18th Feb Brewing my Dubbel

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PieOPah

18th Feb Brewing my Dubbel

Post by PieOPah » Sun Feb 18, 2007 8:59 am

Well the brew day has officially started. Not quite as early as I would have liked (was enjoying sleep too much) but slightly earlier than anticipated. Got my mash water starting to heat up as of 7:45 (expected to be around 8).

Time to weigh out thouse grains and have my coffee - still need to wake up :)
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tangoman
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Post by tangoman » Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:03 am

WAKEY!! WAKEY!!

Have a good'n
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Jim
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Post by Jim » Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:05 am

Good luck with it, PoP!
NURSE!! He's out of bed again!

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PieOPah

Post by PieOPah » Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:08 am

When this beer was just a twinkle in my eye, it was named Dubbel Trubbel. Not a very original name but it was something that was easy.

The name has now taken a turn. It is inspirngly called Donkey Medicine.

Thanks to the little 'un first throwing in a toy donkey into my Mash Tun quickly followed by her recently used medicine spoon.

Not a great name but at least this one has meaning..... Unlike the randomness of most of my names :)
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PieOPah

Post by PieOPah » Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:50 am

Well I have hit my first hurdle. Nothing too major though....

I am sure I had ordered styrian goldings (amongst many others) but don't appear to have any. So, what will be a suitable alternative?

I have
Cascade 4.8% AA
Target 11% AA
Willamet 4% AA
Halletauer Hersbrucker 3.2% AA

Edit - a quick search reveals that the willamet should be suitable....
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PieOPah

Post by PieOPah » Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:02 am

Cheers DaaB. Found an old copy of beersmith still installed on my laptop and this usually lists alternatives and agrees with you/palmer :)

Slightly adjusted the amounts I need to use to take into account the different AA
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steve_flack

Post by steve_flack » Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:17 am

The Hallertau would also be in style for that type of beer.
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PieOPah

Post by PieOPah » Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:27 am

thanks Steve. Just cut up my Hop Block from the willamete though.

Something for me to consider for the next dubbel though :)
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Western Brewer

Post by Western Brewer » Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:27 am

Hope your brew day is going well. My temp has nearly dropped so will be strting my mash soon. Like you though, started much later than planned :?
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PieOPah

Post by PieOPah » Sun Feb 18, 2007 2:23 pm

Well, I have had a great brew day today. More than makes up for the disaster I had last time....

I hit most of my targets. The only thing I didn't hit was my gravity. Was way below what I was aiming for :(

Aiming for 1.075 and my last reading (just after boile had finished) was 1.064. I am expecting that with the evaporation during the cooling (since wort is still hot for a period of time!) that this will increase by a few points (I doubt I can gain an extra 11 points). On the plus side, I do have a lot more wort than I was hoping for. I've got around 25 litres (will be less when put into fermenter due to hops and trub loss) whereas I was aiming for around 19 litres.

Should have a good efficiency if my numbers are all correct. Will wait until it is in the fermenter before I work it out though :)

Cooling is almost finished so should be able to pitch my yeast fairly soon as well :)
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Andy
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Post by Andy » Sun Feb 18, 2007 2:41 pm

If you've got 25 litres out of a 19 litre recipe then you're going to have a lower gravity than expected, innit.
Dan!
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PieOPah

Post by PieOPah » Sun Feb 18, 2007 3:23 pm

Well the brew day is over and I ended up with 21 litres (aiming for 19.89).

My gravity was 1.062 was shooting for 1.075

This gives me an efficiency of 55% - not my best, but not my worst.

Should end up with a respectable 6.5% Dubbel at the end of the day. Just hope I can let this one mature enough to be at its best :D Yet again I am looking forward to that first pint :D
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PieOPah

Post by PieOPah » Sun Feb 18, 2007 7:55 pm

I suppose I could always boil for longer and then top up with water if need be.

I was thinking about the hops as well though...
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SteveD

Post by SteveD » Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:56 pm

Andy wrote:If you've got 25 litres out of a 19 litre recipe then you're going to have a lower gravity than expected, innit.
quite a bit lower.....out with the calculator....if you'd boiled down to 19.89L (was that an approximate figure? ;) ) you'd have had an OG of :drumrollsmiley: 1077.928606 - approximately, which isn't far off what you wanted. Mash was ok. Boil duration, or vigour, at fault.

20.666665L would have given you OG1075 on the nose.

Always better to have a lower volume of stronger that you can top up than an overflowing FV of understrength ale.

You didn't list your grain bill so it's hard to see wether your efficiency really was that low.
Last edited by SteveD on Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SteveD

Post by SteveD » Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:04 pm

DaaB wrote:Palmer lists Willamet as a replacement, they are also described as a seedless Fuggles, if you had them Fuggles would also make a good replacement.
Yus. Styrian Goldings are Fuggles, but grown in Slovenia.
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