Home Brew Forum

Second attempt at all grain. Decide to attempt a hoppy American style pale ale. I got some Columbus and Chinook hops from the malt Miller at a reduced price so decided to use them all in my brew. Should have ordered some US-05 at the same time, but forgot so went with S-04 instead.
The mash went well, mashing at 68C according to my temp. gauge after last brew went to 1.006 after a 66C mash. Sparge was fairly uneventful producing 30.5 litres of wort for the boil, although still haven't got the "spinny" sparge arm to spin! SG of pre-boil wort was 1.044. On to the boil and my first disaster of the day! Brewing outside in a strong wind which seemed to be keeping the rolling boil a bit low, I put the lid partially on the boiler to shield it from the wind without completely covering it. Popped into the house for a few seconds to get something and when I came back there was no sign of the lid! I thought it had blown off, but there was no sign of it anywhere around and I realised that the only place left for it was in the boiler! Sure enough it was jammed tight at the bottom of the boiler. Couldn't get it out at any price. Eventually gave up as the wort was still boiling and started pitching hops as per schedule. Second problem was forgetting to put wort chiller in to sanitise, so extended the boil by 10 mins to achieve this.
I am currently using one "40" litre boiler for HLT and copper, but a second 30 litre boiler finally arrived two days after this brew!
Anyway, once the boil and hop steep was finished I started draining the copper to my FV and eventually got access to the lid. I was able to extricate it after much huffing and puffing, but it did disturb the hop bed at the bottom of the copper so I had to filter the remaining run off through a sanitised sieve.
Managed to get 21.5 litres in the FV at OG of 1.056. A bit short of target, but good enough.

Currently on day 7 of fermentation. Some pics below (hopefully).

Recipe:

Pale Malt (Crisp MO) 5200g
Caragold 300g
Torrefied Wheat 150g

Hop Schedule
Columbus (AA 14.5%) 20g @ 70 mins
Chinook (AA 12.5%) 30g @ 20 mins
Columbus (AA 14.5%) 30 g @ 20 mins
Chinook (AA 12.5%) 30 g @ 0 mins
Columbus (AA 14.5%) 30 g @ 0 mins
Chinook (AA 12.5%) 40g dry hop from day 4
Columbus (AA 14.5%) 20g dry hop from day 4

(Planned 90 min boil with hops at 60, 10 and 0, but extended boil by 10 mins as above so timings for hop additions changed)

Using Beer Engine I calculated an overall efficiency of 71% giving me figures of:
21.5 litres @ 1.056 est FG 1.013, 5.6% abv, EBC 10, EBU 73

Grain Bill


Mash Tun


All Wrapped up


The Sparge


First Runnings


Start of the Boil


First Hops


Boiler Run-Off

NIce looking recipe. That hop combo is going to be all dank and piney - you won't be converting any Carling drinkers with this brew!

I must cofess to having a bit of a giggle at the thought of you trying to figure out where the boiler lid had gone.

Looking forward to your tasting notes on this one.

Cheers!

Jim

I wouldn't waste my hard work on Carling drinkers anyway!
Must admit the hops were a gamble. Don't have any experience with them and only used them because they were on special offer from the Malt Miller. The Columbus smelt lovely, but not so sure about the Chinook. It'll get drunk anyway unless it is absolutely horrible. Planning to bottle in a week or so.

Cheers CM

charliemartin wrote:It'll get drunk anyway unless it is absolutely horrible.

Spoken like a true homebrewer!

Don't worry about that hop combo your onto a winner.. Chinook primarily know for bittering but its an awesome aroma hop

Jimp
Absolutely! I have had a few dodgy brews since starting with kits last May, but I haven't yet poured an entire batch down the drain. They do tend to become more drinkable the longer you keep them.

Alix101
Cheers for that. Good to know it may actually be okay. I did wonder if I should have used the Chinook for the first bittering addition, but I am sure I read somewhere on this forum that Chinook can be a bit harsh for bittering so went with the Columbus instead.

Cheers
CM

Bottled this last week. Awesome grapefruit aroma! Had a wee taste from the fv and it is very tasty indeed. Even the wife was impressed and she normally wouldn't go near any of my brews. Only problem now is waiting for it to carb, clear and condition. Not sure how long I can hold off!

Bloody hell that boiler's full!

Yeah, I know. Supposed to be a 40 litre boiler, but only holds a little over 34 litres in reality.