Fuggles

[Hogarth]

Racked this off today into a King Keg and four bottles. Here's the empty fermenter for your viewing pleasure:



And the Keg:


It's the first time I've used a heat belt on a King Keg. Experiments with water show it should give me around 19°C. Eventually a pressure meter thingie -- what's it called? -- is going on the end of the tube currently in the glass of water. I was curious to see how long it'd take to get bubbling. (If it ever does.)

I've tried purging the keg with CO2 for the first time. Please God let it work.

Four bottles of "London Pride" ... primed with a half teaspoon of sugar.


And a cheeky pint from the dregs of the fermenter:


Unclear, uncarbonated, but very tasty. This is often my favourite pint of all, the first one from the fermenter and only ten days old. I'm glad I made it an all-Fuggles brew. I see what people mean about that earthy taste. If it carries on like this, it's going to be a lovely pint.

[Trough Lolly]

I dunno Chemo - my instincts are telling me that all those hops provide excellent nucleation points in the hot wort...

They do reduce the risk of boil over but a boil over can and will occur even if with hops and it's even messier than a regular boil over. I used to prefer to try and stir it back and if that isn't sufficient, just a drop or two of water is sufficient to prevent the foam rising too much without affecting protein coagulation significantly.

Now I prefer to hold back just enough wort to allow room for the foam and trickle in the latter runnings which need less boiling throughout the first 15 mins or so of the boil.

Sorry, my comment may have been unclear - I think adding hops will increase the risk of boilover. Add some pellets halfway through a strong boil and observe what happens to the wort surface.....yes, foam and plenty of it if you add a lot of hops. If the keggle is full, I tend to watch my boil start like a hawk, and crank up the heat after the hot break has subsided.

...I also skim the foam, once, when it gets that dark brown / tan leathery texture on the surface well into the boil. I'm pretty sure that there's plenty of protein matter still in the wort at flameout - a decent cold break tells me so.

Cheers,
TL