Sneaky Brew Day 22 June 2006

[J_P]

Morning Chaps

I have managed to blag the day off from work and have decided to get a brew on in the sunshine, as ever I am looking for pointers / suggestions regarding the recipe. I have chickened out of doing the wheat beer and have concluded a mini-mash and further "research" should be conducted before doing a full sized brew. This is meant to be the dark ale I never got to brew last weekend because of the lightening storm! I am aiming for something around the colour and body of Hobgoblin.

Grain Bill

4.0kg Maris Otter
0.3kg Crystal
0.2kg Chocolate Malt
0.1KG Torrified Wheat

I'm planning to mash around 66/67C to get the body and sweetness.

Does anyone know the extract values of Chocolate malt and torrified wheat please Rather than adjusting the grain bill to fit my last efficiency (89%) I am going to just do what I did last week and see what my efficiency is and see if I am being consistent. I'll then dilute (hopefully ) the wort back to 1045ish and be in a better position next time to be able to adjust my bill to suit my efficiency.

Hop Schedule

The hop schedule depends entirely what the H&G have in when I pop down later today however I am hoping to use up some of the fuggles I have in to provide bitterness and then a late addition of Bramling Cross to give a pleasant spicy hit of bitter oranges. I am planning around 25 - 30 IBU's as this seems to be the general level Marc Ollosson hops his darker beers to.

Fermentation duties will be carried out by either Safale US05 (US56) for it's clean low diacetyl taste, Safbrew T58 it's spicy peppery flavour may well compliment the flavours I'm aiming to get out of the hops or I'll possibly Safale S04 if I chicken out . I am planning to bottle condition the beers as ever so a good solid sediment is vital. I shall be preparing one of Daabs patented "Flying Starters" to make sure my yeast levels are as high as possible before pitching.

I will be calling my creation "Alfy's Solstice Dawn" as we are adopting a rescue dog named Alfy today and am hoping to get that ruby red pre dawn glow from the beer.

Phew - It's a mammoth post, to compensate I'll be posting plenty of pictures for your collective delectation.

TTFN Chaps

[delboy]

you jammy sod JP, wish i had a brew day planned in the sun.

The only thing i have to hand is american which gives
MO 1 lb in 1 Gal (U.S.) 1038
Choc 1 lb in 1 Gal (U.S.) 1034
T wheat 1 lb in 1 Gal (U.S.) 1036

Hope thats of some use, if not im sure somebody else will pop along with the info you need.

Have a good one, and i hope everything goes well with the new addition to the household

[delboy]

Oh just one suggestion i would be tempted to mash slightly higher 67-69 C, either that or get some carapils or maltodextrin for the body and mouthfeel.

[J_P]

Right - the brew tent is up, I need to pop to the H&G to get me some ingredients.

Cheers for the tip Delboy I'll mash a few degrees higher this time.

[louthepoo]

you jammy git on 2 fronts -

1) You're not working
2) its sunny! Its absolutely throwing it down here! its that dark i nearly went back to bed!

Good luck with the brew and give the dog a pat from me

[Vossy1]

Enjoy JP

Also overcast and raining in Manc
Nothing new there I hear you cry

[Andy]

Loving the brewtent!

Ominous dark clouds at H'row....

[wooyay]

Have a great brewday.
Overcast, windy and damp here in Cambridge.

[Scooby]

Hi JP the figures I have are:

Chocolate 279/Kg/L
Torrified Wheat 298/Kg/L

I recently brewed a hobgoblin clone and the %ages I used were;

93.3% MO
4.8% Crystal
2.9% Choc

No Torrified wheat though

40EBC and 29IBU

It came out pretty true to form.

Good luck , It's pissing down in lambourn and I have one very wet and muddy Springer

Mine is on the left and the slightly more carbonated bottled Hobgoblin on the right

[Scooby]

[awalker]

Hope it all goes well this weekend J_P

This is meant to be the dark ale I never got to brew last weekend because of the lightening storm!

Yes a lot better not trying to brew in the rain with a thunder storm
Like I did.

Every time I ran from the house to the garage I got soaked.
Hopefully it will be worth it when I do a check on the gravity this weekend

[J_P]

Loving the brewtent!

Ominous dark clouds at H'row....

If they turn up here I'll just have to drop the sides on the tent and brew inside

First minor alteration I got black malt instead of chocolate . Do you think it's be ok to drop in 100g of that instead of the 200g I was planning and drop in an extra 100g of pale malt?


Cheers for the figures Scooby I don't suppose you have any figures for black malt do you only some idiot got the wrong grain!

Yeast wise I'm being brave and using the Safbrew T58

[Scooby]

I joined the forum to improve my brewing and look what happened when I followed your advice a jar of p*ss, so not wanting to embarrass you I had to resort to the old PS

[Scooby]

Funnily enough the figures for Black malt are the same as Choc

Edit Sorry!

[J_P]

Getting ready to weigh out my ingredients. Gonna get the mash on the go and then go and take my good lady to lunch