Home Brew Forum

We had friends visiting over a long weekend and when the left yesterday I decided to use the rest of the day brewing

We'd been drinking my Stout, Bitter and Golden Mild over the weekend but the Golden Mild was going down the best by a long shot so since it was popular I decided to use up some spare grain and put together a dark (well normal coloured) mild. I may have gone a bit too light on the hops with this one but time will tell

Brew length 19 litre based on 80% efficiency
2750gm Pale Malt, Halcyon (3.0 SRM)
70gm Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM)
50gm Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
30gm Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
20gm Goldings, East Kent [6%] (60 min) Hops 17.1 IBU
1 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min)
1 pkt Safale S04 Yeast

Mash 90 mins in 8.5 litres at 64C
Boil total 90 mins

Expected: OG = 1.038 FG = 1.010 SRM = 12.2 IBU = 17.1
Actual: OG = 1.039 FG = 1.01?

Compared with my last brew, this one was much less eventful - Unfortunately when I was drying one of my manifolds after the last brew (by shaking it in the garden), one of the copper elbows flew off into the undergrowth never to be seen again - I therefore had to drain the mash into the boiler then steal an elbow from the mash manifold before draining the wort back into the (now cleaned) mash tun so I could fit the manifold to the boiler before draining the mash tun back into the boiler

Anyway, no harm done - just a slightly longer brew day...







Hmmm - like the colour






Trub while draining to CFC.


The Syphon effect really works well leaving very little behind.


Very pleased with the clarity and colour. Gravity 1039 ish.

Nice pictures - I have to make myself a boiler manifold like that...

Gr8 pics EB

Excellent work, EB.
When do you see yourself tucking into that?

Smashing pics too, although that stir fry looks like it could use some soy sauce.

Well done, that some nice work

Nicely done! Makes me wish I could brew but trying to sell the house and moving into another come mid June. My wife doesn't think fermenters full o beer enhances the house from a buyers perspective. Acutally no time to brew of late which is a shame as I had planned on 3 beers in May and first week of June to get me thru the summer.

DaaB wrote:Too late now but it's always good to havea mashing and sparging bag handy for those times when you loose your manifold bits in the flower beds

notassuch wrote:When do you see yourself tucking into that?

Well it's not a strong beer and only lightly hopped so let's say.... next weekend - Seriously though the Golden Mild I did a few weeks ago was drinkable very quickly so I reckon this will be ready for sampling in a couple of weeks - I have three cornies with various amounts in at the moment so unless I want to dig out another one and recondition it, I better finish one of them - I think the Stout is the lowest but then that would mean putting a non-stout through the Guinness tap - oh what a pain eh

notassuch wrote:Smashing pics too, although that stir fry looks like it could use some soy sauce.

EB wrote:... unless I want to dig out another one and recondition it, I better finish one of them

Along with the sunshine, there's gotta be a little rain sometime.

Nearly finished this brew now actually so I thought I had better put a photo of it up...





Just having a pint now actually as I brew (report to come later )

That is a fine looking brew - beer like that is what the hobby is all about.

Happy with the bitterness (or lack thereof)? How about with S-04 as the yeast in a mild?

DaaB wrote:That definitely looks the business, btw has that elbow sprouted yet

- Funny you should mention that - Check out my latest brew

iowalad wrote:Happy with the bitterness (or lack thereof)? How about with S-04 as the yeast in a mild?

Reasonably happy with the bitterness after my initial worries - it has certainly gone down well with friends that are not as keen on bitter beers.

With regards the S-04, I have been deliberately using only that for quite a few brews now and am pretty happy with the results. I guess if I was determined to hit a certain style accurately then I should reconsider but I quite like the reliability of the S-04 - it seems to go well whatever and have 500g to get through

G'day Eskimo, thats a nice looking beer, did you filter it?

Rook

Sorry DaaB, I'm from a poor convict family

How the hell did he get it so clear then?

Rook

Rook wrote:G'day Eskimo, thats a nice looking beer, did you filter it?

Hi Rook,

DaaB is right, I don't filter. Just luck I guess

From DaaB's list, I do mash for 90 mins and also have recently stopped sparging earlier than usual (accepting a reduction in brewhouse efficiency). Also, I boil for at least 90 mins although I use Irish Moss granules for the last 15 minutes rather than Whirlfloc (just because I have a big pot of Irish Moss to get through). I also tend to use S04 as I quite like it.

If I get a particular beer that is still unreasonably cloudy when kegging then I think about using isinglass although I have only used it once in the last year of brews (and strangely that beer still did not clear ).

I tend to serve at room temp as I don't like cold beer and I use either Marris Otter or Halcyon pale malts.

I don't always get it right but usually it is acceptable so I am happy