So I have a good bit of two row and a bit of specialty grain and hops left over. lots of different yeasts too.
will get a detailed list once I'm home
What do folks want to brew?
Matthew
Would keeping it simple with a pale ale using a couple of malts and hops be best?
What does everyone else think?
could do that, aye
or what if we made a bigger batch- say around 30-40 L of something then split it and each used different yeasts at home- could be a fun experiment
I'm very tempted to get into sours too- but this is maybe not the day for that
what you think?
Yeah definitely - that'd be cool! Even try different dry hopping etc.?
You could give the sours ago - is that adding brettanomyces?
adding brett would be one option, yeah.
hmmm, maybe a simple (i?)pa grain bill then split boil into two batches for diff hops.
or, same hops, different yeasts at home
Maybe just the one batch would be better, at least for our first demo, then do the different yeasts?
yeah sounds good. i have a good bit of two row malt- should be enough for a big batch- i'll put it into the software and see what the max is i can make wit my boiler n mash tun
any thoughts on hops or specialty grain?
i double checked the grain bill on that iipa i had done for our last meet- it is just amber as a specialty. crazy huh?
Definitely!
We've a load of Maris Otter that can be used. Not sure - maybe Munich and crystal? No idea on hops - do you've any preference? What about cascade?
We've black and chocolate malt that can be brought on the day for people to taste.
how much mo do you have?
and do you have any hops? i'll check and see what I have- could be nice not to have to order anything for this brew!
We should have around 10kg MO.
We actually need to order some hops ourselves. Got 2 brews on last week - might have some magnum and mount hood, think around 20g of each, probably not enough for a big brew.
k, ill check and see what i have and put it all into beeralchemy. maybe split your base grain and mine 50-50. maybe a 4% pale ale? what kinda ibu?
good shout!
thx
Quotek, ill check and see what i have and put it all into beeralchemy. maybe split your base grain and mine 50-50. maybe a 4% pale ale? what kinda ibu?
Not sure - we've very little experience working to IBUs. Something similar to dead pony club might be good?
cool, that's what i was thinking too
Ah nice one!
Do you have a method to follow on the day? What equipment is needed?
Also - Rossa says there is a handout for brew demos in the Capital forum that we can use for ours.
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1354881886
actually working on the recipe now. do you know what hops you have, if any? alpha acids of them too? although, may not need any hops from your end, just checked and I have more than I thought. I'll post a draft recipe asap.
That's great! If I can do anything let me know!
Hops-wise we'd have, at the very most, 20g Magnum 14.0% and 20g Cascade 7.8%. I can order more if needed to balance the contribution out.
Oh yeah, sorry for all the questions but what about the flyers for the demo?
wot about this?
(http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n621/mattybabsy/ScreenShot2013-04-09at161201_zps8008b352.png)
the iipa that we tasted on the friday had 7.2% of the amber malt. remember how much that added? we all thought there must have been more to the grain bill. anyways, thought we could add a little of that in to see what it does at a lower %
as for the hops, I have more. never made a recipie for a pale ale before- how does the hop schedule look to you all?
and the yeast, i have others, thought 001 would work well
let me know what you think. we can change anything/everything
matthew
as for equip/ method etc- we need another hlt. my one wont hold enough sparge water for such a big volume. I've pm'd barry. use 2 hlt should be fine
I've tweeked my equipment a bit this wk- added tubes between hlt and mt and between mt and boiler. should make things a little easier.
chris- you wanna bring your big bag? i want to put the hops in free into the boiler this time. once boil is done, could pour the wort throught your bag into fvs
I was thinking we could just split the batch in 2 fvs. one for me and one for u. u could use diff yeast (or i have enough for us both). was thinking you could dry hop and I wouldn't n compare the differences.
Happy to give barry a batch too- drop it off to him once we're done.
wasn't going to worry about cooling there, just bring home, get to temp ourselves and pitch
what you think?
Hi Matthew and Chris,
Firstly, Huge apologies for not replying to your earlier PM's. I genuinely only spotted them today. As if the notification at the top of this page wasn't enough of a giveaway :-[
Regarding HLT and boiler, I have both. They're both electric and if not home made then home altered. The HLT is 30L and is fine for water, but I've never risked boiling any wort in it. The boiler is an old Electrim with a second element stuck into it. The original element always seemed to cut out at 90 degrees, so I added a cheap Tesco kettle element to the bin. What I do is boil the wort to 90 degrees using the older element. Once it starts cutting out I disconnect it and do the rest of the boil with the other element.
Now, with all that said, either HLT, boiler or both are at your disposal, but the boiler does have exposed electrics at the switch of the Tesco element. Fine for me who knows not to poke it with a metal spike, but I guess there could be potential safety concerns there for the general public.
Regarding Saturday 20th's planned brew. Have you any idea of a time yet? Later in the afternoon is a lot better for me but you'll probably want to brew early in the morning.
BTW, shout if you need grains, etc. I've a whole new 25KG of Marris Otter not opened yet.
I like the recipe you posted too. I was going to suggest to keep it simple first time around and that recipe looks perfect; it's all about showing folk the order of things without too much complication first time around.
If you're looking for an IPA type beer then I would suggest the Cascade should be used as later additions. Their excellent aroma and flavour would get lost at 60mins. I'd say add them at 5 mins and at flameout. (one of us could dry hop too). Maybe boil half the Northern Brewer for 60 mins and a quarter for 30 mins and the rest at 10 mins (or 5 mins). A little concern would be that their flavour might overpower the Cascade, but it's a small concern.
I have some NB and Cascade if you need them.
Never used Centenial before so can't really comment. If they're just a bittering hop then leave as is.
Yeast-wise, that WPL001 is the liquid equivalent of US-05, right? If so, it'll ferment pretty dry, so maybe try and use an English Ale yeast for one of the batches to see the difference.
I'm not allowed to install Beersmith on my work PC (Boo! :( ) but I'll see if I can tinker with the recipe a bit when I'm home.
Anyway, just my $0.02.
Cheers,
-Barry
barry- thx for the suggestion on hops- havent done many hoppy recipes before. can we borrow your hlt- we just needa heat more water than im capable of wth my equip. and think ur rite, would rather use the hlt than the boiler wit ppl hanging around!!
cheers. i think we'll b there most of the afternoon- starting at 11
just realised the hops r backwards nearly- nb for bittering, not aroma and other way round for others
Thanks Barry and Matthew.
That recipe looks great - yes the amber gave an almost chocolatey hint iirc? Thank you Barry too for the hop advice - might be good to have more additions.
I was thinking of bringing some other speciality malts for people to taste, like black malt and chocolate malt. We've plenty of MO. I will order some cascade as we'll need some anyway ourselves.
Can bring the straining bag no probs. We also have a 30L pot but guess it won't be much use unless we can get a gas burner? Again health and safety?
The different yeasts would be great - we have WLP-002 english ale and WLP-550 belgian ale that have only been used once before, as well as the yeasts donated by matthew. We could bring some of those if either of you wanted to use them too.
could be a good opportunity for you to step a yeast up from the bottles i gave you to pitching amount- but I have the same yeasts and am happy to do it
I was going to boil with my gas burner- figured it'd be ok as long as someone was around it watching people didnt stick their head in the gas. it's a pretty safe set up. the boiler covers the flames completely
good idea about bringing spec grains
why don't you use whatever hops you have to dry hop your fv- I can cover the hops for this brew. no worries.
matthew
We've actually already used some of them over the easter weekend. Made a stout and an IPA and split the batches to try with different yeasts. Should be racking tonight though so will probably wash them and reuse one for the demo batch.
Nice one at the gas burner - where did you get yours? Don't think our hob has enough energy - it was struggling to keep our last batch boiling.
Cool about the hops! Yep will save them for that then.
got mine at www.gasproducts.co.uk which happens to be based in bangor iirc. cost me 43 all in for the lrg boiling ring. bit of cash, but the first AG i did was nearly stripping the paint off my kitchen walls cos I didn't have an extractor- so hadda move outside sharpish!
Ha ha! Class man - will check it out!
so, we wil split it 3 ways. we each just look after our own yeast?
chris, haven't heard from michael today yet.
Chris
Did I give you some wlp 001? can't find any in my fridge. no worries for this brew, I'll use some 051. but was just curious if I had given any to you?
thanks
matthew
Yeah - there was one but I wasn't sure if it was 001 or 007? We made a starter from it and used half in a demijohn of beer last week. I could bring that or would you prefer it to be fresh?
Absolutely!
Would be great to have more members up for the brew. Is it yourself and another?
Class man - sounds good!
yeah! that'd be sweet! if you want to bring an fv of wort home on the train we could try to work something out!!
and chris, about the yeast- I already have one starting for my 12L for saturday, so don't worry about that. If it's the 001, though, I'd love to get some back next time you use it.
where there dates on the yeast bottles? if so, I should know what yeast it was from the bottle
Sounds good Tube - it'd be good to get as many as possible and to meet other members of the club.
Matthew - it was either January/February this year, or April last year. Sorry I didn't write it down. It's been used and washed so I'll bring a jar on Saturday.
k- thx. as long as you have some extra for yourself too!
Sounds like this is shapping up to be quite a day!
It will certainly spread the word about home brewing.
Please take lots of pictures and submit a writeup for our front page.
If you and the Hudson agree send in the best photo and a short write up to the local free news papers - they will probably give your group, the Hudson and the NHC a plug!
Try and make sure there is a back door open as the smell of the boil wafts inside it is sure to lure the macro drinkers out for a look!! Then they are hooked!
Good luck and well done!!
Thanks Matthew - yep we washed it and have a few bottles, do you think it was 001 then? Did you have any 007? Just wondering for our recipe book!
Good stuff Will - yeah we'll definitely look into that. There's a blues festival on at the same time as us and think the Hudson also does a busy lunch sitting anyway, so should be plenty of people about!
hmmmm not sure then about the yeast. will need to check and see
Chris, do I remember Moira saying you guys had some glass jar things you were looking rid of? what volume are they?
tweeked the recipie:
chris, are you able to bring 2.5 kg of ur pale malt?
barry, do you have enough hops to cover the nb or cascade? let me know what alpha they are if you do, and we can tweek numbers.
chris, you still ok to bring big bag (just in case my syphon with netting around the bottom won't get the wort out into the fvs)
barry, I'll see you Wed and get the hlt off you
plan on bringing an fv each- we're looking at 11L each. (I had originally said 12, but that won;t work wit the numbers)
it means we'll mash at 3L/kg and need 33L to sparge (that's why we have two hlts )
60 min mash and boil to quicken things up a little
sound ok? (http://s1143.photobucket.com/user/mattybabsy/media/ScreenShot2013-04-16at103606_zpsc7bb789b.png.html)
(http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n621/mattybabsy/ScreenShot2013-04-16at103606_zpsc7bb789b.png) (http://s1143.photobucket.com/user/mattybabsy/media/ScreenShot2013-04-16at103606_zpsc7bb789b.png.html)
hmm that previous one didnt work...
Hi Matthew,
I can cover both the NB and the Cascade.
The NB is 7.74%
The Cascade is 5.9%
Yep; see you Wednesday with the hlt. Just need you to text your address.
I see some talk about yeast here. Have we decided what yeasts to use for each? I was initially thinking of US-05 for mine, which would suit this type of brew, but maybe that's being a little 'safe'? (Replace 'safe' with 'lazy')
-Barry
yeah, i think use whichever yeast you like- itll b interesting to sample the same beer with 3 different yeasts
matthew - yeah we've 1L Ikea swing top bottles that we've no longer any use for (they're clear - so we stopped using them for beer), however they've come in handy for making fruit liquers. There's probably around 6 if you or anyone wants them.
Recipe looks good! I can bring 5.5kg malt if you're doing amber and hops, and barry's doing the remaining hops. How does that sound?
Re yeast - we've a jar of belgian WLP550 which we can use for the beer. The yeast comparison should be really interesting - we made a stout over easter and used different yeasts so that'll hopefully be ready for the next meet.
sweet! sounds good
yeah, if you want to cover the malt that's fine- i'm happy to contribute some, though. have had it for a while and should prob use it. happy for you to decide thought- easy enough either way
we've got some guys to come film the day- crazy!?
could I get two of those bottles chris?
I made a starter last night with the WLP007 you kindly gave me, Matthew. Never used it before so am interested to see it in action, plus it seems to suit Saturday's IPA-type brew.
Didn't see much activity in the demijohn this morning but maybe all the magic happened while I slept. I'll leave it another day or so and check the FG to see if it did ferment out. If it seems fine I'll pitch that. If not, I'll just drop in the sachet of US-05.
-Barry
good stuff- if it was done in glass, you should be able to see a ring on the glass along the top of the liquid where the fermentation was. (if that makes sense)
Funny, but I get that ring you speak of when fermenting a full brew okay, but it rarely happens with starters. I think it's because the surface area of the demijohn is very wide for a 1L brew and the krausen doesn't climb very high or stay up for any length of time.
Yep no problem - I've 2 in a bag for you.
Sure I'll cover the malt. Where did you get the people to film it from?! That's class!
Are we going to bring some homebrew samples too?
Great stuff! Should be good!
If you need a lift from the station let us know and we should be able to sort something.
Lookin' forward to this. Sounds good already, lads. Can't believe we're starting so early! Some wings for lunch might be a good call....
no idea about the shuttle- but, aye- not too far a walk
wings sound good!
I had paid for one ages ago, but it got stolen at the comp. not sure what's happening wit that?!
do we have any homebrew to bring tomorrow? I'm pretty low- but would be good to maybe have some to let people taste
If you can get on and off at Great Victoria Street, it's a bit closer to the Hudson. Otherwise there should be plenty of buses passing the station into town. The walk from Central should be 20 minutes max.
Thanks but we got t-shirts when we were down at the competition.
Definitely get the wings on the go!
Yeah we've a smokey porter and an IPA, one bottle of each. Also have a bottle from Moira's brother that came second in a Glasgow competition and is now being brewed by Fyne ales.
sweet, sounds good.
I'll dig out my 'cellared' beers (think cupboard in my parents so I don't randomly drink them) and see if there's any worth bringing
Don't think I'll manage to bring any beer since it's mostly in cornys these days.
I might, however, bring a sample of one of my brews down so one of you guys can tell me if it's infected or not (that's how generous a guy I am :) )
It's my second attempt in a row of London Pride that seems to have gone wrong (same recipe but different yeasts yet same result), leaving a very bitter tart taste. I've had out and out very obviously infected brews before, but this is different.
Thought it might be to do with over-hopping, but don't think it's that anymore.
-Barry
Cellared beers sound interesting - how long have they been stored for?
Haha barry! Yeah always up for a sample!
thx shane- great to meet you. thx for the help too!
og this morning before i pitched was 1.047, bit higher than target, but still sound. wort tasted great.
interested to see how this turns out
Definitely! Great to meet you Shane and looking forward to the social!
Another successful brew meet! Ours came in at 1050 so have pitched the starter ;D
Yeah, was a highly enjoyable day all round. Good to see so many people turning up and fair play to those folk who travelled a good distance for the event. And cheers Shane for mucking in at the end to help sort our little situation.
Pitched my starter last night around 11. Due to having piled a number of beers, bottle of wine and an Irish coffee on top of what I'd already drunk down the Hudson, I forgot to take a sg reading but she's only really started to get going this morning and the sg was bang on 1050. If it continues to smell this good I probably won't bother dry hopping.
Good beer, good bar, good company, successful brewday, managing to fall asleep on the couch with a bottle of beer in my hand and only spilling half of it over myself..... I'd call that a result! :)
-Barry
bugger, thought this was next weekend! mentioned to someone else too. ooops sounds like you had a good one anyway!
ah steve! too bad- we'll be doing a meet next month- some friday evening
guys, just out of curiousity- have yous done a grav reading since u threw in the yeast? just did one tonight- 1.004. checked that my hydrometer wasnt wrecked cos i was surprised by the reading- but the hydro is fine. spose its not a lot of beer and its not v strong, but still surprised
Not sure - I'll try and get one done tomorrow but it did take off like a rocket!
Checked mine this evening. Down from 1050 to 1012 in under 3 days. That wlp007 is fast acting alright. Not sure if it'll drop much more but will leave in the fv for another week or so to let the yeast settle out some more.
Had a wee taster too. Pretty distinctive taste from that yeast. I think I might dry hop after all. Nothing too dramatic; 10g of Cascade should do it.
What yeast did you two use in the end?
-Barry
Went for WLP-550, belgian ale yeast, which gives a nice spicy flavour. Looking forward to the comparisons.
It's sitting at around 1020 but it's hard to tell as there's still a thick krausen on top.
Just a quick update on my 1/3 of the famous brew:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8408/8704566926_2b0f18fee5.jpg)
Since the gravity had been hanging around 1010 for a few days I decided to go ahead and bottle it last night. I Had been debating with myself whether or not to dry hop. In the end I threw in a few grams of Cascade for the last 6 days. Ended up with about 18 bottles. It would have been closer to 19 had it not been for the wee snifter or two I allowed myself during the process - in the interests of quality control, of course.
Anyway, the bottles are now tucked up in the brew fridge at 20 degrees. I'll leave them there for about 2 weeks, which should leave over a week's cold conditioning before the next big meet. It's still a little cloudy but that should clear up after secondary and cold conditioning. Taste-wise, it's very promising. The combination of the wlp007, Centennial and the (hopeful) fruitiness of the late and dry-hopped Cascades should make this a nice wee summer drink. Can't wait to see how it conditions.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8538/8703444329_7900fce1da.jpg)
Even though it was only 18 bottles, last night really reminded me why I moved from bottling to kegging; that was pure tedium. Plus, I missed nearly all of the Masterchef final >:(
I'll go and dry my eyes now :)
-Barry
Bottling the Black IPA I told some of you about tomorrow! Should leave a good few weeks conditioning before the 24th.
On the the summer golden ale next week!
Nice one Barry! Hopefully bottling tomorrow - lost our capper in the move so picking one up today. How does anyone lose a capper?!
Good stuff Bill - hadn't much experience of black IPAs until I tried Kernel's Scanner Darkly which is amazing!
What'll you use in the summer golden ale?
tried mine today- bottled last sat. sat in ferm fridge. got home from portugal today and cooled a bottle.
not bad. maybe more bitter than hoppy
not v clear, but that was to be expected
cant wait to compare the beers
Hoping a few weeks will even out the toastiness in the IPA, leave for a few weeks and find out.
Golden Ale think we're gonna use Marris and Caramunich and gonna have our first adventure with torrified wheat!
Hop wise we're going for some new World ones...Dr Rudi, Pacifica and Kohatu
Incidentally...started using BrewToad to plot out recipes, pretty good little tool, also gives style profiles if your looking to conform specifically
Bottled ours over the weekend - see what you mean about the bitterness. You reckon it'll mellow?
Will check out brewtoad - can't use brewmate on the mac.
chris, u got a mac? i can give u beer alchemy if u want
That'd be great! Is it like brewmate?
lol, dunno wot that is. its brewing software thats pretty good. ill look into it
Ah cool - yeah defos would be up for it!