Home Brew Forum

Another brew day today. This time it was an ESB that I have been trying to perfect hence the .3



Batch Volume - 25l
OG - 1.051
FG - 1.012
ABV - 5%
IBU - 44
EBC - 16
Boil Time - 60 Minutes
Mash Water - 18l
Sparge Water - 16.3

Grain
Thomas Fawcett - Maris Otter Pale malt 4.57Kg
Biscuit Malt 0.27Kg
Crystal Malt 0.27Kg
Torrified Wheat 0.27Kg

Hops
Boil 60 minutes - Challenger whole hops 54g
Boil 10 minutes - East Kent Goldings 16g
Hopstand 10 minutes - East kent goldings whole hops 54g

Yeast
WLP001 Californian Ale Yeast in a one litre starter for 36 hours. This starter was using harvested yeast from the last brew session three weeks ago.

First off I made a starter 36 hours prior to the brewday using saved yeast from the last brew.


This was then put on the stir plate


After 36 hours the started was trying to escape out the flask!


Grain ready for doughing in


Grain has been added to the basket. I tried underletting this time by gently lowering the basket into the already added heated water.


The basket actually float on top of the water! It slowly lowered itself over a few minutes as the grain and water mixed.


This one shows the grain basket fully lowered and the water present before giving it a stir


Time for coffee!


Now we are mashing in. The pump is re-circulating the wort


After 60 minutes the wort is looking nice and clear


After the 60 minute mash I did a 15 Minute mash out at 75'c

Then it was time for sparging so the grain basket was lifted and drained.


Adding the sparge water. As usual I am using cold water.


This is my sophisticated steam extraction system!


Boil underway with the first addition of hops added


Weighing out the EKG hops for the hop stand addition


Re-circulating the hot wort to sterilise the CFC


The OG ended up at 1.042 which is quite a few points lower than the expected OG of 1.051. When sparging this time the water ran through very quick. It normally takes about an hour to sparge but today it did it in about 10 minutes! I am trying to think if I waited for the grain basket to fully drain before pushing the top plate down. If i did not then this would explain the quick flow. Otherwise the grain milled size maybe?? Seems strange as this has not happened before. Ah well it should still come out at about 4% ABV.


Starting to put together and sanitise the Chronical fermentor


Transferring the cooled wort


This is the hops left over in the boiler.


All ready for the ferment to start


So all in all not a bad brew day. Pity about the low OG but I am doing a Raspberry and Vanilla smoothy IPA in a couple of weeks so I will see if the same thing happens again (must remember to let the basket drain fully, although I always normally do!)

Great set of photos there!

Fingers crossed the brew turns out well.

Jim wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 06, 2018 8:06 pm

Great set of photos there!

Fingers crossed the brew turns out well.

This is the second time brewing the ESB.3 The last one was soon drunk Hopefully this one will be good too (apart from the lower OG this time)

Did you check your spent grain for dry pockets?

Like you, I tried underletting in my grainfather for my last brew, and also got a lower than expected OG. When emptying the grain onto the compost heap, I noticed quite a large pocket of dry grain at the bottom. I did mix the mash at the start, but obviously not enough.

scouse wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 07, 2018 10:22 am

Did you check your spent grain for dry pockets?

Like you, I tried underletting in my grainfather for my last brew, and also got a lower than expected OG. When emptying the grain onto the compost heap, I noticed quite a large pocket of dry grain at the bottom. I did mix the mash at the start, but obviously not enough.

No i did not. I just tipped the basket upside down into a bin bag as usual. I only gave a quick stir as well. I usually give it a really good stir but as i was underletting i didnt this time. So thanks for the heads up about what happened to your grain, i will pay more attention to the stiring next time

Great pics, consider some rice hulls or oat husks washed to allow proper flow through the crushed grain as well to avoid channelling and although I also drop the basket it, it also gets a good stir.

By and large since I switched to underletting I get much less of a problem with doughballs, but the last time I brewed the crush i got from the HBS was much finer and so I ended up getting quite a few. I think it's better overall, but you still have to watch out for it

Hanglow wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 07, 2018 3:50 pm

By and large since I switched to underletting I get much less of a problem with doughballs, but the last time I brewed the crush i got from the HBS was much finer and so I ended up getting quite a few. I think it's better overall, but you still have to watch out for it

I am going to give it another go next time. There is a couple of other things to check as well, so hopefully it will be ok next time. Bit strange as i have never had a problem in the past.

Excellent write up, pictures really inspire me to get a brew going, can't wait to see how it turns out.

Heres a couple of quick videos from the brewday.