What are you Brewing - 2018

[Schikitar]

Okay, I put down this brew last night, similar to what I previously listed but I made a few changes;

MIDDLE STUMP (Session Pale Ale) - BIAB

STATS
Batch Size (fermenter): 28 L
Estimated Efficiency: 70%
Estimated OG: 1.042 (Actual 1.048)
Estimated FG: 1.013
Estimated ABV: 3.8% (could be pushing 4.6% now depending on the FG)
Estimated Color: 9.28 EBC
Estimated IBU: 33

GRAINS
45.9% | 2.5kg Golden Promise
27.5% | 1.5kg Vienna
9.2% | 500g Wheat
7.3% | 400g Carapils
7.3% | 400g Munich
2.8% | 150g Acidulated

HOPS
15g Simcoe @ 60 mins
25g Cascade @ 5 mins
35g Simcoe @ 5 mins
30g Citra @ Cube Hop
25g Cascade @ Dry Hop - 4 days
20g Citra @ Dry Hop - 4 days
50g Galaxy @ Dry Hop - 3 days

YEAST
White Labs Pacific Ale - WLP041 (2.5L starter)

BREW NOTES
Mashed in at 66.6 (37L), mashed at ~63.6 (with very minor fluctuations) for 60 mins.
Pre-boil gravity was already at expected gravity (might have been off with my efficiency, first time using new grain mill and swiss voile bag).
Boiled for 75 mins (down to ~31L), got distracted by fitting new brakes to my bike (plus four beers disappeared from beer fridge).
Forgot to add yeast nutrient and whirlfloc at 10 mins (didn't even have any whirlfloc, will add nutrient to starter).
Dumped ~29 litres to cube, threw into pool for rapid chill (with temp logger), also drew off the kettle loss to cold crash and will pour off into fermenter along with cube.
Was a really light straw colour, lighter than expected, the samples all cleared very nicely even without the whirlfloc

 

[Dan Pratt]

^ ^ oooooh do share the temp logger readings

 

[Coodgee]

latest effort. it's my pacific ale clone with pils malt instead of wheat and ale malt and a big pitch of lager yeast slurry. was thinking of dry hopping with 100grams of galaxy, but will wait to see how delicate it comes out.

Recipe: hoppy lager
Batch Size (fermenter): 23.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 6.7 EBC
Estimated IBU: 20.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 77.70 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Amt Name
4.00 ml Lactic Acid (Mash 60.0 mins)
3.50 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins)
5.00 kg Gladfield Pilsner Malt (3.8 EBC) 95.2 %
0.25 kg Carapils (4.0 EBC) 4.8 %
5.00 g Magnum [12.20 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6.0 IBUs
20.00 g Galaxy [15.90 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 14.2 IBUs
20.00 g Galaxy [15.90 %] - Steep/Whirlpool <85 -5 Hop 0.0 IBUs
Slurry Saflager Lager (DCL/Fermentis #W-34/70) Yeast 8 -
TBA Galaxy [14.00 %] - Dry Hop 2.0 Days Hop 9 0.0 IBUs


mash 68

 

[Midnight Brew]

House Ale (IPA version) 55L
70% TF Pearl
15% Abbey
15% Rye
52/66/72/78 for 15/120/10/overnight
600g 2017 Homegrown Chinook in the cube. All off it. Harvest is approaching and need the space.
Greenbelt, pressure fermented at 5psi.

This is more aligned with an English IPA but not necessarily trying to meet the style.
1055/1011 > 5.8% > roughly 1.0 BU/SG but who knows.

Trying a 120min boil as per MHB's advice in Maris otter thread.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

House Ale (IPA version) 55L
70% TF Pearl
15% Abbey
15% Rye
52/66/72/78 for 15/120/10/overnight
600g 2017 Homegrown Chinook in the cube. All off it. Harvest is approaching and need the space.
Greenbelt, pressure fermented at 5psi.

This is more aligned with an English IPA but not necessarily trying to meet the style.
1055/1011 > 5.8% > roughly 1.0 BU/SG but who knows.

Trying a 120min boil as per MHB's advice in Maris otter thread.

600g ! That's going to be fun wringing the wort out of all those flowers after shaking the flowers out of the cubes wow!
I think I loaded 160g into 22lt xmas swap brew and that was some work.

 

[Midnight Brew]

600g ! That's going to be fun wringing the wort out of all those flowers after shaking the flowers out of the cubes wow!
I think I loaded 160g into 22lt xmas swap brew and that was some work.

Going to try AJ80's method; drain cubes into FV via a pasta colander and ring them through with a big sanitised spoon. Fun times ahead if it doesn't work as planned haha.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Going to try AJ80's method; drain cubes into FV via a pasta colander and ring them through with a big sanitised spoon. Fun times ahead if it doesn't work as planned haha.

I strain through a big sieve in a big funnel and ware good latex (food handling) gloves and wring em out. I've busted sieves pushing too hard with the spoon haa.

 

[Midnight Brew]

and onto batch number 2 of the day. First APA in 5 years, again freeing up some freezer real estate.

80% Chateau Pale
9% Abbey
8% Wheat
3% Caramunicch III
1045 / 30IBU / 1010 / 4.5%
FWH Magnum to 8 IBU then Ahtanum, Bravo and Chinook in the cube.
Yeast Greenbelt at 19C and 5 PSI

 

[technobabble66]

and onto batch number 2 of the day. First APA in 5 years, again freeing up some freezer real estate.

80% Chateau Pale
9% Abbey
...

Have you used Abbey much before, Cam?
If so, what did you find it brought to the party?
I've got to work out what to do with 5kg of the stuff [emoji1]

 

[Brewno Marz]

I get a harsh, slightly astringent, bitter edge to the beer that fades with time but is not very nice when fresh. I'm acidifying my sparge water so it's not from extracting tannins while sparging. This is my recipe based on Earle's Rogers clone:

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
23.00 l Brisbane Water 1 -
1.00 tsp Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 2 -
1.00 tsp Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent 3 -

Just a thought, Brisbane water is already quite high in chloride (up to 70ppm) and adding a teaspoon of CaCl2 to 23l of mash water could well put the chloride level in your mash over 200ppm. Adding a teaspoon of calcium sulphate will also raise the sulphate level into the 150ppm to 200ppm range.
From Martin Brungard's Bru'n Water spreadsheet:
Chloride – The Chloride ion is not the same as the disinfectant, Chlorine and should not be confused with it. Chloride accentuates fullness and sweetness and improves beer stability and clarity. The ideal range is 10 to 100 ppm, but the upper limit should be reduced in water with high sulfate concentration to avoid harshness and minerally flavor.

 

[Midnight Brew]

Have you used Abbey much before, Cam?
If so, what did you find it brought to the party?
I've got to work out what to do with 5kg of the stuff [emoji1]

Ive used it a fair bit (bought 10kg at the BB) and really love the stuff. Used it up to 25% in a Belgian session beer and regularly 15% in my House Ale. In this case I'm using it as a sub for Munich malt. It's quiet aromatic in the sense of sweetish malt, not quiet biscuit. I like the body of it paired with a nice base malt to give it a little boost without over doing it. Works well with hop forward beers body wise. Soon as you add crystal, that seems to dominate over it, which is fine depending what you're aiming for.

For your first batch (if you can handle an ingredient lacking recipe) try 75% pale 25% abbey, neutral yeast and neutral FWH with magnum to 0.5 BU ratio. Good enough to quench thirst for the swillers and something nice and neutral for the brewer for a change. Could also turn it into a multiple batch with cubes and throw some Belgian yeasts at different cubes.

 

[malt junkie]

For your first batch (if you can handle an ingredient lacking recipe) try 75% pale 25% abbey, neutral yeast and neutral FWH with magnum to 0.5 BU ratio. Good enough to quench thirst for the swillers and something nice and neutral for the brewer for a change. Could also turn it into a multiple batch with cubes and throw some Belgian yeasts at different cubes.

Did similar recently, for a easy drinking pale, I found it to be on the money. And interlopers have quaffed it, I went mostly late with C hops, small FWH addition of Northern Brewer for bitterness. Sadly the keg is near empty.

 

[tj2204]

Another Kolsch.

100% wey premium pils
65°c mash
25 ibu of hersbrucker @ 60

Ferment with wlp029

 

[Coodgee]

Just a thought, Brisbane water is already quite high in chloride (up to 70ppm) and adding a teaspoon of CaCl2 to 23l of mash water could well put the chloride level in your mash over 200ppm. Adding a teaspoon of calcium sulphate will also raise the sulphate level into the 150ppm to 200ppm range.
From Martin Brungard's Bru'n Water spreadsheet:
Chloride – The Chloride ion is not the same as the disinfectant, Chlorine and should not be confused with it. Chloride accentuates fullness and sweetness and improves beer stability and clarity. The ideal range is 10 to 100 ppm, but the upper limit should be reduced in water with high sulfate concentration to avoid harshness and minerally flavor.

yes that's a good point. I have been used to adding large amounts of gypsum to my hoppy beers so I just thought I was being moderate with a teaspoon of each. My calculations show 108ppm sulphate and 114ppm chloride in the finished beer. probably unnecessarily mineral-y.

edit: Though I see Dan Pratt has found a recipe from a respected site a few posts back in this thread that calls for 200ppm chloride and 100 sulphate for a NEIPA.

I can't help but think chloride/sulphate ratio stuff is a little bit like cables in hi-fi.

 

[Brewno Marz]

yes that's a good point. I have been used to adding large amounts of gypsum to my hoppy beers so I just thought I was being moderate with a teaspoon of each. My calculations show 108ppm sulphate and 114ppm chloride in the finished beer. probably unnecessarily mineral-y.

edit: Though I see Dan Pratt has found a recipe from a respected site a few posts back in this thread that calls for 200ppm chloride and 100 sulphate for a NEIPA.

I can't help but think chloride/sulphate ratio stuff is a little bit like cables in hi-fi.

It's not about chloride/sulphate ratio its about total ions in the mash (not in the finished beer) and how chloride impacts taste. Brisbane water is already high in chloride, so think of it like adding salt to food that is already salty!

 

[shacked]

Have you used Abbey much before, Cam?
If so, what did you find it brought to the party?
I've got to work out what to do with 5kg of the stuff [emoji1]

I've used it in saisons and a porter before. You can go pretty heavy on it and for me it's a biscuity, malty, very slightly sweet taste.

From memory the best saison was 10% abbey, 10% rye, 20% flaked wheat, 60% pilsner.

 

[shacked]

yes that's a good point. I have been used to adding large amounts of gypsum to my hoppy beers so I just thought I was being moderate with a teaspoon of each. My calculations show 108ppm sulphate and 114ppm chloride in the finished beer. probably unnecessarily mineral-y.

edit: Though I see Dan Pratt has found a recipe from a respected site a few posts back in this thread that calls for 200ppm chloride and 100 sulphate for a NEIPA.

I can't help but think chloride/sulphate ratio stuff is a little bit like cables in hi-fi.

Are measuring your starting water for minerals or going off the water report? The composition of your tap water changes all the time based on loads of factors, perhaps this contributed to your results?

 

[Coodgee]

It's not about chloride/sulphate ratio its about total ions in the mash (not in the finished beer) and how chloride impacts taste. Brisbane water is already high in chloride, so think of it like adding salt to food that is already salty!

why do you say total ions in the mash and not the finished beer? Wouldn't it be about the concentration in the finished beer?

 

[mofox1]

Time to use up some of last year's harvest.

Monster pale:
69L @ 1.056, 80ish IBU

66% Gladfield American Ale
20% Abbey Malt
10% Rye Malt
4% CaraMunich II

FWH:
0.3g/L Cascade Flowers (est 7%)
0.3g/L Pride of Ringwood Flowers (est 8%)

10min:
0.7g/L Cascade Flowers (est 7%)
0.7g/L Chinook Flowers (est 10%)

0min:
1.3g/L Cascade Flowers (est 7%)
1.3g/L Chinook Flowers (est 10%)

Whirlpool:
3.3g/L Cascade Flowers (est 7%)
3.3g/L Chinook Flowers (est 10%)

Ferment with 1217 or greenbelt.

Fermcap doing its thing:

10min (100g), 0min (200g) and whirlpool (500g) lined up and waiting to go:

Oops - already at target OG at pre-boil. I'll just have to dry hop the heck out of it and call it an IPA :-D

 

[Schikitar]

That time I decide to pitch and then catch a plane leaving my daughter in charge of monitoring the fermenter. I normally use a blowoff tube but as this was a midstrength I thought it would be a pretty tame ferment.. (hope my gif turns out okay, posting from my phone)..