BREW DAY!! WATCHA’ GOT, EH? 2021

[iBooz2]

Hey Shamus,

Just interested in your recipe here re "hop-stand of 20".  I presume after both the 24G Columbus and 10g EKG were boiled for their respective times of 30" and 15" you then left both the hops in the wort after the boil and held the wort at 90 C for the followup 20" hop-stand part.  Then both were obviously removed before chilling or cubing.

Yes I am with you re no-chill as I have pretty much worked out using this method I can now do two double batches in a single brew day which would give me 4 x FWK cubes (4 kegs of finished beer) for just the one big clean up part. 

Plan is to do two different double wort recipes in one brew day so I can do 2 x side by side comparisons of the same recipes over a short period (if that makes sense) and hone in on a couple of house brew beers that I can brew for volume.  That way when stocks are fairly liquid I can experiment will more adventurous recipes to see what else I like.

How long can we safely store the FWK in the cubes before they need to be fermented?  I have seen comments of months?

Cheers - AL

[Aussiekraut]

Sunday morning, 7:30, it’s a rather fresh 9C outside. The mash of the choc milk porter is halfway through. Chilling should be easy in these temps

 

[Tone boy]

NZ DRAUGHT 

did this yesterday:

1.7 kg NZ Draught (black rock-sorry coopers)

1.2 kg Maris Otter 

300g LDME

250g Wheat DME

100g dextrose 

1 pack Nottingham yeast pitched at 22 degrees  

60 minute mash at 65 degrees C. 30 min boil. OG 1.046. Set temp control to 15.5 degrees C .

 

[Aussiekraut]

At least I got this one into the FV at 10:45. Turns out to be a brew day from hell. Turns out I mislabeled the fresh bag of roasted barley as choc malt. So the Porter will be more of a stout. Then I knocked 4kg of pale malt over and evenly distributed it over the kitchen floor, much to the delight of coeliac SWMBO. Next I almost knocked over the FV on the way to the fridge and to top it off, I pitched the wrong yeast, I had out for the next batch! Now this was only the first batch for the day

 

[Journeyman]

14 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

15 hours ago, Yuley said:

I assume the yeast will change a bit of the flavour, but we will see.  When does everyone else add their hop teas to the FV?

I reckon @Journeyman Mark will be along shortly,

I be's here Boss!  

15 hours ago, Yuley said:

First time went with a Hop Tea. Wasn't sure when to add it to the FV, so added it prior to the yeast. I assume the yeast will change a bit of the flavour, but we will see.  When does everyone else add their hop teas to the FV?

I prefer using hops tea instead of dry hops. Apart from, 1 less time risking the brew b y opening the FV, I find the hops effects both more subtle and longer lasting. In fairness that opinion maybe skewed because around the time I discovered hops teas, I also swapped to kegs.

But as an example, I did an IPA ages back that for the 1st 2 weeks, the hops was so strong I didn't really like the beer. After about 4 weeks (so 6 weeks in the bottle) it had mellowed down to where I enjoyed it.

I didn't do an IPA after that for quite some time. A convo about hops teas elsewhere caused me to try it again and with the hops tea process, same amount of hops, the beer was very nice as soon as carbed up. It got better and the hops effects stayed until the keg was gone.  The 1st one was, for me, way too strong in the hops and it was only 50g - the 2nd was equal to the best IPA's I've had on tap and better than most. 

That keg lasted about a week and a half and I was the only one drinking it and there were other kegs on tap.  

[Classic Brewing Co]

11 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

At least I got this one into the FV at 10:45. Turns out to be a brew day from hell. Turns out I mislabeled the fresh bag of roasted barley as choc malt. So the Porter will be more of a stout. Then I knocked 4kg of pale malt over and evenly distributed it over the kitchen floor, much to the delight of coeliac SWMBO. Next I almost knocked over the FV on the way to the fridge and to top it off, I pitched the wrong yeast, I had out for the next batch! Now this was only the first batch for the day

 

Time for a soothing beer @Aussiekraut  take a deep breath & start again 

[RDT2]

26 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

At least I got this one into the FV at 10:45. Turns out to be a brew day from hell. Turns out I mislabeled the fresh bag of roasted barley as choc malt. So the Porter will be more of a stout. Then I knocked 4kg of pale malt over and evenly distributed it over the kitchen floor, much to the delight of coeliac SWMBO. Next I almost knocked over the FV on the way to the fridge and to top it off, I pitched the wrong yeast, I had out for the next batch! Now this was only the first batch for the day

 

Probably end up being the best beer you ever made especially with your  now floor malted Pale Ale malt People pay extra for that you know!

Edited May 30, 2021 by RDT2

[Malter White]

34 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

At least I got this one into the FV at 10:45. Turns out to be a brew day from hell. Turns out I mislabeled the fresh bag of roasted barley as choc malt. So the Porter will be more of a stout. Then I knocked 4kg of pale malt over and evenly distributed it over the kitchen floor, much to the delight of coeliac SWMBO. Next I almost knocked over the FV on the way to the fridge and to top it off, I pitched the wrong yeast, I had out for the next batch! Now this was only the first batch for the day

 

I don't think you can stuff much more else up, AK. The only way is up from here.

Winners never quit, quitters never win.

[Aussiekraut]

27 minutes ago, CLASSIC said:

Time for a soothing beer @Aussiekraut  take a deep breath & start again 

Oh it was a few more than one deep breath and the soothing beer just went down really well  Thanks for the tip  

[Aussiekraut]

6 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

I don't think you can stuff much more else up, AK. The only way is up from here.

Winners never quit, quitters never win.

Yeah. And rehab is for quitters  

[Aussiekraut]

38 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

I don't think you can stuff much more else up, AK. The only way is up from here.

Winners never quit, quitters never win.

Spoke too soon…just trod on the cable of the Guten and ripped it out of the socket, 5 minutes before the end of the mash. At least I keep time when I do things, so recovery was fairly easy. But bloody hell, the universe hates me today. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

14 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

Just interested in your recipe here re "hop-stand of 20".  I presume after both the 24G Columbus and 10g EKG were boiled for their respective times of 30" and 15" you then left both the hops in the wort after the boil and held the wort at 90 C for the followup 20" hop-stand part.  Then both were obviously removed before chilling or cubing.

Hi AL

RE: The 20 minute hop stand.  It is what I put into the software because it was going to be 20 minutes before I separated the wort from the hops.  I am not sure if it is the right thing to do.  My plan was to just throw the bittering hops into the kettle instead of using a hop spider (One less thing to clean and it was not a lot of hops anyway).  The hops would be sitting in the wort after flame-out for a 10 minute whirlpool (see photo) and a 10 minute stand to let the whirlpool settle.  Therefore, I included the 20 minute hop stand to account for the extra bitterness extracted during this time. 

I did not hold the temperature at 90°C.  The software suggests the hopstand temperature should be the average temperature during the hopstand time.  By the time I transferred to the cube, the temperature had dropped to 85°C, so 90°C was about right for the average.

I will also have to work on my volume calculations because the cube only held about 22.5 litres.  I had 1-2 litres spare that I just decided to tip.

Edited May 30, 2021 by Shamus O'Sean

[Shamus O'Sean]

39 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

Spoke too soon…just trod on the cable of the Guten and ripped it out of the socket, 5 minutes before the end of the mash. At least I keep time when I do things, so recovery was fairly easy. But bloody hell, the universe hates me today. 

I do not know whether to laugh or cry. 

[Aussiekraut]

18 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I do not know whether to laugh or cry. 

Well, after a tirade of four letter words, I could laugh about it  

[Classic Brewing Co]

Just now, CLASSIC said:

Hi Brewers, I finally got to do my ROTM Australian IPA this afternoon, it took a lot longer than normal brew d

KEYBOARD MALFUNTION .... I finally got to do my ROTM Australian IPA this afternoon, it took a lot longer than normal brew day due to the steeping, boiling etc but happy with the way it went, just have to wait a see if it is as good as or better than the commercial version. Finally it has been put to bed, I managed to achieve 18 degrees exactly as per recipe & had a frothy bitter in the process. 

Cheers.

[Goldcoast Crow]

On 5/29/2021 at 1:48 PM, Goldcoast Crow said:

Is about 20-22c about right for a ruby porter ferment..... Haven't really had much krausen action.... Nothing huge any way

Couldn't help myself, had a quick leak yesterday arvo, I know it is not kosher to do it but I decimated found krausen so I'm comfortable with this progress

[iBooz2]

6 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

Spoke too soon…just trod on the cable of the Guten and ripped it out of the socket, 5 minutes before the end of the mash. At least I keep time when I do things, so recovery was fairly easy. But bloody hell, the universe hates me today. 

Arhh yes I have, almost had, nearly had, should’ve had, come quite close to having, missed it by that much kind of brew day like yours AK. 

By your descriptions of the events I get the feeling your brew day was like a Benny Hill comedy skit.

Now own up to it, you were on “a promise that day” so you rushed things a tad and only kicked a point.  Ha ha…

Cheers – AL

[iBooz2]

6 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Hi AL

RE: The 20 minute hop stand.  It is what I put into the software because it was going to be 20 minutes before I separated the wort from the hops.  I am not sure if it is the right thing to do.  My plan was to just throw the bittering hops into the kettle instead of using a hop spider (One less thing to clean and it was not a lot of hops anyway).  The hops would be sitting in the wort after flame-out for a 10 minute whirlpool (see photo) and a 10 minute stand to let the whirlpool settle.  Therefore, I included the 20 minute hop stand to account for the extra bitterness extracted during this time. 

I did not hold the temperature at 90°C.  The software suggests the hopstand temperature should be the average temperature during the hopstand time.  By the time I transferred to the cube, the temperature had dropped to 85°C, so 90°C was about right for the average.

I will also have to work on my volume calculations because the cube only held about 22.5 litres.  I had 1-2 litres spare that I just decided to tip.

 

That make sense Shamus I get the picture now.  I have been removing all the hops except for the very late additions and just leaving those in for the hop stand. 

Note: I use hops socks for each addition not spiders or commando and remove them, place all the socks into a coffee plunger then squeeze out the rest of the hoppy goodness and tip the juices back into the boil.   I use a bigger half hop sock for the late additions so I know which sock to leave in there for my so called stand.  I do not keep the heat on either (except for this one time at band camp), err hold on yep did hold it at 91 C once and got the feeling I was off the mark re this. 

So after all this it looks like I need to leave all my bittering etc. hop socks in the wort until after the 20" or so hop stand that the recipe calls for.  I should probably leave all my hop socks in until the 20" or whatever is up, remove, coffee plunger them, drain and pour the juices back in then.  Wait a bit for it to clear then pump to cube

Normally after running the pump immediately on completion of the boil to sanitise the pump and hoses etc. I then leave the wort undisturbed (pump off)  for 15 - 20 minutes for it to clear before setting the gear up to pump the clear wort into the sanitised cube.  I think I am on the right track with this bit of the process.  Wort temp by them is down into the 80's C.

BTW I notice a lot of recipes say to boil the Whirlfloc 15" before end of the boil but the manufacturers web site says boil no more that 10" as it denatures the product and renders it useless for the desired outcomes.

Yep working out the exact volumes was a pain for me too.  Now I don't have any waste except for the kettle trub which you could not get anyway.  Got it down to a couple of cups either way.  A cup short top the cube up with boiling water.  A cup over no tears of blood as no big deal.  Took me a while but now know where I am with that part.

Cheers - AL

Edited May 30, 2021 by iBooz2

[Shamus O'Sean]

3 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

That make sense Shamus I get the picture now.  I have been removing all the hops except for the very late additions and just leaving those in for the hop stand. 

Note: I use hops socks for each addition not spiders or commando and remove them, place all the socks into a coffee plunger then squeeze out the rest of the hoppy goodness and tip the juices back into the boil.   I use a bigger half hop sock for the late additions so I know which sock to leave in there for my so called stand.  I do not keep the heat on either (except for this one time at band camp), err hold on yep did hold it at 91 C once and got the feeling I was off the mark re this. 

So after all this it looks like I need to leave all my bittering etc. hop socks in the wort until after the 20" or so hop stand that the recipe calls for.  I should probably leave all my hop socks in until the 20" or whatever is up, remove, coffee plunger them, drain and pour the juices back in then.  Wait a bit for it to clear then pump to cube

Normally after running the pump immediately on completion of the boil to sanitise the pump and hoses etc. I then leave the wort undisturbed (pump off)  for 15 - 20 minutes for it to clear before setting the gear up to pump the clear wort into the sanitised cube.  I think I am on the right track with this bit of the process.  Wort temp by them is down into the 80's C.

BTW I notice a lot of recipes say to boil the Whirlfloc 15" before end of the boil but the manufacturers web site says boil no more that 10" as it denatures the product and renders it useless for the desired outcomes.

Yep working out the exact volumes was a pain for me too.  Now I don't have any waste except for the kettle trub which you could not get anyway.  Got it down to a couple of cups either way.  A cup short top the cube up with boiling water.  A cup over no tears of blood as no big deal.  Took me a while but now know where I am with that part.

Cheers - AL

Hey iBooz2,

I like your coffee plunger idea for getting the last drops of goodness from your hops.  I might have to give it a try.  I sometimes use a hop spider.  Lately I have been using one of the paint strainer bags like @Aussiekraut.  It seems easier to clean and allows the hops to swim about a bit. 

With the Dry Irish Stout recipe I knew I was going to go commando and so made allowances for that process.

You may not need to leave all your bittering hops in the wort for the hop stand.  For me it is about understanding the recipe and the process I am following.  With my shorter 30" hop boil, the hops were going to keep giving bitterness after flame out so I had to allow for it.  Supposedly, after a 60" boil the hops do not give much more bitterness, so you probably do not need to worry about allowing for them.  If I was using a hop sock or spider for my process, with the intent of removing the hops close to flame out, I would not have included a hop stand time in the recipe.  That way I would make sure I used enough hops to achieve my IBU's.

The rest of your process is similar to mine.  I do the Whirlfloc addition at 10 minutes because that is what I have always done.

Cheers SOS

[MitchBastard]

My house yank pale went down today. Was a bit of a dog of a brew day. Think my mash was to thick which made sparging a bit of a nipple twister. I also copped a fair whack of a zap when I unplugged the guten with wet hands. Theeeeen I found out that one of my gas connects on the FV was cactus so it wasn’t holding pressure.....

 

all good though numbers lined up perfectly. 
She should be choofin away come morn. Should be beer number 4 for the upcoming comp. 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by MitchBastard

[jamiek86]

@MitchBastard nice clear beer there would think was your Aussie lager not a pale.

[MitchBastard]

22 minutes ago, jamiek86 said:

@MitchBastard nice clear beer there would think was your Aussie lager not a pale.

Cheers mate. I went very light on the crystal malt for this one. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

Bottling Day - Black Rock Whispering Wheat

I just bottled this one OG was 1047 got down to 1012, nice light golden color, smell & a quick taste. I have never done any wheat based beers before so looking forward to trying it.

Speaking of wheat - where is the Graubster ? Long time no hear. 

I have totally switched to just white sugar now as I find it carbs up your beers better but I will have to cut back the full measure in the Grolsch  bottles,

I opened a stout last night & it took half an hour to drink it due to the froth, beautiful though.

[Classic Brewing Co]

I have just made another Mangrove Jacks Classic Bitter this time with a slight difference to the last couple of batches which I enjoyed immensely.

Recipe:      

1.7gm Pouch Classic Bitter

600gm Mangrove Jack Pure LME

150gm Light Cracked Crystal Malt

500gm Dextrose

1 x Supplied Ale Yeast 5gm

SG 1040

I was hoping some of you pundits could help with the expected ABV, I keep forgetting the figures for calculating.

I find it is becoming one of my favourite beers along with Pales, IPA's etc.

Cheers

Phil

[ozdevil]

brew day   started at 10 finished at 2pm  

only damage of the day was a scalded hand at 100 degrees celcius, but a cold beer is fixing that
Stupid me forgot to turn pump off while taking an attachment off my brewzilla didnt lose much wort as was aiming for 25litres but got 23litres more then enough

og  1.054  

the brew was a est coast ipa 

now time to sit back relax and watch the footy