Amarillo APA (With lots of shiny pictures!)

[stephenfranks]

Today I brewed an American Pale Ale. I treated the liquor as per GW's calculator for a dry pale ale. Brewlength is correct - my pots are bit smaller than normal.

AMARILLO AMERICAN PALE ALE
15 Litres
Boil 60 Mins
3.40 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter 96.59 %
0.12 kg Wheat Malt 3.41 %
22.00 gm Amarillo [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 25.9 IBU
22.00 gm Amarillo [8.50 %] (15 min) Hops 12.9 IBU
20.00 gm Amarillo [8.50 %] (5 min) Hops 4.7 IBU
20.00 gm Amarillo [8.50 %] (0 min) Hops -

Yeast - Safale 04 (Its all I had)

OG Measured 1.060 (Target 1.050 - but I didnt want to water it down? Maybe it wont ferment down as much as I hope. If it does - 6%ish beer!!)
FG Target 1.014

First off, here are a few pictures of my newly built brewery:









Switch Panel which switches most items in the brewery including elements, extractor fan, pump etc..


Fermentation Chamber


HLT Thermometer


HLT Sight Tube Elbow


HLT Sight Tube


March May Pump


Boiler Interior


AND SO TO THE BREWING!!!

The Mash (Hit 5.4)


The Sparge


Finished Sparge and Boiler on


The Boil


Flameout Hops In


Chiller On


Rehydrate Safale


Rinse Airstones


Aerate Wort


Final Product


Any criticisms or advice appreciated......

[yashicamat]

Well just one small comment . . . WHERE ARE THE PICTURES?!

[jubby]

That's a hell of a brewery and that will be good beer, right up my street!

OG Measured 1.060 (Target 1.050 - but I didnt want to water it down? Maybe it wont ferment down as much as I hope. If it does - 6%ish beer!!)
FG Target 1.014

Not that it matters, but I think that will end up on the strong side. Whenever I use the dry pale ale profile, I find that it attenuates at around 80%.

[stephenfranks]

I have sorted out photos and resized, they were far too big..

Thanks Jubby. Sorry to hear about your brew problems in brewday section?

To be honest I dont mind stronger beers at the moment. So you think it will get down somewhere near the target FG?

My setup is OK, mostly second hand (from JBK members & ebay) but you are limited on brewlength. Also I seem to be loosing more than I hope through evaporation so my OG is always a tad higher than I hope. It it best to then top up with boiled water? I worry about this as the water will be untreated (CRS etc).

I am gagging to drink this one.

I did an Old Growler last weekend which had similar OG but still hasn't got past 1.030 (last time I checked was a few days ago mind) I used a Wyeast English Ale pitched direct. It smells like an unfinished beer kit at the moment, which is annoying as it cost alot in ingredients.

[yashicamat]

Ahh that's better. The photos were worth waiting for too - what a brewery! Are you planning to go commercial?!

[mctoon]

A cup of tea????,, surely after looking at the end product in the last pic a beer might of being more apt ,,, super set up btw

[stephenfranks]

I am doing 15l batches at the mo and everyone else can do 23. Boo hoo. I will keep increasing it as far as I can (boil over might be a problem) but my pots are not as big as most thermoboxes. Also my HLT only heats about 30l max. I didnt want to get into 2 liquor preparations (I use GW's calculator)

I suppose if I went commercial I might make about 50p?!!

The "tea" is rehydrated Safale btw!!

[GARYSMIFF]

Hello,
does your Sparge arm spin?

[stephenfranks]

Hi Gary

Yes it spins. The photo was actually taken after the sparge (just for show). HLT was empty so couldn't take photo of it spinning. It is a phils spinny sparge arm that I modified to 15mm chrome copper.

[stephenfranks]

The way my system works is that the mash liquor enters from the tube on the right from the HLT. You mash with the lid on. When you want to sparge, you take lid off and connect sparge arm with spanner (compression fitting). This is an old photo as I modified it so that you can pump back the first runnings until they clear (see new pictures in this post)

[SiHoltye]

I did an Old Growler last weekend which had similar OG but still hasn't got past 1.030 (last time I checked was a few days ago mind) I used a Wyeast English Ale pitched direct. It smells like an unfinished beer kit at the moment, which is annoying as it cost alot in ingredients.

You might consider making a 2L starter using that yeast a week before. Give it a chance to wake up, eat something, multiply, and be ready for action.

[jubby]

stephenfranks wrote:

Thanks Jubby. Sorry to hear about your brew problems in brewday section?

They were cooldads brewday problems

There will always be a bit of trub that squeezes past the strainer. It's no big deal.

Perhaps you could save a bottle of this for the next meeting in Cambridge?

[flything]

It it best to then top up with boiled water? I worry about this as the water will be untreated (CRS etc).

Ideally boiled, and ideally it should be treated in the same way as your liquor to remove chlorine/chloramine and adjust alkalinity, I say ideally, but I've added water straight from the tap before and I don't think it's affected it (but unless I made two batches side by side how would I know?), it also depends on how much you are adding and how much chlorine & alkalinity is in your water to begin with.

Easiest thing is to make up you water at the beginning of the day making an extra couple of litres in case you need it.

You might consider making a 2L starter using that yeast a week before. Give it a chance to wake up, eat something, multiply, and be ready for action.

Shouldn't need to, especially with a 15L batch and a packet of dried yeast, potentially over-pitching already. Just make sure that the yeast is as close to the temp of your boiled and cooled water before rehydrating it (I take the packet out of the fridge and put it in my pocket whilst brewing), add it to the water about 30 mins before I expect to pitch, cover, stir gently just before pitching and off you go.

Loving the brewery, very nice.

[fivetide]

Well I think this brewery is tip top! Sod the short-ish brew length - you're so organised in there that you can just brew more conveniently and more often, refining your technique and getting a wealth of different beers in stock. I really, really like it. My only question is - is there a drain or somewhere to tip liquids?

"I take the packet out of the fridge and put it in my pocket whilst brewing" -- ha! Me too. You can tell if I'm brewing of a night, because I have a packet of yeast in each back pocket. I've made starters and bought liquid yeasts and will again, but a foaming room temperature rehydrated packet for each 25 litres also seems to do a job.

Must, MUST get WPL-004 for the winter stout though - I loved that stuff.

[stephenfranks]

Thanks for the kind comments! My original goal was short brewlengths for variety and frequent brewing. Since starting however, it takes nearly a day to produce smaller amounts than everyone else. Cheaper in terms of hops & grain though...Worst thing is clearing up!!! God, the mess in the boiler. My pots cannot be moved, so you have to scrape out by hand and with a plastic pot.

I do want to brew weekly, so small is the way forward for me.

Drainwise, I have a grate in the paving outside when the slops go.

Water wise, my Lincat boiler only holds 30l and you use most of this doing a 15l batch with loss from boiling, grain etc, deadspace?

I will hold some beer back for Cambridge meeting of course!

I am going to start propagating yeast soon from Brewlab slopes, as soon as I can find a small fridge.