Brewday 31/07/2008 - Something Ale

[Jymbo]

Brewed this today:

Target OG: 1044
Target Efficiency: 65%
Bittering: 30 IBU
Brewlength: 23 litres


Grain

Maris Otter: 4.5 Kg
Crystal Malt: 390g
Wheat Malt: 150g
Amber Malt: 110g
Chocolate Malt: 20g

Hops

11g Challenger (7.1%): 90 mins
10g Northdown (7.9%): 90 mins
18g Fuggles (3.7%): 90 mins

10g EKG (5.4%): 15 mins
10g EKG (5.4%): 8 mins
15g EKG (5.4%): 2 mins

5g Irish Moss @ 10 mins

Yeast

Wyeast London ESB (1968) - 1 Litre starter

Mash at 66 C
Ferment at 20-21 C

Reduced 2 litres of unhopped wort in a saucepan at start of boil and readded to boil.

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As it happened I changed my water treatment for this brew and my efficiency moved up from 65% to 71% so I ended up with 23 litres at 1048 instead of 1044. The recipe started out as an attempt at a clone of Belfast Ale but I changed it so much that it bears no real resemblance so I'll name it if it turns out to be any good. It's bubbling away in the fermenter now.

The brew was pretty uneventful apart from the wort bubbling over on the hob and forming honeycombe on the ceramic surface. SWMBO was not pleased.

[ECR]

Sounds good

[Toast]

Fast work to finish and get it bubbling so soon! Nice one. Quite a busy recipe: lots of hops of differing types! Hope it's a good one.

[Jymbo]

This yeast is pretty fast - it was down to 1014 this morning after less than 3 days at 20C. It's also very flocculant - already starting to clear. I hope there's enough left in suspension for secondary fermentation.

The Wyeast website recommends a thorough diacetyl rest for this strain - I haven't had to do this before - how long do it usually take? Anyone any experience with this yeast?

[Jymbo]

Think I'll be tipping this down the drain - my efficiency increased from 65% to 71% but I neglected to up the IBUs accordingly. To make things worse the yeast is a very low attenuator so the result is that the BU:GU ratio is far too low and the brew tastes far too sweet with hardly any bitterness to balance it.

Back to the drawing board......

[Hogarth]

Sorry to hear that, Jymbo. How about doing an over-hopped brew and blending them to taste?

May I ask, why did you boil the 2 litres of wort in a saucepan? Is it to caramelize it?

[Jymbo]

Yes, a number of the members use this technique to give the ale a mild caramel flavour. I haven't tried it before so I can't really comment on how it tastes in a well balanced brew.

[Matt]

Think I'll be tipping this down the drain - my efficiency increased from 65% to 71% but I neglected to up the IBUs accordingly. To make things worse the yeast is a very low attenuator so the result is that the BU:GU ratio is far too low and the brew tastes far too sweet with hardly any bitterness to balance it.

Back to the drawing board......

Jymbo, could you re-pitch say with a sachet of Nottingham to chew up a little more attenuation? Shame to ditch it.

[maxashton]

Or you could boil a load of hops in a couple of litres of the finished beer.
Cool and repitch.
You risk infection, sure, but if you're tipping the batch anyway.......

[Duncndisorderly]

save throwing it away, sell it to chav kids for a quid for 2 litres, if it contains alcohol they will drink it, i certainly used too

[maxashton]

So long as HM Customs and Excise don't cotton on

[Jymbo]

Bit late now for salvaging it - I need the keg for the brew I made today - either that or I buy another keg.

Wait a minute, I've a (much) younger brother who's a student....problem solved.