Brew Day What Have Ya Got - 2023

[Classic Brewing Co]

10 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

You just have to know how to help yourself  

I once had a similar issue. When I lifted the malt pipe out of the kettle, the bottom screen fell out and dumped all the grain in the wort. What a mess that was  

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't want to go through that again, in fact I will make sure I don't.

[iBooz2]

It's been a while since I needed to do a brew day so got stuck into a double batch of COPA today.  It will be 44 L cubed up into two cubes and they will be fermented separately as I have two kegs nearing empty and want to stagger the consumption of these COPA's over the next couple of months (probably poor choice of words here ha ha).  This is Batch # 101 and AG Batch # 58.

Pic is 60 L of wort just about to boil.  I usually only do 55 L but got distracted during the sparge so some will be for a starter or two.

Pre boil gravity was 2 points under due to the pre boil volume being 5 litres over.

Next pic is the 30 g of PoR hops having a sauna in the boil.   Am just waiting for the wort to cool down to 80 C and then will throw in 60 G of PoR hops and will hold it at 80 C for 20 mins to get my usual COPA aroma.

 

Edited April 14, 2023 by iBooz2

[Tricky Micky]

20 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

It's been a while since I needed to do a brew day so got stuck into a double batch of COPA today.  It will be 44 L cubed up into two cubes and they will be fermented separately as I have two kegs nearing empty and want to stagger the consumption of these COPA's over the next couple of months (probably poor choice of words here ha ha).  This is Batch # 101 and AG Batch # 58.

Pic is 60 L of wort just about to boil.  I usually only do 55 L but got distracted during the sparge so some will be for a starter or two.

Pre boil gravity was 2 points under due to the pre boil volume being 5 litres over.

Next pic is the 30 g of PoR hops having a sauna in the boil.   Am just waiting for the wort to cool down to 80 C and then will throw in 60 G of PoR hops and will hold it at 80 C for 20 mins to get my usual COPA aroma.

 

Looks great mate. 

I have two kegs nearing empty and want to stagger the consumption of these COPA's over the next couple of months

Forgive me Boozer @iBooz2but I think you may speak with fork tongue. 

[Tricky Micky]

20 hours ago, iBooz2 said:

 Am just waiting for the wort to cool down to 80 C and then will throw in 60 G of PoR hops and will hold it at 80 C for 20 mins to get my usual COPA aroma.

@iBooz2, just checking mate, have you increased the hopstand quantity of the POR just a tad in your quest for perfection?

I note my recipe says 25 grams for my 22 litre volume. 

[iBooz2]

2 hours ago, Tricky Micky said:

Looks great mate. 

I have two kegs nearing empty and want to stagger the consumption of these COPA's over the next couple of months

Forgive me Boozer @iBooz2but I think you may speak with fork tongue. 

Mick, the two kegs nearing empty are other lagers, I was talking about staggering these two new cubes of COPA's when they ferment out.  If I can ferment the two about two weeks apart, I will have overlapping supply of COPA in the next couple of months, sort of a just in time brewing strategy. 

[iBooz2]

1 hour ago, Tricky Micky said:

@iBooz2, just checking mate, have you increased the hopstand quantity of the POR just a tad in your quest for perfection?

I note my recipe says 25 grams for my 22 litre volume. 

Mick, I think the COPA as is, is perfect so needs no tweaking.   It's just that my big bag of PoR is getting on a bit and I have tried to adjust for the degradation of hop aroma in the old hops used in this big double batch.  I have some fresh packs here ready for future brews and will drop down the grams of late additions when I open them up.  If your hops are reasonably fresh stick with the 25 g for a 22 L batch.  I find when using 30 or over grams in a single batch, just makes it a little too harsh for my tastes.

Edited April 15, 2023 by iBooz2

[Shamus O'Sean]

Dunkelweizen

Planned numbers: 27 L batch (22 L plus 5 L top up); 4.5% ABV; OG 1.044; FG 1.010; IBU 16; EBC 36

Actual numbers: 28.2 L (22.2 L plus 6 L top up); 4.6% ABV; OG 1.045.  I added a bit more top up water because the SG out of the brew kettle was a bit higher than expected.

• 2.5kg Coopers Wheat Malt
• 2.1kg Light Munich Malt
• 225g Carafa Special II
• 140g Light Crystal
• 140g Medium Crystal
• 44g Saaz 50 minute boil for 16 IBU
• Lallemand Munich Wheat yeast (Slurry from my Hoegaarden)

Coming to the boil

[Cheap Charlie]

On 4/11/2023 at 1:08 PM, Classic Brewing Co said:

BREW DAY (FROM HELL)

A nice early start for the All Grain Kit - American Pale Ale suddenly turned to disaster, I brought the BrewZilla up to Mashing Temperature 68c as per recipe, stirred in the grain & a handful of Rice Hulls, everything going fine - I thought  20 mins into the mash I spotted a major error - can anyone see what is wrong here?

Look at picture 20230411_102102 - egad   NO MALT PIPE  Bugger!!!  panic stations.

After the obvious mistake I thought OK just shut down & have a good think,

Solution;

1. Drain us much wort into a Hot Cube using a strainer & then scoop out the grain a place in a small craft FV.

2. Rinse out grain from BrewZilla replace bottom screen & return grain to BrewZilla, I had already put the pro-screen in the bottom of the malt pipe so all good, so I returned the grain back in to the BZ leaving the malt pipe sitting alongside me.

Lot's of offensive & indecent language followed by another bout of profanity & then I had to repeat the process. 

As you can see the 2nd mash is underway & won't be long for sparging.

I am really going to enjoy a few beers after.

haha welcome to my world of constant ef ups

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

Just now, Cheap Charlie said:

haha welcome to my world of constant ef ups

Yeah, but I will never let it happen again - famous last words. 

[Cheap Charlie]

8 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Yeah, but I will never let it happen again - famous last words. 

haha mate, all good, just getting into the AG caper myself

[Classic Brewing Co]

Another AG brew to do -ELIPSE XPA, I will tackle this over the weekend.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Classic Brewing Co

[RDT2]

Hoppy Lager I made today to chuck on top of my Aussie lager yeast cake which I kegged earlier. Be interesting to see how it goes???? I wanted to use up my Amarillo as it’s getting a bit long in the tooth but still smelt great as it was vacuum packed! Hit my numbers and had no real problems went commando with the hops which made it a slow transfer but just had to sanitise my spoon to make a hole in the hop cone! Expecting a fast ferment with this yeast!

[jennyss]

3 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Another AG brew to do

That looks like a lot of grain @Classic Brewing Co; is that for a 23 litre brew?

[iBooz2]

On 4/18/2023 at 4:26 PM, Classic Brewing Co said:

Yeah, but I will never let it happen again - famous last words. 

Until next time...

[Classic Brewing Co]

30 minutes ago, jennyss said:

That looks like a lot of grain @Classic Brewing Co; is that for a 23 litre brew?

22 litres actually Jenny, it is actually only about average, 4.5kg of grain, contents attached.

Grain Bill
3kg Joe White Pilsner
1.5kg Joe White Wheat

Hop Additions
20g Eclipse – 60 minutes
20g Eclipse – 15 minutes
20g Eclipse – End

Other Additions
Whirlfloc Tablet – 5 minutes

Yeast
Safale US-05 American Ale

Recommended
Mash Temperature – 68°C
Mash Time – 60 minutes
Boil Time – 60 minutes
Batch Size – 22 Litres

Edited April 21, 2023 by Classic Brewing Co

[Classic Brewing Co]

21 minutes ago, iBooz2 said:

Until next time...

Nah, I will make sure of that. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

5 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Nah, I will make sure of that. 

I have got a white board that I am going to mount in the laundry where I am now brewing & I will write up all of the steps to ensure a mistake free day, shouldn't have to do it but I want a smooth Brew day until I get totally comfortable with AG brewing.

[iBooz2]

Yep @Classic Brewing Co that is the way to go, a brew day run sheet with brew day notes is good until you can do it all off the top of your head. 

Learn, react and change,  you must constantly be assessing, appreciating and reacting.

1. Aim - what am I here to do?  What has changed since I last did or thought about this?

2. What resources do I have or need? What resource or need has changed since I last did or thought about this?

3. What can I change to make the process better, quicker, easier or safer?  What technique can I change since I last did or thought about this?

4. What mistakes did I make the last time I did this?  What has changed since I last did this and can I mitigate those mistakes?

[Cheap Charlie]

Aussie lager, 3.5kg coopers pale malt, 0.5kg dex, 45g saaz at 60 mins, so basically a smash lager. Also a bit of carapils and light crystal for colour. Mashed at 65º. I'm still trying to work out the numbers for efficiency and all that, but OG is 1.052 so it's looking like its pretty good!

I know, technically not a SMASH, last minute changes to the recipe.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Cheap Charlie

[Otto Von Blotto]

Brew day today, a pale ale with pale and pilsner malt since I only had a kilo or so of pale malt left, and my usual Munich II and medium crystal. Hopped with Cascade, Amarillo and Citra all late and a bit of Amarillo in the cube, some early bitterness from magnum. I'll dry hop with some combination of the late hops as well.

Waiting to take an SG sample but it should be somewhere between 1.046-50. Also pitched the pilsner brewed a couple of weeks ago or whenever it was because I needed the cube for today's brew. Now I have a piece of bacon in the smoker so that'll probably be done in a couple of hours or so. Fairly productive day all round.

Edited April 23, 2023 by Otto Von Blotto

[ben 10]

On 4/21/2023 at 4:41 PM, Classic Brewing Co said:

Another AG brew to do -ELIPSE XPA, I will tackle this over the weekend.

I'd use a better yeast, boring AF

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 minutes ago, beach_life said:

I'd use a better yeast, boring AF

I tend to agree Beachy, what would you suggest, I would like it to erupt & get going pronto & give some taste to it, what about an American Ale yeast or Notty?

[Uhtred Of Beddanburg]

4 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I tend to agree Beachy, what would you suggest, I would like it to erupt & get going pronto & give some taste to it, what about an American Ale yeast or Notty?

Notty is probably a good substitute if you want to get it going fast. The same for Verdant IPA both my new favourites for ales.

I used to use US-05 all the time but got sick of the slow start.

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 minutes ago, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

Notty is probably a good substitute if you want to get it going fast. The same for Verdant IPA both my new favourites for ales.

I used to use US-05 all the time but got sick of the slow start.

Yeah, I am getting sick of US-05, it does the job but is a slow starter, I want a bit of zing.

[ben 10]

12 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I tend to agree Beachy, what would you suggest

Anything bar a chico strain.

MJ New World Strong, Liberty Ale, French Siason - Even Coopers Ale one would be better