brew-evening 7/7/7

[Gurgeh]

Something pale, not to dry, not to bitter but packed with citrusy hoppy flavour.

I've bought some cascade hops for that.

I fancy keeping it simple:

5kg Maris otter
65C mash for 75 mins

60 mins x 40g cascade (probably 5-6%)
15 mins x 60g cascade
0 mins x 20g cascade

pretty worried about getting the Ph down, as i'll be using CRS, DLS and have no test strips.

should i just bung an extra kilo of grain in and not stress about the Ph - it won't affect anything except efficiency will it?

[Frothy]

Is this a light summer ale? With the citrus hops it shounds nice. What kind of percentage are you aiming for/ quantity?

Frothy

[Gurgeh]

Is this a light summer ale? With the citrus hops it shounds nice. What kind of percentage are you aiming for/ quantity?

Thanks - Yes, i was thinking of 5 gallons with an OG of 1.042-1.045

I've had 'snowdrop' from Iceni Brewery and it is a very light beer made with cascade - love it!

A high ph can also lead to haze in your beer but chucking in crs randomly into the mash tun isn't the best solution. To be on the safe side i'd mash as is, the beer will still be pretty good. Go for the extra grain if you can spare it and stop high (on gravity) eg 1012.

I've done the sums on the brupaks website so it's not exactly random - comes out 0.8 mg/L or ml/L for the DLS & CRS respectively. that's near as dammit a teaspoon of DLS in the tun and 4 capfuls CRS in the HLT.

I'm waiting for SWMBO to go for a shower and then I'm hunting for PH test strips on ebay

If I can't get hold of any strips, then yes I can spare a kilo of malt - just got a sack from Iceni this weekend

problem is, how do you stop at 1.012 on a batch sparge???? just keep an eye on the 2nd runnings???

[SteveD]

problem is, how do you stop at 1.012 on a batch sparge???? just keep an eye on the 2nd runnings???

Problem is....there is no problem. If you follow the formula for two equal size run-offs you won't go lower than 1012 anyway. Don't worry about it. With the batch sparge the gravity doesn't fall as you run off, because the whole volume of each run is at the same gravity, albeit the first run will be stronger and the second run weaker.

(1) Decide on the preboil volume you want.
(2) use a known volume of mash liquor.
(3) You know the weight of malt used.
(4) You know how much ullage you have (retained wort in the dead space below the mashtun tap) that you can't run off.

Ok.. we're off!

5kg's malt mashed in, say 2.5L/kg liquor = 12.5L mash liquor used.
Say you want 32L pre-boil volume of wort.
Divide that by 2, for the size of each of your equal-size run offs
That's 16L each.

First run off - the tricky one.
How much 'sparge' liquor to add to your mash to get 16L run off?
GRAIN RETAINS 1L LIQUID PER KG
so.. You lose 5L from your 12.5L mash liquor
7.5L available as a result.
Say your ullage is 0.5L - You lose another 0.5L to your mashtun.
Only 7L available now.
So, you want 16L. You're gonna get 7 from the mash. Therefore you need to add 9L 'sparge' liquor to your mash at the end of mashing to get 16L as your first run off.

Add it, stir it in well, recirculate till clear-ish, Run it off until empty. Sparge liquor at 80-85c will give you a mashbed temp of 70-77c Keep an eye on it, you don't want the mash to go over 77c

Second run off - easy peasy.

The grain is saturated - it's not going to retain any more liquid, so you'll get out all that you add.
Same with the ullage.

So, you're second addition is the full 16L. Add it, stir it in, recirculate to clarify, run it off.

32L in the boiler, away you go

.....ahh did you know this already?

[Gurgeh]

I've got good news - PH test strips on the way

Phoned Patsy this morning - she's not only posting me the strips today, but she's waiving the postage cost and even trusts me enough to not take payment for it today - she'll stick it on the next order!

Now THAT is why we love H&G

[Gurgeh]

[One advantage of batch sparging is that you don't get the sharp rise in ph towards the end of the run off which can cause problems during fly sparging.

out of interest - I know that the rise in PH can cause tannin extraction, you mentioned that a high pH might also cause haze - is this haze to do with the tannin or is it something else?


Also, use of pH test strips: how long after starting my mash will i get a true reading from the strips, and should i treat with extra CRS or extra DLS?

[Gurgeh]

.....ahh did you know this already?

Thanks SD, I have slightly different figures but they match up okayish...

I do 5Kg grains in 12.5L liquor. top up with 10L stir and run off quick.

(I use a frying pan splatter guard for my FB so no need to recirculate)

I top up with 15L more liquor and run that off.


my HLT and my boiler are the same thing, so whilst the 2nd batch is still in the mash tun, i empty any spare liquor from the HLT, put it on the floor, transfer teh first runnings and then put the mash tun up on the shelf where the HLT was. then i put the boiler where the mash tun was and get it going.

I run off the second runnings into the boiler and then top up the boil with a couple of litres that i find become available from the tun.

time for sparge must be in the region of 5 minutes. efficiency around about 70%

I get pretty much exactly 23L to ferment using this method. (lose very little to hops & trub as i have started using hop bags.)

i have previously intentionally let quite a lot of trub into the FV and have found FAST fermentation, even at 17C, but that was a stout. with this pale beer shoudl I be concerned about keeping out the hot break - clarity?

[Gurgeh]

Thanks Daab

[Gurgeh]

sod it

swmbo out

kids just down

ph strips arrived today.

here we go!

[Gurgeh]

Tell you what - pretty chuffed!

checked my mash ph after the recommended 3 mins. bang on 5.2

i'm good at sums!

[Gurgeh]

boil underway,
changed my hop rate a little:

60 mins x 20g cascade
15 mins x 75g cascade
0 mins x 20g cascade

just getting my starter ready. about to be rumbled by swmbo who is on her way home...

[Frothy]

Hows it turning out?

Frothy

[Gurgeh]

looking really rather fine at the moment, thanks frothy.

new brewery setup is working well and batch sparging is a doddle. takes 10 minutes to get it done and i hit 70% (brewhouse) last time.

havn't taken a gravity reading yet. i'll do that when i've cooled it, but the boil is only half way through. starter is going well, no hitches (unless you count losing the thermometer and the hop bags - since found)

happy as can be!

[AT]

Nice one, it's great to have a nice relaxing brew when nothing goes pear shaped
i hope i didn't speak to soon

[notassuch]

Great going, Gurgeh.
Sounds like you had every quarter covered.
I wish I had your organisational skills.

Btw, SteveD... your batch sparging explanation is excellent. It's really made things a
whole lot clearer. Ta!