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Here you go Lusty - my Red ale recipe


Otto Von Blotto

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get the light behind it' date='[/quote']

Haha it's Canberra winter ... we left the light behind about a month ago now.

Haha! My apologies John, I forgot you're now in a time of the year there in the ACT where the sun rises just to let you know it's time to get up, & then quickly disappears! tongue

 

biggrin

 

Cheers & good brewing,

 

Lusty.

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Hi guys.

 

Don't read too much into this as there can be anomalies that present in individual cases particularly in home brewing, but that said, I myself was very surprised with the following little side experiment I did when I bottled Kelsey's Red Ale.

 

I've just opened one of the longnecks from the 4 different experiments bottled that I put away for storage from this brew.

 

My entire brew had an OG of 1.040 & an expected FG of 1.010. My brew stabilized @ 1.011, so it was bottled from that point on. This particular part of the experiment had the bottles soaked in very hot (close to boiling), heavily influenced sodium percarbonate water & scrubbed with a bottle brush. They were rinsed with common tap water & air dried on a common bottle drying tower.

 

My earlier tastings of this drank & poured fine. This most recent aged one has however poured like it has a gusher infection. Once in the glass it is highly overcarbonated yet only had 2 carb drops (recommended) added to the 750ml bottle.

 

Given some inconsistencies I've previously had relating to bottle carbonation where I felt my practices may have been to blame, I am at a loss to explain this most recent carbonation related occurrence. 0.01 as a higher gravity point combined with the lengths I went to eliminate an outside infection should not have caused this gushing-like scenario. annoyed

 

Very disappointing, & part of the reason I switched to kegging my beer as this problem does not occur when artificially carbonating with C02.

 

Really lost on this one & can't explain it. sad

 

Lusty.

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get the light behind it' date='[/quote']

Haha it's Canberra winter ... we left the light behind about a month ago now.

I've heard a rumour there's plenty of sunshine coming from the rear ends of certain people in Parliament House...

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That's no good to hear about the gusher mate. sad

I use the same cleaning method on my bottles and don't seem to experience that issue with longer term stored beers. I have a stout that's nearly 1.5 years bottled which isn't experiencing that issue, but then again like you say it could be an isolated incident. My porters aren't gushers but they are over carbed, however I think that was S-04's fault.

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It's purely related to what I'm doing here, & my sanitation practices I think.

 

Trying to get to the bottom of some gusher issues I had over a few brews, I was vigilant with every aspect of what I did with this brew to produce 4 different scenario bottled beers from your recipe. I don't bottle whole batches much these days, but given I knew your Red Ale would benefit from a little aging, it became the guinea pig brew so to speak to test a few areas out.

 

The four different scenarios I bottled to gauge suitable carbonation levels & perhaps causes of a gusher infection from a stable FG were...

 

M2A: Rinsed bottle only, no noticeable sediment build-up, clean to look at, 1 carb drop.

M2B: cleaned, scrubbed, soaked in sodium perc, 1 carb drop.

M2C: cleaned, scrubbed, soaked in sodium perc, 2 drops.

M2S: cleaned, scrubbed, soaked in sodium perc, sugar to the equivalent of 2 carb drops.

 

Much like your last Porter, I'm hoping the one I opened yesterday is an isolated case, &/or I mistakenly labelled it incorrectly on bottling day. I haven't had any issues with any other bottles of the brew as yet, but time will tell with the remaining 10 or so longnecks covering each of those codes mentioned.

 

Fingers crossed I can discern anything noticeable from those remaining. Maybe next time I should bottle this experiment in stubbies, not longnecks, as I'm less likely to get drunk while trying to assess the differences between the differing bottles! lol

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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Apologies for diverting off topic a bit, but was hoping you AG veterans could run your eyes over this. About 24 hrs in and my first AG batch, the same recipe that this thread is about, has what looks like large curdled clumps. Used a pack of US05 for this one as per recipe.

 

I guess it might be cold break protein? Noticed on the bottom of FV this morning, now has risen. Activity looks to have started by the way, and it does smell very good. As I once said at the doctor's office, I hope this is normal?

 

ouy6hl.jpg

 

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Very interesting. It does look like protein clumps, but why they've risen to the top of the beer is a strange one. Not something I've ever experienced in any of my AG brews. If that's all they are then nothing to worry about. Keep monitoring it anyway and smell and taste your SG samples, that's your best option for detecting infections.

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Thanks Kelsey,

 

I guess I might have ended up transferring a lot of trub into the FV. I also guess that maybe it is cold break from the rapid chill I gave the jerry in our swimming pool. From what I may have read, you only get cold break with rapid chilling?

 

Left it hot for a good 15 mins I think, then dropped it in on a step in the pool up to the handle. Probably 13 or 14c in the pool. Dropped it to 45 in ten minutes. Measured temp by lying jerry down on yogamat with probe between jerry and mat.

 

Might cause some issues with tap flow, but not much else hopefully. Next time will use the sanitised stocking filter idea I think when pouring in to FV.

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It will only be cold break yeah. The hot break, or at least the vast majority of it, should have been left behind in the pot when it was transferred to the cube. Cold break will form regardless of how quickly the wort is chilled - it's simply a result of the wort cooling. This explains why proper no-chill cubes always end up with a layer of trub in them after they cool to room temperature.

 

I normally stop pouring my cube when that muck starts to come out. I do let a little of it into the fermenter as I do think it provides some benefit to fermentation, but not too much otherwise the trub layer is too high.

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I brewed an all grain American Amber/Red today and have to say that Caraaroma is the most amazing grain I have ever chewed on. A few grains taste awesome but I grabbed a small handful and almost had to spit it out. Not bad at all, just intense. Can't wait to try my brew.

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Yeah I love Caraaroma, so did my ex girlfriend, I was worried I'd run out of it and not have any left to put into a brew whenever we did a brew day! lol

 

It's usually my go-to crystal grain if I want that really caramelly/toffee influence. I can't notice it much from other crystal grains but that one is just stronger for some reason.

 

I have read of a theory of using crystal grains in AG mashes, that the enzymes from the base malt grains end up converting some of the starches or whatever in the specialty grains which lessens their influence, so maybe this is why. I dunno.

 

At the end of the day I'm happy with my beers, and this one in particular is a regular because it always delivers a great taste. smile

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Snip

It's usually my go-to crystal grain if I want that really caramelly/toffee influence. I can't notice it much from other crystal grains but that one is just stronger for some reason.

snip

 

100%, I had a few of Otto's Red Ale tonight and in amongst the citrus of the Cascade is the most prominent caramelly/toffee flavour I have experienced in my home brew. It is also one of the few times that I have brewed 100% with a Maris Otter base.

 

Cheers & Beers

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Hmmm ... I get a little bit of that, but it's buried a bit under hop flavour, bitterness and carbonation. If I let it warm and off-gas a little in the glass the malt comes out slightly more. I wonder if the yeast I used could play a part as well. Anyway, I'm definitely going to brew it again with a recipe tweaked for no-chill (on my system with my process and for my tastebuds) and bulk primed to a proper level of carbonation.

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Hey John

 

At what temperature are you serving your brews, I'm tipping it's a fair bit colder than mine; I have my kegs chilled to 10 degrees Celsius.

 

You might try substituting the Roasted Barley for Black Patent, their taste is different, I know they say that Roasted Barley can be used in small amounts for colour adjustment but I find I can always detect it.

 

Cheers & Beers

Scottie

Valley Brew

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At what temperature are you serving your brews' date=' I'm tipping it's a fair bit colder than mine; I have my kegs chilled to 10 degrees Celsius. [/quote']

So you have a heat belt wrapped around them? tongue

 

Hmmm...a pending conversation between two guys discussing methods of serving beer at higher than current ambient winter temperatures, one in TAS, one in the ACT. This should be interesting! biggrin

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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Hey Lusty

 

No one could ever accuse you of not doing your research. True day time maximums around these parts are topping out at 11 or 12 degrees in the shade and hitting -1 degrees the past two nights. It is however a good thing that my Kegs are inside the house where the ambient temperature is rarely below 18 degrees and at the moment a balmy 22 degrees. Later when they discover where I have hidden the remote the temperature will be pushing 27 degrees.

 

Cheers & Beers

Scottie

Valley Brew

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Hi Scottie.

 

Let's just say I had a certain individual that paid particular attention to my person early on after joining the forum that re-enforced this area (constantly) of looking into brewing practices from sources outside this forum before suggesting I should be asking any questions on it. devil

 

My learning, at least on this forum, came mainly from those who wanted to help, not re-direct. rightful

 

Looking forward to John's retort here. biggrin

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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Haha if I don't turn the heating on, my place sits at about 14C (apart from the sunroom when bathed in nice afternoon sun - if you can get it). We had -4.5C this morning, had a -7C morning the other day. For some reason I decided to cycle to work in shorts that morning - was pretty cold. I almost need to install an STC-1000 with something plugged into the heat cycle for the food fridge just to keep things from freezing! I also think that possibly the excessive foaming from my Tap-a-Draft is from ice forming in the spout and giving nucleation points.

 

But, adverse ambient conditions aside, yes, I am serving at fridge temps, so <4C. If I serve and let it very slowly warm (which tends to happen when the room and fridge temp are not that far apart) the sharpness diminishes and the malt flavour opens up a bit.

 

biggrin

 

PS My nice silicone tubing arrived so I'm all set to give bulk priming a go for your Amber Ale Lusty.

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.....snip But' date=' adverse ambient conditions aside, yes, I am serving at fridge temps, so <4C. If I serve and let it very slowly warm (which tends to happen when the room and fridge temp are not that far apart) the sharpness diminishes and the malt flavour opens up a bit...snip

 

[/quote']

 

Hey John

 

In my abject beer snobbery I would say that >4'C is too cold.

 

Cheers

Scottie

Valley Brew

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Personal preference really. I serve mine at fridge temps. I dunno what the fridge I actually store my beer in is, but probably about 3C. When I CC a batch at 0C, I fill the brew fridge with bottles and chill them in there with it.

 

I was curious one day though, so I thought I'd measure the temp of the beer once it was poured into a room temp glass. It rose to about 7C just from doing that. With that being the case I'm not terribly bothered about what temp they are in the fridge - especially in the warmer months.

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...We had -4.5C this morning' date=' had a -7C morning the other day. For some reason I decided to cycle to work in shorts that morning - was pretty cold. I almost need to install an STC-1000 with something plugged into the heat cycle for the food fridge just to keep things from freezing! I also think that possibly the excessive foaming from my Tap-a-Draft is from ice forming in the spout and giving nucleation points.[/quote']

lol

 

If I jumped on the treddly in shorts @ -7°C I'd have another set of temporary internal organs for the journey to work! wink

 

Good luck with the bulk priming.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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Hey John

 

In my abject beer snobbery I would say that >4'C is too cold.

 

Cheers

Scottie

Valley Brew

I 100% agree with you. Especially after enjoying a couple of ESBs from a local brewpub Wig & Pen last weekend served at about 12C. Just beautiful! I've popped a Tap-a-Draft bottle of an English Bitter into the fridge ... am seriously thinking about serving at Canberra room temp instead. My only worry is that it might be too foamy at a higher temp.

 

I finished up the last of this batch tonight Kelsey. Thanks again for the recipe, I thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely do it again. My wife really enjoyed it too, says it's a great beer with food and that it perfectly matches the leek, fennel, mushroom and chicken risotto I whipped up.

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