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Brew Day!! Watcha' got, eh!? 2015


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One brew is not enough to join the B10 Club, I know. But I'm on my way to an entry point. The last version of the Wee Heavy has been so yummy, it's down as the next ale brew.

 

Recipe: Wee Heavy Triple-D

Style: Strong Scotch Ale

 

Recipe Specifications

--------------------------

Batch Size (fermenter): 40.00 l

Estimated OG: 1.088 SG

Estimated Color: 37.4 EBC

Estimated IBU: 25.4 IBUs

Boil Time: 90 Minutes

 

Ingredients:

------------

Amt Name %/IBU

11.00 kg Golden Promise (6.0 EBC) 64.9 %

4.00 kg Pale Ale Malt (2 Row) (4.0 EBC) 23.6 %

1.50 kg Munich Malt (17.7 EBC) 8.8 %

0.30 kg Cararoma (400.0 EBC) 1.8 %

0.15 kg Roast Barley (1300.0 EBC) 0.9 %

45.00 g Target [11.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min 23.1 IBUs

30.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min 2.3 IBUs

 

Decoction mash to bring out the malt and caramel flavours.

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Hi P2.

 

When last you brewed this Scottish Ale recipe, was it to the 1.088 OG?

 

If so, how did you find the bitterness level from a 25.4 IBU hop schedule in a 1.088 OG beer? unsure

 

No criticism inferred, just curious. innocent

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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G'day Ben10

 

I just emailed you the BM2 file. There's some really great shortish vids on YouTube on how to do decoctions and while it takes a little longer than a normal mash, it's really simple and with my equipment I hit the temp rises exactly +/- 1 Degree C. The only trick seems to be you have to be careful to stir it very regularly or constantly.

 

Mash Schedule: Decoction Mash, Triple

Total Grain Weight: 16.95 kg

----------------------------

Name Description Step Temperature Step Time

Acid Rest Add 38.50 l of water at 37.1 C 35.0 C 45 min

Protein Rest Decoct 11.44 l of mash and boil it 50.0 C 60 min

Saccharification Decoct 14.32 l of mash and boil it 64.4 C 15 min

Saccharification Decoct 6.19 l of mash and boil it 68.9 C 15 min

Mash Out Heat to 75.6 C over 10 min 75.6 C 10 min

 

Sparge: Fly sparge with 34.23 l water at 75.6 C

 

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G'day Blusty

 

Sorry for the delay. It seems Brunhilda and the ferals had some silly idea they deserved to be fed tonight. I kept quoting Tony and Joe telling them "the age of entitlement is over" but they just wouldn't shut up. Anyway, no I made up a similar recipe last time, and this time I made some changes that I think should improve it. The last one was:

 

Recipe: Antiphile's Wee Heavy

Style: Strong Scotch Ale

 

Recipe Specifications

--------------------------

Batch Size (fermenter): 41.00 l

Estimated OG: 1.069 SG

Estimated Color: 36.0 EBC

Estimated IBU: 29.3 IBUs

Boil Time: 120 Minutes

 

Ingredients:

------------

Amt Name Type # %/IBU

6.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 5 46.2 %

5.50 kg Pale Ale Malt (2 Row) (4.0 EBC) Grain 6 42.3 %

0.50 kg Caramunich II (120.0 EBC) Grain 7 3.8 %

0.50 kg Wheat Malt (BB) (3.9 EBC) Grain 8 3.8 %

0.40 kg Cararoma (400.0 EBC) Grain 9 3.1 %

0.10 kg Roast Barley (1300.0 EBC) Grain 10 0.8 %

50.00 g Cascade [7.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 11 19.3 IBUs

10.00 g Northern Brewer [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 12 2.3 IBUs

50.00 g East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.00 %] - Boil Hop 13 7.7 IBUs

 

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body

Total Grain Weight: 13.00 kg

----------------------------

Name Description Step Temperature Step Time

Mash In Add 29.00 l of water at 74.2 C 66.7 C 60 min

Mash Out Add 12.40 l of water at 99.9 C 75.6 C 10 min

 

Sparge: Fly sparge with 24.67 l water at 75.6 C

 

I also had some concerns about the bitterness for the large amount of malt but it was unfounded. The first one had kettle caramelisation and a longer boil too, but the decoction should be a great alternative. I'm really expecting thie new version to be even better (fingers crossed).

 

Cheerio

 

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Thanks for the reply Antsi, as I am genuinely interested in this brew & your adjustments of it. ninja

 

Are you following a progression from what you tasted from the first brew, or an adjustment based on a recipe you found that took your fancy? unsure

 

The reason I ask is that your previous brew was @ 1.069 OG, & this recipe is @ 1.088 apparently, yet very minimal increases have been made with your IBU increase. The Target hop will definitely give some bite due to it's co-humulone level, but will it be enough @ 1.088 OG? I honestly don't know, & am just posing the question out of pure interest.

 

Regardless of my own thoughts & views, I ALWAYS wish you the best with the brew.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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That's a shame' date=' one of the things an urn in theory would be great for would be step mashes. Oh well, I'm sure the beer is just as tasty without them![/quote']

 

It is a bit, but at least I gave it a go and found out on early attempts of this recipe, rather than making it a few times with a "normal" mash before trying it and probably thinking I'd ruined it. Going by my German lager brews with about 90% ish pilsner malt, which were mashed as a single infusion in the mid 60s, which turned out perfectly fine, I'm pretty confident that a similar mash schedule with the pils recipe will turn out fine as well.

 

I just really can't be bothered spending 4 or 5 hours of a brew day faffing about, getting frustrated and annoyed because the thing won't heat up quickly, or at all. lol

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Are you following a progression from what you tasted from the first brew' date=' or an adjustment based on a recipe you found that took your fancy? [img']unsure[/img]

 

I know it's a pretty big jump, but I'm confident it'll be a lot closer to the proper style as well as my tastes. My first taste comments here lead me to believe I should get away with it, but if it's too far in the other direction, I'll admit my bad and do another revision. This is a snapshot of what I got in Beersmith for this second version.

 

WeeHeavy-2.jpg

 

Chiz from Philby

 

 

 

 

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On a side note, that style guide comparison thing in Beersmith I've found to be extremely helpful in designing recipes for styles I haven't tried before. Even ones I brew a lot of like APA's, I still keep an eye on the indicators and try to get them mostly in the middle. The resultant beers are generally very nice. ABV is about the only one I don't really care about though. I don't think the ABV calculator in Beersmith takes into account bottle priming sugar, so it always shows on the low side in my recipe creations.

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Hi P2.

 

Given your comments on the last brew, I certainly now understand your adjustments for this one.

 

I just hope the notable increased gravity vs bitterness ratio doesn't create any adverse imbalances. unsure

 

Good luck with the brew.

 

Lusty.

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Hey everyone. I've been a bit busy with a new addition to the family BUT I have been able to keep on top of my brewing. This one is currently in the fermenter and is almost ready for bottling:

 

Ol' Brown Dog

1.7kg Coopers Dark Ale

1.5kg Morgans Amber Caramalt

500g LDM

60g Cascade (late boil)

30g Centennial (dry hop)

US-05

23lt

OG - 1049

 

Next up is the 'extra' pale ale with rye I've been planning for a while. Hopefully this will be in the other fermenter before I go back to work next week.

 

Extra Rye Ale

3.0kg Briess Rye LME

500g LDM

15g Northern Brewer @ 60 min

20g Simcoe @ 20 min

20g Simcoe @ 10 min

15g Vic Secret @ 5 min

20g Simcoe @ flameout

45g Vic Secret dry hop

US-05

21lt

 

Cheers + beers,

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

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A tasty sounding couple of brews there Mark! Hope the fermentations go smoothly for you.

 

Tuesday night was a busy one. After bottling my APA and sitting down to relax, my wife said to me 'Oh, you're not brewing tonight?'. At this I thought, 'Hmmm, 8:00, got all the ingredients on hand, still got some beer in the fridge, why not?!?'

 

So, 10 litres of a nice American Red ale went into my cube.

 

Recipe Stats

Target Volume: 10.5 litres

Target OG: 1.043

Bitterness: 33.9 IBUs

Colour: 39.6 EBC

Mash: Single infusion @66C for 60 mins in a cooler, batch sparge

Boil: 60 mins

 

Grain

1843g TF Maris Otter (5.7 EBC)

135g WY Caraaroma (400 EBC)

92g WY Carapils (4.5 EBC)

32g Baird's Roasted Barley (1400 EBC)

 

Hops

15g NZ Cascade @FWH (5.5% AA)

15g US Centennial @5mins (10% AA)

To come: 15g NZ Cascade dry hop

 

The grain bill was meant to be 1810g MO, 90g Carapils and 30g roasted barley, but due to my dodgy measuring and Craftbrewer's packaging ended up a tiny bit different. I ordered 6.5kg MO and received one bag with 1843g in it and another with 4567g in it. So the whole 1843g of MO went in. The other variations were due to my slightly dodgy scooping after a few IPAs innocent

 

The mash / lauter / sparge / boil all went very smoothly. I think I prefer using my little cooler to mash and then batch sparging vs doing a full volume BIAB mash for a few reasons:

  • My efficiency seems to be always maybe 5% better with batch sparging - this might change with a 90min BIAB mash, but that makes a weeknight brew day longer
  • There's no worries with making a mess on the stove when pulling the bag out
  • The smaller amount of strike water means it heats to temp faster which saves time
  • Somehow I'm convinced FWH works even better when the wort is actually run on top of the hops biggrin

 

And against the cooler? Well I guess it's one more thing to clean, but that's very fast anyway. The bag can clog the tap when running off, but now that i put a stainless pot rack on the bottom before lining the cooler with my grain bag this holds it just above the level of the tap which solves this problem.

 

So Kelsey, looks like this brew is on target. The wort had a really nice dark red tinge in the cube, and I just about hit the numbers (OG was 1.047 instead of the targeted 1.043).

 

My new hop filter is really great! It's about half the diameter of my pot and goes nearly all the way to the bottom, so I could see plenty of vigorous wort circulation during the boil. It's fantastic just throwing the pellets in and not having to worry about using and cleaning hop socks or whirlpooling and avoiding the residue when siphoning. Easy to clean too. The siphon was really fast and smooth this time, I left about half a litre of trub at the bottom of the pot.

 

The only hiccup was a slight leak in the cube which I discovered Wednesday morning. It seemed to seal ok when cleaning last night, so maybe carrying it after filling it with hot wort warped the thread slightly and prevented a good seal. Thinking about this, I am tempted to try no-chill in the kettle itself. After the boil I would remove my hop filter, cover the pot with cling-wrap, poke a small hole and then put the sanitized lid on top of the clingwrap. After it has cooled to ambient temps within 24 hours I would pour the whole thing through a sanitized strainer into the fermenter and pitch yeast. Anyone tried this before?

 

Edit: Maybe wrap al-foil around the lid rather than using cling-wrap for kettle chilling.

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Absolutely fantastic job, you son of a cow! With hitting all the numbers and any variation being due to increased efficiency, I'm beginning to dislike you more and more. Your name has been pencilled in to the "most hated" list.

 

Is the brains (and the looks) of the house still supportive of your brewing? It'll help if you explain the process to her when she is appointed assistant brewer so you can concentrate solely on recipe design.

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G'day guys' date='

 

Brew day today and yet another IPA!

 

Morgans Caramalt 1.5kg

Morgans extra pale 1.5kg

1kg LDM

500g Caramunich 2

30g Simcoe @ 60 min

30g Citra @ 5 min

30g Amarillo @ 5 min

30g Cascade @ 5 min

Dry hopping with 100-120g of Citra, Cascade and Amarillo.

Essex Ale yeast Wlp022 I heard it has similar characteristics to us -05 so I thought I'd give it a crack.

23lt batch estimated IBU 58.3, estimated EBC 24.1.

 

Cheers[/quote']

 

G'day fellas,

 

Just took my fg for this brew and am completely blown away by how deliciously enticing this brew smells and tastes. It's like being smacked in the face with a bag full citrus and tropical fruit with a nice malt sweetness and bitterness balance.

 

Very happy!

 

Cheers

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Do you have room over there for a boarder? Anytime I get smacked in the face it is by a large bag of oranges, and Brunhilda is a bloody good aim with pineapples, mangoes, pawpaws etc as well. There are also terrifying screams and war chants as well.

 

I have also just found the absolute limit of a 55 litre esky for mashing grain too. (The placement of the hinge on the top limits to liquid to about 50 litres I suppose). 16.95 kg grain, 31.5 litres of water??? Time to do the first decoction of the latest Wee Heavy so I'm hoping that will free up a bit of volume for some more water. Fingers crossed.

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Best of luck with that one phil.

 

Maybe you could try some mens help groups or the One in Three Campaign. Since I was witness to the expletive heavy abuse you'd received ( I really couldn't believe she behaved like that in front of guests) I'm afraid that this situation may escalate into something that someone may regret.

 

I certainly don't believe that you would do anything drastic in these testing times, by resorting to violence yourself, as she obviously would be able to over power you in pretty much all physical areas.

 

And yes i do have room for a boarder I have a spare dog bed in the shed but don't worry it's one of those thermal lined ones that should keep you plenty warm.

 

Cheers

 

Edit: I really do hope that Brunhilda doesn't have access to this site, I'm becoming a little concerned she may see my posts and my safety could be at risk, there is something truly intimidating about a woman with neck tattoos on a neck thicker than my own.

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Art GarDunkelweizen

 

-another 15L batch

 

Caramel Wheat Malt 0.27 kg

Pilsner Malt 0.80 kg

Wheat Chocolate Malt 0.06 kg

Dark Wheat Malt 2.15 kg

 

 

22g Tettnanger @45 mins

5g Tettnanger @5mins

WLP300 fermented at 18°C

 

Predicted OG 1.053 IBU 17.4

FG 1.010 EBC 34.9

 

 

 

 

 

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