Please Confirm I Did Something Wrong. :)

[MaestroMatt]

Hey All,

I just recently bough a couple of demijohns to be used in making small, 4.5L test batches of different brews. The idea is that I make a 6-pack worth of beer in a particular style in order to see if it is any good, or to do hop/yeast tests (some of you may have also seen the Basic Brewing Video eps were they did this).

Well, today I decided to kick it all off with a very basic recipe using some leftover Saaz hops.

Now....the problem comes with my measurements for hops. I think I may have overdone the hops and turned my light psudo-pilsener into a mini-saaz-IPA-of-doom like beverage.

The ingredients are as follows for a 4.5 L batch.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.00 kg Pilsner, Malt Craft Export (Joe White) (3.Grain 100.00 %
10.00 gm Saaz [3.20 %] (45 min) Hops 7.7 IBU
10.00 gm Saaz [3.20 %] (15 min) Hops 8.4 IBU
10.00 gm Saaz [3.20 %] (5 min) Hops 3.4 IBU
10.00 gm Saaz [3.20 %] (0 min) Hops -
1 Pkgs Saflager (DCL Yeast #W-34/70) Yeast-Lager

I didn't taste it but it effectively looked like pea soup as it went into the demijohn...I filtered a decent amount of hop trub as I was pouring..but..still has a decent green hue to it :S

Looking at this recipe, does the ratio of hops to final volume look like it could be a problem?

Do any of you do small volume batches like this? and if so, how do you figure out the right amount of hops to use?

Thanks for you help in advance!

MM

 

[mje1980]

Just call it an american light pseudo pils and it'll be fine haha.

I use beertools. Absolutely foolproof. Not as fancy or as in depth as the others, but honestly, you dont need to know the temperature of the mash every 30secs divided by the colour of the malt when its underwater in spain to make great beer, but dont tell anyone else that little secret!.

 

[kook]

Maybe next time whirlpool at the end of the boil, chill the pot, then siphon the wort into a demijohn rather than pouring. It sounds like the hops got stirred up too much by the pouring. It doesn't sound like an excessive amount of hops considering the AA% is so low.

 

[MaestroMatt]

Excellent. Thanks for the help.

I do have a siphon so I think I will try that method next time.

Cheers!

MM

 

[dpadden]

Excellent. Thanks for the help.

I do have a siphon so I think I will try that method next time.

Cheers!

MM

Good to see you putting those new demi's to work already Matt!

I agree with a good whirlpool to keep the hops out of the fermentor. Otherwise a little hop bag will make things easy as well.

 

[MaestroMatt]

Haha Yeah, Paddo....I would have started on Friday but life got in the way.....again heh

I may go with a hop bag as well I think. Otherwise, the siphon will probably get plugged (pun unintended with hop material.

 

[t2000kw]

Haha Yeah, Paddo....I would have started on Friday but life got in the way.....again heh

I may go with a hop bag as well I think. Otherwise, the siphon will probably get plugged (pun unintended with hop material.

You could use whole hops and put a stainless steel pot scrubber on the end of your siphon. Whole (leaf) hops will filter out easier than pellets.

I use whole hops (I grow my own) but don't do the whirlpool thing. I just pour the wort through a kitchen colander to filter out the leaf hops and allow the trub to be in the fermenting wort. Some claim that it doesn't hurt anything and that it can supply nutrients to the yeast. I've never had problems with doing it this way. My lighter beers are clear, too. Maybe it's because I leave the beer in a secondary fermenter for a month or so before I bottle.

 

[MaestroMatt]

You could use whole hops and put a stainless steel pot scrubber on the end of your siphon. Whole (leaf) hops will filter out easier than pellets.

I use whole hops (I grow my own) but don't do the whirlpool thing. I just pour the wort through a kitchen colander to filter out the leaf hops and allow the trub to be in the fermenting wort. Some claim that it doesn't hurt anything and that it can supply nutrients to the yeast. I've never had problems with doing it this way. My lighter beers are clear, too. Maybe it's because I leave the beer in a secondary fermenter for a month or so before I bottle.

Thanks dude. That's a good idea.

The main problem really is that the batch size is so small that just letting that trub go into the fermenter (my 5L demijohn) means that possibly 1/4 of the fermenter is trub...that is quite a bit.

It looks like alot of it could be protein matter as well so I think siphoning and a hop bag might be the best option in this case (4.5L batch)

 

[RetsamHsam]

What is with the hop utilisation in that recipe? You are getting more IBU's from the 15 min addition than the 45 min addition..

 

[phonos]

Hi Matt,

I get 28 IBUs using the Rager formula, so it won't be overly bitter.

However, you have a LOT of late hops in there. 6g/L in the last 15 mins is a lot for a pilsner. You could probably halve that and still have a hoppy beer. If you're planning to lager it for a decent length of time, you will lose some of that though, so maybe it will be more pilsner like in the end.

 

[MaestroMatt]

What is with the hop utilisation in that recipe? You are getting more IBU's from the 15 min addition than the 45 min addition..

Yeah...not sure why that is like that.....

I use beersmith so it doesn't really make sense does it! Will have to have a better look tonight.

Hi Matt,

I get 28 IBUs using the Rager formula, so it won't be overly bitter.

However, you have a LOT of late hops in there. 6g/L in the last 15 mins is a lot for a pilsner. You could probably halve that and still have a hoppy beer. If you're planning to lager it for a decent length of time, you will lose some of that though, so maybe it will be more pilsner like in the end.

Yeah....in the end, I wasn't really going for a proper Pilsener on this one....I was more looking to try the hop out and a pilsener seems like the closest recipe that uses mostly Saaz.....still..will be interested to see how this one turns out.