First AG brew day.. first own recipe..

[Scooby]

What do you do with the spent chips? Perhaps you should visit the smoker thread in the
tap room, I reckon they would make good smoke

[NickK]

might have to get a prop, whats the little soil pot things?

The little trays are made by Sutton. They come with little compressed hard peat discs in the bottom (these are very common in garden centres) then when you add water they expand to that size, plant seed and then sit back..

[Garth]

aha thought so, was reading about those earlier on, I'll be having some of them then

This will be my first time with seeds, my plant last year was already grown on from a mate.

[NickK]

aha thought so, was reading about those earlier on, I'll be having some of them then

This will be my first time with seeds, my plant last year was already grown on from a mate.

The seed only needs to be a few milimetres deep (ie just under the soil. It may take some time to germinate at a steady 27 or so degC. The seed expands and the root then drops (you'll not see this) and then you'll see a white loop appear then the plant will pull the initial leaves out of the seed and raise them into the light.

You will need a light on them and give them a good 12 hours a day. Also watering - the need to be moist but not water logged.

[NickK]

What do you do with the spent chips? Perhaps you should visit the smoker thread in the
tap room, I reckon they would make good smoke

Hehe smoked salmon.. unfortunately I will not have the space to smoke using them.

[prodigal2]

I would of thought a 20 min boil in a pressure cooker would have them ready for the next batch of beer.

[NickK]

I would of thought a 20 min boil in a pressure cooker would have them ready for the next batch of beer.

Compounds are extracted from oak during the ageing. If you boil them between you may be able todo a two but the boiling will also cause an extraction effect (also possibly destroying the very compounds needed) but it's worth looking into. I'm also assuming that the subsequent uses would need to be longer to get the compounds from deeper in the cube.

[boingy]

The compressed plant things are called Jiffy 7's:

http://www.grogardenproducts.co.uk/jiff ... fy7ji.html

[prodigal2]

I would of thought a 20 min boil in a pressure cooker would have them ready for the next batch of beer.

Compounds are extracted from oak during the ageing. If you boil them between you may be able todo a two but the boiling will also cause an extraction effect (also possibly destroying the very compounds needed) but it's worth looking into. I'm also assuming that the subsequent uses would need to be longer to get the compounds from deeper in the cube.

Oak barrels that are used within the brewing industry are "usually" high pressure steam cleaned. ANd yes oak only has a certain life span, as in the port or sherry barrels that then get shipped on to be used with whiskeys, when they have got all of the availible tannins out of the oak.
One other use would be to soak the oak chips in a Bourbon or a whiskey to impart another flavour profile.

[NickK]

I'd be interested if you have any additional references or book suggestions on oak ageing.

I remember reading options to sterilise when researching the french oak:
a) steamed - this seems a good option as the steaming is surface level. The idea is to use a standard steamer rather than a pressure steam jet - I can't help thinking of the experience of using my garden water jet, great for cleaning patios and will cut the wood right off windows )
b) soak in a spirit with a ABV of 40% (which I do with my aeration stone - Remmy Martin).

I've also heard of boiling the french oak first to remove the initial harsh tannins when preparing for wine.

I'd be interested in attempting a peaty whisky presoak too.. that would give quite an interesting result - also a Laphroig smokey brew would also be interesting. It's a pity that English Oak isn't classed as being 'good'.. I can't believe old brews used wood from abroad..

[mctoon]

Nice Brew and pics, BTW the Naga looks a bit leggy

Heres my bonsai Numex Twiglight from last years crop, coming along nicely

[Shadoxhurst]

slightly off topic.. but I grew some Dorset Naga last year and they were a bit leggy too .. untill I put them under a couple of small flourescent tubes (from a fish tank). Oh and I had great fun taking the chillis into work and getting people into trying them .. he he he

[NickK]

Yep the original light died. I have a replacement incoming so that should help as the current light is enough to keep them alive but not to really give them enough to grow strong. I may get a small grow tent in the attic at a later date.

[NickK]

After seven days - an update is due So I have taken a gravity reading and an espresso cup's worth.

Gravity reading has shown that this has dropped from 1054 to 1012, 42 points or 5.5% ABV. Fermentation sounds like it's stopped or at least slowed heavily.

Now to the cup of 'espresso'



The taste is very different from the kit/extract I've tasted at this time. There's a definite young bitterness I noted with hopped extract, however the taste made by the grain is alot smoother, without artifact (twang) - just smooth honey, a little malt in the after taste and the taste of hops (not just the bitterness) with a warming of alcohol that doesn't overpower the taste at all (very surprised by this!).

It's still got ageing and conditioning to go but it states so fresh. With the 2oz of DME it should give 0.6%ABV for the secondary ferment so by the time the brew drops to 1007 then it'll be about the 6.4% ABV I was aiming for.

Part of this is also to test my theories with the "Scottish brew that cannot be named!" (open reference to Macbeth!) but I'll put my observations in that recipe thread.

Chilli update:
I now have a load of Naga's germinating as well as the Caldero Jalapenos.