19th Jan Liquid Breakfast Brewday

Seveneer · Post by **Seveneer** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 6:26 pm

I had a day that went similarly back in the summer. Same problem with the boiler. Took me hours to finish the boil.

That beer was my Christmas Beer and is the best beer I've ever made.

Don't write it off.

/Phil.

PieOPah · Post by **PieOPah** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:18 pm

It would seem that I have my best ever efficiency with this brew - 88%

Okay, I have no real idea how much wort I collected. Also, I haven't really included the cereal in my calculations. BUT, I do have a stronger beer than anticipated....

As long as nothing else goes wrong, I do potentially have a good beer on my hands. I haven't given up on it. I just hope that m bad luck has run out..........

SteveD · Post by **SteveD** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:55 pm

Horror brew days just make you appreciate the good ones more

plus you learn something. Beer is resilient stuff, I bet it turns out great.

My first 15 gal brew (using 5 gal equipment - 2 mashes and 3 boils) was named 'Ordination Ale' should have been 'Ordeal Ale'

I had a 10 gal brew that I named 'Disasterbrau' after the events of the brew day

I brewed with pulled lower back muscles - 'Lumbarlager' was the result. Suffering for one's art.

Oh yeah...Guinness - Stuck mash. Overcome with a bit of violence, cursing, banging, and stirring.

My last brewday was fraught with difficulty. 2x5gals Windsor/Safale S-04
They've finally given in and cleared down nicely in the shed.

All the above brewdays sapped the will to live but the beers all turned out fine in the end.

PieOPah · Post by **PieOPah** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:49 am

Well, it is fermenting away nicely although the krausen is a horrible dark crusty looking colour. Nothing unexpected though as most of my stouts look like this

Not going to touch it for at least a week.

With so much crud in the brew, I wonder whether or not it is okay to save the yeast still? Shouldn't imagine it being a problem...

Orfy · Post by **Orfy** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:41 am

If you're brewing in a bucket then you can skim the crud off. Just use a sanitised large spoon.

PieOPah · Post by **PieOPah** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:44 am

In the past I have never skimmed. Never noticed any detrimental effect to my beer.

With all the bad luck I have had with this brew, I don't intend to touch it until it is finished. Not going to risk anything from this point on.

Orfy · Post by **Orfy** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:47 am

I've never skimmed either, just an option.

moorsd · Post by **moorsd** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:33 pm

I'm pretty sure the pro's and con's of skimming have been discussed here before?

I always skim the trub off the top to stop it sinking back into the wort, if you've ever tasted the stuff, you'll realise that it's not something you want back in your beer...yuk!

Commercial breweries skim all the time, so it must have some benefit, sanitation is obviously important, but I don't think it's something to be paranoid about!

PieOPah · Post by **PieOPah** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:39 pm

Okay, I Have skimmed the head. Was a pathetic little thin head but again this is probably to be expected considering everything in the beer.

Will check it again tomorrow morning.

SteveD · Post by **SteveD** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:15 pm

moorsd wrote:I'm pretty sure the pro's and con's of skimming have been discussed here before?

I always skim the trub off the top to stop it sinking back into the wort, if you've ever tasted the stuff, you'll realise that it's not something you want back in your beer...yuk!

Commercial breweries skim all the time, so it must have some benefit, sanitation is obviously important, but I don't think it's something to be paranoid about!

I skim the trub and leave the clean foam, for reasons stated by moorsd...it's vile. Sterile slotted spoon does the trick. Slotted so you don't lose any beer

PieOPah · Post by **PieOPah** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 7:14 am

I was really unhappy with the beer in the condition it was in. I knew that there was a lot of crap floating around in it so, I did the only thing left...

I have now racked the beer to my Better Bottle fermenter. The amount of crud at the bottom of the original fermenter was amazing. I have lost about 7 pints of beer to this

Now the beer is in my Better Bottle, I can see what is going on

The crud has settled out (very quickly) and now accounts for a couple of pints worth. The main difference is that now when I draw of a sample, I'm not chewing on grain for the next 10 minutes.

The beer still has plenty of body. It is a lot more bitter than I like, but this will mellow out.

After all the problems, it looks like I will have a decent beer after all. Just not as much as I expected (although less is better than none!)

PieOPah · Post by **PieOPah** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:59 am

Think I'm going to stick to a couple of fairly normal beers for my next few brews. Looking forward to brewing my Dubbel. Just don't know when I am going to have the time (may have to book some more holiday in the near future!)

Post by **Andy** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 2:40 pm

PoP - have you sampled the brew recently, how's it progressing ?

PieOPah · Post by **PieOPah** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 2:50 pm

I did have a taste about a week ago and it was lovely. Sweeter than I anticipated although not in a negative way. I think the Hop Bitterness could do with mellowing out a little more but this may be okay now. Will probably have a pint tonight

SteveD · Post by **SteveD** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 3:49 pm

PieOPah wrote:I did have a taste about a week ago and it was lovely. Sweeter than I anticipated although not in a negative way. I think the Hop Bitterness could do with mellowing out a little more but this may be okay now. Will probably have a pint tonight

Let us know what it's like

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19th Jan Liquid Breakfast Brewday