1/3/08 Light Fantastic

[BlightyBrewer]

Threw together this recipe, for a light coloured ale with a simple hop profile:

21L. OG 1048

4.25kg MO Pale Malt
45g Styrian Goldings (3.1% AAU) - 60 min
25g Styrian Goldings (3.1% AAU) - 10 min
Irish Moss
15g Styrian Goldings (3.1% AAU) - Dry hop in cask (not sure I can do this as I only have pellets???)

Safale S04 yeast

Mash at 67C for 60 min.
Batch sparge.

The day was a bit of a disaster! Missed my target mash temp due to not taking into account the lower temp of the grains. 66C dropped to 63C! I think I need to take a close look at my mash tun - probably need to insulate the lid, or even re-insulate the whole tun with expanding foam.

I then got a stuck mash. I had to transfer the mash to my fermenting vessel with a grain bag as a lauter tun. The sparge was on the whole a bit of a cock up. Everything else went ok. My new CFC worked well, and I produced a yeast starter which was going like a good-un when I pitched.

Sorry no pics. I was in too much of a mood to capture the day's events plus my other beer ran out so I'm now dry

[BlightyBrewer]

Since I moved my brewery to the garage, I've noticed that my mash tun is not holding the temperature - during these cold months anyway. I pre-heat and wrap it in a sleeping bag, but I am still getting losses of the order of 3 to 6C. Oh well, one of the disadvantages of brewing in the frozen north!

[BlightyBrewer]

I like your style DaaB Your brewdays must be relaxed - mine are always stress-fests! Does it make much difference mashing for 3+ hrs then?

Do you have elements in your tun? I presume you switch these off prior to adding the grist.

[ECR]

Glad it turned out OK eventually

[BlightyBrewer]

Just transferred this one to the secondary after four days in the primary. Gravity at 1.011 - damn that Safale S04 yeast is fast! I usually use Gervin Ale yeast and I've never had a beer ferment down to that gravity before, and so quickly. Tastes pretty good, so there's proof that a disasterous brewday can yield good beer.

[BlightyBrewer]

The yeast was three months out of date.

I won't be naturally carbonating - I have discovered the joys of forced carbonation in cornie kegs! Much easier, which I like.

[BlightyBrewer]

Just racked this to the keg, and the sneaky taster made me a very happy man!

[prodigal2]

Just racked this to the keg, and the sneaky taster made me a very happy man!

Out of the pain, now you get the gain

[BlightyBrewer]

Yep, that was me just after racking, clutching the sneaky taster...the wife couldn't work out why I donned a tie and blazer for the occasion though. I told her it was between me and the beer!

[BlightyBrewer]

I've just been messing about (instead of working ) and have come up with this pump clip design for this ale. All I need now is a pump to clip it to!

[roger the dog]

That looks great

[BlightyBrewer]

I'm drinking this ale now (with a vengence!). I'm a little disappointed that it turned out to be not very clear, which prompts me to post this.

I racked this ale to secondary for one week prior to transferring to the corny (I used Safale S-04 yeast for this ale). Shortly after I brewed up the Crouch Vale Best Bitter recipe from Mark Ollossons book (I used Nottingham yeast for this ale), and I left it in the primary for 10 days, moving the primary to a cold location 2 days prior to transferring to the corny (this is as per DaaB's "no hassle" fermenting method ). Result is that the CV Best is crystal clear, and it tastes superb!