Leicester/London Pride

[erebus]

I think this brewday pretty much typical of my style, aim for something and then realise I've forgotten a few things and end up winging it.

The recipe is somewhere based off Real Ale Almanac, modified due to not having any brewers caramel and what grains/hops I had left over.

3.38Kg Pale Malt
370g Crystal Malt 120L
250g Flaked Maize

Hops

20g Challenger (90mins)
20g Target (90mins)
15g Fuggles (15mins)

Unfortunately the lovely people at brewgenie didn't label the AA of either the Challenger or the Target.

So this could turn out to be a bit of a random brew.
A few questions thou.

1) The flaked maize should add a little smoothness to this brew, right? Will it help with head retention or should I be looking at wheat for that?
2) Still undecided about adding some demerara sugar during the boil, again this should add some smoothness and a little sweetness, is that right?
3) Hypothetically, how bad would it be if I also realised I didn't have any Irish Moss left? Will not putting any into the boil mean I'm left with a hazy beer, but it shouldn't impact that flavour?

Oh and mash shot showing me hitting 66C.

[Barley Water]

I think I can answer your questions:

- flaked maize will tend to thin out the beer and make it lighter. It can add a kind of sweet grainy flavor which tastes pretty good in my opinion. I have also noticed that the beers I have used it in do pretty well in the head department but adjuncts in general work against a good head so I would have to say that it does nothing for head retention, I am just lucky I guess. Us Yanks use the stuff as a dilulent when brewing with six row malt since that malt has very high protein levels which cause problems.

- adding any kind of fermentable sugar to beer tends to thin it out as well as dry out the taste (not make it sweeter). This is because most are very fermentable therefore after the yeast is done there is not much sugar left. That's why the Belgians add sugar to most all their high gravity brews, they would otherwise be way too sweet and cloying.

- forgetting to add Irish moss may not hurt you with this beer depending what type of yeast you are using. The Fuller's yeast is well known to be very floculent therefore if you use it, I don't think you will have any problems (by the way I highly recommend it, the yeast is very flavorful and really makes the beer).

Hope that helps.

[delboy]

Have a good one erebus

BTW what yeast are you using for this, ive found the fullers yeast to be exceptional.

[erebus]

Well everything went smoothly until went to drain the wort from the boiler. Looks like I jinkest myself, as my hop strainer came loose.

As for the yeast, it was good old SafAle S-04, I'd like to try again another time with the fullers. I'll probably try a double brew batch in the new year with the fullers yeast, a London Pride and ESB combo.

I would have posted more pictures but I don't think anyone would want to see me thrashing my boiler with a hop strainer Basil Fawlty style.