My First AG - Black Sheep Best Bitter

[Rubbery]

I've been brewing kits and extract for 2 years now and am ready to jump into my first AG brew. I will put up pictures of my process in a few posts - any advice on improvements would be welcome.

I decided to base it on the Black Sheep Best Bitter recipe in BYOBRA, but I have fiddled with it a little bit to match what I have in stock...

Fermentables

• Pale Malt = 3340 grams
• Torrefied Wheat = 250 grams
• Crystal Malt = 200 grams
• Black Malt= 8 grams

Hops

• Challenger = 21 grams @ 90 mins
• Fuggle= 13 grams @ 90 mins
• Golding = 8 grams @ 90 mins
• Fuggle = 14 grams @ 10 mins
• Irish Moss= 3 grams @ 10 mins

 
Yeast

• Wyeast 1469 - W Yorkshire - Timothy Taylor's

Final Volume:23Litres
Original Gravity:1.037
Final Gravity:1.009
Alcohol Content:3.6%ABV
Total Liquor:32.1Litres
Mash Liquor:9.5Litres
Mash Efficiency:75%
Bitterness:35
EBUColour:18EBC

[Rubbery]

I'm using a Wyeast 1469 smack pack (West Yorkshire = Timothy Taylor's), so I want to propagate and split it first to keep down costs. I'll bulk it up first in 4L water and 400g dry malt extract, bottle some and pitch the rest in my first AG brew.

4 days later the starter has brewed out:


The SG is 1010, so ok to bottle:


Poured nearly half the liquid away to concentrate the yeast, then stirred and ready for bottling:

 
Crown tops on:


Labelled and ready for the fridge:


I have kept nearly a litre back for my first brew.

[Redbloke]

Excellent way of splitting the yeast

[Rubbery]

I have hard water, so am going to use CRS, 50ml in 35L according to my calculations


Turning water into liquor


Tick it off on my brewing schedule


While the liquor is heating up I can weigh out the fermentables


Temperature up to 80C, so 9.8L into the mash tun. Check strike temperature = 73C, so add grains immediately and mash in. Check temperature again =65C, so add more liquor to get 67C. Lid on, sorry no time for pictures.


pH test on mash - looks like 5.8 to me. Hmm... that is a bit high.


ok, time to walk the dog...

[Rubbery]

Aldo


hmmm... no Black Sheep here

[Spud395]

Good pic's, seems you're on top of everything here, good luck with No.1

[Rubbery]

I have chosen to batch sparge, so after 90 min top up with 11.5L liquor @ 80C and stir. Wait a few minutes and run off (first jug recirculated)


Fill up tun again with remaining hot liquor. Transfer run-off back to the empty HLT (now the boiler) and turn the heater on. After 20 mins run-off from the mash tun again and transfer to the boiler again. Compare the two batch run offs.


Weigh out the bittering hops while the boiler is coming up to temperature


Boiler is nearly boiling so add the hops


oops nearly forgot the DLS - good job I had it on the brewing schedule!


Check the pH again - I'm worried it was too high earlier - looks better now, but that is to be expected (I think!)


10 mins to go, so add the late hops and Irish Moss. Chiller in to sterilise.


Boiler off. Chiller on. Don't waste the hot water - that can be used to sterilise a few things


After half an hour the temperature is down to 35C, so move the chiller to the FV and run off the wort


The boiler is empty


The FV is full - well 22.5L is close to the 23L brew length


1038 - spot on!


Pitch the yeast and 6 hours later...


Off to the pub now for a well earned drink!

[Rubbery]

Thanks for the comments. Forgot to say, brewday was on Thursday, I am just uploading the pictures now. 2 days on I have a good fermentation going on at 26C, maybe a bit too warm, but I can smell buttery pears/bananas - is this good?

[coatesg]

26C is too high - it needs to be about 18-20C ideally - at higher temps you'll get excess ester production (hence bsanana and peardrops) and fusel alcohols which are both undesireable at high levels in a bitter

[Naich]

Nice brew day. I've found the strip pH testers to be all over the place. I once took about 6 readings, one after the other, and they each said something different. The interpretation of the colours changes depending on the light (e.g. artificial vs natural), and the reported pH changes with temperature. I think the correct answer is the one taken at the temperature of the thing you are measuring, but I've never found a definitive answer to which one is right. I've given up with them myself. If I ever have any spare cash I'll invest in an electronic one, but for now I'm not worrying about measuring pH.

[Rubbery]

coatesg, I have taken your advice and opened the door on the brewery (boiler room). I don't mind a bit of taste from the esters - not sure I want the fusel alcohols though.

Naich, I found that comparing the colours was very difficult. I thought I read somewhere that the pH strips were supposed to be read at standard temperature (20C), so I transferred the wort to a cold plate before taking the measurement. Anyway, I seem to have got a decent efficiency, so nothing went too far wrong.

[coatesg]

Hope it turns out OK - esters are fine in usual ferments in ales, but can become overpowering (especially banana I find - though curiously, I quite like it in other beers like weizens or belgian ales) - but the harsh solvent flavours from fusels is something else... The most important period for temperature control is the first few days when the yeast is growing - most of the funny compounds it can produce are generated then.

FWIW, 26C is Ok for some of the Belgian ale yeasts though (Saison especially) so that kind of temperature might be useful in the future.

[Rubbery]

The brewery is stable at 23C and fermentation is going well, no funny smells - just the co2. I think it will be ok.

yes, I shall have a go at some belgian beers when I have my process sorted. Also, I would like to try wheat beer, but know that needs low temperature.

[Rubbery]

I kegged this on Saturday after 8 days in the fermenter.

It looks about ready


OG less than 1010


Syphoned off the trub


Add some conditioning sugar


Cover with CO2, then vent the air and leave to condition


I have since moved it to the cellar to let it settle.

[gnutz2]

Looks like you have everything well under control there, i'm about to try my first all grain in a few days so can't wait.

I also work in masham (pronounced masam) where they brew black sheep and some theakstons too and I do enjoy drinking them although a lot of people in the town don't like it

Baz.