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


Canadian Eh!L

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Hi John.

Haha coincidentally last night I also finished off a box of Belgian chocolate that was kindly gifted to me ... so yes' date=' "Belgianing" (and probably "ballooning") all round! There are now 2 cats, and from the way they both attacked their food bowls this morning they are bursting at the seams with zeal for life at the moment. Actually one of them decided to walk over my wife's head at 2am rather than go round, so she may not survive for all that much longer if she repeats that.[/quote']

lol

 

It might be cheaper & easier just to move to Belgium?! tongue

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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Having just bottled my most recent batch yesterday, & having a slight case of brewers fatigue, my next batch will be tomorrow or Saturday; so brewing on either Christmas or Boxing day.

 

After spending so long bottling cleaning, rinsing, sanitizing, & preparing the next batch of empty bottles yesterday makes picking up & starting again the next day a bit much ATM.

 

So with that in mind, my next batch will be:

1 can Coopers Canadian Blonde

1kg Light Malt, 250g Maltodextrin,250g Dextrose.

50g Hallertau Hop pellets.

 

The plan is to do a 10 min boil with 500g LDM in 5 litres of water & approx 25g Hallertau, then a late addition of a further 25g Hallertau for 5 mins.

 

I have a pack of US 05 for fermentation, which should turn this into something similar in style to Helga's Cool Kolsch, though with a bit more oomph from extra adjuncts.

 

My most recent batch was pretty much the same, except I used 2 packs of the yeast that comes with the Canadian Blonde cans; I have to say, though it smelled & tasted OK, I'm sure the US 05 will do this brew more justice.

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Hey Lusty,

 

I haven't actually tasted the first brew with it yet. It was only pitched yesterday about 4pm lol This morning about 10am it already had a decent krausen on it, so it took off pretty quickly! This particular batch is being fermented around the 19.5C mark, and it's my regular red ale recipe. I took on your suggestion of using it on this recipe to see what it brings, so I'm looking forward to trying it out when it's ready to drink. happy

 

The English ale which I'm brewing today I haven't decided on a ferment temp yet, but probably around the same, or maybe a little higher around 20-20.5C. Speaking of which, that one is now mashing for its 90 minutes and I should probably go give it a bit of a stir now.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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G'day Brewers, bottled a UK IPA had some dark grains and other dark things for colour and flavour with Fuggles and EKG. love

 

Also put on to ferment a new TC Thomas Coopers Family Secret Amber Ale with 1 kg DLM as recommended and the 2x kit yeast supplied, Thank you Mx's Coopers. happy

 

Very nice hops smell as soon as I cracked the tin, DLM is a PITA though. wink

 

Instructions on the back of the label, may as well not bother IMHO.tongue

 

Only yeast under the lid, such is life, will let you know how it's drinking at the time. wink

 

Hey PB2, if you were to dry hop say 20-30 grams, Sorachi Ace? Cascade? Citra? Amarillo? something else maybe? unsure

 

Cheers.

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Very nice hops smell as soon as I cracked the tin' date=' DLM is a PITA though. [img']wink[/img]

 

Ahhh. So it was all your cussing that made the angels cry over Brissie. It's been absolutely bucketing down for the last hour here.

 

Pray tell -- what's the problem with the DLM? And I'm guessing an old codger like you has lost his reading glasses so can't read the instructions. Again!

 

Seeya, Mx.

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Pray tell -- what's the problem with the DLM? And I'm guessing an old codger like you has lost his reading glasses so can't read the instructions. Again!

 

Seeya' date=' Mx.[/quote']

 

It's hygroscopic nature due to the particle size and then it's hydrophobic in it's transition, I prefer LME but that's just me. tongue

 

Oh and a joker of your advanced years should refrain from calling anyone "old". tongue

 

Cheers, big ears.

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Well this brew day has been a success, I just about completely filled the cube this time, which should see at least 25 litres into the fermenter when it goes in. I was 2 points over my estimated pre-boil SG but only 1 point over the estimated post boil SG, not that I'm complaining about that of course.

 

The day wasn't without its hiccups though - when I was removing the bag from the urn, the rope tied around it through the loops caught the plastic cover that sits at the top of the sight gauge and pulled it into the urn; it promptly sank to the bottom of the urn and I obviously had no way of removing it. I decided to drain the urn into the cube + a bucket in order to remove the offending piece of plastic before I began to bring it to the boil, and unfortunately did lose some volume by doing this, and had to top up with water to the proper pre-boil volume. This probably accounts for the slight drop in post boil SG, as all other batches since I fixed my process up have worked out properly, i.e. same difference in pre and post boil SG compared to the predicted number. I'll do another 1 or 2 batches before changing my efficiency figure in Beersmith though, just to confirm.

 

In any case, overall I'm happy with the results of the brew day and look forward to getting this in the FV and then on tap/bottled after that. happy

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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Hi Kelsey.

I haven't actually tasted the first brew with it yet. It was only pitched yesterday about 4pm lol This morning about 10am it already had a decent krausen on it' date=' so it took off pretty quickly! This particular batch is being fermented around the 19.5C mark, and it's my regular red ale recipe. I took on your suggestion of using it on this recipe to see what it brings, so I'm looking forward to trying it out when it's ready to drink. [img']happy[/img]

That's the trouble with you no-chillers, it's hard to keep track of where you are in the process! pinched

Is he fermenting, or is he stock-piling wort, or WTH is he doing with that brew he was talking about a month ago? unsuretongue

 

Yeah the 1318 is a good reliable yeast. My brews with it have it up & fermenting in good time. cool I'll be interested in your take on it. Good move with the higher ferment temp too, I predominantly like using the British yeasts around 20°C give or take a degree. The fear of any ester profile surfacing at this temperature with the bulk of these yeasts I feel is a bit of myth. They give nice strong ferments, are less likely to stall, & my recent success with the S-04 at these temps backed up that school of thought at least in my mind. happy

 

I've got to get my Oaked Vanilla Porter down in the next month or so, & will be using the 1728 on it, & can't wait to drink that! Yum! love

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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That's the trouble with you no-chillers' date=' it's hard to keep track of where you are in the process! [img']pinched[/img]

Is he fermenting, or is he stock-piling wort, or WTH is he doing with that brew he was talking about a month ago? unsuretongue

lol Maybe next year I'll start a concurrent thread like this one entitled what's in the FV or something. Probably make it easier to keep track of what we're all fermenting at a given time. tongue

 

Yeah the 1318 is a good reliable yeast. My brews with it have it up & fermenting in good time. cool I'll be interested in your take on it. Good move with the higher ferment temp too' date=' I predominantly like using the British yeasts around 20°C give or take a degree. The fear of any ester profile surfacing at this temperature with the bulk of these yeasts I feel is a bit of myth. They give nice strong ferments, are less likely to stall, & my recent success with the S-04 at these temps backed up that school of thought at least in my mind. [img']happy[/img]

Most of the reason I upped the temperature was to try to prevent it stalling, although with the amount of yeast I pitched and it only being a 1.042 wort, it should be pretty right. I also wanted to try to get a little bit of the yeast influence in the beer as well but not too over the top, which I'm hoping happens at that temperature. On the English ale I do want some influence there so I will increase the temperature to somewhere around 20.5-21C. Looking forward to both batches though. happy

 

I've got to get my Oaked Vanilla Porter down in the next month or so' date=' & will be using the 1728 on it, & can't wait to drink that! Yum! [img']love[/img]

That sounds bloody excellent, look forward to hearing how it turns out. I want to brew another porter or stout but with my terrible keg shortage at the moment due to being on holidays and not having enough stockpiled before that (lol), I'm not keen to tie up the FV and a keg with a beer I won't be drinking for 6 or 8 months. I also don't have enough bottles anymore to bottle a whole batch because there wouldn't be enough left over to bottle surplus on the rest after kegging. Once I get 6 full kegs I'll brew one, so it might not be happening until next summer... innocentlol

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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Hey Otto

I find with kegging one does not have to age an ale like a stout or Porter for an extended period of time like you do with bottles. Sure, the longer it ages the better, but like most ales in the keg the best glass is the last. What I'm trying to say is don'tus shy away from brewing a black beer because you think it needs to age.

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Hey Otto

I find with kegging one does not have to age an ale like a stout or Porter for an extended period of time like you do with bottles. Sure' date=' the longer it ages the better, but like most ales in the keg the best glass is the last. What I'm trying to say is don'tus shy away from brewing a black beer because you think it needs to age. [/quote']

 

That's a good point you make, Chad. I guess I'm still getting used to the idea that kegs don't need anywhere near as long to get good as bottles do. That being the case I might hold off on a black beer for a few months and brew one when winter is starting to come in again, as that's usually the only time of year I really drink them.

 

I'm not home at the moment but I have a feeling that the red ale has already finished fermenting. I'll head back there maybe tomorrow and check it, but if the hydrometer in the test jar is anything to go by, it was only a few points off the estimated FG a couple of days ago.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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