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


Beerlust

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3 minutes ago, Bearded Burbler said:

So does the milled malted grain just float around in the pot unrestricted?

Yes, but no more so than with the large grain bag I was using.  And actually in either situation it's not actually floating around... it's just sits statically for an hour.

It makes no sense to me... according to the maths efficiency this time was around 90%.  Last brew was 67% and the one before that was actually below 60% !   There was another fairly recently that was around 85%.    The numbers are all over the place.  

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There must be a reason why it's jumping up and down like a yo-yo. I can't figure it out obviously but something is causing it. 

It's probably not the hydrometer however I did gain a few % efficiency once I figured out mine was reading low by two points. To read correctly sometimes and not others would be highly unlikely though. Are all samples tested at the same temperature/corrected for temperature?

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18 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

I never got good efficiency with a finer crush as I do with it being quite coarse

What is the gap size that you set on your mill? My BrewZilla had a bit of a slow mash/sparge and I am unsure whether my mill might've been too fine, but I've also been told that the fine mesh screen shouldn't be used in the bottom of the mash tun and I used that...

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35 minutes ago, MitchellScott said:

What is the gap size that you set on your mill? My BrewZilla had a bit of a slow mash/sparge and I am unsure whether my mill might've been too fine, but I've also been told that the fine mesh screen shouldn't be used in the bottom of the mash tun and I used that...

I couldn't tell you the exact measurement but it's about a credit card width, maybe a little wider. It's a bit unique in that it has one fluted and one knurled roller, rather than them both being the same. I think as a result of that, the rollers can be set a bit closer together without making the crush overly fine. 

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1 minute ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

I couldn't tell you the exact measurement but it's about a credit card width, maybe a little wider. It's a bit unique in that it has one fluted and one knurled roller, rather than them both being the same. I think as a result of that, the rollers can be set a bit closer together without making the crush overly fine. 

Sounds about right, especially since you BIAB. I set mine to CC width which seems to be about 0.9mm from my shitty ruler measurements. I might open it to 1mm and use feeler gauges to measure the gap this time. Will see how that goes in combination with the fine mesh screen being left out of the mash tun.

Cheers.

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Yeah. I actually had efficiency problems when the crush was too fine. Anyone who thinks it doesn't matter for BIAB is talking crap, at least for me. It definitely made a difference in my experience. 

The mill gap I use now gives a nice coarse crush with minimal amounts of flour and dust. The grains are just cracked open rather than pulverised into dust. It drains from the bag much easier this way.

Edited by Otto Von Blotto
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9 hours ago, MitchellScott said:

Sounds about right, especially since you BIAB. I set mine to CC width

Me too... CC width... and that was what me HBS/MicroBrew man said...  I do BIAB (Brew in a Basket meh meh) ; )

9 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

I actually had efficiency problems when the crush was too fine.

One thing I did notice was crushing a fair bit of wheat - which is very hard - I generated a fair bit more dust and when I did a step mash ended up with a fair old bit of "flour glue" on the base of the Mash Tun... and swapped it out to a different vessel for the Boil... but am with @Otto Von Blotto that the slight coarser grind is better... and I do believe Mr Palmer does say that somewhere too... not got a footnote page reference sorry : |

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Rainy crap weather here today, and I'm doing a brew as well. This time I'm brewing my Ace of Spades porter for the first time in a while, which will be fermented once one of these other two are kegged, and aged until around June or something when I put it on tap. 21 litre batch size, based on 70.5% overall efficiency (bigger than usual grain bill). I'll have to go get the yeast in the coming days, and I'll likely start it around 19 degrees then raise it to 21 after 3-4 days. Hopefully that'll be enough to get it to finish properly. Might build it up in a smallish starter too.

Est Original Gravity: 1.0592 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.0127 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.2 %
Bitterness: 54.8 IBUs
Est Color: 78.0 EBC

 

33.00 L Brisbane Water Water 1 - -
5.000 kg Pale Ale Malt (Bairds) (4.9 EBC) Grain 2 88.2 % 3.26 L
0.310 kg Black Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (1300.2 EBC) Grain 3 5.5 % 0.20 L
0.180 kg Crystal Malt - Medium (Thomas Fawcett) (150.0 EBC) Grain 4 3.2 % 0.12 L
0.090 kg Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (1100.0 EBC) Grain 5 1.6 % 0.06 L
0.090 kg Roasted Barley (Thomas Fawcett) (1350.0 EBC) Grain 6 1.6 % 0.06 L
30.00 g Hallertau Magnum [11.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 36.4 IBUs -
20.00 g Challenger [5.60 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 9.4 IBUs -
25.00 g Fuggle [5.40 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 9 8.9 IBUs -
1.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) [23.66 ml] Yeast 10
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Must be a dark beer day

Quote


Recipe: Leftovers Stout
Brewer: Grumpy
Style: Foreign Extra Stout
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size (fermenter): 21.00 L   
Estimated OG: 1.063 SG
Estimated Color: 71.3 EBC
Estimated IBU: 76.1 IBUs

Ingredients:
------------
Amt              Name                                             Type          #          %/IBU         Volume        
2.30 kg          Smoked Malt (Weyermann) (3.9 EBC)                Grain         1          40.4 %        1.50 L        
1.70 kg          Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC)                 Grain         2          29.9 %        1.11 L        
1.00 kg          Vienna Malt (Weyermann) (5.9 EBC)                Grain         3          17.6 %        0.65 L        
0.50 kg          Chocolate Malt (Joe White) (750.6 EBC)           Grain         4          8.8 %         0.33 L        
0.19 kg          Carafa III (Weyermann) (1034.2 EBC)              Grain         5          3.3 %         0.12 L        
50.00 g          El Dorado [15.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min              Hop           6          76.1 IBUs     -             

Wyeast French Saison Yeast.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

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Brew went well yesterday, practically hit my OG target, getting it to 1.0588. Only one minor issue with the urn element cutting out halfway through the boil, but a quick scrub with the long handled wire brush sorted that out and it went fine from then on. 

Not sure which of the fermenters will be emptied first but this one will go into it when it is. 

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1 hour ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Indeed. Also named for its colour. It really is black as the ace of spades 🤣

I have no idea who or what you all are talking about. I got the Kenny Rogers bit but I am lost. American in the room, I am a noob.

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