Four-hop Bitter

[coatesg]

I brewed this one up on Sunday - it was the first run out for my pump which to be honest didn't go too well. As in the equipment section I need a new (better) hop strainer so I'll be replacing the short copper pipe with a hop stopper type thing.

Recipe was (for 38L):

5.93kg Pale
113g Crystal

61g Challenger 6.4% 90m
38g Goldings 0min
19g Pioneer 0min
19g Styrians 0min
(steeped for 30min before cooling)

OG:1039
Yeast: Wyeast 1968


The pump issues... well actually I landed up with a completely blocked hop strainer and pretty much zero runoff even with the pump trying it's hardest. With somewhere around 5.5-6 gallons in the FV (I *must* calibrate it!!) and I had to chuck the remaining liquid, trub and hop mix (I managed to fiddle around with a brewing paddle to get a bit out, but a load of hop and trub carried through to the fermenter - that should settle out though. Shame as the runoff I had at first was some of the clearest I have ever seen - probably due to all the hops in the way...

Oh well, smells pretty good, the ferment was going great guns after <12 hours and with luck I will have beer, and probably enough to fill a corny if my guess is right, even if not two of them. Plus, I'm narrowing down my equipment issues, and so now can hopefully get it sorted once and for all before my next brew!

[WishboneBrewery]

A very English Bitter, I've had some Pioneer Hops in the freezer for ages. I should really calibrate my FV's rather than relying on the 'Youngs' printed scales.

[bosium]

Re the pump, I've had problems with mine before too. You need to use a hopstrainer with lots and lots of holes, the malt miller's one works quite well but I find I have better luck if I start the recirculation slowly so that the hop bed can form around the strainer without clogging. You can turn it up once the bed has formed, but if you turn it on full blast from the start, it can be prone to clogging.

Don't feel too bad, I also have one better bottle FV which I still haven't gotten round to calibrating, - it's such a ballache.