AG #9 - Speckled Rat Thunder

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Naich
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AG #9 - Speckled Rat Thunder

Post by Naich » Wed Dec 22, 2010 11:35 am

Grump grump grump. I broke my measuring cylinder for the hydrometer, the cat woke me up at 4am, scratching at the door until I fed it, couldn't get back to sleep, got up at 5.20am, snow everywhere, freezing my extremities off, why the hell don't I just buy it from Tesco? Bah.

The recipe is this:

23L, Efficiency 80%. Overnight mash at 68C, dropping to about 60C by morning.
OG: 1.060, FG 1.015, 5.8% ABV
EBC: 9, IBU: 20.

Pale Malt, Marris Otter (5 EBC): 5.090kg
Caramalt (30 EBC): 0.324kg

Cascade, AA 5.5% (90 Minutes): 12.4g
Cascade, AA 5.5% (30 Minutes): 17.2g
Cascade, AA 5.5% (15 Minutes): 26.7g
Cascade, AA 5.5% (0 Minutes): 18.7g

1/2 Whirlfloc tab at 15 minutes, Safale US-05 yeast, rehydrated.

Obligatory grain shot:
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Why am I out here at 5.30am in the snow?
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Spargey Spargey, boil and bubble... I scooped up the hot break gunk:
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and put it in a glass to see what I'm actually removing from the boil. After 1/2 an hour it was looking pretty nasty:
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And after an hour it looked like this:
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Does that look yummy or what? I did briefly consider getting a syringe and reclaiming the inch of clear wort from that bit in the middle...

But that's about it really. I didn't take a picture of the finished wort because I didn't take an OG reading because I didn't take a sample because my measuring cylinder was broken. There was too much froth to lob the hydrometer in the wort, the only thing tall enough to take a sample with was a pint glass (the measuring cylinder only needs 170ml) and I didn't want to lose a pint of wort. The previous 8 brews have all been within 1 degree of the predicted OG, and I'm really not that bothered. And I was grump grump grumping away at being cold and covering the kitchen floor with crud.

But I now have 21L of bubbling, lovely smelling beer on the way and time is dimming the memory of the how grumpy I got while making it. By the time I start drinking it I might have actually cheered up a bit :)

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Re: AG #9 - Speckled Rat Thunder

Post by monkeyboy » Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:18 pm

love the pint of gunk. in my student days i'd have drunk that :)
Fermenting: AG#22 San Diego IPA
Drinking: Probably.

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Re: AG #9 - Speckled Rat Thunder

Post by WishboneBrewery » Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:43 pm

Thats not a Grain shot, thats a Malt-Target... maybe even a Malt-Tit!

Sounds like a good one, lots of cascade, can't go wrong :)

No need to remove the froth really.

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Re: AG #9 - Speckled Rat Thunder

Post by Naich » Thu Dec 23, 2010 11:47 am

Cor! A malt tit - combining two of my favourite hobbies :)

I'm hoping this one is OK. It's still very active after 4 days and the last time this happened it was an infection that ruined the beer. I'm hoping it's the higher OG meaning it's taking longer for the yeast to get it down to the FG. Does it work like that? This is the highest gravity beer I've brewed.

I realise that removing the froth is a bit of a pointless exercise, but it gives me something to do with my hands while I'm waiting for the boil to start properly. It's also interesting to see exactly what is in the gunk. I did think about trying it out on the kids... :)

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Re: AG #9 - Speckled Rat Thunder

Post by Naich » Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:18 pm

Wow! Cascade. Yum. I think I'm going to dry hop with Cascade too - what an brilliant flavour.

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Re: AG #9 - Speckled Rat Thunder

Post by Naich » Mon Jan 03, 2011 10:09 pm

Kegged it up and it tastes great. I love Cascade. I reckon it's about 6.2% ABV, so it's bordering on tramp juice :)

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