***** Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Just blew a keg of Stella IPA. Luckily I have my Styx River Pale Ale that has been sitting in the FV for 15 days. The added bonus was that being short of time I was dreading the thought of preparing 12 long necks and 3 dozen stubbies for bottling day tomorrow. Anyway now only six weeks to find out if unhopped extracts can deliver "my best brew ever" Styx River Pale Ale 1.5kg Coopers light malt extract 1.5kg Coopers wheat malt extract 100g light dry malt 125g Crystal Malt Pale (80 EBC) Hops (all grown on the banks of the Styx River at Bushy Park) Topaz 30g @ 25 mins Topaz 15g @ 15 mins Willamette 15g @ 15 mins Galaxy 15g @ 9 mins Willamette 25g @ 9 mins Galaxy 10g @ flameout Willamette 15g @ flameout 3 litre boil Coopers recultured yeast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Looks good Big Willie! Let us know how it goes. The pale malt 80 EBC, is that crystal malt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
***** Posted October 29, 2012 Author Share Posted October 29, 2012 The pale malt 80 EBC' date=' is that crystal malt?[/quote'] Yep from Thomas Fawcett, thanks Hairy I've updated the recipe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamB8 Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Thats a mouth watering hop schedule you got there Scott [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Eh!L Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Thats a mouth watering hop schedule you got there Scott [cool] Yea, Scott 100+g of hops. Some with a High AA%. Why did you only boil for 25mins? This will give this brew some intense flavour at the expence of bitterness. Tell us all about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
***** Posted October 29, 2012 Author Share Posted October 29, 2012 Yea, Scott 100+g of hops. Some with a High AA%. Why did you only boil for 25mins? This will give this brew some intense flavour at the expence of bitterness. Chad & Graham, you both know your way around a hop schedule. Tasted at the final gravity test today before kegging. Straight up I am concerned that it doesn't have that bitter after taste that my other brews have. I used IanH's spreadsheet and it comes out at 33.6 IBU but I am concerned after the tasting that Chad's comment is spot on. Stay tuned for an update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Eh!L Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 I just think somehow the balance will be way off! You're the one tasting it though, Scott. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Thats a mouth watering hop schedule you got there Scott [cool] Yea, Scott 100+g of hops. Some with a High AA%. Why did you only boil for 25mins? This will give this brew some intense flavour at the expence of bitterness. Tell us all about it! 100% correct Chad Tasted this brew, after 4 weeks in the keg. Lots of flavour. SWMBO loves it as does my daughter's partner (his favorite drink is Southern Comfort). As for me, well I can have three or maybe four but then the sweetness leaves me wanting that bitter finish to cleanse my pallet. But hey I think I've created the perfect desert beer. Maybe others have done this before me. Next time Chad I will take your advice and up the boil time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Welcome to the forum Scottie! Hang on.... I mean welcome back [biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 There's a batch I'm about to start drinking where I made exactly the same mistake. I was aiming for a massively hopped beer with Cascade and Citra, but thought I'd try lower IBUs (around 30) and it tastes like some kind of fruity soft drink. [crying] In future my APAs are all gonna be around 40 which suits the level of fruity hops I like to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Perhaps I should've went for a tried and true recipe first but I may have been over critical of my first extract brew. Sure it could have had a touch more bitterness but tonight I had two while cooking the Barbie and they were quite enjoyable. The other interesting point, for me anyway, is that I got my kegs mixed up [alien] , my daughter's partner and I were drinking this at three weeks kegged. The other interesting point is that we had about eight each (then the sweetness kicked in). Anyway I can understand the bespoked dimension of extract brews and now I understand why people go to AG. The other kegged brew, Cascadian, which I mixed up is 8 weeks kegged is good but I have no doubt I can make the Styx River Pale Ale a whole lot better, as Chad said I need to get the balnce right, that first hop addition. But on a lighter note you will be pleased to hear that neither of these brews is my best beer ever [roll]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 I can understand the bespoked dimension of extract brews and no understand why people go to AG. I am confused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Ohhhh, you mean 'and now understand why people go to AG.' Gotchya. Apologies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Ohhhh' date=' you mean 'and [b']now[/b] understand why people go to AG.' Gotchya. Apologies. Typo, I hate it when I make them [innocent] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Ohhhh' date=' you mean 'and [b']now[/b] understand why people go to AG.' I can not believe that I was so critical of this brew in my first assessment. First up you shouldn't give a critique on a beer after drinking 8. But to drink so well at 3 weeks to me is incredible. Now at five weeks I can say that it has the bitterness that beer should have, although its not an A(USA)PA, EB or IPA. I was aiming for an A(AUS)PA (ignoring the challenge of FG). To say it was a desert beer gave a false impression, its definitely not lolly water; and aren't all beers capable of being desert beers [innocent] . Anyway just to update my Coopers friends I don't think I'll be brewing many kits from here on in. Granted I will still use Coopers LME due my loyalty to the brand and this forum. In my list was another LCPA style, I am now in the process of tweaking the recipe to suit extract. Once I gain control of the boil times vs AA% I reckon I'll be stoked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotm Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 There's a batch I'm about to start drinking where I made exactly the same mistake. I was aiming for a massively hopped beer with Cascade and Citra' date=' but thought I'd try lower IBUs (around 30) and it tastes like some kind of fruity soft drink. [crying'] In future my APAs are all gonna be around 40 which suits the level of fruity hops I like to use. Ditto. First partial mash American Amber Ale, and based on the taste test, not much bitterness. Definitely boiling hops for longer than 30 minute. In terms of flavour, my mates who are fans of LCPA will like it I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Hi guys. I'm pretty much all extract & partial mash/steep brewing now, although I am quite comfortable still doing the odd advanced kit based brew too. It's interesting once you start to branch out & have to work out your hop additions to create your bitterness, flavour & aroma. I put Scottie's original recipe of this thread through IanH's spreadsheet, & his bitterness level actually was around 38 IBU, based on his schedule, yet he states it's come out a little sweet? There must be some balance between bittering & flavour/aroma so that one doesn't take away from the other too much in one direction? I'm basically sticking to a 40 minute minimum boil time for my bittering hop addition in my brews unless the recipe I'm following (that comes from a reliable source), suggests otherwise. The 40 minute timeframe was something I can thank Muddy (Waters) for, as it was something I picked up on through a number of his posts & has served me well so far since venturing away from pre-hopped kits. [happy] Anthony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I put Scottie's original recipe of this thread through IanH's spreadsheet' date=' & his bitterness level actually was around 38 IBU, based on his schedule, yet he states it's come out a little sweet?[/quote'] Anthony It's not as sweet as my first impression, but I just got tired of it after 8 375ml glasses of it [innocent] . But it could do with a touch more bitterness and there may be something to what Chad says about flavour bitternes balance. When I use IanH's spreadsheet I use the hop correction factor and I only did a 3 litre boil, it comes out at 33.6 which isn't that bad. Its an Aussie Pale Ale and I was after something like JS Fifty Lashes except I didn't have enough Galaxy on hand. So for my latest I went to a 6 litre boil starting at 40 minutes. As Chad said somewhere else the bigger the boil the better the beer. But this one, last night SWMBO used the kegerator for the first time to pour a Styx River IPA, I don't know if that's a good thing or not [lol] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Hi Scottie. I reckon the Canuck is spot on with that statement too, "The bigger the boil, the better...". He wrote that in my Nelson's spin-off thread. While I'm on the subject, Hairy was right too. That Coopers Commercial yeast is a BEAST! It went BALLISTIC (for a better word) on the 1.029 OG of that light brew I put down in 2 days! [w00t] [lol] Man that yeast is born, yes BORN, to eat sugar! [lol] [tongue] Anthony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 That Coopers Commercial yeast is a BEAST! It went BALLISTIC (for a better word) on the 1.029 OG of that light brew I put down in 2 days! Man that yeast is born' date=' yes BORN, to eat sugar! [lol'] [tongue] Anthony. Hey Anthony It's a beast alright, as I said elsewhere I had a Krausen within 24 hours and it was done in 4 days, each time with a 1.045ish wort. Hairy was right and so was Paul (PB2) [rightful] . My brew at the minute has a third generation Wyeast 1056 (250ml in a 1 litre starter) and it is going gang busters. Krausen formed within 12 hours and after 20 hours the foam is 50mm high, and this is a Pale Ale. People often ask of their Brews is this normal but after salivating at the efforts of our yeast I pose the question Are we Normal I've been reading some threads at AHB and the possibilities for getting the best out of your yeast are endless. No wonder Yob has that yeast fetish. It's like yeast is a hobby in itself [kissing] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 WOW! 50cm Krausen?!! Are you sure you don't mean 50mm? Here's a controversial statement... I believe a home-brewed beer with an original gravity of under 1.030 (exposed to a specific yeast) can be safely bottled at a 7 day point. I say this, because the yeast only has so much sugar to chomp on. In a lighter beer brew, there is less to chomp. Once that has been achieved, it starts it's cleanup earlier than for a full strength (1.040+) brew. When I brewed the Nelson's Light recipe, I used a Coopers kit tin ale yeast. It primary fermented out on 3 days. I bottled it on the 8th day. It drinks perfectly. Any thoughts? Criticisms? Anthony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 WOW! 50cm Krausen?!! Are you sure you don't mean 50mm?.... Haha Fixed that, I must have measured from the bottom of the FV[innocent] Here's a controversial statement....... Sorry Anthony But I am not buying into any controversies. [devil] [alien] [bandit] All I will say is that for me at the moment if I can rest by beer on the trub safely for 3 weeks that's what I need to do. I have built up that much stock that I am out of room. I am still saving my pennies for some additional kegs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Here's a controversial statement... I believe a home-brewed beer with an original gravity of under 1.030 (exposed to a specific yeast) can be safely bottled at a 7 day point. Any beer can be safely bottled at 7 days as long as fermentation is complete. However if quality is what you are after it is better to leave it longer (even low gravity beers). You could always shave a couple of days of the second week in the fermentor for a low gravity beer but I personally wouldn't be bottling at day 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Saying "Here's a controversial statement.." doesn't make it a controversial statement. It has to actually has to be controversial. You can safely bottle after any number of days if fermentation had finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Diction aside, given that the bulk of discussion on the forum revolves around the brewing of 1.040+ O.G ales & best practices of that, I thought a few views & a bit of a discussion about original gravity & fermenting times might make for an interesting discussion, especially for those newer to home brewing. I guess I was wrong. [sad] Anthony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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