headmaster Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Fair call Otto. It is mysterious.. Maybe it's trub related, I will experiment next time with taking a trub free sample from the last runnings out of the kettle, to try and get some more data. The samples that have had more gravity, have all been taken from sloppy trub sitting overnight to settle out in a 1.5 litre beaker (old 12 cup bodum plunger from vinnies $2, very handy, pouring spout, borosilicate glass handle etc.. ) So maybe as I mentioned before, the trub proteins are holding more sugar molecules by weight than water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 If they are holding more sugar molecules than water, and you then tip only clear wort into the testing jar for the hydrometer reading then it shouldn't make any difference since there is no trub in there anyway, same as when the reading is taken from the FV. It is very mysterious though. I used to take the post boil sample before I transferred to the cube, but then I decided I didn't want to waste good wort doing that so I started taking it from the trub. It only sits a couple of hours though, seems to be long enough to settle out enough trub to get enough clean wort into the testing jar. I'm putting my Centennial/MO SMaSH ale in the FV on Monday, and as usual I'll take an SG sample and then compare it to the 1.048 I got on the brew day for it. Will be interesting to see what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sneakyginger Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 gday im a nebbie I've put on a ginger beer and brown eye girl ill see how they turn out and put on another batch of the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdpug Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 gday im a nebbieI've put on a ginger beer and brown eye girl ill see how they turn out and put on another batch of the same Good luck with the maiden voyage sneakyginger I've just put down my number three this morning, trying for a nice big ipa, hopefully not getting too ahead of myself, still a babe in the woods as well, but come a fair way since brew one I hope. 1.7kg Coopers IPA (the discontinued one). 1.5kg Amber Malt Extract. 1.0kg BE3. Rehydrated Safale US-05. 50g Cascade at 20 min in 5L boil with half the BE3 (G=1.040). 25g Cascade at 8 min. Planning 25g Cascade dry hop on day 7 if the Safale US-05 has done it's work. Pitched yeast at 23C, and using a fridge this time. Grabbed a KegKing Dual temp controller to keep things at 20C (was going to get a STC-1000, but the KegKing was prewired for $70, wasn't too fussed on doing the electrics just yet!) My hydrometer reads 0.097 in water, so adjusting back to one makes my OG 1.062, spot on with ianh's great spreadsheet. PS The KegKing reading is at 20.5 at the moment (taped under foam to side of FV), but the stick on thermometer is lit up on 16,18 and 20 (assuming this means 18). Has anyone experienced much discrepancy between the stick strip on thermometer and a taped on probe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 I wouldn't read too much into the stick on thermometers, they're probably not that accurate, and could be influenced slightly by the ambient air as well. What I do with my controller is to get a jug of water, put the probe in the water along with my digital probe thermometer which is pretty accurate, and then simply calibrate the controller to read the same temp as the other thermometer. I do this once every 3 or 4 brews to make sure it's still close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdpug Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Cheers Otto I originally set the controller for 19C, but seeing it would give me approx 17C on the stick on made me a bit cautious, I think I'll pop into the laundry and take it down another notch! I'll be sure to calibrate against a more accurate thermometer for the next batch. I'm sure the Safale US-05 is upto the job in any case. Am hoping to score some Simcoe, Citra, Amarillo and Galaxy to enhance future brews, and maybe some specialty grains, although freight is a killer for me here (no LHBS for 100K ) Any other hop suggestions for APA/IPA brews, I think Pintail Pale Ale uses Motueka and Cascade, and it's a great drop, so maybe I should add Moteuka to my wishlist! Should probably get a heat belt as well, will have to see how well the fridge keeps the cold out during winter (talk about things being backwards!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 Yeah I've fermented US-05 at 16C before without any problem so I don't think it'll cause any issue if it drops to 16-17ish or whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wild dog Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 chucked in today, 1 coopers apa can 750 LDM 500 Dark dry malt 250 dextrose us-05 5l boil with 250 of the LDM 5g citra @15 5g citra@ 10 15g citra@ 5 25g galaxy@ 5 dry hopping 15g each citra,galaxy cheers folks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 The Centennial/MO SMaSH ale has just been put in the fermenter and is now in the brew fridge coming down to 18C. Cold pitched the yeast again as this seemed to work quite well on the last batch. I took an SG sample and again it sits 3 points lower than the post-boil sample I took on brew day (1.045 down from 1.048). I'm going with 1.048 though since it better lines up with my equipment profile, boil off rate etc etc. compared with the pre-boil SG which was 1.040. Only a 5 point increase after a 75/80 min boil, I think not. Only got 24 litres this time around due to trub in the cube and not really wanting that transferred, but that cube has now been retired along with the other original 25 litre cube, so hopefully with the new ones I can get back to minimal trub and a full 25 litre batch when I use them. Not yet sure what I'll do with the old cubes. Cheers Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 My Amber Ale is now out of the brew fridge, & finishing off under ambient conditions. Will add the dry hop addition tomorrow. The sample tasted good, so the Liberty Bell yeast appears to have done a good job. Over the journey, I've had some indifferent OG readings when re-brewing some of my brews, & I have again here. Quick question...should I be sparging until my wort runs close to clear or just to a specific volume? Cheers, Lusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 No idea mate, obviously my brewing process doesn't involve a traditional sparge so I've never had to worry about it. I don't sparge at all but if I did it'd just be a few litres of water or whatever into the grain bag. I have read 1.010 as the SG on the last runnings is about where you stop? Chad obviously brews with a 3V system so he'll know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koo wee brew Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 Jumped on the Pacific ale bandwagon. I just used up stock I had on hand. This one went in on Sunday. It has a nice thick krausen ATM. OS Lager kit 0.5Kg Wheat DME 0.5Kg BE2 10g Galaxy @ 20min 10g Galaxy @ 10min 15g Galaxy @ flameout 25g Galaxy dry 23L Notto @ 18C Cheers Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anzacpaul Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 Dunkelweizen that's stinking out the house with sulfur Interested to see how dark it is, the midnight wheat really did it's job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Payno Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 Last couple of brews in the FVS for a while - stocking up too much ( about 12 slabs laying around at the moment!) and have shoulder surgery due soon so wont be able to lift a full FV for a while. in the large FV is Scottie's Styx River Pale Ale which Ive been wanting to make for a while. I did the Hop Thief 7 Pale Ale clone last time ( and a Dark Ale) and it came out very nice so wanted to follow up with another Pale as I've being doing too many dark recipes recently. In the small FV a half size batch of the Hop Gobbler - another one I've been wanting to do for a while. As Im away this weekend and wont be drinking any this will put my stock at about 15 slabs after these are bottled!! - time to ease off I think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilch Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 I am hoping that my first BIAB AG brew (Karl Strauss PIN TAIL clone) is still happy and healthy in my brew fridge at home after leaving it seven days in a week ago to come up to work in the field for two weeks. The missus has strict instructions to carefully, and cleanly(?), add my dry hop addition in a few days time and hopefully it will be all good for bottling next Wednesday when I get home I made a mistake in my last post' date=' forgot to add the two points for hydrometer error. It was actually at 1.010. Today, 2 days later it is still at 1.010, so I'm taking that as finished. Now time to go throw in the dry hop and drop the temp down to 0 so it can be kegged next Saturday. [/quote'] Do you still get the full benefit of the dry hop at that low temp Kelsey? I read some where that 14c is the optimum temp for dry hopping?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 14C is what Brewdog do their dry hopping at apparently. Whether it's best temperature, who knows, although I do plan to experiment with it when I can spare a little extra time on fermentation schedules than I can currently. I will have to get back to you on that beer though because that keg isn't going on tap for a while, however I do have a dozen bottles from the surplus, so I will try a couple over the Easter weekend as they will be carbonated by then. My normal practice is to throw the dry hops in when I take the first FG sample on day 7, so they get 2-3 days at 20ish degrees before I drop it, but in this case I forgot to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 My current beer is dry hopped with 50g Galaxy. I added it to the beer at 18 degrees and a day later dropped the temps down to 2 degrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headmaster Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Reading about 'dry hopping' cacoa nibs, I learnt that it's the alchohol that helps with the hops oil extraction in beer (as well as the chocolate flavours from the nibs). Also, the higher the ABV, the faster the flavours will be stripped from the hops and possibly more will be extracted in a 7 to 8% pale compared to a 4.2% summer ale. I'm leaning more and more towards dry hopping after the brew has pretty much finished fermenting these days, in that resting and cleanup window before cold crashing. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilch Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 14C is what Brewdog do their dry hopping at apparently. Whether it's best temperature' date=' who knows, although I do plan to experiment with it when I can spare a little extra time on fermentation schedules than I can currently. I will have to get back to you on that beer though because that keg isn't going on tap for a while, however I do have a dozen bottles from the surplus, so I will try a couple over the Easter weekend as they will be carbonated by then. My normal practice is to throw the dry hops in when I take the first FG sample on day 7, so they get 2-3 days at 20ish degrees before I drop it, but in this case I forgot to do it. [img']rolleyes[/img] I will be very interested to hear the outcomes of those experiments Kelsey I am still trying to work out my fermentation, DH and, cold crash regime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 17, 2016 Author Share Posted March 17, 2016 Yeah, will be interesting to see how they turn out compared to just dry hopping at fermenting temps for a couple of days or whatever then chilling it down. On another note, the batch currently in the fermenter appears to be getting towards the end of fermentation now, with the krausen beginning to shrink and drop back into the beer. It's only been in there for 3 days at 18C. I can't remember having fermentation progress that quickly at that temp before I began pitching the yeast cold from the fridge straight into the batch of wort. It appears this method works very well, but of course the proof will be in the tasting of the beer. Those bottles that I'll try next weekend are also from a batch that was cold pitched. ED: Upon coming home from work tonight I had another peek through the lid and the krausen has further subsided, leaving just a small, single layer of bubbles on top of the beer now. I won't take an SG until next Monday, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's close to finished already. 3 days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morrie Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 This is a cut and paste from the BrewDog recipies regarding dry hopping. I think I may have posted this on the forum previously but here it is again for anyone interested. I am currently dry hopping a Bootmaker doing this same process as recommended by BrewDog. The thing is I won't be able to write about any comparisons regarding the result as this is my first ever dry hop. The brew is now post dry hop and is now being cold crashed. From BrewDog: To get the best possible profile from the dry hops we recommend dry hopping post fermentation for 5 days. Dry hops should be added at cellar temperature. We find 14°C results in the most aromatic dry hop profile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaffeinatedSentryGnome Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 well now i have a coopers light german bock in FV1 and a real ale + fuggle in FV2. brew day was on monday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 As of last night I have 10.5 litres of what is shaping up to be a very nice English Brown ale in my little Craft fermenter. My Wyeast 1469 smack-pack swelled up nicely and it's sitting calmly at 20C at the moment while the yeasties are hopefully populating ready for a pretty tasty buffet! I tested the OG again to see if there was any funny business going on, but it was at 1.0475 +- 0.0005 SG, so pretty much exactly the same as my cooled post-boil sample. So not this time, but I'm pretty sure the cube-OG-chomping gremlins are still lurking somewhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted March 18, 2016 Author Share Posted March 18, 2016 They're certainly lurking around in my cubes at the moment but I am using my post boil readings because they are always consistently in line with my pre-boil readings. I'll be making a little trip to Craftbrewer next week to pick up a few small bits and pieces plus a sack of Bo Pils malt, one of the bits and pieces is a pack of 1469 that I intend to give a go on my next ESB. I have been using 1318 recently but it finishes a little too sweet for me. Guess that saved yeast in the fridge will be getting tipped out soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Guess that saved yeast in the fridge will be getting tipped out soon... I always feel a little bit sad when that happens, for example when I recently tipped the 3725PC Biere de Garde I had in the fridge after looking into my brewing schedule and realizing that I would be using the Coopers commercial ale yeast, Wyeast 1056 and Wyeast 1469 for the next 6 or so batches and so needed the fridge space to store those instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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