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Sunday 25 February 2018

WOW updates

I racked the first of the WOW Rose wines into a fresh demijohn containing a teaspoon of campden powder and also wine stabiliser. It was degassed then finings added and is now somewhere cool to clear, once it is it will be bottled The second had thrown a huge amount of sediment, and I also realised I needed to add another 100g of sugar as I'd only added 600g originally, so I made up a syrup, and added this to a fresh demijohn whilst racking the wine from the first. Judging by the airlock activity, this still has a way to go before I rack it again.

Saturday 24 February 2018

Kitsters last stand update #3

I've bottled this today as it was stable at 1012, and had nearly 3 weeks in the FV giving the yeast lots of time to clear up.

Batch primed in the bottling bucket with 75g of sugar, then packaged into 500ml bottles. After trub, etc, accounted for, I got 37 bottles in total.

This is the first brew I've bottled for years, but it's just as much of a faff as I remembered it. I need to have a think about the whole process, as I want to brew several beers that won't really suit being put into a king keg for various reasons. There has to be a better way!

Now carbing up at 20 degrees in the brew fridge for a couple of weeks then into the garage for conditioning.

The sample tasted really nice. Lots of flavours that need melding in the conditioning phase.

Sunday 18 February 2018

Planning my first AG

So, wort chiller excepted, and that's being sorted this week, I'm all ready for my first all grain brew. I've been mulling this over, and this is what I have come up with.

What shall I brew?

It needed to be a style that would suit being put in a King Keg, as I really don't like bottling beer, and my last brew is going into bottles and I will need a break to get over the trauma. In my book, that eliminates any style that needs high carbonation levels (lagers and similar); any style that you would drink small amounts of infrequently as it would tie up a King Keg for too long (strong beers mainly) and finally anything that would need conditioning for a long time (same reasons / styles)

That leaves me with a fair range of styles still, three of which I want to brew on a regular basis ~ an English Golden Ale, an English Bitter and a Dark Mild.

For my first AG attempt, the golden ale looked initially like a sensible option ~ very simple grain and hop bill could produce something quite nice. However, if you've seen my mini mash posts, you'll know I'm struggling a bit with efficiency, which while I think I can improve this area, if it doesn't get better, a 2.5% golden ale will be a bit pants. Getting an English Bitter down to a T is a fine art, and best left until I am happy with the AG process, so I decided on a mild. Even if efficiency woes mean I end up with a 2.5% rather than a 3.1% beer, I think the dark malts will still give something drinkable and tasty. So I've settled on Graham Wheeler's clone of;


My Yeast Conundrum

I brought a selection of Crossmyloof brewery dried yeasts, and was initially very impressed with them. They are fantastic value, and take off like a rocket. However, I had a sort of sour, yeasty taste in the background of my modified Canadian blonde brewed with the real ale yeast. It eventually conditioned out almost completely, but it took ages. I have noticed that my Coopers IPA mini mash, using the US Pale yeast, has a similar taste to it, all be it in a much, much reduced prominence. On the homebrew forum, a couple of other people have noticed the same thing, although it has to be said we are in a minority and I'm by no means sure that it's anything to do with the yeast at all. However, my Coopers Ruby Porter / Old ale mini mash, that used the Mangrove Jacks Liberty Bell yeast doesn't have a hint of it, and it's still in the primary. I'll get to the bottom of it, but until I do, my three remaining CML yeasts I have in store (one Real Ale, one US Ple and a Californian Common) will remain unused until I get the hang of AG. So, what yeast to use? I did think of something nice and fruity, eithe Mangrove Jacks Old Empire or Danstar Windsor. However, they both have low attenuation rates according to many, and what with my efficiency problems, I don't want to end up with a 1% ABV beer or something! So I think for this brew I'll use the Liberty Bell yeast again.

So hopefully, wort chiller manufacture Monday; brew Tuesday.


WOW Rosé wine #2

I saw these in Morrisons on offer, 3L for £2.50. The ingredients are 40% Grape, 40% Apple and 20% Raspberry, so these looked ideal for another WOW. Exactly the same recipe as before, and as before, it took off within 3 hours.



The Apple and Red grape one is still  chugging away 9 days later, and shows no sign of slowing; I've no idea how long these will take. I've only got one demijohn left now, which I will need for racking, so that's it until one of these bad boys is bottled. The one with raspberry is producing a lot more sediment, I am assuming that is the pectolaise having something more to work on with this juice combination? It's the one on the right.


Friday 9 February 2018

WOW Rosé wine

Wurzals Orange Wines (WOW) are a method of making home brewed wine using supermarket fruit juice and a few added bits and bobs. I won't go into the history / origin of the name and method, there is a huge amount of info on the internet, so I'll run through what I did.

I am aiming for a Rosé , so reading this thread on the home brew forum, and tinkering very slightly I put the following into a sterialised demijon and gave it a shake. That's about it!

1 litre Asda Fresh Red grape juice.
2 litre Asda Smart Price Apple Juice.
700g Sugar, dissolved in water and brought to the boil.
1 tsp Tannin (actually added to the sugar solution before boiling)
1 tsp citric acid (added as above)
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Ditto)

All of the above were put in the DJ, then the temp was checked. It was 22/23 degrees so the following were added;

1 tsp Yeast Super Wine Yeast Compound
1 tsp Pectolase.
1 tsp Glycerine. (optional)

The airlock was put on, and that's that.


Once the fermentation has finished, it will be racked into a fresh DJ, degassed, and finings and stabaliser added. Left to completely clear, and bottled.

Kitsters Last Stand update #2

Still bubbling away merrily, and it smells amazing. The krausen raised right up to the lid then dropped back. The smell is a bit fruity, with malty tones, but very nice.There is a huge amount of sediment already, so I think I will loose a few litres to the trub, but never mind. I'm going to leave this at least 2 weeks before measuring the gravity and bottling; possibly more.

Tuesday 6 February 2018

Kitsters Last Stand #1

Last ever kit (probably) went into today's brewday ~ 'Kitsters Last Stand'

Title: Kitsters Last Stand
Brew Method: Partial Mash
Style Name: Old Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 20.5 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 12 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.042

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.058
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV (standard): 5.78%
IBU (tinseth): 52.41
SRM (morey): 19.27
FERMENTABLES:
1.7 kg - Coopers Devils Half Ruby Porter kit - (late addition) (29.8%)
0.5 kg - Dry Malt Extract - Dark - (late addition) (8.8%)
2 kg - Golden Promise (35.1%)
0.3 kg - Crystal 60L (5.3%)
0.2 kg - Torrified Wheat (3.5%)
0.5 kg - Vienna (8.8%)
0.5 kg - CaraRed (8.8%)

HOPS:
25 g - Bramling Cross, Type: Pellet, AA: 6.5, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 10.69
25 g - Bramling Cross, Type: Pellet, AA: 6.5, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 4.29

YEAST:
Mangrove Jack - Liberty Bell Ale M36 (2 packs)
Fermentation Temp: 20 C

Used my new ( to me, 2nd hand) cool box mash tun for the first time. Mashed at 62, sparged at 72. Still got appalling efficiency (48%) ~ addressing that is my next step. However, the resulting wort from today's brewing was lovely, but not at all hoppy ~ I couldn't detect the bramling cross at all. I also realised that I didn't sanitise the measuring jug I used to re-hydrate they yeast; however it was fresh out of a dishwasher hot wash, then mostly filled with boiling water, put in a water bath to cool to 30 degrees before adding the yeast. I will have either got away with this or not ~ I was running out of time to pick up the kids and was rushing. Lesson learnt.

I used Aldi bottled water again, and left the ones not used in the boil outside at an ambient 2 degrees, so after adding the wort and bottled water to the FV and thrashing it about, it was at 26 degrees, so I thought I would risk pitching it and get it in the brew fridge like last time as I really had to go and get the kids. Except, after I had done this and attached the inkprobe it read 28 degrees. Must have misread the thermometer. Ooops. Its down to 25 now and falling. Again, I'll either get away with it or I won't. The fridge is set to 20, which is where it should settle.

No dry hopping or anything to come, so it will be left now for 2 weeks to get on with it, assuming I see the airlock bubbling, or other signs of it fermenting.


Saturday 3 February 2018

Coopers Brew A + mini-mash #4

Packaged  this today into a King Keg with a solution of boiled water / 75g of sugar. I looked to have totally got away with the hop tea container falling into the FV, and the beer tastes good, with no off flavours. In fact it doesn't taste good, it tastes fantastic. If you have ever had Aldi / Marstons 'Wild Bills IPA' it isn't to dissimilar to that in colour and bitterness, with similar hop aroma and flavour, but obviously different because of the different hops used. Considering this is a modified kit, I extremely pleased.

On another note, I did some testing with my two hydrometers in pure water at their calibrated temperatures, and they both read read out. Given that, the adjusted OG and FG are 1043 & 1010, so this hasn't finished as low as I thought ( I predicted 1008), but after priming, it will be just under 4.5%, which is fine for me.