Home Brew Forum

I've been guilty recently for not documenting brews / documenting brews without pictures. This one's deliberately over the top.

OK. It's called Old Bolster because it is a late night warming dark ale that kinda gives you comfort like a bolster pillow. Probably not a fitting beer for spring/summer but I've been craving those vanilla flavours! I'll discuss the vanilla hit further down. And no... I don't add vanilla.

RECIPE



MARIS OTTER - 19C



SPECIALITY GRAINS



WATER TREATMENT



ADDING CRS TO STRIKE WATER



ADDING STRIKE WATER TO HLT



MASH MIXER!



MASHING IN - TAKES AROUND 6 SECONDS



THE BEAUTIFUL MASH



MASH TIMER SET



67C TARGET MET



ADDING CRS TO SPARGE WATER



STIRRING MASH BEFORE RUN OFF INTO BOILER



RECIRCULATED 2L OF WORT BEFORE DRAINING INTO BOILER... I used to use a pump to recirculate for around 30 mins. Have stopped this now though as I realised it's completely unnecessary.



THIS IS WHAT I COLLECTED UP TO THE POINT THAT THE WORT RAN FREE OF 'BITS'. STILL CLOUDY AS HELL BUT THIS ISN'T A WORRY.



DRAINED 2L OF FIRST RUNNINGS INTO A SEPARATE PAN TO CARAMELISE AND CREATE THE 'VANILLA' HIT



REST WENT INTO THE BOILER



FLY SPARGING



FIRST RUNNINGS BOILING



SOME TIME LATER - GETTING VERY THICK NOW



VERY THICK AND SYRUPY NOW





ADDING TO BOILER - This is what creates the very apparent vanilla undertones in this beer. I'm not sure if the high amount of torrified wheat is the real key. I've caramelised the first runnings of two different brews, both high on torrified wheat and both these brews have had unmistakable vanilla undertones. Here's the a link to that other brew I'm referring to: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=38021&hilit=old+bob



THICK STICKY STUFF



THE BOIL



MOLASSES SUGAR



IN IT GOES



THE BIG CHILL - After the wort cooled to 20c, I allowed the boiler to sit for 30 mins for trub to settle out. Doing this gives me crystal clear wort. No need to recirculate the mash.





RUN OFF INTO FERMENTER - Prior to this, I swished water, just off the boil, around the fermenter for 20 mins. I don't use sanitiser/steriliser at all.



CRYSTAL CLEAR WORT



Good brew day. Can't wait for this to be ready. It really is a cracker of a pint. All that torrified wheat creates the most amazing dense foamy head and superb lacing too. Watch this space!!

A couple of things struck me about this brew. I like the idea of a "reduction wort" and would like to know more about how/why you came up with that. I noticed 2 (different) pictures of you introducing CRS to the sparge water? Didn't understand the part where you chilled the wort to 20c then let the trub settle so would like to know more about that. You labelled one picture run off into the boiler but I think you meant FV, correct?

Oh! and boiling in bare feet, I definitely don't understand that , interesting brewday and quite a lot of effort for such a relatively short brew length, experiment?

orlando wrote:A couple of things struck me about this brew. I like the idea of a "reduction wort" and would like to know more about how/why you came up with that.

I read in the past that it creates a nice caramel finish in the beer. I only ever got vanilla flavours. In saying that though, I've only ever caramelised twice and both those times I've had a high amount of torrified wheat in the recipe. So... maybe the 'vanilla' comes from the caramelised torrified wheat extract?? Will need to experiment more to find out for defs I suppose.

orlando wrote:I noticed 2 (different) pictures of you introducing CRS to the sparge water?

whoops! First should have said strike water - not sparge water. Changed now. I treat both strike water and sparge water with CRS.

orlando wrote:Didn't understand the part where you chilled the wort to 20c then let the trub settle so would like to know more about that.

After the chill down, I allow the boiler of cold wort settle for a good 30 mins. This creates a nicely packed hob/trub bed which of course acts like a filter for the wort to pass through. The result is crystal clear wort going into the fermenter.

orlando wrote:You labelled one picture run off into the boiler but I think you meant FV, correct?

Corrected.

orlando wrote:Oh! and boiling in bare feet, I definitely don't understand that

True true. Bit risky but no accidents to date thankfully!

orlando wrote: interesting brewday and quite a lot of effort for such a relatively short brew length, experiment?

Like most people, I brew around 5 gallons. This was a relatively simple brewday for me - No hop steeping etc.

Give the wort reduction a try yourself. It does really create something unique in the finished beer.

Looking lovely that your description has my mouth watering

wjohnson12321 wrote:Looking lovely that your description has my mouth watering

Cheers wjohnson. Will keep updating here as this brew progresses

Tried a sample of this out of the fermenter. Nice vanilla notes and SERIOUS toffee notes. Very pleased!

floydmeddler wrote: and SERIOUS toffee notes. Very pleased!

thats what id expect from doing this, im suprised at the vanilla , ive done similar without torri wheat and never got the vanilla your describing just the toffee/ caramel hit sounds very interesting floyd, wonder if the way the torris processed causes this?, normally id add medium or heavy toast oak chips, or vanilla extract to get it

shame i couldnt do it on me big kit, id love to try it on that, but it'd be far too much of a ball ache!

You could have just dipped an apple in that Toffee Mmmm Nice work

critch wrote:

floydmeddler wrote: and SERIOUS toffee notes. Very pleased!

thats what id expect from doing this, im suprised at the vanilla , ive done similar without torri wheat and never got the vanilla your describing just the toffee/ caramel hit sounds very interesting floyd, wonder if the way the torris processed causes this?, normally id add medium or heavy toast oak chips, or vanilla extract to get it

shame i couldnt do it on me big kit, id love to try it on that, but it'd be far too much of a ball ache!

In the past vanilla notes were more prominent. My mate and I used to drink the beer and be amazed at the vanilla flavours. When this is ready, I'll do taste tests with friends to see if they pick out vanilla. If not, I'll need to get my taste buds checked!

I applied this 'ere caramelisingationism trick to an impromptu brewday today. Basic grist just pale malt, pale crystal and some flaked wheat.

I took 1 litre of first run off from the MT and boiled it down to 250ml, thick syrupy and ooooh the smells. Toffee and caramel galore. Bunged it into the boil and we'll see what happens. I kept it fairly small as I didn't want to darken the finished beer too much. Running off to FV it still looked fairly pale and golden.

That's all I have to say about that really... bye.

Glad you gave it a try Steve! Update here when you taste it

Sounds lovely Floyd.

Be interested if this one ends up with vanilla too.
ATB John

OK. Had another sip of this from the fermenter and I'm now starting to get vanilla! Flavour has defs changed. Still toffee but a defs vanilla note now.

Bottled mine yesterday and had a wee sneaky half from the FV fizzed up a bit with the old Syringe Trick. Can't say i picked up any caramel/toffee but it's early days and I did only zap a small amount. Tasty beer though so, pretty happy. Overall. Hey, it's beer

stevetk189 wrote:Bottled mine yesterday and had a wee sneaky half from the FV fizzed up a bit with the old Syringe Trick. Can't say i picked up any caramel/toffee but it's early days and I did only zap a small amount. Tasty beer though so, pretty happy. Overall. Hey, it's beer

Fingers crossed it will create something for you. How much did you caramelise and to what temp? I caramelise 2L of first runnings until it reaches 105c.