Brewday 23/03/07 Elderflower Ale

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
louthepoo

Post by louthepoo » Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:27 pm

i'm hearing you there, i'm making an insulated mash tun asap!

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Andy
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Post by Andy » Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:52 pm

Lou - write out a brewsheet with ingredients, mash liquor quantities and duration + hop quantity and boil times.... Get this prepared in advance and then it's all there infront of you.
Dan!

louthepoo

Post by louthepoo » Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:57 pm

will do next time!! I was actually watching alan partridge!! he distracted me...Dan.....Dan.....Dan.....Dan....etc

louthepoo

Post by louthepoo » Sat Mar 24, 2007 10:24 am

Actually it didn't turn out as bad as i thought,

The temperature eventually cooled down by 10:15pm!!! and that was sitting outside (need a wort cooler)

I topped up quantity to 20 litres and gravity was 1040, so i'm happy there.

The yeast starter was almost bursting the bottle when i opened it to put it in!

Fingers crossed it turns out ok!

tubby_shaw

Post by tubby_shaw » Sat Mar 24, 2007 10:35 am

Glad it's worked out for you LTP :D
I have a couple of observations FWIW that might help in the future.
I planned to make 20 litres of brew but so far i have 24 litres and the hydrometer reading is still 1028, it'll take 40 litres at this rate to sparge down to 1006!
Keep collecting until it gets down to around 1.010 even if your boiler is full, collect it in another vessel, so that when you loose so much due to evaporation from the boil you can top up with wort 8)
It is fairly safe in my experience to add these lower gravity runnings to the boil up until 20 minutes from the end of the boil.
Hope this helps you for the next brew :)

louthepoo

Post by louthepoo » Sat Mar 24, 2007 10:39 am

yeah i should have done that, I thought about that in the night when i woke up!! while there's still workable wort i should keep it, i will next time!

cheers Tubby/TS :D

louthepoo

Post by louthepoo » Sun Mar 25, 2007 12:21 pm

ha ha, yeah you're right, this thing is gonna take over me!! :D

Wez

Post by Wez » Sat Mar 31, 2007 6:30 pm

Lou, how has the Elderflower ale turned out? I'm going to do a 10 litre version to bottle on Friday and am interested to find out how it's ferementing down? My eff for the last brew was 66% so any advice for adjusting qty's of grain? Also how much water did you use for your mash for 20L?

louthepoo

Post by louthepoo » Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:47 pm

Wez wrote:Lou, how has the Elderflower ale turned out? I'm going to do a 10 litre version to bottle on Friday and am interested to find out how it's ferementing down? My eff for the last brew was 66% so any advice for adjusting qty's of grain? Also how much water did you use for your mash for 20L?
I dont know how to calculate for efficiency so i cant tell you sorry :oops:
There's still so much about this homebrewing that i dont know about yet, i'm learning a little bit every time i brew it and drink it. Not having anybody i know that brews AG aswell makes it harder! Feel a bit of a dill asking simple questions on here all the time so i wait to see if anything crops up!

I've just Kegged for secondary fermentation (FG 1012) and had a little taste, it tastes really nice although maybe a bit less on the quantity of elderflower would have been beneficial. I used dried pre packed elderflower so i dont know if this is stronger than the stuff you pick yourself!

Not turned out the disatser i thought it might have!

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