The XL Bitter that I brewed on 12 March has been sat at a steady 1.008 for 3 days now so at 4.2% abv it's found it's home in 3 cornies.
I had a cheeky taster - I think it could be a nice beer, I got the complex malt taste that I was after and it's not too over powering, the bitterness level seems about what I wanted too (27IBU), certainly less bitter than some of the beers I normally brew. My only concern is that after the initial complex malt taste there wasn't much left, no lingering flavour to speak of....?
It's nice to have a sensible strength malty low IBU beer brewed anyway - looking forward to tapping this one.
Time to think about the next brew - It was to be Wezerection I think.
Monday, 23 March 2009
Warm Weather - Cool Beer
Well...spot on 13c beer hopefully :)
When the Mrs suggested that we could do with a larger Chest Freezer as the current one isn't enough I eagerly agreed as this means that I can now conver the older chest freezer into a KEGGERATOR - so over the next few weeks I'll be converting a Chest Freezer which can hold upto 4 cornies using an ATC800 temperature controller, a 60w Tubular Heater into a device to serve beer at the perfect temperature all year round.
The only problem is that the chest freezer isn't tall enough to hold a cornie - i'll solve this problem by adding a 20cm insulated colar around the top of the freezer and fixing the lid back on to this.
I'll take some pics along the way.
Should be a fun and productive project.
When the Mrs suggested that we could do with a larger Chest Freezer as the current one isn't enough I eagerly agreed as this means that I can now conver the older chest freezer into a KEGGERATOR - so over the next few weeks I'll be converting a Chest Freezer which can hold upto 4 cornies using an ATC800 temperature controller, a 60w Tubular Heater into a device to serve beer at the perfect temperature all year round.
The only problem is that the chest freezer isn't tall enough to hold a cornie - i'll solve this problem by adding a 20cm insulated colar around the top of the freezer and fixing the lid back on to this.
I'll take some pics along the way.
Should be a fun and productive project.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
SUGAR Points..the way?
On the last few brews that I've done I have been experimenting with 'Sugar Points', Phil a member on www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk got me interested in doing this, it is in basic terms a method of ensuring that you collect the right amount of sugar from your mash to ensure that you hit the gravity that you want.
It calls for a bit of math, so as I sit here typing this with Hoegaarden in hand I'll try my best to explain how I understand it.
The start point that you need is to know three things
a) What your desired OG is
b) What your desired volume into fermenters is
c) How much you loose after the boil to your boiler, hops etc
To aid explanation we will assume that our three figures are:
a) 1.050
b) 25 litres
c) 8 litres
The amount of sugar points needed for 33L at 1.050 (33L is 25L + losses of 8L) is 33 x 50 = 1650
So what you do is calculate your grist as you normally would, based on your own known brewhouse efficiency but when you sparge measure what you have collected both in volume and specific gravity and stop sparging when you have collected your required sugar points (1650 for this example) (A refractometer is very useful for this).
You do this by multiplying what you have collected by the gravity of what you have collected. Your own efficiencies will dictate at what volume you reach your required Sugar Points, for the sake of this example lets say we collected 25L of 1.066 wort ... 25 x 66 = 1650.
This 25L is then diluted down to your pre-boil volume (you will have to work that out based on your equipment), boil happily away down to your post boil volume knowing that it will be at the OG you want.
It sounds complicated but it easy really.
I'll be lowering my efficiency to 65% from 85% next time to try to improve the quality of extract.
It calls for a bit of math, so as I sit here typing this with Hoegaarden in hand I'll try my best to explain how I understand it.
The start point that you need is to know three things
a) What your desired OG is
b) What your desired volume into fermenters is
c) How much you loose after the boil to your boiler, hops etc
To aid explanation we will assume that our three figures are:
a) 1.050
b) 25 litres
c) 8 litres
The amount of sugar points needed for 33L at 1.050 (33L is 25L + losses of 8L) is 33 x 50 = 1650
So what you do is calculate your grist as you normally would, based on your own known brewhouse efficiency but when you sparge measure what you have collected both in volume and specific gravity and stop sparging when you have collected your required sugar points (1650 for this example) (A refractometer is very useful for this).
You do this by multiplying what you have collected by the gravity of what you have collected. Your own efficiencies will dictate at what volume you reach your required Sugar Points, for the sake of this example lets say we collected 25L of 1.066 wort ... 25 x 66 = 1650.
This 25L is then diluted down to your pre-boil volume (you will have to work that out based on your equipment), boil happily away down to your post boil volume knowing that it will be at the OG you want.
It sounds complicated but it easy really.
I'll be lowering my efficiency to 65% from 85% next time to try to improve the quality of extract.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
XL Bitter
Not posted a blog for a while – I’ve been busy with work and the home brew forum that we have set up.
I’m planning a brew this week, hoping for a nice session beer with lots of malt character and a fairly low IBU.
XL Bitter
60L Batch
Target OG 1.040
Target IBU 27
Pale 90%
Dark Crystal 3%
Amber Malt 3%
Wheat Malt 3%
Chocolate Malt 1%
20 IBU from Challenger 90 Min Boil
7 IBU from EKG’s 15 Min Boil
30g EKG Steeped at 80c for 15 mins
Fermenting using S04
I’m planning a brew this week, hoping for a nice session beer with lots of malt character and a fairly low IBU.
XL Bitter
60L Batch
Target OG 1.040
Target IBU 27
Pale 90%
Dark Crystal 3%
Amber Malt 3%
Wheat Malt 3%
Chocolate Malt 1%
20 IBU from Challenger 90 Min Boil
7 IBU from EKG’s 15 Min Boil
30g EKG Steeped at 80c for 15 mins
Fermenting using S04
Friday, 18 July 2008
Our New Forum - The Home Brew Forum
A few of us with similar interests have decided to set up our own brewing forum. Please feel free to join us.
THE HOME BREW FORUM
THE HOME BREW FORUM
Monday, 7 July 2008
A Busy Evening
I've had quite a busy evening, I've kegged "Thirst Gold" which I brewed back on June 25, I've prepared everything ready for an evening brew tomorrow and I've had a bash at coming up with something which will hopefully come close to the Brains S.A. Gold I recently wrote about.
Thirst Gold, the OG of this brew was 1.048, after 12 days of fermenting it stabilised at 1.010 so it's around 4.9% abv. I tried something new with this brew and split the overall IBU between the 60 min and 15 min hop additions, aiming for 20 IBU from each, giving a total of 40 IBU, tasting a sample tonight I was very pleased that the First Gold flavour that I recognise from the Badger First Gold bottled beer that I enjoy has come through well and also that it tastes like a 40 IBU beer, meaning my 100g 15 minute addition was worth it in the end! This needs about 4 weeks to mellow out, I'll have a sample each week......just to see how it's coming along!
Next tonight came the preparation for tomorrow nights brew, I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I wanted to have a go at a plain and simple bitter, I have twaeked the recipe a bit to add more crystal malt to hopefully improve the overall malt profile of the beer, I have also increased the Goldings aroma addition, the recipe which I have settled upon is:
Swift Bitter
50L Brewlength, Target OG 1.049 (70% brewhouse efficiency) Target IBU ~36
9.80 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter 87%
0.90 kg Crystal Malt 8%
0.56 kg Torrified Wheat 5%
100.00 gm Challenger [7.00 %] (60 min) Hops 30.8 IBU
35.00 gm Challenger [7.00 %] (15 min) Hops 5.3 IBU
70.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.00 %] (steeped at 80 degrees for 15 mins)
Finally tonight I sat down and tried to work out something that will come close to Brains S.A. Gold, the recipe that I came up with is below, I'll be fermentng with US-05 for a nice clean taste, hopfully this one will get brewed on Thursday night, that will be 100L of beer this week, so I'd best get drinking to free up some kegs!
Harvest Sunset
50L Brewlength, Target OG 1.051 (70% brewhouse efficiency) Target IBU ~30
11.00 kg Pale Malt, Marris Otter 90%
0.60 kg Crystal Malt - 60L 5%
0.60 kg Torrified Wheat 5%
80.00 gm Cascade [5.75 %] (60 min) Hops 20.0 IBU
46.00 gm Bobek [5.00 %] (15 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
40.00 gm Cascade [5.75 %] (15 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
50.00 gm Bobek [5.00 %] (steeped at 80 degrees for 15 mins)
25.00 gm Cascade [5.75 %] (steeped at 80 degrees for 15 mins)
Thirst Gold, the OG of this brew was 1.048, after 12 days of fermenting it stabilised at 1.010 so it's around 4.9% abv. I tried something new with this brew and split the overall IBU between the 60 min and 15 min hop additions, aiming for 20 IBU from each, giving a total of 40 IBU, tasting a sample tonight I was very pleased that the First Gold flavour that I recognise from the Badger First Gold bottled beer that I enjoy has come through well and also that it tastes like a 40 IBU beer, meaning my 100g 15 minute addition was worth it in the end! This needs about 4 weeks to mellow out, I'll have a sample each week......just to see how it's coming along!
Next tonight came the preparation for tomorrow nights brew, I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I wanted to have a go at a plain and simple bitter, I have twaeked the recipe a bit to add more crystal malt to hopefully improve the overall malt profile of the beer, I have also increased the Goldings aroma addition, the recipe which I have settled upon is:
Swift Bitter
50L Brewlength, Target OG 1.049 (70% brewhouse efficiency) Target IBU ~36
9.80 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter 87%
0.90 kg Crystal Malt 8%
0.56 kg Torrified Wheat 5%
100.00 gm Challenger [7.00 %] (60 min) Hops 30.8 IBU
35.00 gm Challenger [7.00 %] (15 min) Hops 5.3 IBU
70.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.00 %] (steeped at 80 degrees for 15 mins)
Finally tonight I sat down and tried to work out something that will come close to Brains S.A. Gold, the recipe that I came up with is below, I'll be fermentng with US-05 for a nice clean taste, hopfully this one will get brewed on Thursday night, that will be 100L of beer this week, so I'd best get drinking to free up some kegs!
Harvest Sunset
50L Brewlength, Target OG 1.051 (70% brewhouse efficiency) Target IBU ~30
11.00 kg Pale Malt, Marris Otter 90%
0.60 kg Crystal Malt - 60L 5%
0.60 kg Torrified Wheat 5%
80.00 gm Cascade [5.75 %] (60 min) Hops 20.0 IBU
46.00 gm Bobek [5.00 %] (15 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
40.00 gm Cascade [5.75 %] (15 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
50.00 gm Bobek [5.00 %] (steeped at 80 degrees for 15 mins)
25.00 gm Cascade [5.75 %] (steeped at 80 degrees for 15 mins)
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Brains S.A. Gold 4.7%
The bottle neck label tells us that this is a "Delicious golden ale brewed in wales late-hopped with Cascade and Styrian Goldings" There is also an emblem on the main bottle label telling us that this beer won CAMRA's 'Champion Beer of Britain' Bronze in the Strong Bitter Category 2007. So when in the supermarket tonight and it caught my eye I thought that I could do worse, the only thing that put me off slightly was the clear bottle and obvious risk of skunking.I'm impressed, I'd have to say that this is going to be this summers favourite bottled beer for me. The smell of the hops was there immediately after opening the bottle, the description on the back of the bottle is spot on "S.A. Gold is a full flavoured, hoppy and refreshing golden ale, brewed in Wales at the home of the world famous Brains S.A. The beer is late-hopped using Cascade and Styrian Goldings, giving it complex and refreshing citrus aromas and flavours"
I want to have a go at brewing something close to this, whilst I have around 1kg Cascade I have no Styrians but do have Bobek which are supposed to be similar, I'll have to have a scout around to see if I can find a recipe. I'd imagine that the bittering hop is also Cascade and I'd estimate that its around 30 IBU and just pale malt.
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