I have mainly been brewing very Pale Ales with solely Maris Otter, or Stouts and Porters so I decided it was time for something in the middle.
I settled upon a standard Best Bitter, and named it after our one of our cats, who happens to be named after a church bell ringing method of the same name.
I aimed for a 25L brew length, so far I have always ended up a little short so upping the liquor quantities a bit more this time.
Stedmans Best Bitter
Grain Bill
3.8Kg Maris Otter Pale Malt
250g Crystal Malt
150g Torrified Wheat
40g Chocolate Malt
Hops
30g Challenger 60 mins
10g East Kent Golings 10 mins
The Obligatory Grain Shot
The Hops
I heated 14L Strike Water in the Boiler and then Added 13L to the Tun (1 Litre dead Space in the Boiler)
In go the grains and a good stir
Time for a beer I think, this is the result of my first All Grain Brew Day, GW's Exmoor Gold mmm lovely
A quick stock take, make sure we are OK for XMAS
About 22L TTL, 23L Santas Stout, 19L GW's Exe Valley Spring Beer, 10L GW's Exmoor Gold, I should be OK
Make sure the Mash is going OK, quick check of Temp and pH
That all looks OK, a little on the warm side but never mind.
60 minute Mash complete, time to recirculate some of the wort making use of my custom made foil tray which once contained some Tear n Share Garlic Bread, so as not to disturb the Grain Bed.
Get the sparging going, 24L of Hot Liquor in the HLT ready to sparge with.
First runnings going into the boiler with the FWH already in.
Wondering at this point why I didn't get a slightly larger boiler, it's not even boiling yet.
Boil complete and no disasters, I forgot to take any piccies of the cooling as was sidetracked by a bacon sarnie.
Wort all cooled and settled and running off into the FV. SO4 yeast sprinkled in as well
Looks a bit like some dodgy gravy, never mind it will clear eventually, and if it doesn't I shall use a wooden tankard so I can't see it.
Hit 1042 OG, which is just above the 1040 I was aiming for.
All nicely in the FV, I got a full 25 Litres, first time ever, looks to be well aerated.
All in all a good brew day, no disasters, and it's taking less and less time each attempt. Start to finish 5 hours this time.
