04/01/2009 - Boadicea's Shield

[coatesg]

Lining this one up for tomorrow - first brew of the new year!

Based on Worthington White Shield, but using Boudicea instead of Challenger:

4.7kg MO
280g Crystal
550g Golden Syrup (replacing invert sugar)

Hops:
40g Boudicea (7.6%) - 90min
25g Northdown (7.9%) - 90min
20g Northdown - 15min

Using the harvested yeast cake from the last brew I did which has been in the fridge for a week or two - it's the Brakspear yeast from Oxford Gold.

Will sort out the water tonight using Graham's water calculator and get the mash on early tomorrow if I can

[prolix]

not used either of those hops Graham, hope it all goes well. be interested if it resembles the white shield

[coatesg]

Finished with 23L at 1058 - a little under what I planned, but I can live with that

[prolix]

I make it you got nearly 80% brewhouse that is no slouch, I have had some in the low 60's

[coatesg]

Hmm! Must have cacked up my calculations then! (I blame the early (well -ish) start today)

Still, with any luck, it'll drop down to give about 5.7% which is in the right ballpark.

[coatesg]

I bottled this one tonight, and the FG was 1008 - way lower than expected!! Which gives me a rather potent 6.6% ish!! It's exceptionally dry, strong, and very bitter. This is not a session ale...

[adm]

Those reused yeast cakes tend to be quite aggressive as to how low they'll go. I guess all those yeasties get hungry and compete for every last molecule of sugar.