Relax, don't worry, HAHB

[Adr_0]

So, two brews on the weekend, and worlds apart in terms of how the brew days went. A fairly standard ESB, and a tasty-sounding extra-pale black IPA that I had formulated myself. This is a story of the ESB brewed on Sunday, but I will keep it short. But, feel free to skip to the bit after 'BUT' as you can assume catastrophe in the following paragraphs.

After being held up down the coast, I was late and people were milling about ready to brew, so things were a little disorganised. Rather than mash in with the false bottom, we thought we'd try it without until Neil said "Does this need to go in?" Frick. Sure I'm not the first. So dumped the whole lot out and whacked the false bottom in.

Forgot the gypsum too.

And, didn't have the fixed thermometer in the mash tun, was still using a very very slow glass thermometer, so we were losing a lot of heat with the lid openings. The water/grain ratio was getting quite high too (wasn't tracking this) with colder water than it should have been --> ending up (looking back) at 9L/kg. Just for the BIAB crowd, I know that high water/grain ratios are mostly ok (up to 5, 6?) but pretty confident my pH was through the roof at this point - maybe 16, 17?

And a stuck drain... so out with the grain again, good clean out of the bottom and back in. Ugh. And given the likely low pH, bugger-all conversion. Ugh. Stupidly big volumes meant I didn't sparge. Ugh, there goes more efficiency.

So, did a super-long boil, and volume was down - as well as gravity. Added some demerara sugar, which will at least suit the style. Wort was darker than I had hoped and cloudy... due to high pH? Probably. Tasted very astringent too. Hmmm.

BUT...

After a couple of days at 17° with the excellent Wyeast Thames Valley (1275), the beer is fermenting well and tasting surprisingly fantastic. A few people have said it, but really we just make wort and the yeasties make beer. Good sanitation, great yeast at the right (consistent) temperature and you're probably 70% there, no matter how badly your brew day goes. Won't be a comp-winner, but should end up as a fairly good beer.

So don't sweat the small stuff... relax, don't worry, have a homebrew.

 

[Tony]

And it will be one of the best beers you have ever made!

I had some absolute shockers over the years and they usually turned out great in the end.

 

[jc64]

So, two brews on the weekend, and worlds apart in terms of how the brew days went. A fairly standard ESB, and a tasty-sounding extra-pale black IPA that I had formulated myself. This is a story of the ESB brewed on Sunday, but I will keep it short. But, feel free to skip to the bit after 'BUT' as you can assume catastrophe in the following paragraphs.

After being held up down the coast, I was late and people were milling about ready to brew, so things were a little disorganised. Rather than mash in with the false bottom, we thought we'd try it without until Neil said "Does this need to go in?" Frick. Sure I'm not the first. So dumped the whole lot out and whacked the false bottom in.

Forgot the gypsum too.

And, didn't have the fixed thermometer in the mash tun, was still using a very very slow glass thermometer, so we were losing a lot of heat with the lid openings. The water/grain ratio was getting quite high too (wasn't tracking this) with colder water than it should have been --> ending up (looking back) at 9L/kg. Just for the BIAB crowd, I know that high water/grain ratios are mostly ok (up to 5, 6?) but pretty confident my pH was through the roof at this point - maybe 16, 17?

And a stuck drain... so out with the grain again, good clean out of the bottom and back in. Ugh. And given the likely low pH, bugger-all conversion. Ugh. Stupidly big volumes meant I didn't sparge. Ugh, there goes more efficiency.

So, did a super-long boil, and volume was down - as well as gravity. Added some demerara sugar, which will at least suit the style. Wort was darker than I had hoped and cloudy... due to high pH? Probably. Tasted very astringent too. Hmmm.

BUT...

After a couple of days at 17° with the excellent Wyeast Thames Valley (1275), the beer is fermenting well and tasting surprisingly fantastic. A few people have said it, but really we just make wort and the yeasties make beer. Good sanitation, great yeast at the right (consistent) temperature and you're probably 70% there, no matter how badly your brew day goes. Won't be a comp-winner, but should end up as a fairly good beer.

So don't sweat the small stuff... relax, don't worry, have a homebrew.

Wrong, if you make any mistake, however tiny, you fail at brewing. Your tasting failure. Trying to convince yourself that beer can be made in less than ideal circumstances. You must have a double march pump, herms system, to make a beer worth even smelling.
Please stop raising the hopes of the unwashed.

 

[Adr_0]

Wrong, if you make any mistake, however tiny, you fail at brewing. Your tasting failure. Trying to convince yourself that beer can be made in less than ideal circumstances. You must have a double march pump, herms system, to make a beer worth even smelling.
Please stop raising the hopes of the unwashed.

I know, the audacity!

I know it makes me sound like a total n00b, but I have no ego and hope people can learn. It's been 8 years and there is the inevitable equipment learning curve, particularly with the quad-March setup I have going.

One good point though is water/grain ratio. I think it's pretty rare to get stupidly high like I did, but there is little published about the drawbacks of high ratios and the risks of going too high, i.e. high pH (probably only an issue at >5L/kg, and probably less of an issue if a low temperature protein rest has been used), slower conversion and the tradeoff of boiling energy/time vs lautering efficiency. 90% of people would be fine anyway if they have direct heating or infuse boiling water for steps, but I think it's interesting to understand the drawbacks since the 3-4 sources I've read only really discuss the positives of a high water/grain ratio.

 

[jc64]

Keep us updated on the finished product.

I also have a burning need to see your quad march pump set up. I'm sure the fourth one is to power a water feature allowing a Zen brewing environment.

 

[GalBrew]

I know, the audacity!

I know it makes me sound like a total n00b, but I have no ego and hope people can learn. It's been 8 years and there is the inevitable equipment learning curve, particularly with the quad-March setup I have going.

One good point though is water/grain ratio. I think it's pretty rare to get stupidly high like I did, but there is little published about the drawbacks of high ratios and the risks of going too high, i.e. high pH (probably only an issue at >5L/kg, and probably less of an issue if a low temperature protein rest has been used), slower conversion and the tradeoff of boiling energy/time vs lautering efficiency. 90% of people would be fine anyway if they have direct heating or infuse boiling water for steps, but I think it's interesting to understand the drawbacks since the 3-4 sources I've read only really discuss the positives of a high water/grain ratio.

Well, without measuring these things like pH, you really have no idea what is going on with your system. I had real trouble nailing down my process to hit my target numbers (still not perfect but much better) until I started measuring all of these different parameters (volumes, temps, pH.....blah, blah). There is a bit of info on mash thickness at braukaiser.com, my last BIAB was 7L/kg and mash efficiency was 72% (was all munich SMASH though). Anyway, i'm sure your beer will taste fine, we all have crappy brewdays that result in a tasty beer. :beer:

 

[Adr_0]

Keep us updated on the finished product.

I also have a burning need to see your quad march pump set up. I'm sure the fourth one is to power a wort feature allowing a Zen brewing environment.

Correct.

One is on the discharge of the mash tun to blast wort against the side of the kettle 3m away to maximise aeration
One is in place in a bilge sump for when I leave the tap open on the fermenter or kettle, but mostly to gather up wort blasted from the previous step
The third is used from the HLT to a nozzle to blast the two cattle dogs when they get too annoying or start to sniff hops on the table
And the fourth is of course for the feature.

I also have a fifth pump... a LBP used from the HLT to the top of the mash tun. Due to replace this soon with a duty/standby March setup. The LBP works extremely well and is cheap, BUT it's not very shiny, doesn't draw enough power, is too quiet, and not 'blasty' enough for my liking.

 

[bradsbrew]

Correct.

One is on the discharge of the mash tun to blast wort against the side of the kettle 3m away to maximise aeration

Jeezus, I thought you were serious there for a second.

 

[Adr_0]

Well, without measuring these things like pH, you really have no idea what is going on with your system. I had real trouble nailing down my process to hit my target numbers (still not perfect but much better) until I started measuring all of these different parameters (volumes, temps, pH.....blah, blah). There is a bit of info on mash thickness at braukaiser.com, my last BIAB was 7L/kg and mash efficiency was 72% (was all munich SMASH though). Anyway, i'm sure your beer will taste fine, we all have crappy brewdays that result in a tasty beer. :beer:

You're absolutely right, I'm just taking a guess here about the pH. But there is only so much phosphoric acid to go around, and I haven't seen anything on Braukaiser about going too far with the water/grain ratio. It is nothing but speculation until measurements are made though. Efficiency may not be too bad - for e.g., the lower SG of the mash water probably allows a greater amount of sugars to dissolve, bumping efficiency up - but there are probably (speculation again) further issues with the boil and finished beer. Again, definitely need to measure and some of this may be utter horse-sh!t:
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_pH_affects_brewing

The grist was about 2% roast barley, 10% medium crystal (Tom Fawcett) and 88% Maris Otter.

I definitely noticed a sharp astringency in the raw sample, BUT this has basically disappeared mid-way through fermentation. It may come up again when the beer is drier. The wort is not nearly as clear as my previous and subsequent beers, even with a high proportion of wheat in those. Koppafloc, decent breaks and mash circulation have been consistent with all three beers. Darkness... subjective, but maybe.

Anyway, I guess the main thing is, if people have encountered anything in that Baukaiser list, I wonder if their mash/sparge is too diluted and/or what their pH is - may trigger a thought and an improvement in their beer.

Otherwise, RDWHAHB.