English Amber Ale

[Dazza_devil]

No-one that I know of stocks it here, I ordered mine from CB.
Could go alright at the right temp.
You got a temp controller OB?

 

[manticle]

Mildly off topic, but have a look at Open Office. Full Word, Excel and Powerpoint functionality for free. It's what I used for Ianh's spreadsheet.

Also, I would have thought Nottingham would be a good yeast for this one. Any reason why no one else seems to think so?

Only reason I didn't suggest it is I've never used it.

 

[Oatlands Brewer]

Thanks guys...

Ive got a tempmate winging its way to me as we speak, i should have though and got a bloody yeast aswell, ahwell next time, i guess ill take pot luck with the yeast, as has been said the yeast selection here is pretty poor.

Hope to have the tempmate wired up before the weekend so was thinking of running the ferment at 16-18deg.

Will also look at that Open Office as well, thanks Rday

Im going to town (Hobart) tomorrow so ill let you know what i come back with........ill probly bring back stuff for a pilsner or something else.......

 

[Dazza_devil]

If you are makin a special trip to the Homebrew shop in Hobart it may be worth considering that by the time you fork out for petrol, parking fees and take-aways you could of shipped kilos of ingredients from Queensland cheaper and fresher.

 

[Oatlands Brewer]

OK

Went a shoppin today and came back with

1 Tin Coopers amber
1 Tin Coopers Light
(couldnt get the Morgans tins at either HBS)

bag crystal 60
bag crystal 170
bag choc malt

bag fuggs
bag kent goldings

Safale 04

SO i reakon on the two tins

50g choc
50g 170 crystal
250g 60 crystal

35g fugg @60
25g goldings @20
10g fugg @10
25g goldings @0

The coopers amber is a lot darker than the morgans apparently so i hope this will turn out ok, any probs as far as fermentability of all that crystal or not?

 

[manticle]

That's not an unusually large amount of crystal.

Providing the ferment goes to plan, I'd say she'll be tasty.

 

[Oatlands Brewer]

whats the best way to mill the grains without a mill. and how far do you grind them

 

[manticle]

There are several ways - all are a pain in the arse.

You can use a coffee grinder and give it a short wizz. It's not ideal as it's best not to shred the grain - better to crush it. For small amounts of grain you can get away with it.

You can try using a rolling pin. The one time I tried it didn't really work very well but other brewers seem to have had more success.

You can try a mortar and pestle.

You can try placing it inside several plastic bags and bashing it with a woodden mallet.

Basically you are wanting to crack or cruch the husk to allow the goodness inside to diffuse into the liquor. Crushed nuts consistency is good. Flour is not so good. With small a mounts of spec grain it's better not to get too worried though - aim for a rough crush but if you get a bit of flour, don't kill yourself.

In future see if the home brew shop will crush it for you (some won't).

 

[Oatlands Brewer]

Hey guys

Did the brew on Saturday and all seems to going well under the watchful eye of new tempmate @ 17deg.

One question i have is when i was doing the boil i had only two hop bags and 4 hop additions so the last two went into the boil "eu-natural" is this ok as they then went into the fermenter with the wort.

Im hopeing that it will all drop out and sit in the trub....or have i fuggled up

 

[manticle]

One question i have is when i was doing the boil i had only two hop bags and 4 hop additions so the last two went into the boil "eu-natural" is this ok as they then went into the fermenter with the wort.

Im hopeing that it will all drop out and sit in the trub....or have i fuggled up

A-ok mate.

I don't use hop bags. After my boil I leave most hop trub behind but some obviously makes it's way into the fermenter. Every so often there's a floaty or two in a glass which means little but most of it settles out. It certainly won't harm you or the brew.

 

[Oatlands Brewer]

Thanks mate.