Brew Day - 29Jul07 - Gardener's Surprise 6X

[eskimobob]

My stocks have started to run desperately low this week having finished my Eskimo Stout, Springhead bitter and Golden Mild leaving me with only a little of my Eskimo Mild to be going on with so I decided today that I needed to brew a bitter.

When I brewed my Golden Mild, I managed to lose a copper elbow joint from one of my manifolds when I was shaking it (rather vigorously) in the garden to dry it off after cleaning - it flew off into the shrubbery. Fortunately is was found when gardening last week hence the name of this brew: Gardener's Surprise. Oh and the 6X bit is because this is based on the ingredients list on the Wadworth website.

Brew length 19 litre based on 80% efficiency
3100gm Pale Malt, Halcyon (3 SRM)
100gm Golden Syrup (invert sugar)
75gm Crystal Malt (80 SRM)
58gm Chocolate Malt (450 SRM)
30gm Fuggles [6.1%] (60 min) Hops 24.8 IBU
5gm Goldings, East Kent [6%] (10 min steep while cooling)
1 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15 min)
1 pkt Safale S04 Yeast

Mash 90 mins in 8.1 litres at 66C
Boil total 90 mins

Expected: OG = 1.045 FG = 1.012 SRM = 10.9 IBU = 24.8
Actual: OG = 1.044 FG = 1.01?

Smooth brew day today so here are the photos...

Stirring the mash:


Sparging:


First Runnings:


Cooling:


I checked the original gravity with the hydrometer and the reading was 1044. The OG was supposed to be 1045 so my efficiency on this brew was about 78.2%. I stopped sparging deliberately early to see how it affects the brew.


I used Safale S04 Yeast rehydrating it first by adding one one teaspoon of sugar to 100ml or water at 35C and then sprinkling the yeast on. Covered with cling film and left for a couple of hours - yeast activity was well underway when I pitched it into the cooled brew - in fact it got quite carried away!

[prodigal2]

Looks like you had a fine day there EB and sunshine in Derbyshire

Time for a pint

[Scooby]

I thought for a minute you were going to say the 6x was due to the manure found in the elbow

BTW my wife was looking over my shoulder while reading your post and said "Really nice pictures"

[Horden Hillbilly]

Nice one , looks like it was a sucessful brew day for you, great pics.

[eskimobob]

I thought for a minute you were going to say the 6x was due to the manure found in the elbow

It did take some serious cleaning - boiled with some soda crystals and then seriously scrubbed...

[iowalad]

Nicely done - I am starting to wonder if there is something wrong with my method - the clarity of yours (as well as Daabs and others) when you take your OG reading puts me to shame . . . .

[delboy]

mine is woeful as well by comparision

[SteveD]

Nice one Bob

[slim34]

i'm quite new to this so please excuse me for the dumb question.


if you ran your sparge straight into the boiler, where did you get your hot water from to go into the sparge?

I can see a pipe coming from somewhere, is that coming from another boiler? It can't be a pan because there's a pipe coming from whatever it is.

i've been running my sparge into a sterilised bucket and then pouring it back into the now empty boiler?

[eskimobob]

i'm quite new to this so please excuse me for the dumb question.

Not dumb at all.

if you ran your sparge straight into the boiler, where did you get your hot water from to go into the sparge?

I can see a pipe coming from somewhere, is that coming from another boiler? It can't be a pan because there's a pipe coming from whatever it is.

I do actually have two boilers (well one is an old tea urn) so I prepare the sparge water in one boiler and collect the wort in the other.

Here is a better picture from a previous brew:

i've been running my sparge into a sterilised bucket and then pouring it back into the now empty boiler?

That is what I used to do - run the wort from the mash into the fermentation vessel and once completed, pour it into the now empty boiler and begin the boil - and it is a perfectly acceptable method.

[Vossy1]

Great post EB, I missed it 1st time round

Lovely clear wort in the hydro jar