Extract #2 - Adnams Southwold Bitter

[Monkeybrew]

Now this may seem like a weird way of doing things, but I've been kit brewing for nearly 2 years but I brewed an extract (LME) Hobgoblin last December, which turned out ok and I have then brewed 7 mini BIAB brews throughout this year.

Now with the imminent arrival of our 2nd child, I know time is going to be tight, so I decided to brew a 19L all DME extract brew, to see how it compares to my BIAB brews.

I have to say after brewing BIAB, extract is such a doddle

I'm not a huge Bitter fan, but do love Adnams Southwold Bitter, so after a below average small scale BIAB attempt (my fault, not BIAB's), I have been reading around and decided on this recipe-

Adnams Southwold Bitter Clone

Brewlength - 19L
2.000g Light DME - 10EBC
0.036g Black Malt - 1200EBC
46g of Goldings Leaf Hops 5.7%AA @60mins (32 EBU's)
24g of Fuggles Leaf Hops 5.0%AA @10mins (5 EBU's)
14g of Fuggles Pellet Hops 4.3%AA added as a dry hop after primary
Colour - 26 EBC
Bitterness - 37 EBU
OG - 1.037
FG - 1.008
ABV - 3.8%
Yeast - Nottingham (rehydrated)
Fermented @20C

I know that the yeast won't be right, but I haven't progressed to liquid one's yet.

I used my 11L stockpot for the boil with 1kg of DME and then strained the hopped wort into my FV, then I mixed in the remaining 1kg of DME and topped up to 19L with ice cold bottled water. The wort temp was still at 30C, so I sealed up my FV and popped it into my brewfridge overnight. The yeast was rehydrated and pitched @22C on Sunday morning, and is now fermenting nicely @20C.

Can't wait to see how this brew turns out

[twentyfootwilf]

Hi Monkey, I'm going to do something very similar with a recipe taken from the Brew uk site Pendle witches brew kit. I'm not buying the extract kit at 20.99 as I've got 1.5kg of light DME and some crystal malt in the cupboard along with assorted yeasts, Gervin ale and coopers ale primarily. I think I shall use the Gervin.
I've ordered some fuggles pellets and some wheat DME so I can do the recipe by just spending a few quid.
My intended recipe is
1.5kg light DME
500g Wheat dme
280g crystal
330 sugar (I'll no doubt use dex)
55g fuggles pellets boiled 70 mins
12g fuggles pellets boiled 15 mins
Brewed to 18L

The method I use will be virtually as you are doing. I've used the beer engine from Practical brewing website and it gives OG 1051, ABV 5.1% , Colour 19EBC,
Bitterness units 30

According to the recipe it should come out around 5.6 ABV, but I guess there are some variables which may affect abv either way, plus priming sugar when bottling may add a little alcohol. This will be my first go at an extract so any advice would be appreciated.

[Monkeybrew]

Hi Matey

The BrewUK recipe doesn't really translate to the one in Graham Wheelers book as the proportions of fermentables don't seem correct to me.

I am not sure what %AA your fuggles hops are, so I based this Beer Engine recipe from GW's book on my ones that are 5%AA.

This is what I would brew if was doing a Moorhouses Pendle Witches Brew -



I just reduced the proportion of the crystal malt slightly to get the colour down to 23 EBC.

What do you think?

MB

[twentyfootwilf]

I got my fuggle pellets from Hop and Grape online site, according to them the AA% is only 3.9. Is your calculation for the wheat malt extract for liquid or Dried. The Brew uk recipe uses dried, but in my beer engine it only gives wheat malt extract which I assume they mean the liquid. I'm using dried wheat malt extract and brew uk uses a full 500g, which I assume equates to around 750g of the liquid wheat malt extract. I'm not too worried about my brew tasting exactly like the Pendle witches brew (never actually tried the stuff) just wanted a simple extract recipe to have a go at that would fit in with the ingredients I had available.
I could get myself some more Light DME and cut down on the wheat as my recipe uses quite a high amount compared to yours. Do you think less wheat would be better? Maybe Brew uk use 500g of wheat because it comes conveniently in 500g packs !

[Monkeybrew]

Hi Wilf

I was refering to Wheat DME.

I worked out the DME weigths as 64.5% of Graham's mashable grain weights in his recipe because that is what other recipe's with the extract version work out at.

MB

[Monkeybrew]

I checked the gravity of my brew last night on day 6, and it was at 1.008 so I weighed out 14g of Fuggles pellets and pitched them directly into the FV.

The taste from the trial jar was just ok, but I had eaten a Chinese takeaway prior to tasting, so I am hoping that that, had stripped my tastebuds.

MB

[twentyfootwilf]

Do you find any problems by chucking hop pellets loose into the fv when it comes to bottling or does the hop debris just drop out of suspension and sit on the bottom?

[Monkeybrew]

Do you find any problems by chucking hop pellets loose into the fv when it comes to bottling or does the hop debris just drop out of suspension and sit on the bottom?

This is the first time that I've used pellets for dry hopping.

I plan to chill the brew at 3C for a few days before kegging, so I'm hoping that the hop trub will drop out, but if it doesn't, then I will make a voile bag filter for the end of my syphon.

MB

[twentyfootwilf]

I think I'll keep putting my hops in a bag, at least I know where the bits will be at the end of the process.

[sbond10]

So mb what did you actually put in your boil pan noticed you only have an 11 litre pan so how did you go about it

[Monkeybrew]

So mb what did you actually put in your boil pan noticed you only have an 11 litre pan so how did you go about it

I added about 5 litres of water to my pan, heated it up to 75C and then steeped the black malt in a muslin bag for about 20mins.

I then removed the bag and turned the gas on low while I dissolved 1kg of DME into the stockpot and then topped up to approx 9 litres and brought it to the boil.

I just then carried out my boil, topping back up to 9L with boiling water as evaporation occurred.

After the boil I strained the wort into my FV, dissolved the remaining DME and topped up to 19L.

MB

[sbond10]

Okies mb. Just wondered how you stopped it running dry but I see now

[Monkeybrew]

Okies mb. Just wondered how you stopped it running dry but I see now

My stockpot pot is 26cm in diameter and I get an evaporation loss of approx 2L per hour.

My brew has definitely finished at 1.008 but is tasting very bitter, so I'm thinking that my hop utilisation setting in beer engine was wrong

I think that the EBU is nearer 42 than 37. Let's hope it mellows a bit with conditioning

MB

[sbond10]

Yeah it should change with age if all else fails throw sum blueberry juice in ...

[Monkeybrew]

Well it's been in the keg for 10 days and it is rather pleasant. The bitterness has mellowed a bit already which has allowed the hop flavours to come through a little.

At this early stage it is lovely and clear and tasting better than some pub real ale offerings that I have tried!



I must just try and leave this brew alone for a few weeks to mature.

MB