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Brew Day!! Watcha' got, eh!? 2016


Canadian Eh!L

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I admit I'm not overly experienced with wheat beers' date=' but is there a chance this beer could end up excessively dry & maybe a little thin due to the amount of honey being used? [img']unsure[/img]

 

Coopers DIY recipe: Beekeeper

 

Lusty.

 

Thanks Lusty,

 

I did look at the Beekeeper but decided to try my own concoction based on mixed suggestions and my own preferences + a bit of trial and error type learning experience, will probably do a true Beekeeper in the near future just for comparisons.

 

My LHBS dude recommended 1kg of Honey, said it seems to be the common qty his other customers use, I have seen a huge range of different Honey Wheat recipes some only use 200g where others are up to 2kg ... whistling Rocket fuel!

 

I think your right that the 1.4kg will dry it out, was kinda chasing it, I had picked up on others comments that honey will do that, I do like dry crisp beers, and was hoping the extra wheat malt extract would help keep some body so it doesn't come out too thin ... but hey, I'm not over experienced so may off the mark there.unsure

 

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Brew day went really well today. The mill is like a new machine again, gave a great crush on the grains (and QUICKLY), and I overshot my gravities by 3 points as well, which I'm not complaining about. Post boil SG was 1.046 (predicted 1.043), and assuming I get 25 litres in the FV which I should going by how full the cube is, that's an efficiency of 76.6%.

 

I have noticed my efficiency has improved since moving to a coarser crush and employing regular stirring of the mash throughout its 90 minutes, plus a few stirs during the ramp up to and after mashout. I'm not sure which of these changes has been responsible, or whether it's both in tandem, but I will keep it up. Also discovering that my hydrometer reads .998 in 20C water has obviously affected readings as well, as I was recording them all 2 points lower than they actually were for who knows how long. I think I've done enough batches that have been achieving higher efficiency now to adjust my Beersmith figure back up to 75% when creating recipes.

 

Compare this to the mid 60% efficiencies that I was getting only a few batches ago with a fine crush, false hydrometer readings, and reduced volume due to inadvertent process changes (which have since been returned to their original processes) and it's a huge improvement and on par with what I was achieving in my early days of AG brewing. So I'm glad to be back to where I was previously again. happy

 

Looking forward a lot more to the next brew day now biggrin The frustrations I was having recently did make it a little bit of a chore for a while but I'm back to properly enjoying it again now. w00t

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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Well, the cats got me up at 6 this morning for their breakfast, so after a nice breakfast of my own I managed to make an early start on brewing my Mosaic / Centennial IPA.

 

I decided to switch up the base malt a little after a trip to the LHBS at lunch time on Friday, and ended up using 2kg Briess Pale Ale malt and 1kg Gladfield Ale malt instead of 3kg Gladfield Ale malt. I've got another 5kgs of the Gladfield Ale malt left for my next 2 batches.

 

My mash ended up settling at slightly over my target temperature (66.9C vs 66C), but nothing to worry about. At the end of the 60 minute mash the temp was at 65.9C.

 

After batch sparging and collecting both runnings, I had exactly 15 litres in my boil kettle, right on what Beersmith has predicted. So it looks like my adjusted grain absorption rate is pretty much spot on. The pre-boil gravity was 1.051, slightly over my target of 1.047.

 

With 15 minutes left in the boil I added 2g Brewbrite to 50ml cold water and stirred until well mixed. I then added this to the kettle with 10 minutes left in the boil. Looking at the very clear layer of beer on top of the harvested slurry in the fridge from my last batch, I'm of the opinion that Brewbrite works pretty well. See how the bottles form that batch turn out once carbonated.

 

At the end of the boil I added the flameout hops, popped on the lid and let things settle for 15 minutes before siphoning into my cube. The post-boil volume was 11.7 litres, vs the target 12 litres, so I'll adjust my boil-off rate slightly in Beersmith. The post-boil gravity was 1.058, but I took the sample after letting the kettle settle for 15 minutes, so not sure how accurate that reading is. I'll see what the reading after pouring into the fermenter is to compare.

 

So all in all, a successful brew day, and I've got about 10.5 litres of what looks to be shaping up as a nice American IPA safely in my cube happy

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The post-boil gravity was 1.058' date=' but I took the sample after letting the kettle settle for 15 minutes, so not sure how accurate that reading is. I'll see what the reading after pouring into the fermenter is to compare.

[/quote']

 

Probably too late for this batch but next time simply measure the temperature of the sample when you take the reading and then put this info into a hydrometer temp adjustment calculator. SG, temp, and calibration temp. It'll work out the true reading. I have one on my phone, heaps handy for doing this as I don't have to wait until it's in the FV or cooled to 20C or whatever to take the reading. cool

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Ah, no I meant I should have taken the sample at flameout, rather than after everything had settled 15 minutes later. I cooled the sample to 20C before pouring into my test tube and taking a hydrometer reading. Actually, just thinking about it, dissolved sugars wouldn't settle, so 1.058 might be an accurate reading after all.

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Ah' date=' no I meant I should have taken the sample at flameout, rather than after everything had settled 15 minutes later. I cooled the sample to 20C before pouring into my test tube and taking a hydrometer reading. Actually, just thinking about it, dissolved sugars wouldn't settle, so 1.058 might be an accurate reading after all.[/quote']

 

Ahh. Yeah I don't think it really matters. The crap would settle out in the test tube anyway and not affect the reading. What I normally do is fill a 500mL pyrex jug with wort/sludge after transferring to the cube, let it cool/settle out, then pour clear wort into the test tube to take the SG reading. Measure temp and adjust reading and it's all good.

 

You are right that the dissolved sugars won't settle out, so it probably is an accurate reading. No harm in taking another when you transfer it though, I usually do this even though it's probably unnecessary. lol

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Brew day tomorrow and knocking up an ESB.

 

4kg Maris Otter

650g Munich

150g Caraaroma

150g Special B

50g Chocolate malt

 

12g Magnum (AA 14.1%) @ 60 minutes

25g Fuggles (AA 4.9%) @ 5 minutes

25g EKG (AA 4.6%) @ 5 minutes

20g EKG @ 0 minutes

 

23 litres

Yeast - MJ British Ale

 

Mash - 66 degrees

OG - 1051

IBU - 39 (no chill adj.)

 

I was hoping to bitter with Target and for a little flavour addition but the LHBS was out of it.

 

The plan is for this to be my first kegged beer w00t

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Super hoppy APA

 

Coopers APA can

Coopers Light LME 1.5 kg

 

125g light Crystal

125g Caramunich 1

 

25g of Simcoe & Columbus at 10 min

25g of each again at 3 mins

 

23L

 

OG 1.045

 

BRY 97

 

Target FG 1.008 and 5.2% in bottle.

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G'day Hairy.

 

Your recipe looks good. I've only used the MJ British Ale yeast the once & really liked what it threw. happy

 

Good luck with your first keg beer brew, I hope it turns out to be a ripper!

 

Once you've poured a few glasses, you'll wonder why you didn't switch to kegging sooner.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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Brew day tomorrow and knocking up an ESB.

 

4kg Maris Otter

650g Munich

150g Caraaroma

150g Special B

50g Chocolate malt

 

12g Magnum (AA 14.1%) @ 60 minutes

25g Fuggles (AA 4.9%) @ 5 minutes

25g EKG (AA 4.6%) @ 5 minutes

20g EKG @ 0 minutes

 

23 litres

Yeast - MJ British Ale

 

Mash - 66 degrees

OG - 1051

IBU - 39 (no chill adj.)

 

I was hoping to bitter with Target and for a little flavour addition but the LHBS was out of it.

 

The plan is for this to be my first kegged beer w00t

I put down a Honey brown Porter last week with a similar hop profile. I was able to get the Target in it' date=' though. My brew was a little less bitter than yours.

 

[u']Honey brown Porter[/u]

40L water

4.5 Kg Pale Malt

.68 Kg Honey Malt

.5 Kg Flaked Barley

.5 Kg Crystal 80L

.3 Kg Carafa II

.23 Kg Chocolate malt

.2 Kg Wheat malt

20g Target (60mins) 11.6 IBU

10g Magnum (60mins) 8.1 IBU

21.5g Fuggles (15mins) 3.7 IBU

23.5g EKG (5mins) 1.4 IBU

WLP013/US-05 split batch

 

mashed @ 66ishC OG 1.044 IBU 24

 

I had a sample after 6 days of the WLP013 batch today. it's coming along nicely! fermentation is still incomplete with a SG of 1.014. I'll check again in another week.

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It would be nice if we could get honey malt here.

Yeah' date=' I wish you could too. It's really quite unique and pleasant in malt forward brews.

 

my interests in brewing are turning more and more to the malt side of things. I'm reading Malt A Practical Guide... by John Mallet these days and I'm really enjoying it. I am planning to grow a plot of organic barley this coming spring out on a friends farm. I'm going to try my hand at malting my own in the fall. I'm very excited about this and can hardly wait for spring!

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...I am planning to grow a plot of organic barley this coming spring out on a friends farm. I'm going to try my hand at malting my own in the fall. I'm very excited about this and can hardly wait for spring!

I get the feeling there currently isn't a commercial craft brewery in Golden B.C. unsure

 

But if Chad keeps evolving his own' date=' in the next few years there may well be! [img']tongue[/img] whistling

 

biggrin

 

Good stuff!

 

Lusty.

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Tropical citrus Pale Ale thing

 

Coopers APA kit can

1kg light dry malt

10g Azacca @ 5 mins

7g Citra @ 5 mins

Then the same hops & quantities after flameout when temp got down to 65. Left for 10-15 mins prior to adding to the FV

Made to 21L

2x kit yeast

 

Might dry hop 20g Azacca and 10g Citra for a couple of days before cold crashing.

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Was hoping to bash this one out earlier in the week but the parts I needed to finish my 2nd fridge temperature controller didn't turn up. All good now though and I have two brew fridges at my disposal.

 

This IPA recipe was arrived at with the assistance of several brewers on the forum - thank you folks.

 

1.7 Kg Briess Golden Light liquid malt extract

1.5 Kg LDM

250g Wheat DM

200g each of Grain: Joe White Wheat Crystal Malt and Maris Otter Ale Malt (mini mash)

22g Magnum @ 60 min

22g Cascade @ 10 min

22g Amarillo @ 10 min

22g Galaxy @ 10 min

 

US-05 added dry @18C, brewing at 18C

 

Above gives total IBU's of 58.7, with the Magnum being about half and the other three making up the other half of the IBU's. I will dry hop as well.

 

OG 1.060, calculated FG 1.015

ABV 6.2% bottled

 

The grains are there essentially to give body and mouth feel, along with head development and retention, rather than influence the flavour in any great way. The mini mash will be experimental, with a view to doing larger mashes at a later stage.

 

Getting started right after breakfast!

 

Cheers

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...I am planning to grow a plot of organic barley this coming spring out on a friends farm. I'm going to try my hand at malting my own in the fall. I'm very excited about this and can hardly wait for spring!

I get the feeling there currently isn't a commercial craft brewery in Golden B.C. unsure

 

But if Chad keeps evolving his own' date=' in the next few years there may well be! [img']tongue[/img] whistling

 

biggrin

 

Good stuff!

 

Lusty.

The construction of Golden's first craft brewery is undergoing as we speak. It is slated to open late 2016. I have rubbed shoulders and shared beers with the partners and the head brewer. There is still time for me to open the first malting house in golden, thoughbiggrin

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