Black Pig Stout
OG 1050
5.5kg Maris Otter Pale, pre-crushed.
0.9kg Flaked Barley
0.45kg Roast Barley
144g Goldings estimate aa 3% 90 mins
35g Saaz estimate aa 2% 90 mins
Target EBU 45, 25% utilisation, but who the hell knows.
If you're thinking 'Stout? Goldings...Saaz!??' It's what I had in the freezer. It doesn't really matter a toss what the hops are in a stout as they're all bittering only and as long as the bitterness levels are right, it's going to be ok. The Saaz were only there to make up the slight (theoretical) shortfall in the Goldings. The Saaz were an already open pack, and I wasn't going to open a fresh pack of Fuggles for only 20-30g.
2 packs Nottingham yeast, rehydrated as per pack instructions
Weight of pale malt calculated to give me target gravity at 65% brewhouse efficiency, achieved by under extracting while batch sparging.
Being Stout, I didn't knock out as much bicarbonate as I would for bitters or lager, holding back about 5ml of CRS....and then forgot to check PH of the mash, so I don't know if I was right....there you go, 2 months off and it goes to pot.
5ml salt added...up the chloride.
It went pretty much to plan. 90 min mash at 65-66c in 15L of liquor. Didn't lose any heat at all. Batch sparged. I find that if I calculate the batch sparge volumes to give 2 equal volumes giving the desired preboil volume BUT add 4 litres less in the second run, then top up to the required preboil with liquor instead I get the required ammount of under extraction. However, all that checking of gravity, recirculating, etc, means it takes as long as a fly sparge.
made up to 38L preboil, gravity check shows bang on target. Boil 105 mins with all hops in at start, and protofloc in at 90 mins. 15 mins rest, recirculate to clear debris, then use pump and plate chiller to cool by recirculating. Very clear wort as a result and quite a bit of trub in the hops.
Cooled to 18c and run off into FV. 24L at 1050, with a bit of wort to spare. 3 min burst of O2 and in with the yeast. Cooling is faster with the chiller BUT it's a lot more hassle sanitising, rinsing, setting it all up, then the clean up afterwards. If it were part of a permanent brewery set-up, with a sanitising/rinsing circuit built in, then great, but to use it as part of a bucket brewery, it's too much aggravation getting it all out, finding the right hoses, etc, each time. I'm going back to the IC until I've built the brewery proper.
A few pics below....
Maris Otter pale, pre crushed from an open sack I've had since...er..june
Extract was ok, so, fingers crossed.
Whole roast barley in the crusher....
Crushed roast barley afterwards, with flaked barley. Stout Grist!
3 tier bucket brewery - running off the mash
Black beer - Devil's drink. Note Andy, hop strainer in place
Sanitising FV, pump, and chiller. Palaver. Some people sanitise by pumping boiling wort around the circuit for a few minutes at the end of the boil. Problem is, these Totton pumps aren't rated for boiling liquid. Said so clearly on the documentation. I think it was 80c max.
The Chiller, in all it's shinyness. Nice barbed connectors, no hassle there.
Yeast went in at 5.15pm. 10.30, and not much going on..... usually going by now. It didn't seem all that vigorous in the starter bottle.If nothing doing by morning, I've got another couple of packs to pitch in.
