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Daily diary of a virgin (first ever) home brew!


pilotsh

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8 hours ago, pilotsh said:

Rough Method:

Boil 2 Litres of water, add 50g Hops boil for 45 minutes. (lid on/lid off?)

Turn off heat, have a beer (drop to 90C) then add 1kg Crystal Malt, let steep for 30 minutes, natural drop in temperature.

 

 

Thoughts, Suggestions, Comments!? 😎

Hey Pilotsh, are you planning to boil the hops in plain water? It's usually better to do it in wort (or the liquid from your crystal steep). 50g for 45 min also seems like a lot - especially with another 50g steep after that.

1kg of crystal malt is also quite a lot. If you really want to use that much, you might need to up the amount of water you steep in and adjust the temperature.

If you are interested, there is also the Beekeeper recipe in the Cooper's recipe section (apologies if you've already seen this).

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10 hours ago, pilotsh said:

Alright, after two days off , it's time to stop fiddlefruiting around and get back on the Brew 013 horse- Crazy Scientist Time!

So the plan is (subject to any forth-coming suggestions):

Brew 13: Beez Nees Nostalgia Brew

Peacher's Hefe Wheat Can (1.7kg)

Wheat Malt Can (1.5kg)

½ box Brew Enhancer 2 (500g)

400g sugars worth of honey thinking 1/2 Capilano "Bold and Dark" and 1/2 Beechworth Mountain

500g Joe White Light Crystal Malt EBC 90-100

500g Joe White Wheat Crystal Malt EBC 100-150

100g of Mandarina Bavaria Hop Pellets

Extra Yeast- Sachet of Munich Classic (Lallemand) (have a lot of fermentables)

 

Followed by honey batch prime, with either Capillano Yellow Box or Beechworth Regular

 

Rough Method:

Boil 2 Litres of water, add 50g Hops boil for 45 minutes. (lid on/lid off?)

Turn off heat, have a beer (drop to 90C) then add 1kg Crystal Malt, let steep for 30 minutes, natural drop in temperature.

Strain Pot into another pot, add other 50g hops, cool in water bath until I get sick of waiting. (10 minutes ish?)

Pour (not strain) into FV.

Refill pot with 2 Lt water, bring to boil, Add the Peachers Hefe, Wheat Malt Can and Brew Enhancer 2 and Honey. Stir.

Pour into FV. Add Fridge water to 19C at 23Lt.

 

Add both Can yeast and Lallemand yeast. Enjoy 6 weeks later.

 

Thoughts, Suggestions, Comments!? 😎

A couple of comments.  You will boil off most of the 2 litres of water in your 45 minute hop boil.  You should boil the wort you create from the grains.  You should boil the hops in a wort solution rather than plain water, for better extraction of bitterness, I have read.  So here is what I would do instead:

  1. Heat 4 litres of water to around 75°C
  2. Crack the grains
  3. Add the grains to the 75°C water and let steep for 30 minutes
  4. Strain into another pot and bring to the boil
  5. Add 50g hops and boil for 45 minutes
  6. After 45 minutes turn off the heat (flame-out) and add 50g hops and let steep for 10 minutes
  7. Cool in water bath
  8. Strain into FV
  9. Refill pot with 2 litres water and mix extracts as per the rest of your procedure.

I have put the recipe into the IanH spreadsheet and what I get is attached below.  Looks like a good strong brew.  I put Centennial in the spreadsheet because it does not have Mandarina Bavaria hops and Centennial has a similar alpha acid level, which is where the bitterness comes from.

1836388371_BeezNeesNostalgiaBrew.thumb.jpg.f0fdcde942f245f9aec6e35bc4ed8f7d.jpg

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12 hours ago, Popo said:

50g for 45 min also seems like a lot

The 50g is a lot or the 45 minutes is a lot? Happy to cut back the time if necessary, but I thought the longer the boil the more bitter the result.

 

 

9 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Looks like a good strong brew. 

 

12 hours ago, Popo said:

1kg of crystal malt is also quite a lot.

Well I am using a Wheat Malt Can... maybe drop the 500g Crystal Wheat Malt, and just use the 500g Crystal Light Malt? Or drop the crystal light and keep the crystal wheat?

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, pilotsh said:

The 50g is a lot or the 45 minutes is a lot? Happy to cut back the time if necessary, but I thought the longer the boil the more bitter the result.

 

 

 

Well I am using a Wheat Malt Can... maybe drop the 500g Crystal Wheat Malt, and just use the 500g Crystal Light Malt? Or drop the crystal light and keep the crystal wheat?

 

 

 

I had a bit of a guesstimate. I thought you'd get more than the IBUs shown in Shamus' spreadsheet. Your addition will kick it up to more than double of the Cooper's recipe. All good if that's what you are after.

I'm definitely no expert on malts but have used crystal in the range of 2-300 grams in a batch (mostly pales). I've used more in a cleanout batch and did not enjoy the results. I'm not sure how it would play out in your beer but I probably would be cautious about putting that much in. 

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2 hours ago, Popo said:

I had a bit of a guesstimate. I thought you'd get more than the IBUs shown in Shamus' spreadsheet. Your addition will kick it up to more than double of the Cooper's recipe. All good if that's what you are after.

I'm definitely no expert on malts but have used crystal in the range of 2-300 grams in a batch (mostly pales). I've used more in a cleanout batch and did not enjoy the results. I'm not sure how it would play out in your beer but I probably would be cautious about putting that much in. 

The spreadsheet might under-estimate IBU's.  But because @pilotsh's recipe has so much fermentables, it should balance out okay.

I have a Brown Porter that I will keg and bottle tomorrow.  It has 500g of Crystal Malt and 200g of Brown Malt.  These were hot steeped/mini-mashed.  The samples along the way have tasted good.  Maybe 1kg of Crystal type malts might be a bit much.  Rather than completely drop one or the other, maybe halve one or the other.

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9 minutes ago, Pale Man said:

 

Good stuff 👌 you'll never look back.  

Whats the cylindical gadget with holes?

It's the triple tap font for the kegerator. We will start with kegging water for soda water to learn gassing and tubing, but in the end plan for a Dark beer, Soda, Light beer kegerator setup. The kegerator can hold four kegs, but a four tap font was a bit to outlandish, so the fourth keg that fits in the Kegerator in the future can be a cold spare if I run out during a dinner party.

🤓

and 🥳

Edited by pilotsh
added a party smiley
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3 minutes ago, Pale Man said:

Ahh yeah i forgot you had a kegerator.

Only just...four weeks, but as for beer on tap, maybe sooner than I expect, but I got the kegerator so I can brew during summer as ambient temp is not suitable for me to ferment during summer. So with reference to the Kegerator I will definitely be torn between keeping kegs cold or brewing beer! 🥴🙄

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On 11/12/2020 at 8:39 AM, Shamus O'Sean said:
  • After 45 minutes turn off the heat (flame-out) and add 50g hops and let steep for 10 minutes
  • Cool in water bath
  • Strain into FV
  • Refill pot with 2 litres water and mix extracts as per the rest of your procedure.

Getting close to putting this together, so thought about this again.

My mini-aim was to sanitise the second 50g hop batch with heat, but also let them sit in the FV the whole time. Sort of as a 'see what sanitised hops do without dry-hopping' experiment. I am not worried about floaties, as I plan to at least semi cold crash.

Any extra thoughts you have with this extra information would be appreciated. Knowledge sponge 🧽 ready again! 🤓

Edited by pilotsh
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9 hours ago, pilotsh said:

Getting close to putting this together, so thought about this again.

My mini-aim was to sanitise the second 50g hop batch with heat, but also let them sit in the FV the whole time. Sort of as a 'see what sanitised hops do without dry-hopping' experiment. I am not worried about floaties, as I plan to at least semi cold crash.

Any extra thoughts you have with this extra information would be appreciated. Knowledge sponge 🧽 ready again! 🤓

Yes, I did see in your process that you said to pour the hops into the FV with the liquid.  I "corrected" the process to strain the hops out.  I have never done it, so I do not know for sure, but people have said that leaving hops in the fermenter for a long time can lead to grassy or vegetal flavours.  That is why I would not leave hops in the fermenter for the whole fermentation process.

Most of this talk is about dry hopping.  I did get grassy flavours from leaving dry hops in a brew for about 7 days before bottling. So I can believe that having the hops in the whole time might lead to similar outcomes. 

At the end of the day it is your call.  Some brewers want some beers with a bit of grassiness.  Some hops are even designed to impart this flavour.

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30 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Yes, I did see in your process that you said to pour the hops into the FV with the liquid.  I "corrected" the process to strain the hops out.  I have never done it, so I do not know for sure, but people have said that leaving hops in the fermenter for a long time can lead to grassy or vegetal flavours.  That is why I would not leave hops in the fermenter for the whole fermentation process.

Most of this talk is about dry hopping.  I did get grassy flavours from leaving dry hops in a brew for about 7 days before bottling. So I can believe that having the hops in the whole time might lead to similar outcomes. 

At the end of the day it is your call.  Some brewers want some beers with a bit of grassiness.  Some hops are even designed to impart this flavour.

I see. Thank you for the information. Now that I understand the reasoning behind it, it makes sense, and I probably will strain it out too. If there is one beer that doesn’t go well with grassy vegetal flavours, it is a honey wheat beer, lol.

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Tuesday 17th November: Brew 013 “Three Threes Beez Nees” pitched!   🥳

Malt: Canned- Coopers Preacher’s Hefe Wheat. BB date on can: 24/10/21.

Extra Ingredients: 300g Cracked Joe White Light Crystal Malt, Coopers Wheat Malt Can (1.5kg), 400g sugars worth of Honey (370g Beechworth Mountain Honey (82.1g/100g) and 118g Capilano Dark & Bold (82.5g/100g)), 400g Coopers Brew Enhancer 1, 30g Mandarina Bavaria Hop Pellets.

Water: Any unboiled water was either Coles or Woolworths Spring Water.

Preparation/Recipe: Brought 4 Litres of water to boil, let cool to 70C. Add 300g Cracked Light Crystal Malt, steep at 66C in oven for 30 minutes. Strain into another pot.
Sparge with 1Lt of 76C water. Rest for 15 minutes, then moderate to firm squeeze.
Sparge again with 500ml of 55C water. Rest 15 minutes, then moderate to firm squeeze.
Bring wort to boil on Mod-High Heat, boil wort lid off for 15 minutes.
Add 30g hops, boil for 30 minutes.
Cool in water bath for 15 minutes, strain into FV. Did not squeeze hops chux this time as already quite high IBU (30).
In clean pot, bring 2Lt water to boil, heat off. Stir in honey, Hefe Can, Wheat Malt Can and Brew Enhancer 1. Add to FV.
Rinse Cans and pot with 500ml boiled water, add to FV.
Top to 23Lt with Spring water (10L from Fridge).

Plan to batch bottle prime with a light honey at 8g of sugars / Lt.

Yeast: Coopers Can Sachet, AND 11g Lallemand Munich Classic Sachet BB date: 10/2022.

Pitching Method: Re hydrated Munich Classic in 100g sterile water at about 25C for about 20 minutes until nice and foamy. Pour into Wort and sprinkle Coopers yeast onto wort.

Initial Wort Temperature: 22.5C deliberately to kick-start, going into Kegerator immediately.

Temperature Control: Inkbird/Kegerator. Inkbird set to 18.8C, taped to side of FV.
Cooling- Kegerator set to 18C, plugged into the Inkbird, trigger at 19.4C.
Heating- 35W heat belt, plugged into the Inkbird, trigger 18.1C.

Initial Sample SG (OG): 1054. Right on the spreadsheet estimate!

Comments: Initial nose- honey, orange and dough. Initial taste- Honey lemon green tea… promising!

Photo(s):

6C426A4C-082A-46DB-821C-CBC413E60FBA.jpeg

F602ED97-6DCE-46A3-AE79-BED279B5DB07.jpeg

D4161CCB-7484-4801-B024-1927B5B5C3BB.jpeg

D3B245CD-5BA7-41C1-99AD-746F44BFCBA7.jpeg

043826B8-D39F-4D5B-B887-80F60437ADEE.jpeg

E1DD6CC8-7852-4528-AEB6-2B60B08B6475.jpeg

Edited by pilotsh
Attach photos. Note about hops chux
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Friday 13th November: Brew 013 “Three Threes Beez Nees”- 62hours (2.58 days) since pitch.

Brew Temp: 18.8C-19.3C.

Comments: Krausen changed from bubbly to foamy (normal), but a different smell to what I am used to. I am getting some banana, which I’ve had before, but also a stong fart smell (sulphur?). Is this normal for a beer with honey fermenting?

Photo(s): 

18C60A6E-28E5-448B-A6AF-B7C5695C0E97.jpeg

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1 hour ago, pilotsh said:

Comments: Krausen changed from bubbly to foamy (normal), but a different smell to what I am used to. I am getting some banana, which I’ve had before, but also a stong fart smell (sulphur?). Is this normal for a beer with honey fermenting?

The banana will be from the Munich Classic yeast.  It will hang around in the beer.  Do not know about the sulphur.  Hopefully it does not hang around.  You get sulphur from lager yeasts and it usually disappears, so I would be hopeful in your case.

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Saturday 21st November: Brew 013 “Three Threes Beez Nees”- 85hours (3.51 days) since pitch.

Brew Temp: 18.8C-19.3C.

Comments: The farts smell was much less: I am thinking maybe I just had a lot of CO2 and maybe it overwhelmed my nose.

Photo(s): Nil

-----------

Sunday 22nd November: Brew 013 “Three Threes Beez Nees”- 119hours (4.95 days) since pitch.

Brew Temp: 18.8C-19.3C.

Comments: All unusual smells gone. Light smell of banana.

Photo(s): Nil

-----------

Monday 23rd November: Brew 013 “Three Threes Beez Nees”- 142hours (5.91 days) since pitch.

Brew Temp: 18.8C-19.3C.

Comments: Krausen still foamy, but more compact (dropped). Great smell of banana bread from FV! Might wait until Krausen breaks down to check SG...?

Photo(s): Attached

 

026F5094-9391-4F0B-AC38-FE2F3C219CBA.jpeg

Edited by pilotsh
Corrected dates, attached photo
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