Brewday 23/03/07 Elderflower Ale

[delboy]

Did you check out the link i left for you on tubbys brew day post?
Don't forget your hop strainer thats one of my favorite f-ups.

[louthepoo]

Yeah i saw that link, i've been on that site before! I like his mash tun.

well its boiling away nicely now, it has made a bit of a mess when it blubbed over the sides, down the kitchen units onto the floor, the dog didn't seem to mind it though!

gotta get this finished in 2hrs before SWMBO comes back from work! She hates the smell and mess of brewing so its all hands on deck when the boiling has finished!

[delboy]

good luck with the rest of it. be sure and let me know if the elderflowers added that same flavor as champion to the brew (were they youngs by any chance?).

[louthepoo]

the elderflowers are from Hamstead Home Brew in West Bromwich, dont know where they got them from, they've got their own label on them.

This is turning out to be a bad brew day! 45 mins into the boil and i realised i forgot to put the hops in!!!

I've got them in now but the wort is down to 20 litres already! i'll end up with a mini mash the way this is going! and to think i could have had loads of it left over after sparging!!

If this beer tastes anything like acceptable i'll be happy!

[bitter_dave]

Lou, if you are worried about boiling it down too low only boil the hops for 45 mins to an hour. Most of the bitterness should be extracted in this time.

It's also perfectly acceptable to adjust the quantity at the end by adding water.

Keep going! Don't let this brew defeat you

[UserDeleted]

45 mins into the boil and i realised i forgot to put the hops in!!!

Well Bung them all in, add a few more for good measure and boil for 60 minutes. That way its only a 15 minute longer boil than normal. Have you thrown away the mash then as you can always drain a bit more out and top up the boiler. 24 to 20L is a bit of a fierce boil, although you can top it up ideally you want to keep the evaporation rate below12% an hour

[Andy]

lou - WTF are you doing ?

[bitter_dave]

Well Bung them all in, add a few more for good measure and boil for 60 minutes.

... actually that's probably safer than the 45 minutes to an hour I suggested above.

[bitter_dave]

Don't go panicing because your wife is about to come home and you haven't finished brewing either - your brew is far more important

[delboy]

right im not going to wish you luck again, everytime i do something seems to go wrong .

[louthepoo]

Its the brew day from hell

Put more hops in and boiled for a further 40 mins, only got 17 litres out! its all evaporated over my walls and ceiling!!

I thought cock ups like i had today were for the first virgin brew! i know i'm not experienced but its taking the mickey.

at least swmbo isn't in for another hour now, got the brew chilling outside with wet towels over it, shouldn't take long as there not much to cool down

[Matt]

What's your gravity Lou? After the long boil I should think its quite high, so don't forget you can top up, as has been said above.

[louthepoo]

its cooling down as we speak, i'll check it when it gets down. if its high it'll get watered down, if not, i'll drink it a lot quicker than my other brews!

[louthepoo]

lou - WTF are you doing ?

Not paying it enough attention! I can assure you i wont be making these mistakes again......I'll make whole new ones!!!

[bitter_dave]

Don't be too down about it Lou, these things happen. It took me a few brews before I ironed out the process, and I've got loads to learn.

One thing I would say is that all the problems seemed to start with the mash temp, which just goes to show that moving towards using an insulated mash tun is a good move as such fluctuations are impossible.

Go and have a beer