Home Brew Forum

My plan today was to brew a HobGoblin clone, but it hasn't really turned out that way so far - events have been conspiring against me.

I was going to use Orfy's recipe, but had no chocolate malt (doh! used it all in the Imperial Stout), no carapils (but I had caramalt....which sounds similar....)

So I started weighing out the grain, and of course the battery in my scales died.....so I had to go to the garage to get another....but they didn't have any...so...

Anyway. I ended up with this recipe:

Old Nick
23l

Wort Volume Before Boil: 31.00 l
Wort Volume After Boil: 26.00 l
Volume Transferred: 23.00 l
Volume At Pitching: 23.00 l
Volume Of Finished Beer: 23.00 l
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.043 SG
Expected OG: 1.051 SG
Expected FG: 1.013 SG
Expected ABV: 5.0 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 34 IBU
Expected Color (using Morey): 8.4 SRM
BU:GU ratio: 0.71
Boil Duration: 90.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 18 degC


Fermentables
Ingredient Amount %
UK Pale Ale Malt 4.877 kg 84.4 %
UK Amber Malt 0.250 kg 4.3 %
UK Medium Crystal 0.250 kg 4.3 %
UK Caramalt 0.250 kg 4.3 %
UK Torrified Wheat 0.150 kg 2.6 %


Hops
Variety Alpha Amount IBU Form When
UK Golding 5.5 % 26 g 14.5 Whole Hops First Wort
UK Fuggle 4.5 % 26 g 11.8 Whole Hops First Wort
UK Fuggle 4.5 % 15 g 3.2 Whole Hops 15 Min
Aurora 5.8 % 15 g 6.7 Whole Hops 15 Min
UK Fuggle 4.5 % 15 g 0.0 Whole Hops At turn off

Yeast
DCL S-04-SafAle

So that's the recipe - the funny MO weight is down to the scales dying. The addition of Aurora is becuase I'm using up some Goldings I had, but didm't have enough for a 15 min addition as well, so went with the Aurora.

This is the first attempt with the new ThermoBox mashtun - which from now on shall be named "The Devil's Mash Tun". You'll see why....

Here's the first batch of brew porn. The mash is about over now, so I'll post up the next ones once it's all in the boiler.


Here's the grain bill. 5.75Kg total


And my kit set up with the new mash tun taking pride of place


Hops....what do you call the hops once they're weighed out - is is a "Hop Bill"?


Ready to mash in. Today we're going to use my leetle friend....Mr PSR18 to make sure that the goods are well stirred. Very well stirred.


Mashing in with power assist. I like this tun....it should be good for at least a 15Kg mash.


Uh oh......the number of the beast......henceforth this tun shall be known as the Devil's Mashtun. Abandon hope all ye who mash here.

And here's the rest:


All topped up and ready to sparge



First runnings. Tasted great.


I knocked up a little elbow thingy while i waited for the mash....it's good to have lot's of plumbing bits lying around!


More running off....


First wort hops added.


Coming to the boil


I aerated the shit out of this today with the drill and mixing paddle!


And the final result. Nice clear wort at 1054.

All seemed to go well. The Devil's Mashtun lost about 2C over 90 minutes. I think I might put the strike water in a bit hotter next time and give it a bit longer to preheat to see if I can reduce the loss a bit.

Oh yeah - and I wish my bloody work would elave me alone when I'm brewing. It's a right pain to try and chill your wort while you're on a conference call.....

Hmmm......Beer Alchemy says my mash efficiency was 81% today.....so maybe the electric drill has something going for it.

It certainly made the stirring of the mash and the final aerating much easier.

Hmmm, looks like a really tasty recipe.

Where did you get the paddle for the drill?

The drill paddle was from B&Q for £3.99 or something......

i think I might go and buy one specially for brewing as this one still has a few bits of rock solid concrete left on it! ( I did boil it for a while, then sterilise it with VWP, then boil it again just to be sure...)

adm wrote:It's a right pain to try and chill your wort while you're on a conference call

That recipe looks tasty adm

Great pics there and a hearty brew as well.
Time to get the gravity up a few points now the autumnal equinox is upon us.

Finally I have time to check out other brewdays now my wort is cooling - looking good and great pics.

I'm in my garage with clouds of steam mixing with the cold outside air, so it's a lot less civilised.

I noticed I do a couple of things different to you. Firstly I dough and fold in the mash rather than vigorously stir it. I'm probably wrong but it was just the way I learnt. Secondly I don't throw in the copper hops then get to boiling point, instead I wait until the sweet wort is boiling before putting them in. Hum...

Compared to your brightly lit cosy kitchen, I've been brewing in a flipping dungeon!

fivetide wrote:Firstly I dough and fold in the mash rather than vigorously stir it. I'm probably wrong but it was just the way I learnt. Secondly I don't throw in the copper hops then get to boiling point, instead I wait until the sweet wort is boiling before putting them in.

I too, gently fold the mash as the grain is added, I fear that the shear action of a mechanical stirrer will separate the husk and flour causing a stuck mash. The other reason for not stirring to hard is so that air is not knocked out of the mash, the least stirring you can get away with the better as it leaves the mash to 'float'

There are two ways to add hops firstly add them as you run off the sweet wort and allow them to steep (which is known as First wort hopping, a technique that improves hop flavour and supposedly hop aroma) or to add them after the foam has subsided once the wort has come to the boil. Another benefit of adding the hops before the wort comes to the boil is that it makes a boil over less likely (Allegedly ) You loose a few IBU from FWH compared to straight bittering. Both methods work, and both are 'right'

Aleman wrote:

fivetide wrote:Firstly I dough and fold in the mash rather than vigorously stir it. I'm probably wrong but it was just the way I learnt. Secondly I don't throw in the copper hops then get to boiling point, instead I wait until the sweet wort is boiling before putting them in.

I too, gently fold the mash as the grain is added, I fear that the shear action of a mechanical stirrer will separate the husk and flour causing a stuck mash. The other reason for not stirring to hard is so that air is not knocked out of the mash, the least stirring you can get away with the better as it leaves the mash to 'float'

There are two ways to add hops firstly add them as you run off the sweet wort and allow them to steep (which is known as First wort hopping, a technique that improves hop flavour and supposedly hop aroma) or to add them after the foam has subsided once the wort has come to the boil. Another benefit of adding the hops before the wort comes to the boil is that it makes a boil over less likely (Allegedly ) You loose a few IBU from FWH compared to straight bittering. Both methods work, and both are 'right'

Don't some commercial breweries have mechanically stirred mashes though? Surely the husk will aid lautering even if it's not enclosed around the endosperm?

Quite like the idea of the drill stirred mash

Well....I used the drill a) because it was in the kitchen and b) as I have noticed before that if you don't give the mash a really good stir, the temperature tends to be different in different parts of it - which leads to a lack of consistency of results. Doing it this way, it seemed to be a much more even temperature all through. No stuck mash, and my efficiency was better than usual - so it all seemed to work OK. I'm thinking that a recirculating mash is the way to go long term for consitent mash temperatures though.

I was using a slow speed though....but it was much easier than doing it by hand....

I would have thought also that it might actually add air rather than knock it out - kind of like whisking a cake mix or something.

As for the first wort hopping, this was the first time I'd tried it. Before that, I had always put the bittering hops in with the boil. Just thought I'd give it a go for no real reason.

Well it looks great, and makes me want (again) to sort out my damn thermobox. Nice one.

Go on.....get on with it then!

To be honest, the Thermobox seemed to have had no better thermal performance than my Thermos Coolbox....but it just looked nicer / felt nicer to use.

Having said that, the coolbox tun had corners, which probably lost temp more.

All in all, the ThermoBox is a nicer tun to use. Next stop will be a stainless boiler - although I am debating the pros and cons of using a 60l Thermobox vs a single walled type...ifI can figure out how to get the elements into a thermobox, i'll probably go that route.

I'm now drinking this beer and to be honest it's not really to my taste.

It's not bad....but I think the use of Amber, Caramel and Carmalt was overdoing things.....there's too much of a caramel taste to it, and along with the torrefied wheat it's got a very full body and is a bit on the cloying side for my liking. It's got a truly beautiful head on it though.

It reminds me of some of the very malty Scottish ales, I don't know enough about them to put my finger on exactly which style though. Came in at about 4.9% ABV. Apparent IBU of 32.6, but I think the caramel malts are beating the crap out of the hops.

I'll keep trying it and see if my appreciation of it improves, and although my mate loves it, it's probably not one I'll put high on the list to do again.

I've discovered that I'm definitely more of a hophead than a malthead.

Forgot to say.....I think the taste profile would be better if it was a couple of points higher alcohol and had a bit higher hop level. The more I think about it, it would be quite a nice winter warmer at around 7% and especially if I had dry hopped it (which I suppose I could still do).