it should be fine, the key is to start it while fermentation is still going. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

12 hours ago, Clinto73 said:

Anyone tried something similar'. I am not a Hop Head so hope haven't gone in too hard on hops

I think you will be fine with the amount of hops.  Maybe even a little light on. 

I did the Californian Riptide Pale Ale a few brews ago.  Unfortunately I must have left the dry hop in for too long because I got a grassy taste in the beer.  I drank it but I would not offer it up as the best beer I ever drank.  Without the grassiness it would have been a nice beer.