I went for a single hop brew using East Kent Goldings to try and use up a load I bought from my local brewery. At £12 a kilo, it's easy to overbuy!!!!
Once again, I've used the Gurgeh hop schedule - 1/2 the IBU from First Wort Hops and the other half from a 15 min addition, then a nice whack for aroma at the end of the boil.
Here's the recipe:
Goldfinger
English Pale Ale-Special/Best/Premium Bitter
Recipe Overview
Target 23L
Target Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.040 SG Actual Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.039 SG
Target OG: 1.047 SG Actual OG: 1.049 SG
Target FG: 1.012 SG Actual FG: -No Record-
Target Apparent Attenuation:: 72.9 %
Target ABV: 4.6 % Expected ABV: 4.8%
Target IBU (using Tinseth): 38.8 IBU Actual IBU: 39.1 IBU
Target Color (using Morey): 5.0 SRM Actual Color: 5.0 SRM
Target Mash Efficiency: 75.0 % Actual Mash Efficiency: 77.9 %
Target Fermentation Temp: 20 degC
Fermentables
Ingredient Amount % MCU When
UK Pale Ale Malt 5.000 kg 94.3 % 4.8 In Mash
UK Amber Malt 0.150 kg 2.8 % 1.0 In Mash
UK Wheat Malt 0.150 kg 2.8 % 0.1 In Mash
Hops
Variety Alpha Amount IBU Form When
UK Golding 5.0 % 40 g 19.5 Loose Whole Hops First Wort Hopped
UK Golding 5.0 % 80 g 19.3 Loose Whole Hops 15 Min From End
UK Golding 5.0 % 50 g 0.0 Loose Whole Hops At turn off
Other Ingredients
Ingredient Amount When
Whirlfloc Tablet 2 g 10 mins
Yeast
DCL S-04-SafAle
Now for the pics!
Grain bill. Maris, Amber and Wheat. I had no Crystal, but I reckon 150g of Amber will be nice and fairly subtle. Wheat for head retention - using wheat malt instead of torrefied seems to work better for me.
Mashing in.
On the go. This temp reading is a bit misleading as it clicked down to 67C just after I took the picture. I ended up with a 2 hour mash as I had to go out unexpectedly. Mash temp was flickering between 65/66 when I got back.
Hops, yeast and Whirlfloc. Lovely fluffy EKG hops. 170g in total - a whopping £2.04 worth.
First runnings going into boiler with First Wort Hops
More runnings....smells good.
Here's my set up. The fermentation chamber is right hand side - the door isn't finished yet though, it's currently a slab of 2" Kingspan insulation and a sheet of ply, but no hinge yet... Big enough for 2 10Gal FVs.
Tools of the trade! The refractometer and the hydrometer agreed with each other closely, so I'm happy. It's ,uch easier to use the refractometer during a boil to check gravity than to have to draw off a hydro sample and cool it.
Just coming up to the boil.
Pre-boil hydro - 1039. Target was 1040.
Chiller in the wort.
My closed system for running off. This way, if the run off is slow I can just leave it to go for as long as it takes without worrying about infection. Today it was like a racehorse pissing though! I gave it a whirlpool stir, then left it for 30 mins to settle before opening the valve.
Original gravity 1049 - so I've gone from a little under, to a little over. I ended up collected about 22.5l versus my target of 23, so close enough - I could have diluted it with an extra 0.5l and it would have been closer, but that was good enough for me.
Aerated within an inch of it's miserable life. Added about half a level teaspoon of Brupaks yeast nutrient and pitched a packet of hydrated SO4
And finally, tucked up inside it's new bedroom. Temperature sensor taped to the FV and set to 20C for now. I might drop it down to 18C to get a cleaner ferment, although 20C is smack in the middle of the S04 range, so I might just leave it....
Anyway - that all went really smoothly. No problems at all. I love it when a plan comes together.
