Bitter & Twisted

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niall

Bitter & Twisted

Post by niall » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:48 pm

On the old forum someone posted a link to a Bitter & Twisted recipe which I'd be keen to try as this is one of my current favourites. From what I remember it was an All Grain recipe - does anyone have the link and any tips on modifying the recipe to mini mash?

mysterio

Post by mysterio » Thu Sep 28, 2006 4:27 pm

Here ya go:

http://www.xxlbrewing.com/recipe/Bitter_Twisted.html

Someone used malted wheat instead of buckwheat and I used unmalted wheat and some oats (oats are used commercially). I wouldn't recommend using oats though because it gave it a lot of haze.

I dont do mini-mashes but if you mash the the pound of wheat, 2 pounds of pale malt and 3 pounds of light DME (or 3.8lb of LME) you'll get the right OG. You'll probably get better conversion with the malted wheat because it has its own enzymes.

This is a good recipe by the way. Remember this is for 5.5 US gallons (enough to fill a cornelius keg and have a bit leftover).

niall

Post by niall » Thu Sep 28, 2006 5:06 pm

Cheers mysterio, that's the one I was looking for. I saw an article by Michael Jackson (no, not that one :)) that said they use 'substantial amounts of wheat for head retention and mouthfeel' so I'll bear that in mind too. I have some Wheat DME so I might use that along with mashing the pale malt; I don't have any wheat grains.

So if I mash 2 pounds of pale malt
and add 3 pounds light dme, 1 pound wheat dme I should still be pretty close?

Any thoughts on yeast selection? I thought Safale US 56 would suit as the APAs use this style and seems to work pretty well.

mysterio

Post by mysterio » Thu Sep 28, 2006 5:12 pm

Sounds about spot on to me.

If you download software like Beersmith or Promash and you'll be able to fine tune how much extract you need.

I used US56 for that recipe and thought it suited the beer perfectly, in fact I use that yeast for most of my beers now. I don't think you want the yeasty fruity flavours that you get from the English style yeasts in this beer, it's more about hop flavour IMO.

Another thing - the recipe uses hop pellets which are more potent (pound for pound) than whole hops, so remember to scale up accordingly if you're using whole. Or you could order the Challenger hops in pellet form.

niall

Post by niall » Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:24 pm

I brewed this a week ago and plan on transferring to the cornie this week. Normally I do a secondary and age for a few weeks, but I'm thinking of going straight to keg with this one. How long should I leave it in the keg before tapping? I keep reading that the beer will come into condition quicker in the keg if it's being force carbonated - if I hook up the gas for a week or two should it be ready?

Incidentally my OG was about 10 points lower than expected so I added more boiled and cooled DME to bring it back up. I think my sparge was too quick and a lot of the sugar was left in the grains.

My immersion chiller and sparge arm have arrived and I have a new 3kw element on order for my boiler. I'm hoping to get my first all grain brew in before Christmas - I'll be going through the AG brewday posts with great interest!! TTL or a stout look likely I think...

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Post by flytact » Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:38 pm

I brewed this one last spring and dry hopped for 10 days in the secondary. With many of my British style beers I'll go right to the corny, but the dry hop made it very nice. This was a great recipe by the way. People that knew the beer thought it was great.

niall

Post by niall » Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:45 pm

I'm hoping to dry hop in the keg - must go and get a ping pong ball :)

mysterio

Post by mysterio » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:14 pm

If your OG was in the 1.030s it will mature fast and be ready for drinking in a week.

niall

Post by niall » Mon Nov 20, 2006 11:04 pm

Cheers Myste,

It came out originally at 1030 which I thought was little too low so I upped it to 1040 with the DME addition.

Checked the SG tonight and it's down to 1010 but very hazy. I haven't fined before but I might consider it before racking to the keg. I have two packets of 'Beerbrite' finings bought at a local HBS - the packet says it's a mxture of isinglass and silica gel. I haven't heard of anyone using this brand so I'd be a little unsure about using it without hearing about someone else's experience...

mysterio

Post by mysterio » Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:08 pm

I'm sure I've heard of someone else using those finings on here, Vossy maybe?

I would go ahead and use them, they can't do any harm.

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Andy
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Post by Andy » Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:11 pm

mysterio wrote:I'm sure I've heard of someone else using those finings on here, Vossy maybe?

I would go ahead and use them, they can't do any harm.

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niall

Post by niall » Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:20 pm

Great - thanks for the tips and the link.

As it happens the sample in the trial jar was a lot clearer this morning. I had moved the fermenter a little before taking my sample and the yeast/trub was obviously disturbed. It settled out overnight and looks better now. Having said that I'm curious to try the finings anyway as it's not something I've done before. I'll move the fermenter into the fridge for a couple of days and then rack to the keg and fine.

PieOPah

Post by PieOPah » Tue Nov 21, 2006 3:00 pm

niall wrote:I'm hoping to dry hop in the keg - must go and get a ping pong ball :)
What would you use a Ping Pong balls for?

bod

Post by bod » Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:05 pm

you can use a hop bag in the keg with the ping pong ball in it to keep it afloat. stops things get clogged with hop leaves. :D

niall

Post by niall » Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:09 pm

PoP, I hope I didn't get you too excited; it's nothing to do with an evening's entertainment in Bangkok :wink:

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