AG#38 - A Pale Endeavour

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Monkeybrew
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AG#38 - A Pale Endeavour

Post by Monkeybrew » Mon Apr 22, 2019 9:23 am

Well, I find that with most things in life, Preparation Prevents P*** Poor Performance, so why didn't I apply that statement to this brew?

I have been busy sorting out my back garden under the supervision of Mrs Monkeybrew over the last few weeks/weekends and have found it hard to fit in another brew, but after completing one new fence line on Saturday morning, I thought that a sunny Saturday evening Brewday was a fit reward :)

Did I start prepping ingredients and kit that morning then, no I didn't. I was still trying to fit in other jobs and ferrying my daughter to and from her friends houses, so bearing in mind that I was planning to be mashed in by 5.30pm, I hadn't even unpacked my Grainfather or flushed it through with any hot water at 4pm!

Who says men can't multitask, as shortly into getting setup, Mrs Monkeybrew announces that we should have a bbq for dinner just to add to my woes #-o

In between dusting off the barbie from it's winter rest I encountered my first problem when going to check the alkalinity of my water with my Salifert kit, I only had 2 drops of the KH-Ind left in the dropper bottle so was unable to go any further on that front. My last brew was 5 weeks ago and my water was 142ppm, so I had base my water treatment on that number. I wanted to get my starting alkalinity just below 20 ppm, so took a calculated guess and went for AMS @0.64ml/L and thought that at least I could check the mash pH to see if I was in the correct ballpark.......

......... I somehow managed to get the mash on at 5.40pm, but I did burn the lamb kebabs on the bbq, but at this point it was all about priorities! I took a mash pH sample and left it to cool while the mash did it's thing, albeit very slowly and I had to slow the flow down to avoid the recirculating wort going straight down the overflow tube. With the bbq done, I rushed to check the mash pH, but guess what, the 9V battery for my pH meter was dead, so I gave up at that point :oops:

When the mash and mashout was over, the wort still looked quite cloudy, but I wasn't bothered by this point and just got on with the sparge, but this was a very slow and painful process with slow draining issues, and at this point I was really wondering why I had bothered to brew at all! At least my pre-boil volume was bang on at 28L and the boil was underway.

The rest of the brew went smoothly which was novel, until I checked the OG of the brew whilst pumping it into the FV. I was aiming for an OG of 1.038 @23L and had turned the efficiency setting down by 3% from my last brew from 79% to 76% in the GF software because I have found that the sweet spot up until now has been with 5kg grain bills and as this was only 4kg, I thought that I would be somewhere near...........

.........My actual OG came in at 1.044, so 6 points above target and not a negative problem, but still something else that didn't go to plan. I went back into the GF brewing software when I was finally back in the house and had to wind the Brewhouse efficiency all the way up to 87% for it to match my actual brewing numbers :shock:

The GF software always shows generous numbers on this front compared to my benchmark Brewmate software, but even Brewmate was showing 81%, so very happy with that figure, just not sure how I achieved it at this stage?

I gave this brew it's name due to the single use of the English hop Endeavour, but little did I know how well the word 'Endeavour' would explain this brewday.

I must have done something right, as I had plenty of CO2 coming out of the FV blow-off tube within 12 hours of the pitching the yeast!

I will report back as the brew progresses.

Cheers

MB



A Pale Endeavour
British Golden Ale

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.000
Total Hops (g): 69.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.044 (°P): 11.0
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.15 %
Colour (SRM): 4.9 (EBC): 9.6
Bitterness (IBU): 27.5 (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 81 (Grainfather Software - 87%)
BU:GU Ratio: 0.65
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
3.600 kg Crisp Maris Otter Malt (90%)
0.200 kg Dingemans Aromatic Malt (5%)
0.200 kg Weyermann Carapils (5%)

Hop Bill
----------------
23.0 g Endeavour Leaf (8.5% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1 g/L)
23.0 g Endeavour Leaf (8.5% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (1 g/L)
23.0 g Endeavour Leaf (8.5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (1 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
4.45 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) @ 75 Minutes (Mash)
4.45 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
1/2 Protafloc Tablet @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Mash Out at 75°C for 10 Minutes
Fermented at 19°C with M15 - Mangrove Jacks Empire Ale (Rehydrated)

Water Profile: Graham Wheelers 'Bitter'
Starting Alkalinity: errrrr?
Treated Alkalinity: No Idea!
AMS @0.64ml/L
FV:


Conditioning:
AG#41 - Vienna Lager - 5.6%
AG#42 - Heritage Double Ale - 10.5%

On Tap:
AG#44 - Harvest ESB - 5.4%
AG#45 - Amarillo Gold APA - 5.2%

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alexlark
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Re: AG#38 - A Pale Endeavour

Post by alexlark » Mon Apr 22, 2019 3:06 pm

Brew and BBQ! I take my hat off, my head would have gone

sandimas
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Re: AG#38 - A Pale Endeavour

Post by sandimas » Sun Apr 28, 2019 9:41 am

What made you consider 5% aromatic malt?

I've not used this malt before and not seen it in many recipes but was thinking of using is to make a dark English ale a bit more fruity, hence the question?

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Monkeybrew
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Re: AG#38 - A Pale Endeavour

Post by Monkeybrew » Fri May 03, 2019 6:54 pm

sandimas wrote:
Sun Apr 28, 2019 9:41 am
What made you consider 5% aromatic malt?

I've not used this malt before and not seen it in many recipes but was thinking of using is to make a dark English ale a bit more fruity, hence the question?
Hi,

It's supposed to enhance the malt flavour in a beer.

Funny thing is, I was aiming for a British Golden Ale, but when I read the guidelines it say 'little to no malt aroma' - LOL :lol:

I've taken a sample today and it definitely had a nice grainy malt flavour to it,so going to my plan so far!

The gravity is still pretty high at 1.015, so may give the yeast a little rouse.....

Cheers

MB
FV:


Conditioning:
AG#41 - Vienna Lager - 5.6%
AG#42 - Heritage Double Ale - 10.5%

On Tap:
AG#44 - Harvest ESB - 5.4%
AG#45 - Amarillo Gold APA - 5.2%

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