Brewday 20th April - Old Ale, Burton Style

[SteveD]

Here we go....

Old Ale - Burton

This is a Pre WW1 interpretation of the beer that gave rise to the phrase 'Gone for a Burton' when a number of munitions workers were killed when the pub was bombed during an air raid.



7.17kg Maris Otter Pale Malt
312g Flaked Maize
468g White Sugar
31g Caramel

109g Fuggles - 90 mins
109g Goldings - 90 mins

Yeast - about 250g Hook Norton slurry

Target OG 1075. 52L liquor prepared and boiler set to fire up at 6.45am tomorrow.

Up at 7.45am. A couple of pics while waiting for strike heat in the boiler.

Fugggles...


Goldings...


Mashed in at 8.30am. Boiler at 77c, underlet 17L liquor, initial heat 68c, let drift down to 66c while stirring, testing. Was careful with CRS this time. 22ml in boiler + 9G DLS in grist gave PH 5.5 in mash. Better. Adjusted to 5.2 with 5ml lactic acid. mashed 90mins...quick routine starch test, as usual and.... Non convertus est!

Uh oh! THE CALAMITY! Can only think that 77c was too hot and weakened the enzymes even though mashing in only took 5 mins and that it would have been in the safe zone even sooner than that. Stir, wrap it up again, and 30 mins later it was better but not totally converted. Same again, and 30 mins later again it was done, mash temp then 62c-ish which probably helped.

Outdoor setup in front of prospective brewshed


Outdoor brewstation


Sparge Liquor temp required to hit...


...this grain bed temp.


Monitoring grain bed temp


First wort - clear. Note, hop strainer


Hot break, or is it?


Just a few hops, then


Hop boil


Preparing evil adulterants - Andy, your secret's out!


In they go..note look of distaste


Darker wort now! Sterilising chiller


Assembling fermentation cooler


Wort in place


After 18 hrs...Quatermass And The Yeast!


After 44hrs...Anaerobic ferment..make that alcohol! Note, there's about 3 inches depth of yeast


Currently changing 12L of water about 3 times a day to keep ferment under 20c, what with it being warm out.

[Seveneer]

Doing something similar myself over the weekend Steve. Loook's very tasty

Unfortunately I'll be at work today but I'll be checking back for piccies from time to time

Hope it goes well.

/Phil.

[eskimobob]

Target OG 1075. 52L liquor prepared and boiler set to fire up at 6.45am tomorrow...I'll get up at 8.

Are you up yet steve?? - It's gone 8
Have fun today

[Andy]

Nice one Steve, DON'T FORGET TO FIT THE MANIFOLD!

[SteveD]

Phil: Great minds think alike. Wouldn't mind a chance to taste it

Andy: Thanks, that's much appreciated. Manifold was in place last night. Never again!

Bob: I'm up. Mashed in at 8.30am. Boiler at 77c, underlet 17L liquor, initial heat 68c, let drift down to 66c while stirring, testing. Was careful with CRS this time. 22ml in boiler + 9G DLS in grist gave PH 5.5 in mash. Better. Adjusted to 5.2 with 5ml lactic acid. Piccies....they'd be the same old same old. Buckets, spinny, wort boiling, etc. Same as porter brewday pics...but outside..ok..one or two maybe.

...Right. 35 mins to go, off to set up brewing engine and get ready for run off & sparge.

[DRB]

Nice day for it ,how long do you mature your beer at 1075 before slurping.

[oblivious]

Looks good

[Seveneer]

So, how did it go, Steve? I would hope that it all went well and is fermenting away by now.

I've been to see Di and have bought a load of stuff so I'll be doing mine tomorrow. I'm using a similar recipe but with EKG's rather than Fuggles. And, of course, I'm doing 10 gallons

/Phil.

[SteveD]

So, how did it go, Steve? I would hope that it all went well and is fermenting away by now.

I've been to see Di and have bought a load of stuff so I'll be doing mine tomorrow. I'm using a similar recipe but with EKG's rather than Fuggles. And, of course, I'm doing 10 gallons

/Phil.

Yeast pitched at 4.30pm. Went fine except for one totally unexpected calamity which I hope I got over. I hit target gravity but at 22.5L in the FV, not 24L. Extraction efficiency was ok, but after that I didn't bother with brewhouse efficiency saving measures. The heavy hop load soaked up quite a bit, and I didn't bother to sparge them.

I took a load of pics for a laugh which I'll post when I get a minute, and give more detail. Got to eat, then get out to a gig.

Did you get an askance look from Paul, if it were he? Did he wonder why there's been a run on caramel?

[Seveneer]

No, Paul wasn't there. I had a good chat with Di though.

Missing target volume's not such a calamity is it? I generally formulate for 55l and aim for that in the kettle. This tends to give me 50l in the FV. It's good enough for me.

/Phil.

[SteveD]

No, Paul wasn't there. I had a good chat with Di though.

Missing target volume's not such a calamity is it? I generally formulate for 55l and aim for that in the kettle. This tends to give me 50l in the FV. It's good enough for me.

/Phil.

Well, that depends on how much you miss by!! After I added back the FV full of post-aeration foam, once it condensed back to wort, I had near on 23L. I'd calculated on finishing on 24L in the FV but this time I forgot that the extra quantity of hops would soak up more, so that's where the missing litre or so went I don't generally give a t0ss if it's out a litre or two here or there.

That wasn't the calamity! No, the calamity could have been a REAL calamity. Might still be... Any guesses?

[SteveD]

Nice day for it ,how long do you mature your beer at 1075 before slurping.

It's not so much the gravity but the hopping rate which determines maturation time. A strong mild at 1070 can be ready in as little as 6-8 weeks, whereas an proper IPA of the same strength would need 18 months!

This one I'd give 4-6 months.

[Seveneer]

That wasn't the calamity! No, the calamity could have been a REAL calamity. Might still be... Any guesses?

Well, now you're just teasing.

[Vossy1]

Glad to hear all went well SD

There's a run on strong ales this weekend, I'm doing a 1070 myself

[SteveD]

Cheers Vossy. What is your brew?

I've posted some brewday pics edited into the original post - The answer to the calamity question is revealed