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Double trouble

Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 10:28 am
by BritishBelgianTwst
Have decided to brew twice in one day today. First wort has begun boiling, second is mashing.
Hopefully all will continue to go well and I'll have two nice P.A.a to savour in a few weeks.

Batch 1:
4.4kg belgian pale malt
90 min mash @ 66 def
50g EKG 4.8% at 90 min
25g EKG 4.8% at 15 mind

Batch 2
3.8kg Belgian pale malt
200g crystal malt
30g Challenger 5.7% at 90 mins
20g Challenger at 15 min
56g Styrian 2.9% at 15 min
29g Styrian at flameout ( well plug out really)

Good health!

Re: Double trouble

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 6:32 pm
by floydmeddler
Good stuff! I admire that. Did a double brew once in my life and it was super stressful... and that was when I used extract! Hope it went well for you and you. :D

Re: Double trouble

Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 12:09 pm
by BritishBelgianTwst
floydmeddler wrote:Good stuff! I admire that. Did a double brew once in my life and it was super stressful... and that was when I used extract! Hope it went well for you and you. :D
Cheers,

Everything went fairly smoothly despite having a sick missus asking me "have you finished yet?" every 5 minutes.
I did manage to make a nice cock up by putting citric acid into the liquor instead of campden powder but still it didn't seem to have caused any lasting damage.

Problem with my volume calculations though, I ended up getting 21l and 20l respectively.
My efficiency wasn't great, the first batch of the day which ended up at 1037 SG, the second was a bit better but I guess that it could be due to over zealous boiling (1038 SG for 20 litres).

Both are currently fermenting away nicely in a cacophany of gurgles but still giving off some sulphurous smells - I'm beginning to wonder if it's the campden powder - I might try brewing "sans" next time.

I will certainly think about doing a double brew again but only if I can rig myself up a second boiler/HLT to cut waiting times down.

Re: Double trouble

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:12 am
by BritishBelgianTwst
Just did the taste test last night.
Brew 1:
Insipid, weak beer - will do for lager luvvers :lol: Hopefully it'll taste better once it's cleared a little as there is still a lot of yeast in suspension, also might improve once chilled. Next time I'll up the grain bill when I do a SMASH brew and go longer on the hops as I think I was a little too conservative.

Brew 2:
Hoppy, more complex - this'll be redone again at a later state. Exactly the kind of beer I was hoping for.

Roll on Thursday when I'll rack them off into my cornies and set up my beer engine.

Final thoughts on improving my double brew day - get a second coolbox and build an HLT/second boiler.

Re: Double trouble

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:28 pm
by floydmeddler
Beer engine? Lucky you. Make sure you show some pics!

Re: Double trouble

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 9:48 pm
by BritishBelgianTwst
floydmeddler wrote:Beer engine? Lucky you. Make sure you show some pics!
I'll take some with my dad and bro when they are here early august. Won't be in it's final position as I don't have time to build the bar so it'll be attached to my mobile brewing cabinet.