OK, What's The Plan For Tomorrow?

[Journeyman]

Sticking the FV in the fridge with 10L water today for a brew day tomorrow.

After much to&fro'ing this is what I am trying. I know it's not an American IPA but I'm not conversant enough with what makes up types of beer to know what to choose. I just figure if I find a type where it says 'Good' for all 4 categories I'm at least on the same planet as that type.

I'm still internally debating whether to leave the Golding out and just dry hop the cascade. Thoughts?

Edited January 31, 2020 by Journeyman

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

13 hours ago, Journeyman said:

Sticking the FV in the fridge with 10L water today for a brew day tomorrow.

After much to&fro'ing this is what I am trying. I know it's not an American IPA but I'm not conversant enough with what makes up types of beer to know what to choose. I just figure if I find a type where it says 'Good' for all 4 categories I'm at least on the same planet as that type.

I'm still internally debating whether to leave the Golding out and just dry hop the cascade. Thoughts?

Yeah i love EKG in my english IPAs but i wouldn't put it in an American IPA. Who knows though. The combo may work. Rules are made to be broken.

[Marty_G]

13 hours ago, Journeyman said:

After much to&fro'ing this is what I am trying. I know it's not an American IPA

The only thing that is probably stopping it from being an American Pale Ale is the EKG.  As Greey says East Kent Golding is synonymous with English beers. The word Kent in the title is a give away it is grown exclusivly in Kent and is considered "the English hop" . So at some stage if you deleted that and replaced it with Citra or Mosaic and then you have some of the key flavours of American craft beer and an American Pale Ales.      I suppose EKG is to English beer as to what Pride of Ringwood is to Australian beers. 

[Journeyman]

10 hours ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

The only thing that is probably stopping it from being an American Pale Ale is the EKG.  As Greey says East Kent Golding is synonymous with English beers. The word Kent in the title is a give away it is grown exclusivly in Kent and is considered "the English hop" . So at some stage if you deleted that and replaced it with Citra or Mosaic and then you have some of the key flavours of American craft beer and an American Pale Ales.      I suppose EKG is to English beer as to what Pride of Ringwood is to Australian beers. 

I have citra and mosaic - think I have an open pack of citra with 25g in it so I will subs that for the EKG.

[Marty_G]

28 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

so I will subs that for the EKG.

and Bingo an American Pale Ale, not made with american grain but who cares. It is the flavours that are important.  So Jman how longdo you think before you are AG brewing. You are seem to be climbing right into this homebrew rabbit hole. 

[Journeyman]

53 minutes ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

So Jman how longdo you think before you are AG brewing. You are seem to be climbing right into this homebrew rabbit hole. 

Could be a while yet. The cost of decent gear is a bit too much for now and doing it all by hand doesn't sit well with bad knees, hips and back. If I start AG before I can afford the right stuff, I think I'd have to be doing a couple of mash processes to get the amount I need.

Also I have a long way to go learning about what grains bring to the mix - I've done exactly 1 brew where I added some light crystal - hardly the experience I need to start designing beers.

But I can see it, over there on the horizon...

Plus, I'm still researching the brew side of things - I haven't even scratched the surface of equipment, sparging, spunding, hot and cold breaks so lifting 30 L of mash & wort is the least of the issues right now.

Edited February 2, 2020 by Journeyman

[Marty_G]

3 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

Could be a while yet. The cost of decent gear is a bit too much

A decent size stainless pot and a bag and a thermometer is all that is need to start BIAB ... can do a High OG small volume mash then dilute it to the OG desired.  And as far as designing brews it is like making a sandwich. not hard....  the software tells you the masses all you need are the % of the grain.   Say 90% Pale, 5% Crystal and 5% Carapils will make a good beer.    1 litre of water decreases the SG by 2 points ... so a 15 litre 1070 mash will make a 20 iltre 1060 brew.    Mate it really isn't hard and it is very forgiving just need a digital thermometer, a Stainless pot of say 30-40 litres and a stove top.   The software tells the water volume needed for the batch size as it will calculate the biol evaportion, the grain and hop absorption. It will give you the IBUs  for the boils and clour of the mash etc all you need to do is fill in a few values and it calculates it all and tells you if you are in style.  Same as Ian's spreadsheet.  If you need it darker a small amount of darker malts like a roasted malt. it is easy.  

[Journeyman]

36 minutes ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

A decent size stainless pot and a bag and a thermometer is all that is need to start BIAB ... can do a High OG small volume mash then dilute it to the OG desired.  And as far as designing brews it is like making a sandwich. not hard....  the software tells you the masses all you need are the % of the grain.   Say 90% Pale, 5% Crystal and 5% Carapils will make a good beer.    1 litre of water decreases the SG by 2 points ... so a 15 litre 1070 mash will make a 20 iltre 1060 brew.    Mate it really isn't hard and it is very forgiving just need a digital thermometer, a Stainless pot of say 30-40 litres and a stove top.   The software tells the water volume needed for the batch size as it will calculate the biol evaportion, the grain and hop absorption. It will give you the IBUs  for the boils and clour of the mash etc all you need to do is fill in a few values and it calculates it all and tells you if you are in style.  Same as Ian's spreadsheet.  If you need it darker a small amount of darker malts like a roasted malt. it is easy.  

Some great info here, thanks.

It's the 30 - 40 litres that concerns my joints.

Does the water have to be that high a volume? If the software says 30 L to get a 20 L wort to ferment, what is the minimum? Or could I do (say) 15 L and just keep topping it up as the boil continues?

Is there a minimum for the mash? i.e. if I have 7 kg of grain to mash, does the malt just keep entering the liquid or is there a minimum grain:water ratio that has to be kept?

[Marty_G]

12 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

Some great info here, thanks.

It's the 30 - 40 litres that concerns my joints.

Does the water have to be that high a volume? If the software says 30 L to get a 20 L wort to ferment, what is the minimum? Or could I do (say) 15 L and just keep topping it up as the boil continues?

Is there a minimum for the mash? i.e. if I have 7 kg of grain to mash, does the malt just keep entering the liquid or is there a minimum grain:water ratio that has to be kept?

No that size pot is to allow for a vigorous rolling boil etc.  A 23 litre batch needs around 30 litres of water if you dont sparge and around 4kg of grain.   I dont sparge but I have seen videos of a guy doing a BIAB on his apartments verandah with a 25ish litre size pot and a gas camp stove who sparges to get enough volume. He makes it look really easy.   I have a pretty big set up bit of over kill really my pot is over 70L with a pump attached and the clean up is the killer. It works a treat but is over kill.  Can make big patches though.   My last mash had 42 litres of water as it was a double and had to use 7 buckets of 6 litres of hot tap water to get to the level need.

If you have issues with carrying weight then doing a smaller high OG mash that you dilute in a FV is the go.   You just have higher ratio of grain to water.  The mash time and temps are the same. That can be done easy on a stove top and less water to pour into the kettle etc ...  

 

Download https://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Miscellaneous/BrewMate.shtml and have a play around with it you will get the drift ... It will give you the concept on the sizes of AG brewing masses and volumes while you still in the K&K mode.

[Journeyman]

My 1st mash has about 20 minutes left. 7 L sous vide pot, 600 gm Coopers Ale Malt, 300 gm Golden Promise, 300 gm rolled oats, pot almost full.  Not going to get a lot more in there if I want to add liquid.  There's probably ~4 litres water in there but the grain bag fills most of the space - so a lot of water absorbed.

So now I see how I go with making the wort. What I plan is to do the kit/amber malt/LDME separately, then chill the wort in the sink and add it to the chilled water in the FV, then top it with the warmed K&K mixture then see how I'm doing on temp for pitching.

[Marty_G]

2 hours ago, Journeyman said:

My 1st mash has about 20 minutes left. 7 L sous vide pot, 600 gm Coopers Ale Malt, 300 gm Golden Promise, 300 gm rolled oats, pot almost full.  Not going to get a lot more in there if I want to add liquid.  There's probably ~4 litres water in there but the grain bag fills most of the space - so a lot of water absorbed.

So now I see how I go with making the wort. What I plan is to do the kit/amber malt/LDME separately, then chill the wort in the sink and add it to the chilled water in the FV, then top it with the warmed K&K mixture then see how I'm doing on temp for pitching.

Sounds great in theory but there is probably more steps in that than there are in doing a full mash. 

Edited February 2, 2020 by MartyG1525230263

[Journeyman]

1 hour ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

Sounds great in theory but there is probably more steps in that than there are in doing a full mash. 

Well, 'tis all done now and in the fridge.

[Hilltop hops]

Brew day planned for tomorrow arvo. Another hazy ale. Pale and oats, Citra & Amarillo and S-04. Nice and hoppy. 40 IBUs and around 5.5%. This will replace my current kegged Mosaic and Amarillo hazy which is disappearing fast. 

[Malter White]

I have two kit brews to bottle, an APA with light malt and Cluster hops and a Dark Ale with BE3. This can usually get done early on a Saturday morning without issue but as the day goes on there's more distractions. Hopefully those distractions can be managed well enough that I can get the FVs cleaned and another 2 brews made because I'm keen to do a dark ale with some cinnamon and a stouter stout for the winter weeks.
The distractions are usually the family needing me for something when I'd rather be absorbed in 5 state racing and winning a fortune. (That never happens by the way but winners never quit, quitters never win  )

Edited May 8, 2020 by MUZZY

[The Captain!!]

Not tomorrow but all this talk about winter has me gearing up for a bourbon vanilla imperial porter. Will brew in a month I reckon

[Norris!]

I am brewing tomorrow morning. The house pale ale with a twist, trying to milk some red out of it. Looking forward to the brew day, it has been a month since I brewed! The beers have been nice, I am down to 1/2 a keg and a batch in the fermenter, so the stocks are low, another reason to brew for the next 4 weekends!

 

[Malter White]

@The Captain!! bourbon vanilla porter sounds delicious and ideal for cold weather drinking.

@Norris! good thing it's not summer. Those stock levels would be perilously low.  

[Norris!]

36 minutes ago, MUZZY said:

@The Captain!! bourbon vanilla porter sounds delicious and ideal for cold weather drinking.

@Norris! good thing it's not summer. Those stock levels would be perilously low.  

You telling me Mate! I cannot wait to try cluster after your review. As a beer wanker I have to try them!

Yeah Capt's porter sounds pretty good for the upcoming seasons. It might be named after his pirate doppelganger, Captain Kidd's Caribbean Adventure.

[Malter White]

7 minutes ago, Norris! said:

You telling me Mate! I cannot wait to try cluster after your review. As a beer wanker I have to try them!

Oh no! If you're reading my comments as "reviews" I think that puts me in the BW category too. LOL

[Norris!]

Me reading my fellow BW's beer reviews.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Was gonna do a brew day but the cube is still full of pilsner wort. Instead I'll be kegging the whatever ale, harvesting the 2278 yeast and chilling the starter to pitch Sunday. Obviously soaking the FV as well, and finishing the cleaning of the other one that had the infected batch in it. That one has had an overnight soak in perc, followed by an overnight soak in strong bleach. Just gotta wipe down around the outer top and clean out the tap thread with bleach, replace the tap (found a couple of spares here), and clean the lid, maybe I'll put that in the dishwasher. Rinse it all out and dry in the sun. Then hope to hell it doesn't feck up the next batch to go into it. 

Brew day will now be Sunday as I can get the cube ready during the brewing.

[Shamus O'Sean]

I have got most of the ingredients for the Island Toasted Coconut Porter and what I do not have I can sub in something else.  For example I don't have Styrian Golding so I will use East Kent Golding.  I know they are not related, but their numbers are similar.  Also have Hallertauer, but I think it would get a bit lost in the Porter.  Also I do not have Nottingham yeast, so I will use the brew can yeast and a spare Coopers Dark Ale yeast saved from a previous can.

[Malter White]

19 hours ago, MUZZY said:

I have two kit brews to bottle, an APA with light malt and Cluster hops and a Dark Ale with BE3. This can usually get done early on a Saturday morning without issue but as the day goes on there's more distractions. Hopefully those distractions can be managed well enough that I can get the FVs cleaned and another 2 brews made because I'm keen to do a dark ale with some cinnamon and a stouter stout for the winter weeks.
The distractions are usually the family needing me for something when I'd rather be absorbed in 5 state racing and winning a fortune. (That never happens by the way but winners never quit, quitters never win  )

I got the APA bottled and that was all. The distractions got me! Although I did win a couple of bucks on the nags. Not much but enough to pay for tonight's take away dinner.

[iBooz2]

My wife asked me today “what are you doing tomorrow?”.

I said “nothing”.

She said “but you did that yesterday”.

I said “I know, but I hadn’t quite finished”.

Cheers - AL

[Malter White]

On 5/8/2020 at 9:34 PM, MUZZY said:

I have two kit brews to bottle, an APA with light malt and Cluster hops and a Dark Ale with BE3. This can usually get done early on a Saturday morning without issue but as the day goes on there's more distractions. Hopefully those distractions can be managed well enough that I can get the FVs cleaned and another 2 brews made because I'm keen to do a dark ale with some cinnamon and a stouter stout for the winter weeks.
The distractions are usually the family needing me for something when I'd rather be absorbed in 5 state racing and winning a fortune. (That never happens by the way but winners never quit, quitters never win  )

I bypassed the APA and the Dark Ale and got the stouter stout done this morning. I like to make my brews to 23 litres for the convenience of having 30 bottles produced (tightwad) and to reduce ABV on higher alcohol beers. I drink too much to be consuming higher ABV beer. Nobody needs a drunk Muzzy.
However, I figured a stout needs more body so I roasted some oats in the airfryer, they gave off a lovely nutty aroma, and then steeped them with some dry malt to add to the brew.
My OG was 1.040 which is marginally higher than I usually get with K&Ks (1.036). Whether that will be a noticeable difference in body remains to be seen but a taste of the sample did have a distinct nutty flavour, so hopefully that remains after fermenting.
This was my first ever grain addition. There was a hiccup along the way. My strainer full of sparged oats fell into the FV. Fortunately nothing else was in the FV prior so I just strained it all back into the pot they were steeped in, rinsed the FV and continued on. Hopefully no adverse effects to the brew. Time will tell, I guess.
Tomorrow I'll try and get that dark ale with cinnamon going.

Footnote: my dog doesn't like steeped oats.  

Edited May 12, 2020 by MUZZY