AG #10 - Spitting Feathers (pics)

[Naich]

I came up with the name for this one after having to remove a half-eaten bird from behind a loudspeaker. Isn't it great when you are clearing out all the feathers and you find a couple of legs among them? Thanks Mogs.

OG: 1.052, FG: 1.013, ABV: 5.1%
EBC: 18, IBU: 30
23L, efficiency 80%.

Pale Malt - Marris Otter: 4.279kg (87.5%)
Crystal Malt - medium: 0.390kg (8%)
Amber Malt - 0.224kg (4.6%)

East Kent Goldings - AA 5.2% (90 Minutes): 25.5g
East Kent Goldings - AA 5.2% (30 Minutes): 17.7g
East Kent Goldings - AA 5.2% (15 Minutes): 27.4g
East Kent Goldings - AA 5.2% (1 Minutes): 22.7g
Dry hop with whatever is left out of a 100g packet.

Safale US-05 yeast, sodium metabisulphate and CRS water treatment for the mash liquor, gypsum and a dash of magnesium sulphate to mash and boil.

Obligatory grain shot:


Another overnight mash and then up at the crack of doom to sparge and boil. Nothing went horribly wrong, just a couple of annoyances when I broke the mash tun false bottom seal while cleaning it and noticing that the seals round the boiler/HLT elements have started leaking slightly when it's cold.

First runnings:


Here's the hops - lovely and fresh from Rob at The Malt Miller:


And a piccy of the boil:


I got a lovely creamy head as I drained to the FV and gave it a damn good thrashing to get it oxygenated.


The rehydrated yeast was bubbling the airlock after a couple of hours and there are now some lovely smells emanating.

The OG came out at 1.050, which is marginally off. The Marris Otter is getting rather old now though.

[onelegout]

Sounds and looks mighty tasty The wort looks extremely clear in the hydrometer test, I wish I could end up with wort that clear!

By the way, thanks again for sponsoring me for my run - my legs are killing me from all the training, but only 2 weeks to go until race day!

[Kev888]

All looks very smooth, Naich.

I did something similar in the grains department but I messed up by not having any suitable hops and also overestimating the sparge temperature , so when this one is finished I'd be interested to hear how it could have been!

Cheers
kev

[Naich]

Hi Kev. Yeah, after 10 brews I'm finally starting to get the hang of it. I still have to rely on the spreadsheets and checklists to stop things going horribly wrong though. How did you get the sparge temp wrong? Too high or low? I wouldn't have thought it would be too bad either way. I've not much idea how this will turn out because I've never used Amber malt or EKG before - this recipe is a bit of a wild stab in the dark

Good luck with the run, onelegout. What is the distance again? It's been a while since I saw the details. I credit the clear wort to 1/2 a whirlfloc tab, lobbed in 15 minutes from the end and a 20 minute rest between chilling to 25C and draining. And leaving the sample for a couple of hours so the crud settles out before taking photos helps too

I've not had much time to peruse JBK recently, due to a little project that is keeping me busy. Hopefully I'll be able to start showing it to people in a few weeks... fnar fnar. Christ, some people just don't grow up, do they?

[Spud395]

I reckon it'll be a cracker, used Amber in a beer 2 brews ago and it's a beaut

Oh and snap on the 10 AG brews

[Kev888]

Hi Kev. Yeah, after 10 brews I'm finally starting to get the hang of it. I still have to rely on the spreadsheets and checklists to stop things going horribly wrong though. How did you get the sparge temp wrong? Too high or low? I wouldn't have thought it would be too bad either way. I've not much idea how this will turn out because I've never used Amber malt or EKG before - this recipe is a bit of a wild stab in the dark

It certainly looks like you've got it pretty much nailed now!

I got the sparge far too hot. In the first couple of attempts with my new setup I was surprised at how much more pre-heating the MT took before mashing, so I assumed the sparge water would need to be a lot hotter than normal too - turns out it didn't need to be much hotter at all though. I'm also new to the larger grain bills I can now do, and the fly sparge took a long while to filter down through the grain bed so the top was probably hot for a long while before I realised, whilst the bottom had only just heated by the end of the sparge. But after a few brews in it am now much clearer about how the setup performs temperature wise.

Anyway, the beer itself had potential - a lovely deep-ish bitter colour with a gentle tint of stoutiness that seems to be how the 'coffee flavour' from the amber malt tastes to me. But overlaying it all was a rather unpleasant twang of tannin, especially in the aftertaste, and I think thats the sparge heat. I doubt it was the hops, I just used up odds and ends of whatever I had and they were all rather wussy ones which have contributed very little. I like EKG though, and you seem to have plenty in there so hopefully yours will show the way!

Cheers
Kev

[Naich]

Cheers Spud. Happy 10th brewday to you too! I feel we should be able to buy cards with that on. That's a nice looking porter you've done for yours.

It's Citra next. I've no idea how much to use, so I reckon I'll just use it all

[JontyR]

Naich,

where did you get your hydrometer from? I like the simplistic scale, mine's really multi coloured and I find it quite difficult to read.

[Naich]

I got the sparge far too hot. In the first couple of attempts with my new setup I was surprised at how much more pre-heating the MT took before mashing, so I assumed the sparge water would need to be a lot hotter than normal too - turns out it didn't need to be much hotter at all though. I'm also new to the larger grain bills I can now do, and the fly sparge took a long while to filter down through the grain bed so the top was probably hot for a long while before I realised, whilst the bottom had only just heated by the end of the sparge. But after a few brews in it am now much clearer about how the setup performs temperature wise.

Ah right, I see. The problems of having a huge brewery setup, eh? (Can you spot the waves of jealousy ) How many brews have you done with it now? At least this one wasn't totally ruined. Do you feel that there is more at stake now that you are producing larger quantities? I've poured 20L down the drain before and it was heartbreaking.

[Naich]

where did you get your hydrometer from? I like the simplistic scale, mine's really multi coloured and I find it quite difficult to read.

Sorry mate. I thought I got it from http://www.art-of-brewing.co.uk/ but looking there now, they've only got the multi coloured one too. It was a while ago though.

[Kev888]

Ah right, I see. The problems of having a huge brewery setup, eh? (Can you spot the waves of jealousy ) How many brews have you done with it now? At least this one wasn't totally ruined. Do you feel that there is more at stake now that you are producing larger quantities? I've poured 20L down the drain before and it was heartbreaking.

Yes its not entirely the joy that I was expecting, so its definately not all enviable

On the one hand larger/fewer batches do mean I can fit brewing into limited free days, so it feels like a hobby again not an obligation, and the old system struggled even with a normal brew length so its a relief to escape all the faffing about and sneaking in extract and so on. But the size also makes it more cumbersome and theres a lot of peripheral stuff that I need to sort out better ways of doing: cleaning bigger tanks, pumps and pipes and also trailing hoses and drains out to the (currently freezing) garage makes brew days very long at the mo

There is indeed also more feeling of risk in one basket (or FV). I've done five brews so far but whilst I've not had complete failures yet I haven't got it anywhere near as slick as this brew day you've posted, so I'm yet to dare a full 20+Kg grain bill. But its only four cornie lengths so we're not talking micro-brewery sizes, and whilst the wasted ingredients would £hurt more, the time wasted wouldn't actually be 'that' much more than a single corny size. He said optimistically

Cheers
Kev

[Naich]

Yes its not entirely the joy that I was expecting, so its definately not all enviable

That's a shame. Do you think it will become more pleasant once you have got to know the system a bit better and can do brews without the feeling that you are fighting to get everything right? I'm more relaxed about brewing now I know the little details like having to add 3.5C to the thermostat setting in order to get the strike temperature right.

[Kev888]

Yeah, I'm sure it can all be sorted, was probably just a bit too optimistic. Most aspects of the actual brewing are quite calm and enjoyable now that I'm learning what the temperature losses are for the kit - its mainly just sorting out a number of more peripheral issues now, like the boiler vent becoming blocked with hops and so showering in condensation off the dirty asbestos roof. Though I suspect it'll be a while before I've been through the permetations due to seasons and different brew lengths.

Otherwise its more the preparation, cleaning and storing that are presenting the aggro - particularly at this time of year when its all cold damp and dark out there. I really need to sort out a procedure for the whole system, rather than doing each tank and tube separately by hand. Will be looking into CIP and more permanent water supply and drain to/from the garage, as well as insulating the roof - I doubt any of it is that difficult, just a matter of time and experimentation really.

Its most encouraging to see posts like this though - its a good reminder of how slick it could be

Cheers
Kev

[Naich]

Its most encouraging to see posts like this though - its a good reminder of how slick it could be

I wouldn't call it slick - more like non-disastrous I hope things start to get a bit easier for you soon. It's got to be worth it in the long run.

[Capper20]

My local brewery in Chester is called Spitting Feathers. Good ale, Google them. Yours sounds good.