Brewday Hudson 20th April. What to make?

[sub82]

Cellared beers sound interesting - how long have they been stored for?

Haha barry! Yeah always up for a sample!

[matthewdick23]

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

[sub82]

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 

[Bazza]

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

[steve lamond]

bugger, thought this was next weekend! mentioned to someone else too. ooops sounds like you had a good one anyway!

[matthewdick23]

ah steve! too bad- we'll be doing a meet next month- some friday evening

[matthewdick23]

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

[sub82]

Not sure - I'll try and get one done tomorrow but it did take off like a rocket!

[Bazza]

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

[sub82]

Went for WLP-550, belgian ale yeast, which gives a nice spicy flavour. Looking forward to the comparisons.

[sub82]

It's sitting at around 1020 but it's hard to tell as there's still a thick krausen on top.

[Bazza]

Just a quick update on my 1/3 of the famous brew:



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.



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

[Bill_00]

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!

[sub82]

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?

[matthewdick23]

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