My Thrice Hopped Brew

[normanh]

Latest Brew comprises of the the following:-

Coopers Amber Malt - 2 Tins
1st Hops added 25 min boil in an old pressure cooker no pressure in a couple of litres of water
25g Apollo
25g Columbus
25g Willamtte
Wilkos yeast @ 72F brew made up to 5 gallons SG 1042, fermented for 12 days final SG 1010

2nd Hop addition - dry hopped for 3 days using 12g Apollo and 17g Columbus

3rd Hop addition into the barrel 12g Columbus and 12g Willemette in a nylon bag and 70g Priming sugar

Inital tasting at barrelling was lovely

Norman

[allanmb]

A few questions. Did you boil the hops in only the water? Out of curiosity, Why the second batch of dry hops in the barrel and not with the first lot?

[normanh]

Initial boil in water with a little amber malt thats all, I added the hops to the barrel just as a few commercial brewers have done in the past, its nothing new. I just like a good hopped brew and those were hops I had open from past brews and wanted to use them up as they have been in an airtight container for long enough.


Norman

[allanmb]

You will probably get better results for the hop boil if you have a larger percentage of your final volume. For a 23L batch I try and boil up around 15L with a whole tin of LME. Have a look in Wilcos, they have a great large stock pot around 20L

[normanh]

Thanks for the tip Allan, but I am gonna stick with the current technique as I dont have the capacity to handle larger volumes of hot liquids in respect of cooling them down. Had no problems in getting the hop bitternes out on a limited volume boil to date.

Norman

[normanh]

Just pulled my first glass, a little to heady very lively out of the barrel , good hop aroma from the glass and nice hoppy taste, very pleased with the brew, clean and fresh tasting. I was a little nervous as to whether I had actually over hopped but its fine to my taste. The beers settled very well in the barrel, I would say this is my best brew to date since joining the site to date. Not gassy at all even though it hasa strong head that lasts till the end of the glass.

Norman

[normanh]

I have a beer where I need to pour into a 2 pint glass to get a pint otherwise I just drinking halfs each time oh dear , tastes real good.
Norman