Home Brew Forum

I made this a while ago but have only just found out how to transfer pictures from my phone to the PC.

I decided that i would like to try and make one of my favourite beers, and found a rather nice receipe her so...

It is my very first brew, at home in the kitchen with no help ( until now i have been under the watchfull eye of a much more experienced brewer.

First the recipe:-

TANGLEFOOT 5 gallon batch OG 1048 ABV 5.1% 24 EBU

PALE MALT 3510 gms
SUGAR 770 gms

HOPS 90 minute boil

CHALLENGER 18 gms
NORTHDOWN 10 gms

Add 20 gms NORTHDOWN last 15 minutes.

S04 yeast.
I never had challenger so opted for first gold instead.

Here is the grain
It was the first time i had used Halcyon Pale malt too.

The mash was spot on at 67 and over the 90 minute mash time 1 dropped .5 degrees so i was well pleased.

After the 90 minutes and after recirculating 3 liters i ended up with this nice clear run off into the boiler.
The recipe of for 25 l but i only managed 21 into the boiler

Without knowing for sure i am guessing that i mashed it slightly too thick. I calculated that with 3.5 kilos malt i needed around 11 liters, but after 21 liters the runnings were totally clear and i took it for granted that this meant the grain had nothing left to give, naturally it could have been that the lack of colouration in the malt was due to it being purely pale with nothing else and i never thought about checking the OG of the runnings.

I'll put this down to experience.

The expected Og was 1046 but i ended up with 1056 instead which i guess is due to the shorter than planned brew length.

It finished up at 1012, and was primed with 15 g sugar per mini keg ( manufacturers recommendation.)

It conditioned in the same temperature for a week and imoved it to the frideg where it sat for 5 weeks whilst i was on Holiday.

I opened a keg yesterday evening and think that the 15 g sugar may have been a little too much in this case as there was and still is an awful lot of pressure, the first glass was pure foam and i have not managed to find out if the beer king tap can be adjusted to give a smoother flow.

The tast was slightly fresher than the bottled version i have had in the UK and i am putting this down to use of first gold rather than challenger ( although i know so little i am speculating)

Next up will be Bitter and twisted follewed by some Norwegian style Christmas beer( I'll stick the recipe up here when i get it)

Thaks for reading.

First Gold hops are significantly different to Challenger if you ask me.
Hope you had fun brewing it

I sure did, and it was even better when the guy who had been watching and helping me tasted the brew and then asked me for the recipe.

I take that as an approval. Biggest trial is tomorrow, family party and i provide the beer.....

770g of sugar?? Are you sure?? That's almost 1.75lbs. Seems excessive.

I just followed what i found in the recipe forum. Next time i'll drop some of the sugar for more malt.
I was told that in some cases it is the sugar that gives the more authentic taste. To be honest the recipe should be discussed with the guy who posted it though. I just used it.