Quaffale 01/10/2007

[Aleman]

Boiler Igniited, and roaring away, Just the grain to weigh out and I'm off.

I'll post actual recipe here when I know what it is

[Aleman]

Weather is great here, sun has broken through the low cloud, Promising to be a nice day

Grist was modified as follows

10 Kg Pale Malt
1.5Kg Munich Malt
0.5Kg Light Crystal Malt
0.5Kg Chocolate malt (extra 250g added in error!)

So Here is the Grain Bill, Yep it only does just fit in a 25L Brewing Bin



A thicker Mash than I am used to at 2.4L/Kg instead of my More Usual 3.3L



Well Looking at the Mash Temp I hit it pretty much smack on as I was Aiming for 66C, No the thermometer has been adjusted to agree with my mercury reference.



And for the first time in an age I have measured the pH (Yes I am that tight I do cut the pH Papers in Half ), somewhere between 5.5 and 5.2 I make that



Then I realised that I hadn't added any of the liquor salts, so 10g of Gypsum and 10g of Calcium Chloride was added, ad the mash stirred allowed to rest for 15 minutes and pH checked again. Closer to 5.2 this time



So Far things seem to be going well. I'm not resorting to my RIMS setup for the time being as I suspect there is a safety trip in the Towel rail heater that stops it getting much above 60C, but I will recirc using the heater for the last 15-30 minutes of the mash.

Oh and I forgot that I was refilling the kettle for the 85L of sparge liquor I think I've drowned the Bullfinch! That s what you get for playing with Pictures and stuff during the mash.

Just got to go and start to flush my remodeled CFC (from one 22m one) to a dual 10m one, Needs an oxyclean / caustic / Acid wash, So I'm going to get on with that.

[jonnybeer]

I like the use of the legally acquired beer barrel. I'm thinking of doing similar and am in the process of stainless welding 2 blanking plates on the inside over the handles so I can make use of the whole barrel and then weld some type of handle on the outside.

What have you used to insulate the lid and base?

I was thinking of using 100mm Celotex as it's easy to cut and stick using Gripfix But was concerned about the underside of the lid and the possible contact with the mash.

Thanks. j.b.

[Aleman]

Well, Boil and cool didn't quite go as planned

Due to the fact that I was Acid/Caustic washing the CFC and not paying attention to the levels in the kettle while they were recirculating. I managed to overfill one or the other not once but three times !! So I'm a little short of my target volume wise (8L !! )

Need to check gravity and wash up, but as She has a meeting and won't be in till late (6PM ) I can take my time. NOt sure the CFC is the right way to go either, as its a lot of faffing for little gain. The IC and recircing is working well with the coolant at the temp it is.

Gravity is 11 brix, so If I wanted to I could dilute it back to 73L and hit my OG, but having tasted a sample its way bitter, so It'll be better as it is.

[Aleman]

Oh and a bonus, discovered that the Gold brick of stryians sent from H&G was 146g not 125g, so 96g of stryians went in at 60 minutes and 50 when the wort was at 80C

Wort Shortage!

Instant brainwave ,

I had saved the slurry from my previous batch of IPA, and have already washed it once. I was planning on pitching 1L of a thin slurry taken from this(2.5L) . However I discovered that I Had 1.5L of boiled water in another conical. Added that to the slurry to give me 4L, and then pitched the lot. which gives me 71L in the Fermenter at the desired gravity. Sorted.

Oh and yeah it was well over pitched, but I want this one to be drinking in two weeks (If that bitterness lingers its going to be well undrinkable though . . . . wonder if those hops were Pacific Gem . . . 15.3AA rather than 8.6AA Ouch! )

Just switched the Temperature controller on after pitching the yeast. - 22.9C

Will take about 10 Minutes to get it down to ferment temp of 20C

Now for the big clear up

[Dan]

are you are refering to morris hanbury hops in the gold block?

I buy these all the time. they say 113g on the pack and weigh in at around 150g
The brupacks vacum packs say 100g and are dead on 100g
I thought i might tell the shopkeeper.... but thought better of it

they cant continuously make a mistake like this, so I wonder whats the reasoning. accouting for twigs and soil?

[bitter_dave]

are you are refering to morris hanbury hops in the gold block?

I buy these all the time. they say 113g on the pack and weigh in at around 150g
The brupacks vacum packs say 100g and are dead on 100g
I thought i might tell the shopkeeper.... but thought better of it

they cant continuously make a mistake like this, so I wonder whats the reasoning. accouting for twigs and soil?

I'm guessing that the Morris hanbury hops are cut into approximate size blocks, after which they are packaged - it would be time consuming to adjust each block according to exact weight. Brupaks hops are not in block form, so they can be more exactly weighed. My theory (if rather dull )

[Graham]

I'm guessing that the Morris hanbury hops are cut into approximate size blocks, after which they are packaged - it would be time consuming to adjust each block according to exact weight. Brupaks hops are not in block form, so they can be more exactly weighed. My theory (if rather dull )

It's a good theory.

My guess is that they are standard sized blocks that the hop merchants use to send hop samples to breweries for testing, perhaps even machine cut, compressed and packed. Standard size means that different varieties of hop, and their moisture content would have different weights when occupying the same volume. The stated weight might be the minimum expected. I don't know if that is true, but it is another theory.

I would doubt if they go to any special trouble for the tiny home brewing market, so it seems likely to be adapted from something they already do for a different reason.

[Vossy1]

Glad to see another brew getting done TJB

[Aleman]

I want to get this one turned around fairly quickly, and then get 60L of CAP in the fermenter, so that I can take advantage of the Big Lagering Fridge over the next few months

[Aleman]

Just a quick update,

Taken a sample to check on how the fermentation is going

Day 4 and its down to somewhere in the region of 5 Brix (Difficult to really read these cheap Chinese refractometers when the sample is saturated with yeast . . . I need a centrifuge . . . Pass me the Cole Parmer catalogue someone )

And another problem with the refractometers . . The sample is so small you can't really tell what the beer tastes like

Time to crank the temperature down, and see If I can get the thick yeasty paste of a head to drop, otherwise I can see a couple of cornii worth going into one secondary and the remaining stuff into another for a quick secondary and fining.

[Vossy1]

And another problem with the refractometers . . The sample is so small you can't really tell what the beer tastes like

That's not a refractometer problem, it's a problem with the sampler

You still need to take a trial jar size sample. Use one drop for the rf then quaff the rest for quality control purposes ...simple

[Aleman]

Well I sit here with a glass of QuaffAle (My third tonight) which is just 10 days from pitching to drinking.

Its not yet polished, but Today I racked the first ~20L into a keg, land the remaining 50L to a settling tank. What little haze there is in this will drop with time. I'll keg the rest in a few days, Possibly adding finings to ensure that teh other kegs will be star bright.

Its a very cheeky little number with a nice styrian bite, and slight citrusy overtones. The bittering hops certainly were not pacific gem leaving Saaz B or possibly fuggle. The intense bitterness I had from the sweet wort prior to pitching has faded considerable. This is going (is already) to be a very nice easy drinking beer.

[Andy]

Sounds good to me

[Aleman]

what exactly is "a very cheeky little number" ?

In this case, its sitting there very quietly, giving me coy looks, and a come hither smile, just inviting me to dive in and drink it all up

























Which I intend to do tonight