The Homebrew Thread

[Frank_Grimes]

Have you ever bought bulk hops from the states?

I was thinking about getting 4 pounds from Yakima Valley. The hops I was looking at would come in at $105 delivered - About half the price I'd be getting here.

That is a great price. I guess the downside is the postage delay.

 

[TiggaPlease]

I've been using citric acid on the bru'n spreadsheet. I've read that it can really accentuate flavour of citrus notes in hops.

I hadn't thought of using citric tbh. It is also great for cleaning elements when they get some scorched wort on them.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Alright, so my brewing schedule for the holidays is just about sorted:

Smurto's Golden Ale - Xmas Eve
Peach Saison
American Brown Ale
Black Hops .30 Cal Clone

I tested and tasted the Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale last night before cold crashing. FG of 1.002 is much lower than Beersmith had calculated and it's going to come out at 6.35%. Gonna have to be careful with this one. Tastes divine though.

 

[TiggaPlease]

What yeast did you use and what mash temp to get it to finish so low?

 

[Frank_Grimes]

What yeast did you use and what mash temp to get it to finish so low?

A packet of 1056 Craftbrewer yeast that I had left over in the fridge. Mashed it low at 64C. Mashed out at 75C.

Fermented at 18C for 6 days and finished the last 2 days at 20C.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

I've also started harvesting and storing all of my yeast slurry from each brew now. Keeping them in jars at the back of the fridge labelled with type of yeast and generation - ie US-05 2nd Gen.

I'm hoping to build a nice little collection to make starters with.

 

[TiggaPlease]

A packet of 1056 Craftbrewer yeast that I had left over in the fridge. Mashed it low at 64C. Mashed out at 75C.

Fermented at 18C for 6 days and finished the last 2 days at 20C.

Crazy, even mashing at 63-4 lowest I've ever got with a chico strain is about 1.007.

I've been reusing my yeast slurry too, have only gone to 3rd generation so far though.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

What cubes/jerry cans are you using? I just bought blue Icon plastics Jerry Can from Bunnings, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be fine. I might boil up 20L in the kettle one night and just give it a "dry" run to see if any of the colouring leeches out.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/icon-plastics-20l-blue-water-jerry-can_p3240530

A lot of the guys on AHB have been using these without issue. I can fit two side by side snug in my camp fridge so I could be fermenting 3-4 brews at once if I wanted, or lagering/cold conditioning several brews.

 

[TiggaPlease]

What cubes/jerry cans are you using? I just bought blue Icon plastics Jerry Can from Bunnings, and I'm pretty sure it's going to be fine. I might boil up 20L in the kettle one night and just give it a "dry" run to see if any of the colouring leeches out.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/icon-plastics-20l-blue-water-jerry-can_p3240530

A lot of the guys on AHB have been using these without issue. I can fit two side by side snug in my camp fridge so I could be fermenting 3-4 brews at once if I wanted, or lagering/cold conditioning several brews.

I've got one of those and one of the more cube shaped ones (similar to what fresh wort kits from craftbrewer etc come in). Definitely prefer the cube shaped ones because they have a bigger lid opening which makes getting cube hops in a much easier task.

Still use both types with no worries though.

To transfer to the cube I just use a 1m length of silicon hose.

 

[TiggaPlease]

Bored at work so just did a comparison of Bru'n water to EZ water to Brewer's Friend - calculated pH results based on same grist entered in all (Before adjustments) - Decided to do this after your comments RE roast malts, Frank_Grimes.

Bru'n: 5.78
EZ: 5.74
Brewer's Friend: 5.69

So Bru'n and Brewer's friend furthest apart and EZ smack bang in the middle.

HOWEVER - If I add say 150gm of acid malt into each the results are:

Bru'n: 5.62 (Drop of 0.16)
EZ: 5.49 (Drop of 0.25)
Brewer's Friend: 5.45 (Drop of 0.24)

0.16 drop in pH seems like a huge difference compared to the other two.

I might try EZ and BF for a while to see if I get different results in finished beer quality to Bru'n.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

I reckon unless we stump up and buy a proper pH meter we'll never really know how close we're getting. You're on the right track if you just shoot for better tasting beer.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Thanks for the hot tip with the citric acid for cleaning. I haven't seen the bottom of my kettle so shiny.

First no chill brew was done with ease on Christmas eve and I even hit 68% efficiency. I also noticed it was easier to get the hot break to settle without using the immersion chiller. I'm hooked.

 

[TiggaPlease]

No chill is so simple isn't it!

I only managed to make 1 batch all holidays - an Amber/red IPA 1.064 og and about 65 ibu. The fermenter smells awesome.

 

[TiggaPlease]

How did the Neilson Sauvin summer ale turn out?

 

[Frank_Grimes]

How did the Neilson Sauvin summer ale turn out?

It's delicious - slight taste of stone fruit and not really white wine tasting, but heavy so not really a sessionable summer ale - after 2 glasses you can definitely feel it. I'll certainly do it again but hopefully the yeast won't be so greedy next time.

The peach saison is now in the can (68.5% efficiency) and I'm absolutely loving no-chill brewing (can't believe I hadn't tried it earlier). There's just something about removing the chilling step that makes the whole process mentally and physically so much easier. The flexibility to brew and store wort while I've still got beers on tap is awesome too. Now I'm going to build a stir plate to allow me to make fresh wort yeast starters.

I'm now consistently hitting 68-69% efficiency which I put down to the following changes:

* Change of brew shop with a coarser grind
* Back to using Bru'n Water spreadsheet and treating water with Calcium Chloride, Gypsum, Epsom and Citric Acid to hit flavour profile and pH. Note I'm not testing for pH but the numbers add up based on my tap water profile
* Consistently using 20L for mash volume (the coarser grind means that I don't need to use rice hulls anymore) and recirculating throughout the mash
* Yoga mat wrapped around the kettle to help with temp consistency

It feels great to have hopefully mastered this system - now I can simply focus on recipes and just brew.

I may even do a double brew day tomorrow and get the American Brown and 30 Cal done while pitching the yeast onto the saison.

 

[TiggaPlease]

Glad you're loving the move to no chill.

Kegged my brown yesterday arvo, just having my first glass now and it is delicious. Will probably dry hop my red IPA today or tomorrow with galaxy and maybe some cascade.

Other than IPAs I'll probably take a break from dry hopping and focus on producing simple beers without huge flavours to hide behind to improve my technique. I think the next beer I make will be a very low hopped low abv blonde ale.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Glad you're loving the move to no chill.

Kegged my brown yesterday arvo, just having my first glass now and it is delicious. Will probably dry hop my red IPA today or tomorrow with galaxy and maybe some cascade.

Other than IPAs I'll probably take a break from dry hopping and focus on producing simple beers without huge flavours to hide behind to improve my technique. I think the next beer I make will be a very low hopped low abv blonde ale.

Did you dry hop the brown? I'll be brewing mine first thing tomorrow.

 

[TiggaPlease]

Did you dry hop the brown? I'll be brewing mine first thing tomorrow.

No dry hopping on the brown. Just 50/50 cascade/fuggles in the cube. Has plenty of aroma for the style.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

No dry hopping on the brown. Just 50/50 cascade/fuggles in the cube. Has plenty of aroma for the style.

Cool - I just put 15g each of Cascade and Willamette in the cube. Used Fuggles for bittering.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Massive day yesterday - 2 brews in the can and 69.2% and 70.2% efficiency recorded. I'm pretty confident now that I've nailed this system.

I stuffed up on the .30 Cal and forgot to scale my sparge water volume down for the 3.3kg of grain and ended up 10pts under on pre-boil gravity so I just boiled for 90min to hit OG. I love it when the numbers just add up.