Hunky Dory 21/10/2007

[Vossy1]

In a few hours (10am kick off) I'll be brewing this recipe courtesy of M Ollossons Real Ales for the home brewer...cheers Marc...again

With a bit of luck I'll be joined by some fellow JHBF members

46 ltr batch @ 75% eff, OG 1044, FG 1009, IBU 34, ABv 4.5%

In the tun

MO pale malt 9.06kg
Amber malt 0.9kg
2 x tbs Ph 5.2

Mash for 90 min @ 65 deg c

In the boiler

Challenger AA 7% 83g (bittering hops 90 min, 27% util)
Whirlfloc tab last 10 min
Cascade 56g (aroma hops added at elements off)

Yeast, the ever trustable S04

The amber malt is supposed to add a lovely biscuity taste....I like the sounds of that

[iowalad]

I look forward to how this one comes out.
My try at amber but not 100% sure it was the amber malt I disliked.

[SiHoltye]

I bought some amber in the week too. Most is gonna go in a porter. Interested to here what its like in a bitter. Good luck Vossy, have a good'un.

[Wez]

have a good un Voss

Remember the pics

[Garth]

Have a good one Vossy,

btw did you manage to get any of those elements to fit those plugs?

[delboy]

Have a great brewday vossy

[J_P]

How are you chaps getting on?

[spearmint-wino]

Hope your day went well, people. I did a bitter with 10% Amber Malt in today too, we'll have to virtually compare tastes when they're ready?

Oh yeah, just realised its you and me I'm talking about Vossy, better make that tasting in about, um, 4 days then?

[Vossy1]

All done and dusted with only one cock up

Whilst trying to purge the cfc of wort, post cooling, I managed to forget to connect the cfc out pipe to the hose pipe resulting in a sticky soaking for a very kind dan, who tried to control the way ward, snaking, beast of a pipe

A smooth brew day apart from that, with 46 ltrs now in primary
I hit 1050, target was 1044 at 75% efficiency. That's 3 times now I've exceeded 75% so next brew I'm going to base the calcs on 78%.

EB kindly brought round some data logging equipment and hooked it up to my mash, to check out the pids accuracy. It turns out the pid is very accurate, within a degree, almost flat line temperature control

We also tried some of EB's honey ale which was very nice indeed. I think I'll be giving that one a go
A few of my ales were sampled and it was all chased down by a selection of cheese and crackers...all in all a very good day.
My thanks go out to EB, Slurp the Apprentice and Dan for their company

I haven't got any of those elements yet Garth, did you get any

Oh yeah, just realised its you and me I'm talking about Vossy, better make that tasting in about, um, 4 days then?

As long as that

[eskimobob]

Superb day
Very interesting to see the HERMS in action. Whether or not the system helps to produce better beer is bound to be a source of debate however to me it definitely seems to be an easier less stressful brew day - no lifting gallons of near boiling wort from one place to another - those pumps are brilliant. The recirculation definitely does produce a clear wort.

EB kindly brought round some data logging equipment and hooked it up to my mash, to check out the pids accuracy. It turns out the pid is very accurate, within a degree, almost flat line temperature control

I'm glad we checked this out as it was very clear that the temperature of the mash was stable throughout. See this picture for the profile:



Section 1 - is while the PID is auto tuning - see the over shoot.

Section 2 - The PID is regulating really well at a stable 66C.

Section 3 - The mash bed rose up and ended up floating - no idea why but it did affect the temperature - it seems as though since the majority of the grain was floating at the top, it provided extra insluation and the temp rose - you can see where the PID was trying hard to correct it.

Section 4 - Pump switched off while getting ready to sparge - you can see that the mash started to loose temperature quite quickly when the recirculation was switched off.

Section 5 - Sparge liquor pump turned on - sparge liquor was about 77C and the temperature of the mash rose rapidly when Vossy stirred the floating grain back into the main mash liquor and the sparge liquor started to raise the mash tun temp.

I hope these are of interest to others. I was very impressed with the accuracy of Vossy's temperature and particularly the stability of the mash temp (until the grain bed decided to float itself that is).

We also tried some of EB's honey ale which was very nice indeed. I think I'll be giving that one a go

Glad you liked it. It is good to get some feedback. I think it has probably dried out a bit more than I wanted it too but I am still happy with it. Here's the recipe if you fancy making it.

A few of my ales were sampled and it was all chased down by a selection of cheese and crackers...all in all a very good day.
My thanks go out to EB, Slurp the Apprentice and Dan for their company

So much choice and a shame that I am
a) driving and
b) on the waggon

I really liked the Market Best Bitter and the Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout, oh and the Hefe was pretty darn tasty too yum yum yum...

Nice to meet up with Dan too, cheers chaps (and Bria, Bracken, Keeley and Dan's SWMBO).

[Vossy1]

I really like that graph, thanks for posting it EB...it gives me oodles of confidence in my temperature control after a long time doubting

On section 4, just for information, this is when the entire runnings content of batch sparge 1 is dropped off the mash into the runnings collection vessel ie, there is no liquor left in the mash, hence the sharp fall in temp, just in case anyone was wondering

I'd love to know why the grain decided to float half way through the mash ...any ideas anyone. There was no air being introduced under the mash bed so I'm at a loss, though this has happened before

[prolix]

love the graph EB you should start a road show and do one for everyone

re the floating just an idea so shoot me down in flames if you must

as the enzymes do their stuff the liquor becomes heavier, higher SG so the grain floats more.

[delboy]

no lifting gallons of near boiling wort from one place to another

A no point in a brew day do I lift wort or water anywhere near boiling, nor do I have a pumped system. After 2 very nasty reported accidents on the forum (including 1 hospitalization), if anyone is lifting hot wort/water, it's worth reviewing their brewing process.

Wise words, at one point today i was lifting nearly 7 gallons of liquid at about 80 C, i wasn't happy doing it and next time for the sake of an extra 15 mins or so i'll not be doing it that way.

[eskimobob]

as the enzymes do their stuff the liquor becomes heavier, higher SG so the grain floats more.

Well that sounds entirely reasonable to me.

[spearmint-wino]

if anyone is lifting hot wort/water, it's worth reviewing their brewing process.

Unfortunately that would be the difference between brewing and not brewing with my situation... without a pump I can't think of any other way around it