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SMOTY ale 2021


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bottled the SMOTY today with a FG of 1.005. sample tasted good, got 29 bottles out of the FV, 27 got the 1xsugar cube treatment and will sit on them until june, 2 i've given 1xdrop, 1xcube and will sample at the end of february 🍻

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Just now, jamiek86 said:

is this style supposed to be less carbed? I was planning a couple of 2 can brews before winter.

honestly, i'm just following the suggestion in the recipe which suggests 1 drop for bottles that are going to be stored for a considerable time. i'm doing 1 cube though for the marginal boost in sugar.

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Decided to get a SMOTY going as well 👍

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SG of 1.043. As per recipe, but will add final 25g of EKG via hop tea rather than dry hop. Thought about using some Bramling Cross rather than EKG for the final addition, but figured I should just do the recipe to get a baseline and then maybe play with other hops later 🙂

 

Edited by lickedthestamp
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24hrs later she's kicking along nicely 👍

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This is definitely the fastest forming krausen I've had so far. Actually a couple of hours ago it was probably about half as high again and I was worried that I hadn't used the krausen collar lol. But the height had formed mainly in the centre and since then it has spread out more evenly across the whole surface.

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5 minutes ago, lickedthestamp said:

Nope just the standard Cooper's yeast packets that came with the dark and pale ale tins

they are working a treat,   did you use 2 pkt's  of yeast   in that brew ?

i dont normally use 2pkts  unless the gravity is above 1.060  and i am looking for high abv

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4 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

they are working a treat,   did you use 2 pkt's  of yeast   in that brew ?

i dont normally use 2pkts  unless the gravity is above 1.060  and i am looking for high abv

Yeah both packets - I just followed the recipe and it said to add both.

I am not running low on Cooper's yeast packets anyway, as I have been using different yeasts in most of my brews. So happy to use these up rather than add to the stash in the fridge 😅

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As I expected, the krausen had pretty much cleared by this morning. Steeped the remaining 25g of EKG in a coffee plunger for approx 20mins and then added the hop tea to the FV a couple of hours ago. This saw the wort temp go up a couple of degrees but after an hour or so the temp had come back down to normal (18.5°C).

Decided that I might conduct my own carbonation experiment on this brew. Assuming I get at least 28 bottles (4 x 7) out of the FV, then I will prime each lot of 7 bottles differently - first lot with 1 carb drop + 1 sugar cube,  second lot with 2 carb drops, third lot with 1 sugar cube and the final lot with 1 carb drop. Should mean that I can start drinking them quickly but then relatively consistently while storing over a longer period of time.

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I just put one of these on. OG was 1.044,  pitching temp was 27C and I have the temp controller set to 21C. Would have preferred a lower pitching temperature, but given the heat today I thought I would be waiting a while for it to cool down by much. I'm hoping to have it bottled next Saturday, based on the brews logged in here that doesn't seem unreasonably optimistic.

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So day 4 is coming up and I have 25g of EKG for dry hopping. I'm not keen on dry hopping commando, as I don't have time to do a long cold crash on this brew and am not keen on hop matter in my beer. I also don't have time to get to the homebrew shop and buy a hop sock before it is time to dry hop. The Coopers recipe suggests using a chux cloth, but I gather there is some concern about the colour bleeding from the cloth into the brew. Can anyone advise me on the best material to use for dry hopping, bearing in mind I am fairly limited in where I can go, but I can get to the supermarket or a department store. 

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@DeviantLogic I used a Chux once and had no real issues other than small hop particles making a bid for freedom into the wort, but I wasn't really satisfied with that method and since then have added additional hops via a hop tea. If you have access coffee plunger I would recommend using that to steep the 25g of EKG in boiled water (cooled down to about 77°C for about 20mins) and then added ingredients the filtered liquid to the FV. Make sure you clean and sanitise the coffee plunger very well prior to using it though 👍

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@DeviantLogic 

now most places have this readily available   and cheap

a muslin bag will  work as well... just boil it first to sanitize    and then place your hops in there and let  it do its thing

it will work as good as a hopsock  or a chuxs cloth      

also with  muslin bags they can also be used with your grain to steep

 

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