Brambling home beauty

[prodigal2]

Ok so brew 2 in 2 days is using the whole of my 2008 hop harvest (50g of Brambling Cross), that my wife harvested and froze for me whilst I was away working. The recipe is based on the forum classic from DRB.
First off the hops where so resiny, I was very surprised and also pleased with the strong BX aroma coming from them.

Brambling Home Beauty
20L
3.5kg pale malt
225g amber
200g malted wheat

BX 20g AA???? FWH
BX 30g Flame out steep

Nottingham

Mashed @66C
batch sparged

I have just had a look in the FV and it is smelling amazing. I used Nottingham as I wanted to let the hops read, and I felt that S04 was the wrong choice, and I only have couple of US 05 which I am saving for a couple of cascade beers.

Whilst i was letting this cool I weighed out my next ale, Traquaire House ale which will be done either tomorrow or monday. Yup you guessed it I'm panic brewing, I'm of for the next 3-4weeks and then I'm not back home till January. So if this beer is a tad hoppy it has plenty of time mellow out.

[Garth]

Good luck there Prod, looks like you're on a beer making mission,

sounds a good 'un, especially as they're home-grown

Must try another BX recipe, last one knacked up due to dodgy yeast

[prodigal2]

Cheers Garth. There is so many hops and so much malt and yet so little time. I keep getting brew paralysis on what to do, so I have taken choice away and I'm just brewing and getting the tiredness out of my bones. Making beer is the perfect de-stresser.

[Garth]

Making beer is the perfect de-stresser.

'tis so true, I'm usually ready for a couple of hours on the couch after a brew sesh, but as knackered as you are, you feel as if you've achieved something.

I've been brewing like crazy recently to get the stocks up for Chrimbo and while it's nice and cool, and with the new gear I'm 'forced' to make big batches, shame eh?

[Vossy1]

Glad to hear the brew went well p2

THA is lovely!

[spearmint-wino]

Let us know how those homegrown hops work out

[Matt]

You are flying there soldier

There's a rumour that the January forum meet-up is in northern Spain?

[awalker]

Whilst i was letting this cool I weighed out my next ale, Traquaire House ale which will be done either tomorrow or monday. .

Thats a lovely beer, made it last year for Xmas.
Still have a few bottles about and it keeps getting better
Good luck

[prodigal2]

Whilst i was letting this cool I weighed out my next ale, Traquaire House ale which will be done either tomorrow or monday. .

Thats a lovely beer, made it last year for Xmas.
Still have a few bottles about and it keeps getting better
Good luck

Yes I made it last year too, and it does get better and better. The hardest problem once its good, after 3-4 months is leaving a few to one side for later.

[Madbrewer]

How do you assess how much Hops to add? I am assuming you didn't dry them out? For recipe formulation, do you assume a mid-point for alpha acid (say 5%) then assume they're 5 times heavier with their moisture content & calculate a recipe somewhere around 32 estimated IBU's giving a buffer either way for inaccuracies?

I have some hops in garden but don't ever really brew with them!

[prodigal2]

Yes these where dried out, about a month ago and then frozen by my wife.I should also point out this is my first every brew with my own hops.

As far as working out AA, I used my previous Brambling Beauty as a reference. My hops seemed to very resiny though, if I have over hoped I will just leave the beer for a month longer in the cellar. Also BX seem to have a AA in the 6-9% teritory from what I understand.
Only time will tell its a bit of a learning curve/guesstimate world. And I will have to wait another 12 months till I can experiement again
Also as we know the enviromental conditions play a big part too.

P2

[Madbrewer]

sort of brewing like what they did historcally .... ? I guess a handfull of this and a handfull of that potentially made good beer, could have been hit and miss too ....

[prodigal2]

sort of brewing like what they did historcally .... ? I guess a handfull of this and a handfull of that potentially made good beer, could have been hit and miss too ....

I guess so but unlike the historical brewers before the advent of AA testing ph and such. I do not have neither the knack or the experience of dealing with hops without knowing what AA% is.... I think with home grown hops all you can do is make a educated guess and if it ain't right learn from the experience. personaly it is all part of the fun of brewing.

[prodigal2]

OK so I bottled today, Smells great, it has the honey fruity nose of brambling beauty. on tasting there is bitterness plenty and a good amount of aroma. I think using Nottingham 'may' of been a bad choice, as the malty flavour is a tad light In fact if truth be told its a bit too clean. Oh well we will see what the next 2 months in the cellar do to it. If all else fails I will palm it of on my lager drinking chums(cue chill haze )