Brewing Again! - Wed 17/10 Grumpy Bum

[Wez]

Had a good day

Ended up with 10 gallons of beer and 2 gallons of wine fermenting, I changed a few things with my process for the AG brew today and am very pleased with the results, I've ended up with the clearest wort in my FV that i've ever managed.

I've took some pictures and will post them later....need to tidy the kitchen before I get nuked by Mrs Wez

[CrownCap]

Nice one Wez. I like the idea of doing a sneaky kit during the mash. Might have to try that myself to keep stocks up when time is short.

[SteveD]

Nice going Wez, that's a mammoth brewup. I always find attempting even a double brew up does my head in. Can you juggle and spin plates on sticks as well?

[Wez]

Right things that I changed today.

1. Mashed Hotter - I normally mash at 65 degrees but this time went for 68 degrees to try to improve the malt charachter of the beer (suggested by SteveD after sampling NTD) I guess i'll find out what difference it makes in the end product. Managed 67.5 dropping to 67.0 over 90 mins.

2. Improved Break - To try to get better hot / cold breaks I had both elements on when the Whirlfloc went in (normaly just have one) and I also chilled the wort down further than I normaly do (20 degrees rather than 30 degrees) the formation of trub was noticeably more and there was much more trub filtered out through the hops, the wort transferred to the FV was much clearer than I've ever managed before, whether it clears the haze issue or not remains to be seen...

The wort being run off from the mash tun into the boiler.


Got better results from the whirlfloc when cooling the wort.


Quite clear wort being run off from boiler to fermenter.


Never had this much trub left behind before...


Happy with 1042 target OG

[delboy]

Nice work wez

I would have thought the lower you get the temp down the more cold break protein will come out of solution, so what you saw with the increased trub would make sense, at least in my head.

[SteveD]

Nice one Wez. Looks like Quatermass cold break in the boiler. Use a good clearing yeast like Gervin/Nottingham or S-04, and give it 3 or 4 weeks and you should be fine.

As to the mash temp, 68c will certainly favour body and maltiness, though 67c would be also be fine, sometimes only a degree or two can make all the difference. What temperature was the mash at the end of mashing?

[SteveD]

Nice work wez

I would have thought the lower you get the temp down the more cold break protein will come out of solution, so what you saw with the increased trub would make sense, at least in my head.

Yes.

[Wez]

Nice one Wez. Looks like Quatermass cold break in the boiler. Use a good clearing yeast like Gervin/Nottingham or S-04, and give it 3 or 4 weeks and you should be fine.

As to the mash temp, 68c will certainly favour body and maltiness, though 67c would be also be fine, sometimes only a degree or two can make all the difference. What temperature was the mash at the end of mashing?

Cheers - I used Gervin English Ale yeast, I guess i got it right with the whirlfloc this time then? btw Quartermass?

Mash temp at start was 67.5 end was 67 - so quite pleased with that.

[SteveD]

All looks good. You should have no problems with malt character or haze.

btw Quartermass?

Quatermass was a 50's British sci-fi film & series, the monster was a huge amorphous blobby thing....like that cold break, or one of my yeast heads...

[Vossy1]

I'm sure SD's secret ingredient is steroids for his yeast

[Wez]

The Money Shot



Not a bad day's efforts really.

From Left To Right.

Brupaks - Almondbury Old (kit)
Grumpy Bum (AG)
California Connoisseur - Cabernet Merlot
California Connoisseur - Liebfraumilch

Doubling the brewday with a kit is a good way to keep stock levels up for me while we're very busy with the new baby. I'd prefer to have all AG brews on the go but it'll be interesting to go back and try some of the kits that I didn't do before I moved to AG.

Those wine kits are dead easy to do, 10 mins per kit and the wine tastes good, comparable IMO to bottles the supermarkets charge over £6 for the kits make 6 bottles and cost £9.45 iirc.

The Almondbury and the wines are glugging steadily aleady, just waiting for the DFS to work it's magic on Grumpy Bum

[AT]

Nice one Wez

[chopperswookie]

love the axe steve d!!!!

[J_P]

Nice work Wez the Almondbury Old was one of my favourite kits I recon it'll do you proud as a warming malty winter brew!

I've got a couple of demijohns of plum wine on the go at the mo as well as two buckets of christmas beer, you can't be too prepared for the silly season in my book

[Wez]

Got the Almondbury Old & the Grumpy Bum into kegs tonight, both had got down to 1010 so both will be around 4.2% nice sessionable beers I had quick tasters of each although the AO tastes good I can tell it's a kit, glad I moved over to the dark side. Will be interesting to see how it develops over the next few weeks though.