Home Brew Forum

Sometime this weekend I intend to brew my Effin Bohemian Pilsner The obligatory pictures should be forthcoming

Ok, well for once I managed a decent nights sleep, and didn't get the burners on till 06:45, having filled the copper the night before, I had to get the temp up from 6C . . . This is after 10 minutes

Took just over an hour to heat the 35L of strike liquor up to temperature . . . then having transferred it over thought that there was too much So left a few litres behind. . . also got the liquor too hot.

and it took over an hour to cool to the strike temp . .. not that I was bothered, as it made for a relaxing brewday
Here's one of the Pico system all set up to go

And the grain bill . . . all 15 kilos of it is in this grain sack

When I mixed it in, I had a much stiffer mash than I like, but there just wasn't enough room in the tun for any more liquor . . . Before doing another batch I need to commission the 80L thermobox Tun

Still Strike Temp was where I wanted it . . .

pH was a bit low at around 5.0

and the temperature is a bit cooler at the top of the tun which favours beta amylase, so I should end up with a nice crisp balanced beer.

Hope it goes well, Aleman. My pH seems to be always around 5!

Jim wrote:Hope it goes well, Aleman. My pH seems to be always around 5!

I know what you're saying Jim, I have similar water to you and its a PITA . . . still by mashing warm (favoring alpha amylase) and having a lower pH (favoring Beta Amylase) its should turn out reasonably balanced although drier would be better for this style.

I can get a good pH (5.3) using gypsum and calcium chloride in the mash for pale wort just decided not to for this . . . as Plzen have almost distilled water anyway . . . I will be supplementing chloride in the boil though

So far things have gone well . . . . . I have managed to crack the carbon seal in my Mash pump, but only lost a couple of hundred ml of wort so that's not really a problem especially as the March May arrived on Friday .

I have 91l of wort at 10.6 Brix so approximately 1.041 which is spot on 75% efficiency, which is what I base my recipes on.

First lot of hops are in (100g of saaz pellets in each fermenter, only around 1.6%aa)

Pictures to follow

Sounds like its going well Aleman! All this is making me want to move to AG quicker. I must sort a boiler soon. A bad time for the credit cruch I feel.

Anyway keep us updated with more pics. I want more brew porn!!

OK just to update the thread. This is one of the kettles, just after I started transferring wort from the tun, with the First Wort hops added (100g Saaz Pellets)



So while I was removing wort from the tun, I had to sparge the grain . . for this I use a really hi-tech piece of equipment . . . Note the recirculation Manifold left in place



Estimated that I needed to collect around 90L of wort . . . . which gave me my second problem . . . The coppers only hold 50L max . .. it was a bit full as they came to the boil, I was concerned in case it boiled over.



However, I was fairly lucky, and soon achieved a rolling boil . . . one benefit of FWH it does tend to make boil overs a little less likely



Not to sure about the colour of that wort though, who ever heard of green beer ? :sick: Still this stack of hops is still waiting to go in.



After 90 minutes I cooled the wort in each copper down to 35C . . . Note the formation of a good Hot Break'



and then the brewday was interrupted by the Brazilian Grand Prix, followed by a very nice roast Lamb Henry dinner .. . meant I resumed brewing at around 9 PM, so a quick transfer of the cooled wort (which had dropped to 25C at this time). After transferring the wort to the FV I was left with this



In the copper. However I did get 71L of wort at 12.2 Brix (1.047) in the FV.



Which was well aerated



Unfortunately I just screwed up the Yeast stuff So the wort was left to cool, and this afternoon (almost a whole 24 hours after transferring the wort into the FV) I pitched 125g of Saflager W34/70 yeast in 1.5L of sterile water.

Fermenting Pics will follow

Nice pics, Aleman - I like the shot of the hot break material clumping together.

I take it from your comments that the wort actually looked green in reality, rather that just being a photographic effect? Have you seen that before when hopping a very light wort?

Awesome Pics Aleman - particularly like the hotbreak one.

Save me some for the next floc?

Great pics Aleman. Thats pretty clear looking wort in your dip tube! Mine's usually cloudy at this stage

Jim wrote:I take it from your comments that the wort actually looked green in reality, rather that just being a photographic effect? Have you seen that before when hopping a very light wort?

That wort was most definitely green . . . . Very much more so that in the picture . . . It only really happens with pellets and pale wort . . . but its a surprise the first time . . . . Luckily the wort doesn't stay that colour

booldawg wrote:Thats pretty clear looking wort in your dip tube! Mine's usually cloudy at this stage

Yes It was very clear . . . . . I used a new technique for wort transfer, I switched the pump on, then went to the FV pulled the tube out of the FV and shoved a sanitised thumb over the end to spray the wort into the FV . . . lots of aeration.

I think it was so clear because of the long time it had to settle following cooling, and then there was no recirculation . . . The initial wort from the FV was pretty yucky with break, but that was pretty much all gone in a couple of litres . . . which sprayed all over the shed cause the hose came out of the FV

Aleman wrote:........... a sanitised thumb ........

Do you prefer any particular sanitising product for that job?

Are you going to be fermenting this as a lager I assume? If so I would be interested to hear how you are going about this and will you be going through a "lagering" process? Do you have a freezer for this and what vessels do you lager in?

Keep the pics coming there great!

Jim - I normally flame the end of that implement just to be on the safe side

Yes this is being fermented as a true lager . . . currently fermenting at 10C . . . you can see the cooling coils in the wort in this quick update, After leaving the wort with no yeast pitched for 18 hours They took a bit of time to get working. This is it after 25hours (from pitching)



And here is a close up



This morning (about 39hours after pitching it is fermenting well



And who says Lager yeast doesn't form a thick yeast cap



All you need to do is to pitch sufficient yeast in the first place . . .

The FV is a Nordic Optical 100L Stock Pot . . . What I'm going to do when the primary is complete, id to rack into a corny and a 60L FV the FV will go into the converted chest freezer for laagering . . . . and I'll probably end up drinking the corny