Brewday 27/05/07 Thorshead

[Vossy1]

Looking forward to this one

From M.Ollosson's Real Ales for the home brewer.

Thorshead

Description, This beer has a rich malty character, with a hoppy finish.

Scaled to 81% efficiency
Batch size 46ltr

Marris Otter 12.52kg
Chocolate Malt 0.25kg

Progress Hops (AA 6%) 147g (bittering 120 min)
Styrian Goldings 32g (Aroma 15 min)
Protafloc 10g (fining last 15 min)

Mash for 120 min
Mash temp 66 deg c
Mash liquor 33ltr

Boil for 120 min

Target OG 1059
Target FG 1012
Alc content 6%

Going to measure my mash ph this time and adjust with gypsum if needed

[Wez]

Have a good one Vossy! We want updates and pic's. Looks a nice strong brew. You love them styrians don't you!

[Vossy1]

You love them styrians don't you!

Oh yes

I'll be trying protafloc for the first time with this brew also

[BarryNL]

Phew, a 2 hour mash and a 2 hour boil - you have a long day ahead of you!

[Vossy1]

Phew, a 2 hour mash and a 2 hour boil - you have a long day ahead of you!

Oh yes indeed

I've got enough confidence in my HERMS system now that I can do other things during the mash like taking the dogs for a walk, or going shopping

[prodigal2]

Sounds very tasty there Vossy, I must get M.Ollosson's Real Ales for the home brewer, it seems to be providing some fine recipes.

[Vossy1]

Always a good sight Mash started 1130



Tested the ph of the mash for the first time. Water from the tap ph6.2, mash ph, what do you think 5.3 ish, quite happy with that
(bottom of strip, colour band ph 5.2 next 5.5, next 5.7 etc)



Recirc started

[Garth]

good work Vossy,

I have those same strips but haven't a clue how to read them, it's just beyond me I think,

where do you read off ther pH and which bit turns what colour?

[Garth]

oh yeah, hey I'm so dense sometimes,

I've got it now, apparently our tap water is 6.3/6.4 pH is that high/normal or what?

btw I used some of that 5.2 Stabiliser on the last brew, just to see if it made any difference and I got no better efficiency, maybe my sparging technique needs more tweaking,

what did you think of it DaaB, or Vossy have you used it?

[Garth]

so if I dough in, test the pH and find it high I add CRS, and if it's lower than 5.2/3 I add gypsum is that right?

is there a formula to work the amount needed somewhere?

[bandit]

Vossy, hope you finish soon. Todays brew is in the can and I'm off to party. No more beer talk for me today its now time to let my taste buds loose. Have a great bank holiday see you in the haze sometime Monday

[BarryNL]

I have those same strips but haven't a clue how to read them, it's just beyond me I think,

I can read them, the bit I don't understand is what to do next. Yesterday I had a mash at 4.9 pH - it doesn't seem to have caused any problems. Just gave me another reason to worry.

[Vossy1]

Just gave me another reason to worry.

Assistant brewer making sure no one tampers like swimbo



Too much excitement I guess



Go on then I'll clean you this year. Trying to nick Frothers 'grubiest equipment' award



At this point the plate chiller had been sanitised with iodophor. I then rinsed the pc with hot water and this lot came out....Je suis bovvered



Recirculating the wort back into the copper, this is where the problems started. The Totton pump I have is obviously faulty as the longer you use it the slower the flow rate



I Lost a lot of wort on this brew. It looks like the hops and cold break formed a wall to one side of the manifold and this caused the walled side to empty and hence I lost the vacuum
Finnished with 44 ltr instead of 46ltr



The 2 glasses on the right contain a liquid yeast, WL007 I think....both failed. The middle is the cold break and the 2 left are the trusty S04 stalwart back ups

[Garth]

Vossy, that middle glass looks like it's on fire...!

[Wez]

Good work Vossy.

btw - you gonna get that fence painted this summer