02/04/10 AG#7 - I Would Walk 500 mls (photos)

[andybiochem]

Hi!

All Grain Brew No 7 - I Would Walk 500 mls

Robert Burns, William Wallace, James Watt, etc; Scotland has provided the world with profound and eminent heroes. Non are as profound or as eminent as the brothers Charlie and Craig Reid, perhaps the most influential euphonic rhetoricians the world has ever seen.

I consider them my favorite Scots, and I hope I do not misrepresent their collective opinion when I say they would be perhaps proud to learn of my Scottish Ale brew.

So what makes a Scottish Ale?
From what I can gather, they tend to be fairly pale and malty, with caramel / butterscotch flavours, perhaps a little smoke, low hop rate, and varying alcohol levels.

Today's brew will be a 90 shilling affair (90/-), also known as a 'wee heavy'. The aim will be to achieve 6% alcohol.

Goal (according to Beer Engine)
15L
EBC - 19
EBU - 23
OG - 1.060
FG - 1.014
ABV - 6.0%

Ingredients:
3750g Pale Malt
203g Amber Malt
82g Torrefied Wheat
6g Black Malt (a 'token' smoke guesture)

18g EKG (90 mins)
7g Styrian Goldings (50 mins)

22L Higland Spring water, pH = 7.5, TDS ppm = 179

On with tha broo..

Bottle Label


Scottish WYeast 1728
Hopefully should leave malty & estery flavours


Propagation
2 Days with 1.040 wort


My home-made stirr plate
A computer fan with magnets glued on - works really well!


Washed yeasties!
About an inch of yeast here. The 1728 yeast are very very flocculant! Completely drop out of the wort in about 10mins
if left untouched. Don't seem to be as sticky as other yeasts I've tried (e.g. Fullers, Sierra Nevada).


Liquor
Wanted to maintain a Scottish theme, so used Scottish spring water


Getting to strike temp


Meanwhile, dishing out the grain
My scales may only be small, but they weigh a tun!


Grist


Mash Temperature
Monitoring the mash with my home-made software
Started off a bit wobbly due to imprecise thermometer checking the liquor. Was probably actually 78c rather than 74c
so needed some emergency cooling before going in the oven.
Blue line = oven temp
Black line = mash temp


Mash pH
Started at 5.3, ended here at 5.2


Setting up sparge
I batch sparge using a grain bag, the mash is poured into the bag and the wort drains through. Very simple affair.


Sparging


Caramelisation
1 ltr of first-runnings is boiled for 40-ish minutes to caramelise the sugars



Last runnings
I collect all the crud that collects at the end of the sparge and let it settle out.
The supernatent is poured into the boil later.


The Boil


Hops


Re-sealing
These devices are fantastic! everyone should have one


Rehydrating the moss


Cooling


Transfer to fermenter
My hop screen stops big bits being syphoned, and this fine-mesh bag traps smaller bits


Yeast goes in, aerated


Original Gravity
Damn! 12.9brix = 1.052, a fair bit off 1.060.




Phew! Very satisfying brewday!

Not sure why my efficiency was low here? Didn't do anything different from previous brews, apart from the caramelisation. Maybe this had something to do with it? May add a 3rd batch to the sparge and up the liquor volume next time.

Thanks for reading!

[Deebee]

looks good. I love the labels:-)↲I have only ever batch sparged once and dropped about 8% efficiency. I fly sparge and with your 3 stage set up suggest you might try the same. I constantly have over 80 this way. On biome day up to 86. How do you make the labels?

[Spikesdad]

great stuff!!

Great photos, and, as ever, brilliant label

Cant help you with efficiency... am struggling with my own

[andybiochem]

I think I will fly sparge next time. Do you have any specific method Deebee? sparge arm, shower head, etc?

Labels are put together in Photoshop.

[WishboneBrewery]

Hope you tasted your Toffee It is indeed lovely
Looks like a good day

[DrewBrews]

A computer fan with magnets glued on - works really well!

That stir plate is pure genius. That's an idea I might have nick.

[Deebee]

I think I will fly sparge next time. Do you have any specific method Deebee? sparge arm, shower head, etc?

Labels are put together in Photoshop.

↲My method is primitive.↲Basically the lid of a 2 litre ice cream box or similar. I jug one litre of water at a time onto the lid to stop channeling. Make sure the water is about an inch above the grain at all times.↲Add water until you have enough to reach the pre boil volume. It means you have write down everything but is ok.remember to drain from the mt slowly:-)

[wetdog]

Ahh a fellow photoshopper! I used to use it professionally a few years ago.
I see you like your gadgets too.
I'd like to find out more about that home made stir plate though

[andybiochem]

The basic idea for the stirr plate was taken from here:
http://brewiki.org/StirPlate

The only differences I found were:
- the magnets need to be MUCH closer to the bottom of the flask to maintain a good spin
- I needed to 'balance' the fan with blu-tack by placing blobs here and there by trial and error to ensure a smooth spin

[andybiochem]

Just measured the gravity after just under 3 days (70 hours).

Digital refractometer says 7.3, which calculates out as 1.014.

This was the end point as estimated by BeerEngine so don't know whether this is good or bad, seems a bit quick to me.

Still, gonna give it at least 2 weeks in there, then gelatine in the secondary for about a week before bottling.

[Deebee]

i had a 1055 finish completeøy in 4 days mate.

check the gravity in a couple of days and if it is the same... bottle it and be done-

[andybiochem]

Sigh.

Just had a sneaky taste of this brew. It's just under 2 weeks in the primary, so boiled a wine glass, dipped it in the bucket - nice big glass - lid quickly back on.

Initial tasting notes. Evil. Putrid death. Some hints of fetid foulness, and a repulsive nose. WTF?!?!?

What on earth has happened here? I'm pretty sure it's not an infection, I've had a couple of infected starters, and I know what that sort of thing smells like. This is different. It's sickly sweet initially, tastes quite a bit like that strong organic whiff you get from burning hair.

There is no way I'll be bottling this. No way.

Any ideas what might have happened? I've got a feeling that I might have introduced off flavours from the caramelisation?

Pah! This was an expensive brew too! Oh well, I'll be saving sample of the yeast at least. This will be my first dumping

[Jon474]

Have you had another taste since then? Had you eaten or drunk anything prior to tasting? Have you tried taking a sample and leaving it for 20mins and then having a sniff and a taste?

Not saying that it can be saved but give it a second chance.