Brewday 17/06/2007: Castle Eden Ale

[wooyay]

This is my third brew in as many weekends as I'm trying to stockpile before the summer kicks in but this is likely to be my last (excluding mini-mashes) until after the summer as I'm running out of storage space.

As promised last time, I've got photos!

Fermentables
3,190g UK Pale Ale
446g Torrified Wheat
72g Chocolate Malt
814g White sugar

Hops
28g UK Target (all of boil)
7g Slovenian Styrian Goldings (last 15 minutes)
20g Slovenian Styrian Goldings (dry hopped)

Others
1 Whirlfloc tablet (last 10 minutes)
1 packet of SafAle S-04

Estimated 24.20 litres of OG 1.046 beer.
2hr mash, 90 minute boil.


Grains all prepared (done the night before).


Normal 3 tier setup for the first run off (batch sparging), then the kettle's moved to the stove where the heat's turned on and the rest is moved from the mash tun by jug...

Mash went well, except an hour in I realised I'd put the temperature at 64C not 66C , so increased it for the second hour (thought I'd do a 2 hour mash to see if it did anything for my efficiency). After the two run offs, I'd collected 30.7L @ 1.033 (almost 90% efficiency )


Corrected the mash pH to 5.2 using CRS (right was before, left after).


Added first hops just before the hot break. The sugar was dissolved into an extra 3L I saved from the kettle at the start which was then added as evaporation took place.


Chilling... Had to improvise with a small chopping board to lift the chiller up as it was sitting too deep. Took about 1hr to bring it down to 25C (for some reason, I can't get it to cool any quicker).

Never used Whirlfloc tablets before but I was quite impressed. The wort was looking nice and clear as it transferred to the FV but I'm sure loads of trub will get thrown up...


Transferring to the FV. Colour's looking good.


Slightly missed the target at 1.044 but it's close enough.


Nicely aerated... In the end, about 22L was collected (possibly a little bit more).

All in all, a fairly good day brewing. Annoyed at myself at getting the mash temperature so messed up but hopefully it'll be okay. Brewday wouldn't be brewday without some mistakes.

[prodigal2]

great pics, its nice to see the shinny inaction

[Horden Hillbilly]

Nice looking set up and it looks like you did a grand job there wooyay, as DaaB says, 2c less will not make a great deal of difference to your brew, you will still end up with a beer to be proud of.

[Vossy1]

Gr8 pics W

Love all the shinyness

[wooyay]

Thanks for the nice comments. All I need now is a shiny HLT and some stainless steel conicals and I'll be sorted...

Had a quick look at today's labours and the yeast is starting to form a nice head. I was going to try and make up a yeast starter, but forgot as I was too busy taking photos for you guys so I had to sprinkle the S-04 in as I've done before...

[spearmint-wino]

Great-looking setup there, tidy. Where did you procure said shinyness? I must admit it's brought out the magpie in me... must have shiny... must have shiny...

[steve_flack]

Where did you procure said shinyness?

I think a German eBay seller called catering-service-uk is the source. They are purveyors of budget shinyness.

[spearmint-wino]

Ah yes, I have them as a 'favourite seller'
Not that I've bought any shiny-ness from them yet...

The pro-looking taps I would imagine are a DIY addition?

[wooyay]

Ah yes, I have them as a 'favourite seller'
Not that I've bought any shiny-ness from them yet...

Yup, that's them. Kettle's a 33L stock pot and the mash tun's a 40L thermo box.

The pro-looking taps I would imagine are a DIY addition?

The mash tun comes with a tap, although I hope to replace it with a ball valve over the summer and the kettle's got a standard 1/2" BSP ball valve attached.

[Vossy1]

I just wish CD did 70 or 100ltr thermo boxes

They said they were looking into availability for me when I asked....so you never know

[wooyay]

I just wish CD did 70 or 100ltr thermo boxes

If they did, you'd soon get used to the size and want to upgrade. Why not go all the way and get a proper sized brewery!

[Garth]

would the 50 litre one not be big enough Vossy? Is is for your tun?

the bairn hides in my as-yet unused one

actually I have two, how greedy am I

[Vossy1]

would the 50 litre one not be big enough Vossy? Is is for your tun?

My existing tun is 50ltr and it's not really big enough for 46ltr brewlength high OG ales. I am always looking to the future and my target is a 100ltr system which equates comfortably to 70ltr brews (inc boil off)

That way I wont have to brew that often, once I've selected the ales I like the most, as my stock ales

[Aleman]

I shouldn't be telling all of you this but CD now do 80L Thermoboxes 65Quid Starting plus 20 Postage.

I really should have bid on that one that ended yesterday, . . . . and then told you all

Still I have a 100L Cook pot coming to use as a fermenter, to join the 100L HLT

[wooyay]

Had a sneaky quality control sample of this on Friday night and it's turned out lovely. So lovely, in fact, I had to pour a pint to make sure it was okay. Then a second...

Trying to avoid it now for a couple of weeks to give it plenty of time to mature (and hopefully clear the slight haze it's got). It'll certainly be worth another shot when it's been drunk.