Brewed 30 May:
4kg Maris Otter and 260g Crystal in the mash with 40g WGV (6.7%) and 50g Fuggles (5.5%) whole boil and 15g WGV at switch off.
Additions: 520g Golden Syrup, 30g Molasses, 10g Brewers Caramel in the boil for the last 30 min.
First things first. The alkalinity test and water treatment with CRS (Thanks to DaaB and I think Steve and LJ for the kit. DaaB, you need to send me the bill.)
Shiny new mash tun preheating (crappy tap has now been replaced with one that does not leak)Nice and gently, Doughing in. Smells great!
The sparge. Since this brew, I have refined my sparge set up. It no longer looks like something from steptoe's yard.First runnings. Surprisingly clear, not sure how that happened.
Checking the SG during the sparge. Stopped a little early at 1.008 as it was difficult to read the hydrometer in the bottle. My wife broke the hydro. jar! (can't bring myself to use ridiculously long acronyms like SWMBO. The sort of person that prefers these acronyms remind me of these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVIvf16WSHs Sorry, no offense intended)Boiling like a good'un with the WGV and Fuggles. (smells even better!)
Late additions. Golden syrup, molasses and brewers caramel for colour.Boiler off with the last 15g of WGV and cooler. (cooler has now been modified so that all coils are covered by the wort)
Boiled and cooled, straining into the FV.Aerated to within an inch of it's life and back again! The Wyeast 1098 starter goes in at an OG of 1056. (a bit strong as the final quantity was a little short and my mash efficiency is higher than the recipe.)
Aaaaaand.....................................Relax.10 days later the beer goes into the barrel at a final gravity of 1.012 with 60g of brown sugar boiled in half liter of the beer with some gelatin added. (tastes good already) ABV 5.5%, 76% attenuation.
And finally, conditioned for four weeks, an outstanding pint of Ruddles county (even if i do say so myself)A few cock-ups:
1. A few liters short in the FV
2. Too strong, partly due to the low final quantity and partly because my mash/sparge efficiency is a consistent 90-93% and most recipe's assume lower. Luckily, Mr Line assumed a higher efficiency so I was not too far out.
3. Slightly high on the EBU despite lowering the hop weights by 20%, so a little on the bitter side.(55EBU, should be 45)
I have since brewed Townes IPA from Mr Ollosson's Real Ales For The Home Brewer (or should i say; mo'srafthb) This turned out far too strong and over bitter, The book assumes 74%efficiency and the hop utilisation is a bit high. Nice but heavy and bitter, not a light summer ale.
Also Adnams southwold ale, Oakham ales JHB and TTL all using Beer Alchemy, (Fantastic brewing program)so these are spot on ABV and EBU.
Any suggestions on improving on any of my methods would be appreciated.
Next up, Oakham Ales Bishop's Farewell.
And yes there are probably more!
