The Homebrew Thread

[Hardcore_Fan]

I'm going whirlpool and hopstand for 10 min. Might even divide my flameout hops in half, add half at flameout and the other half when the temp is below isomerisation level. This will give it a fair bit of a hop kicker. But yeah I'll probably double my dry hop.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

You might be better off with two packets of yeast with that OG also. Helps to get things started and you will get a healthier fermentation.

I'm going to do a starter, wanted to get a stir plate today but couldn't. A stir plate would have put me at 270billion cells (I need 280billion)

Even without the stirplate my starter should hopefully get 240-250billion cells, so a bit of an under pitch, but 1 packet for most brews is an underpitch according to beersmith, it has us05 at 180billion cells, and from memory it says wort that's around 1.050 needs about 220billion. So no biggie

 

[TiggaPlease]

I'm going to do a starter, wanted to get a stir plate today but couldn't. A stir plate would have put me at 270billion cells (I need 280billion)

Even without the stirplate my starter should hopefully get 240-250billion cells, so a bit of an under pitch, but 1 packet for most brews is an underpitch according to beersmith, it has us05 at 180billion cells, and from memory it says wort that's around 1.050 needs about 220billion. So no biggie

As long as you rehydrate and the yeast is pretty fresh I reckon 1 pack is fine up to about 1.060. YMMV

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

A starter is recommended for above 1.06. Mine will be around 1.08, have read people have pitched i packet of us-05 into 1.08 beers without issue, so should be sweet with a starter.

Already have my starter going now. Will be about 60hours til I pitch.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Update on my beer status:

On tap:
1. Black Hops .30 Cal Clone (California Common) - 3.5%
2. APA - 5.5%
3. Peach Saison - 7.7%

Primary:
S&W Pacific Ale Clone

Cold Conditioning:
Fall Down Brown (American Brown Ale)

I'm thinking about doing either a Raspberry Saison next or a 10 minute IPA with the remnants of hops collected from my freezer. Could call it the "Freezer Burn" IPA. I know I've got Amarillo, Citra, Cascade, Bobek, Willamette, Nelson Sauvin and probably some others in there.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

My IIPA didn't go as well as planned. 6.8kg of grain is just too much for the robobrew to handle, mash thickness is ridiculous and is counter productive to getting a good efficiency. Only hit around 66% Should have been 80%. So my OG was around 1.066. Will end up with an ABV of about 7.4%.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

My IIPA didn't go as well as planned. 6.8kg of grain is just too much for the robobrew to handle, mash thickness is ridiculous and is counter productive to getting a good efficiency. Only hit around 66% Should have been 80%. So my OG was around 1.066. Will end up with an ABV of about 7.4%.

What efficiency are you usually achieving? The best I can get on the Robo is a consistent 69%.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

Been getting high 70s.

Key points with the robobrew.

1. Set temp to 5degrees above what you want the mash temp to be. On my system
The mash is always 5 degrees cooler than what is set.

2. Grain crush needs to be 1-1.2mm

3. Use plenty of rice hulls

4. Set up some sort of recirculation

Took me a year of experimenting to find out what worked.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Will definitely give the mash temp trick a try. I actually just purchased a digital cooking thermometer to test my mash temp so will check this out on the next brew.

I've been running a recirc pump since the start. No idea what the mill setting at my brew shop is but it is definitely coarser than the previous shop I was going to and made a noticeable difference to efficiency. I used to use rice hulls but found them unnecessary after the change in grind.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

Yeah check the temp of your mash, seems that most robobrew users are reporting a 3-5degree difference between the actual mash temp and what the robobrew says.

 

[TiggaPlease]

APA and AM Wheat should be ready for kegging this weekend. The AM wheat was brewed to put in my brew club's Feb mini comp, hopefully it will go alright, it is the first wheat I've ever made as they're not really my cup of tea.

Thinking of making an all chinook amber ale this weekend, also have a cube of Centennial/Mosaic APA to pitch once the fermenters are free.

I gave my brewery a good clean on the weekend as it was looking like an absolute pigsty.

@Frank_Grimes I think you should do the Freezer Burn IPA next, the hop combination you've mentioned would be awesome for it.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

I haven't entered any comps yet but it's definitely something I'll be keen on in the future. I imagine the feedback alone would be worth entering.

Yep, doing the Freezer Burn next. I'm thinking of using the base grain bill from Brewdog's Punk IPA and then throwing all hops into a bowl and dividing evenly - half in the cube half dry hopped. Or I could split the hops by which will work better in the cube and which dry. Haven't decided on that yet. I'd like to record it in Beersmith in case it turns out to be a real cracker.

Then I'm going to try the following:

Title: Lamington Dessert Stout

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Sweet Stout
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 20 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 32 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.034
Efficiency: 69% (brew house)


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV (standard): 5.41%
IBU (tinseth): 28.84
SRM (morey): 36.88

FERMENTABLES:
3.9 kg - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (76.5%)
0.37 kg - Flaked Oats (7.3%)
0.23 kg - German - Carafa I (4.5%)
0.23 kg - American - Chocolate (4.5%)
0.23 kg - German - CaraMunich III (4.5%)
0.14 kg - American - Black Malt (2.7%)

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
1 cup - Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, Time: 10 days, Type: Flavor, Use: Secondary
450 g - Toasted Coconut, Time: 10 days, Type: Flavor, Use: Secondary
2 each - Vanilla Beans, Time: 10 days, Type: Flavor, Use: Secondary
500 g - Frozen Raspberries, Time: 10 days, Type: Flavor, Use: Secondary

 

[TiggaPlease]

Are you tempted to chuck a bit of lactose in there too? What sort of mash temp would you be going?

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Are you tempted to chuck a bit of lactose in there too? What sort of mash temp would you be going?

The recipe I stole the grain bill from doesn't use any lactose. Not sure whether to throw some in yet. I'm thinking about cold steeping the dark grains and mashing at 66-67 deg with the pale, oats and caramunich. I should get sweetness/tartness from the syrup/vanilla/raspberries as they'll be added after I've hit FG. I'll rack to secondary to get it off the yeast and there should be minimal secondary ferm.

 

[TiggaPlease]

The recipe I stole the grain bill from doesn't use any lactose. Not sure whether to throw some in yet. I'm thinking about cold steeping the dark grains and mashing at 66-67 deg with the pale, oats and caramunich. I should get sweetness/tartness from the syrup/vanilla/raspberries as they'll be added after I've hit FG. I'll rack to secondary to get it off the yeast and there should be minimal secondary ferm.

Good idea RE cold steeping. My thinking is that even racked off the yeast cake already at FG the simple sugars are still going to ferment out and a small dose of lactose might make the chocolate and vanilla taste creamier.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

Cold steeping dark grains or throwing them late into the mash works well. I did it with my first stout and so far it's been my best stout. Divided the roasted grains in half, half did the full mash the other half later in the mash. Gives you a lovely black colour without the harshness of the roast.

My current stout it was all in at the start plus extra dark grains, it's very toasty but the harshness has been neutralised by vanilla beans I added late in the fermentation.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Alright I just dry-hopped my Pacific Ale with 77g of Citra so I also tallied up all of my spare hops in the freezer:

Magnum - 59g
Bobek 5.9% - 123g
Mosaic 11.3% - 70g
Cascade (I think) - 65g
Fuggles 4.6% - 22g
Citra 14.1% - 25g
Nelson Sauvin - 23g
Wilamette - 42g
Mystery - 8g
Amarillo 9.5% - 63g
Cascade 6.6% - 55g

That's a whopping 555g of hops in one brew. I don't know if I should split them up by AA% or if that is overthinking it.

I kegged the Brown Ale over the weekend and it is delicious although I would be tempted to throw a few more dry hops in next time.

 

[TiggaPlease]

I reckon you should just mix and average out the AA% for calculating ibu.

No bittering charge - 50% cube (calculated as 15 min whirlpool addition) 50% dry hop.

Will probably be the best beer you've ever made and you'll never be able to replicate it.

 

[TiggaPlease]

I kegged my APA and am wheat on the weekend. Both taste good but are pretty hazy. Harvested the m44 from the am wheat and have a cube of apa and a cube of amber ready to pitch when I can be bothered.

 

[Hardcore_Fan]

77g of citra dry hopped. f**king hell, would taste like orange juice lol.