Things I Learnt About Brewing This Weekend

[GrumpyPaul]

So my delivering of grains and hops arrived on Friday from Craftbrewer.
Friday night shopping yielded 3 tins of Tohheys special ale from the local Coles.
I already had a pile of freebie ESB Draught and Farmland tins I scored when I bought my kegs on ebay.

AND....SWMBO was working all day Saturday so I had the kitchen to myself.

SO here are the things I learnt this weekend

• 3 brews at the same time gets very confusing (even if they are just kits and bits)
• Hops smell really nice when you open the bag.
• Steeping spec grains is fun
• Dont put DME into cold water - it clumps like crazy.

Heres what made

Choc Coffee Ale

1 Can ESB Darling Downs Draught.
1kg LDME
250ml expresso coffee
120g Black Patent Malt
120g Chocolate Malt
120g Dark Crystal Malt
45 g Willamette Hops @ 45 mins
10g Willamette @10mins
Nottingham yeat

OG was 1036

Cascade Ginger Ale
1 can ESB Darling Downs Draught
1kg LDME
240g Dark Crystal Malt
300 g Honey
100g Grated ginger
40g Licorice
30 g Cascade @60 mins
Saflager s23 yeast

OG was 1040

Not quite Neil's Centenarillo
1 can Tooheys Special Lager
1 can Farmland Draught
1 kg LDME
20g Centenary @ 30mins
10g Amarillo @ 20
40g Amarillo @ 15
30g Amarillo @ 5
Saflager s23 yeast

(there might be 10g of Cascade that was meant to go in the start the brew above brew above that was thrown in here at the 30 min mark)
OG was 1058.

Already the "Cascade" and "Niels" taste good in the sample tube - reserving judgement still on the "Coffee" one

 

[MeLoveBeer]

Its a slippery slope from here mate... think we'll have you doing AG brews in no time :icon_cheers:

Looking forward to tasting them at a melbourne brewers meeting in the near future.

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

great job, three kit and bits on the same day, they would have kept you busy!!

You can't go wrong with lots of amirillo, just Smurtos golden ale and it smells and tastes awesone :beerbang: .

 

[michaelcocks]

That's a fair whack of ibu's and malt in the centarinello ale
Hope it balances out for you ok

IMHO you could have combined the 20 and 15 min addition and saved a bit of labour (since the times re so close))

Anyway good on you

Welcome to the slippery slope

Let us know how they turn out

 

[michaelcocks]

That's a fair whack of ibu's and malt in the centarinello ale
Hope it balances out for you ok

IMHO you could have combined the 20 and 15 min addition and saved a bit of labour (since the times re so close))

Anyway good on you

Welcome to the slippery slope

Let us know how they turn out

 

[GrumpyPaul]

2 questions ....

How long till I should see change in Hydrometer reading?

The Choc Coffee recipe above started at 1036 but has changed in 2 days - in fact tonight it was higher 1042. Is that possible?

I was explaining hops and the recipes I did to a mate. He asked what commercial brews use Amarillo.

Does anyone know?

 

[kocken42]

2 questions ....

How long till I should see change in Hydrometer reading?

The Choc Coffee recipe above started at 1036 but has changed in 2 days - in fact tonight it was higher 1042. Is that possible?

I was explaining hops and the recipes I did to a mate. He asked what commercial brews use Amarillo.

Does anyone know?

According to my calculations, the Choc Coffee brew should have had an OG of 1042, so there is probably a chance that you didn't take the reading correctly or all of the sugaz weren't mixed up in the fermenter when you took the sample? In regards to it not moving from 1042, just do your regular checks to make sure ferment is going (condensation on lid, krausen forming, ok temps) and it should be fine...also check the pack of yeast to see if it wasn't out of date.

In regards to the question of which commercial beers use Amarillo, I think James Squire Golden Ale does...but Amarillo is a fruity hop suited to American Pale Ales, so there probably aren't too many 'commercial' beers in Australia using them. I could be wrong though.

 

[jakub76]

Wow, that's quite the brew day!

started at 1036 but has changed in 2 days - in fact tonight it was higher 1042. Is that possible?
...what commercial brews use Amarillo.

I thought 1.036 was way too low for that Choc Coffee recipe...1.042 sounds about right, it probably wasn't mixed properly. Should be frothing soon. Your ginger Ale is a ginger Lager, what temp are you fermenting? A little extra phenols from a high ferment (15-ish) might work well with the ginger, I wouldn't have thought of that. Your Niel's looks bloody awesome, it's going to be pretty bitter at first but you'll have a tonne of flavour from that Amarillo, no readily available commercial beer will match it. If it's too hoppy rest assured it will settle a bit with a couple of months in bottles and that Amarillo flavour holds up pretty well.

 

[GrumpyPaul]

so there is probably a chance that you didn't take the reading correctly

do your regular checks to make sure ferment is going (condensation on lid, krausen forming, ok temps) and it should be fine...also check the pack of yeast to see if it wasn't out of date.

probably a good i did get it wrong- it was a busy day.
yeast was brand new Nottingham pitched at about 24degrees.

Currently sitting at 16 degrees - which seems to be micely between the prescribed 11 to 20 range.

Shall keep an eye on it and let you know how things progress

 

[kocken42]

AND....SWMBO was working all day Saturday so I had the kitchen to myself.

Hahaha. That's a pretty funny comment (because it assumes that your SWMBO is always in the kitchen).

 

[JunkzOr]

Learning patience... Possibly the hardest lesson

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Hahaha. That's a pretty funny comment (because it assumes that your SWMBO is always in the kitchen).

Would have had issues if the key to the padlock holding her in place got lost. She would then be in your way as your used the kitchen. :lol:

Goomba

 

[MPH]

2 questions ....

How long till I should see change in Hydrometer reading?

The Choc Coffee recipe above started at 1036 but has changed in 2 days - in fact tonight it was higher 1042. Is that possible?

I was explaining hops and the recipes I did to a mate. He asked what commercial brews use Amarillo.

Does anyone know?

Tried a Murray's Angry Man at the Local Taphouse in St Kilda on Friday. Fairly certain it packed a fair bit of Amarillo. I'll qualify that opinion by saying I'm new to the brewing game and have only used amarillo and cascade so it could easily be something else.

 

[GrumpyPaul]

The Choc Coffee recipe above started at 1036 but has not changed in 2 days - in fact tonight it was higher 1042. Is that possible?

4 days later still no change in the Choc Coffee brew....maybe 1041 - but i think its the way I'm reading it.

should I start worrying yet?

The other two brewing doing well but are incredibly cloudy - is that because of the grain and hops.

I assume it will clear up as it settles. Will I need to rack to a secondary to try clear it up?

 

[outbreak]

4 days later still no change in the Choc Coffee brew....maybe 1041 - but i think its the way I'm reading it.

should I start worrying yet?

The other two brewing doing well but are incredibly cloudy - is that because of the grain and hops.

I assume it will clear up as it settles. Will I need to rack to a secondary to try clear it up?

I am only new to brewing but my last few brews have been quite cloudy, but after chilling them at 2 degrees celcius for around a week then fining before bottling I have nice clear beers. You don't need to rack to secondary to get a clear beer IMO. I am going to start using wirfloc tablets and see how that helps aswell.

One thing I have learnt, is that most of the time it doesnt hurt leaving it a bit longer in the fermenter, if anything its going to have a positive effect.


In regards to the Choc Coffee brew.... is there any signs of fermentation? A krausen?

Put your hydrometer in water and take a reading. It should be 1.000, this will enable you to calibrate it. Maybe you could take a photo of the reading for your choc coffee brew and post it on here.

 

[Ade42]

when it was cool here in Brisbane recently I was making 3 at once all the time. Fair enough a couple were "experimenters" that got tipped but It stocked up my cellar pretty quickly and now i can relax and brew some lagars in the fridge and spent 1-2 months making one really good beer!

I usaly make em one at a time and spent about 2-3 hrs all up getting three beers like yours down.
its the steeping and boiling that slows down the production line!

 

[GrumpyPaul]

4 days later still no change in the Choc Coffee brew....maybe 1041 - but i think its the way I'm reading it.

6 days - still at 1042. Temp has been steady at about 16degrees which should be Ok for the yeast used (Nottingham)

have brought it inside and wrapped it in a blaknet.....

Should I think about some new yeast?