Home Brew Forum

Saturday June 29, 2013: a late-night brew, started at 10 pm and pitched yeast about 3 am. It was a very easy, uneventful brew. Timothy came over round about midnight, we hung-out and drank my Flyer Best between brewing tasks. He also dropped-off a bottle of tart cherry wine which I'm really looking forward to.

SEYMOUR OATMEAL MOLASSES INDIA PORTER

A very stout porter containing oatmeal, toasted buckwheat, and molasses. Somewhat elevated hops and alcohol percentage in order to survive its long sea voyage to the enlisted soldiers; tastier and more complex than the pale stuff the officers drink. Yeah, I know I'm playing fast and loose with the adjuncts and historical facts...just no one tell Ron, cool?

5 US Gallons = 4.2 Imperial Gallons = 19 Litres

GRAINBILL
40% = 5 lbs = 2.27 kg, Vienna Malt (Germany)
24% = 3 lbs = 1.36 kg, Six-Row Pale (USA)
9% = 1.13 lb = 510 g, Flaked Oats (USA)
8% = 1 lb = 454 g, Dark Crystal Malt 80L (USA)
7% = .88 lb = 397 g, Toasted Buckwheat (Russia)
7% = .88 lb = 397 g, Blackstrap Molasses, added to boil (USA)
5% = .63 lb = 283 g, Black Malt (UK)
TOTAL: 12.5 lbs = 5.67 kg

STRIKE with water heated to 160°F/71°C

MASH ≈149°F/65°C for two hours, add a pinch of calcium carbonate

SPARGE and COLLECT ≈7.75 US gallons pre-boil

BOIL for 60 min.

HOPS
.6 oz = 17 g, Chinook (USA), 13% AA, 60 min
2 oz = 57 g, Hallertau (Germany), 3% AA, 30 min
.2 oz = 5.7 g, Chinook (USA), 13% AA, at flame-out & steep 30 min before chill
.2 oz = 5.7 g, Progress (UK), 8% AA, at flame-out & steep 30 min before chill
.2 oz = 5.7 g, Challenger (UK), 6.3% AA, at flame-out & steep 30 min before chill

CHILL, then TRANSFER to fermentor, then AERATE, then PITCH yeast.

YEAST: Split into two batches, ferment at 72°F/22.2°C
1. Windsor (UK ale strain, product of Austria), 3.75 US gallons. After some serious Ditch-style-drill-powered-aeration, the yeast were visibly working within minutes, I sh!t you not.
2. Adnams dual-strain (UK), 3rd generation, which morphed to produce a very Belgian-y beer last time, 1.5 US gallons. Oddly, despite pitching a larger population this time, the yeast still exhibited a nerve-racking 48 hour lag-time. Indeed, it was infected and had to be dumped.

STATS considering a 72% mash efficiency and 80% apparent attenuation:
OG: 1061
FG: 1012
ABV: 6.4%
IBU: ≈60
COLOUR: mahogany


Grainbill


Ready for the grains


Grainmill


It smelled as good as it looked


Mash-in


Stay on target!


Heating the sparge water


Sparging


Hop bill


Nighttime boil


Duelling fermentors

I can't wait to see how it turns out.

seymour wrote:2. Adnams dual-strain (UK), 3rd generation, which has morphed to become very Belgian-y, 1.5 US gallons. Oddly, despite pitching a larger population this time, the yeast still exhibited a nerve-racking 48 hour lag-time.

Eeek. I've never seen that before.

Admittedly I work from dry yeast, so normally if it's not going within 24 hours I pitch fresh yeast (and I usually have an inkling if the yeast isn't going to work when I rehydrate it).

Looks good Seymour, and some nice photos too

Jocky wrote:

seymour wrote:2. Adnams dual-strain (UK), 3rd generation, which has morphed to become very Belgian-y, 1.5 US gallons. Oddly, despite pitching a larger population this time, the yeast still exhibited a nerve-racking 48 hour lag-time.

Eeek. I've never seen that before.

Admittedly I work from dry yeast, so normally if it's not going within 24 hours I pitch fresh yeast (and I usually have an inkling if the yeast isn't going to work when I rehydrate it).

Yeah, it did the same thing last time though, so I half expected it. That batch ended-up tasting awesome, so I just let it do it's weird thing again. And since it's only 1.5 gallons, if I have to dump it, it's not a huge loss.

ArmChair wrote:Looks good Seymour, and some nice photos too

Thanks, man. High hopes. As I planned the recipe and brewed it, it seemed to tick a lot of the boxes for what I'm in the mood to drink lately, so we'll see. The molasses gave it a really strong anise/liqourice/cedar scent which I didn't expect.

Thanks for the invitation! Also thanks for sharing your flyer best.

The hydrometer sample of the India porter was noticeably hoppy. Like all your brews, I'm sure this will turn out well. I'm glad to hear that your Adnams yeast finally took off. Fortunately there still were some survivors in that yeast cake you used. Those are going to be some tough little buggers.

Looks like 2 interesting brews.
Tempted to have a go myself to have a 2nd Christmad brew.

Glad the Adams is still going.

That's lots of molasses you used. Is it the dry stuff we have over here or a syrup?

That sure is a lovely looking Recipe, I cant wait to see how this turns out.

Love the night time brew picture also. Very nice.

jmc wrote:Looks like 2 interesting brews.
Tempted to have a go myself to have a 2nd Christmad brew.

Thanks, I hope they're as tasty as they are interesting. And good luck on yours, too.

jmc wrote:...Glad the Adams is still going.

Yeah, me too. Although it doesn't seem much like the balanced dual-strain used to produce the few Adnams beers I've tasted. I suspect what I've got at this point are the hardiest descendants of their aggressive "killer strain". No matter, I've got no problem with a spicy "Belgian stout" if that's what I get. I've got a couple beers to send you in return, I haven't forgotten. Sorry it's taking me so long!

jmc wrote:...That's lots of molasses you used. Is it the dry stuff we have over here or a syrup?

True, I've never used more than about 4 oz, but lots of guys round here have enjoyed the results of much larger quantities, so I thought what the hell. It's a very thick, dark syrup, the very last left-overs at the end of the sugarcane refining process, as I understand it. This stuff: http://www.brerrabbit.com/products/brer ... -molasses/


I didn't know there was such a thing as dried molasses. Interesting. Is it like very dark brown sugar or something?

barney wrote:That sure is a lovely looking Recipe, I cant wait to see how this turns out.

Love the night time brew picture also. Very nice.

Thanks, Barney. I know most people are brewing and drinking light, spritzy, summery golden ales this time of year, but I've been in the mood for something thick and dark. My wife and daughter took a quick overnight trip to the Chicago IKEA, so I stayed up late to brew (duh, what else?) It was nice and peaceful sitting outside, chatting and drinking with Timothy, and a hoppy, roasty beer bubbling a few feet away. It was way past midnight when I went to bed, but I slept-in a bit and then tackled the remaining clean-up. I highly recommend it if the timing works-out for you.

seymour wrote:

jmc wrote:Looks like 2 interesting brews.
Tempted to have a go myself to have a 2nd Christmas brew.

Thanks, I hope they're as tasty as they are interesting. And good luck on yours, too.

jmc wrote:...Glad the Adams is still going.

Yeah, me too. Although it doesn't seem much like the balanced dual-strain used to produce the few Adnams beers I've tasted. I suspect what I've got at this point are the hardiest descendants of their aggressive "killer strain". No matter, I've got no problem with a spicy "Belgian stout" if that's what I get. I've got a couple beers to send you in return, I haven't forgotten. Sorry it's taking me so long!

jmc wrote:...That's lots of molasses you used. Is it the dry stuff we have over here or a syrup?

True, I've never used more than about 4 oz, but lots of guys round here have enjoyed the results of much larger quantities, so I thought what the hell. It's a very thick, dark syrup, the very last left-overs at the end of the sugarcane refining process, as I understand it. This stuff: http://www.brerrabbit.com/products/brer ... -molasses/


I didn't know there was such a thing as dried molasses. Interesting. Is it like very dark brown sugar or something?

barney wrote:That sure is a lovely looking Recipe, I cant wait to see how this turns out.

Love the night time brew picture also. Very nice.

Thanks, Barney. I know most people are brewing and drinking light, spritzy, summery golden ales this time of year, but I've been in the mood for something thick and dark. My wife and daughter took a quick overnight trip to the Chicago IKEA, so I stayed up late to brew (duh, what else?) It was nice and peaceful sitting outside, chatting and drinking with Timothy, and a hoppy, roasty beer bubbling a few feet away. It was way past midnight when I went to bed, but I slept-in a bit and then tackled the remaining clean-up. I highly recommend it if the timing works-out for you.

I wasn't hinting. Not expecting anything in return.
Just glad the yeast was of use.

I use this powdered Billington's Molases - 500G Box

BTW: I've heard that some brown sugar over here is 10% molasses & 90% refined sugar.

Never used more than about 50g Molasses added to Saison's mainly.

The nocturnal brewing with a friend sounds excellent.

UPDATE: so it's been a little over two weeks, primary fermentation has definitely subsided.

I took a hydrometer reading of the Adnams batch: 1015. It smelled like poop. I took a sip of the hydrometer sample...yep, definitely infected, and not in a cool way. Damn it, there goes my Adnams yeast culture down the drain, literally. Bummer. I scrubbed the carboy as thoroughly as I could and left it sitting outside with a strong bleach water solution.

Next, I very carefully sanitized my stuff and took a hydrometer reading of the Windsor batch: 1021. Okay, that's too high, not quite finished, but we all know Windsor is painfully slow. I drank this hydrometer sample too. This time it smelled and tasted great, classic English ale bready and estery traits, albeit still too much residual sweetness. I transferred to a sanitized secondary fermentor, swirled it a bit, and the airlock is back to bubbling a few times per minute again. I sure hope I haven't infected this one, because it seemed like the grainbill and hops are going to be perfectly balanced once it dries out a little more. Fingers crossed!

seymour wrote:UPDATE: so it's been a little over two weeks, primary fermentation has definitely subsided.

I took a hydrometer reading of the Adnams batch: 1015. It smelled like poop. I took a sip of the hydrometer sample...yep, definitely infected, and not in a cool way. Damn it, there goes my Adnams yeast culture down the drain, literally. Bummer. I scrubbed the carboy as thoroughly as I could and left it sitting outside with a strong bleach water solution.

Next, I very carefully sanitized my stuff and took a hydrometer reading of the Windsor batch: 1021. Okay, that's too high, not quite finished, but we all know Windsor is painfully slow. I drank this hydrometer sample too. This time it smelled and tasted great, classic English ale bready and estery traits, albeit still too much residual sweetness. I transferred to a sanitized secondary fermentor, swirled it a bit, and the airlock is back to bubbling a few times per minute again. I sure hope I haven't infected this one, because it seemed like the grainbill and hops are going to be perfectly balanced once it dries out a little more. Fingers crossed!

Shame the Adnams yeast has gone wild / got infected. Any chance you could use yeast from previous brews you did with it? Any of it bottled?

Jocky wrote:

seymour wrote:2. Adnams dual-strain (UK), 3rd generation, which has morphed to become very Belgian-y, 1.5 US gallons. Oddly, despite pitching a larger population this time, the yeast still exhibited a nerve-racking 48 hour lag-time.

Eeek. I've never seen that before.

Admittedly I work from dry yeast, so normally if it's not going within 24 hours I pitch fresh yeast (and I usually have an inkling if the yeast isn't going to work when I rehydrate it).

Well, Jocky, you were right to worry. I had to dump the infected so-called-Adnams batch.

jmc wrote:Shame the Adnams yeast has gone wild / got infected. Any chance you could use yeast from previous brews you did with it? Any of it bottled?

Yeah, I hope so. I have a couple remaining bottles of the Flyer Best which used the Adnams yeast you sent me. I'll try to keep myself from drinking them, until I'm ready to culture the dregs. At least I got one really tasty batch out of it.

Anymore news in this mate?

ArmChair wrote:Anymore news in this mate?

I've checked on it a few times, and that Windsor yeast is still slowly churning away. I hope to bottle it in a few days. I'll let you know more once it's carbonated. The smells and sneaky-tastes so far are yummy. Thanks for asking!

I hope its gets there! Im sure it will, and you will be over the moon with the results

I took a sample of my Imperial Stout on Saturday, after 10 days its dropped from 1100 to 1056.
Will check when i get home to see if there is any more movement