The Homebrew Thread

[Frank_Grimes]

With temps starting come down a bit what is everyone doing in terms of heating? I'm thinking about buying a cheap ebay heater mat and sticking it in my fermentation fridge next to the fermentor (but not directly on or under it). I can run it through the STC-1000 and should provide sufficient heat and balance well with the fridge to maintain consistent temps.

I've never run heating before, but I did notice last winter that temps were getting down to around 14deg in the fridge (it is outside) in the mornings so fermentation on ales was taking a bit longer.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

Just make a lager.

I haven't made a brew in about 4 months now. Still have heaps of supply at the moment. But will probably do a lager next

 

[TiggaPlease]

With temps starting come down a bit what is everyone doing in terms of heating? I'm thinking about buying a cheap ebay heater mat and sticking it in my fermentation fridge next to the fermentor (but not directly on or under it). I can run it through the STC-1000 and should provide sufficient heat and balance well with the fridge to maintain consistent temps.

I've never run heating before, but I did notice last winter that temps were getting down to around 14deg in the fridge (it is outside) in the mornings so fermentation on ales was taking a bit longer.

That's exactly what I do. Ebay reptile heating mat stuck to the inside of the fridge door. Haven't really had to use it much, but it's there if I need it.

Great news about the cream ale, certainly an approachable style.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Right - I'll order the reptile mat tonight.

Here is the Mandarin IPA I'll be doing this weekend:

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Mandarin IPA

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 20 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 27 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.040
Efficiency: 65% (brew house)


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.009
ABV (standard): 5.9%
IBU (tinseth): 60.48
SRM (morey): 8.49

FERMENTABLES:
2.5 kg - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (46.7%)
1.8 kg - American - Pale Ale (33.6%)
0.8 kg - German - Munich Light (15%)
0.25 kg - German - CaraMunich I (4.7%)

HOPS:
20 g - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 10, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 27.73
28 g - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 13.49
28 g - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 10, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 19.26
35 g - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Dry Hop for 10 days
35 g - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 10, Use: Dry Hop for 10 days
50 g - Mandarin Peel, Type: Fresh, AA: 0, Use: Boil for 10 min

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
200 g - Mandarins Fresh, Type: Flavor, Use: Secondary

Really looking forward to this one.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

So made a brew today. Just a basic Pilsener lager with cascade hops.

Chose to use a different supplier for my grains, he ran the grains through his mill twice. Still only got around 50% efficiency with the robobrew.

I am now at a complete loss as to how to improve the efficiency.

How big a part can water chemistry play on efficiency because that is literally the only thing i can think of here.

 

[TiggaPlease]

I'm starting to do more reading on water chemistry. As far as I know the mash PH is extremely important and generally pale grists will have a PH higher than ideal for extraction. Beers with darker malts usually don't have this issue as roast grains naturally lower the PH. Acidulated malt is often used in pale beers to lower the PH.

That's about as much as I can help at this stage.

It might be worth doing a BIAB in your robobrew (ie use a bag instead of the malt pipe and turn the element off during the mash) I get 65-70% efficiency pretty much every brew.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

Yeah, I also read that trying to change your mash Ph itself isnt a good idea as the mash PH is governed by the actual water chemistry. So to change the mash Ph you need to change the water chemistry. Something like that anyway.

My LHBS sells water for brewing, i am going to try that next.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

[FONT=&quot]Yeah, I'm getting 65-70% on the Robobrew consistently by doing the following:

[FONT=&quot]* I use 20L for mash every time regardless of grain bill

[/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=&quot]* Allow the grains to sit for about 10mins after stirring and mashing in before starting the re-circ pump[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[FONT=&quot]* [FONT=&quot]R[/FONT][/FONT]e-circulating for the entirety of the mash - a little more than a trickle and what would amount to probably 2L every 15min[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]* Stirring up the grain quite aggressively 2-3 times during the mash - I make sure the last stir leaves at least 10min of re-circ left in the mash to help with clarity[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]* After sparge has run through I give the rest of the grain a stir and a squeeze to get as much wort out as possible. This could be where you are losing efficiency.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Have you noticed any drippings from the malt pipe after you sparge? I noticed quite a bit on my first brew when I was cleaning up - I had placed the malt pipe in a bucket and it had slowly dripped out. There was enough to take a gravity reading and it came up quite high.[/FONT]

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

there is a small amount of dripping when I take it off the top, but its not that much. I dont squeeze the grains. I have tried re circulating every 20 minutes and stirring, doesnt seem to do much.

This brew i didnt re circulate as much as normal, probably explains why i got 48% and not the usual 55%.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

That small amount can add up to a huge amount over time. I found that after leaving my malt pipe (without squeezing out the grain) in a bucket until I had finished up and was cleaning resulted in about a litre of liquid. I can't remember the gravity reading that I got from it, but it was up there and definitely contributed to me missing my OG target on the brew.

I find that pushing the grain from side to side in the malt pipe after the sparge has run through releases a significant amount of wort. The grain does hold onto a lot and needs a little persuasion to release it. Much like squeezing the BIAB to get the rest of the run-off.

Off-topic - I really need my heat map to get here. It was 4deg when I jumped in the car yesterday morning so I checked the fermentation fridge and it was sitting around 15 and fermentation seemed to have paused. As a quick fix I threw a desk lamp in the fridge and left it on last night angled away from the fermentor. Came out this morning and it was sitting on 20.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

I'm just gonna stick to lagers over winter. My brew is currently sitting at 12 degrees

 

[Frank_Grimes]

The Pacific Ale finally stabilised at FG so I dry-hopped with 80g Galaxy (mixture of flowers and pellets) last night. Will let that sit until Saturday night and then cold crash it.

I was given a refractometer for my birthday so I'm just figuring out how to use it. Can't use it on the existing brew sadly as you need to know the original reading in Brix to get an accurate calculation mid fermentation.

 

[TiggaPlease]

I just impulse bought a refractometer on ebay this week.

Really interested to see how it goes, currently I don't take gravity readings during the mash or boil which is the reason I bought it.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Brewing the Mandarin IPA on Sunday and I've mapped out what I want to do over the next few brews:

* Tigga's Raspberry Blonde
* S&W Pacific Ale again
* Tiramisu Stout
* Black Hops 30Cal 3% California Common

The last one is a recipe given to me by a friend who co-founded Black Hops Brewing Co at Burleigh. They've finally opened up their new brewery with cellar door sales and I went down there to try the 'Assault Trifle' beer they made for GABS. It was actually made with Trifle ingredients.

For a 600L batch they used:

* 60kg of fresh fruit
* 10 packets of Aeroplane Jelly
* 14 litres of sherry
* 50 Vanilla Beans
* A whole sponge cake with cream
* 2kg of coconut

It tastes incrediblle. The vanilla and sherry come through immediately but you can definitely taste the fruit and jelly flavours, and the sponge. It's incredibly clear for so many ingredients thrown in also.

 

[TiggaPlease]

I think I've seen you chatting about the Mandarin IPA over on AHB.

Your to brew list sounds superb.

Just ordered nearly a kg of hops from Hop dealz Australia - 450gm of Galaxy, 225gm Tardif de Bourgogne , 100gm Barbe Rouge and 100gm Comet.

Really looking forward to trying the latter 3.

I'm kegging me American Brown this weekend. Amber ale keg kicked last night so I'll prob brew another Amber next weekend - will keep the same malt bill as it's almost perfect for my taste but will hop with galaxy and either cascade or centennial this time which should make it close to Mountain Goat Fancy pants.

Absolutely loving the Oatmeal Stout I did - Just a nice beer to sit and drink. Fairly disappointed with the Crosby EXP #6 pale ale, it might have been better with another late hop thrown in for complexity but like the one I did with EXP #4 i'm underwhelmed.

That Black Hops beer sounds hectic. Might have to convince my wife we should take the kids for a day trip down to the coast in the next couple of weeks!

 

[Frank_Grimes]

I think I've seen you chatting about the Mandarin IPA over on AHB.

Yep, that's me.

Just ordered nearly a kg of hops from Hop dealz Australia - 450gm of Galaxy, 225gm Tardif de Bourgogne , 100gm Barbe Rouge and 100gm Comet.

How much was that if you don't mind?

Absolutely loving the Oatmeal Stout I did - Just a nice beer to sit and drink.

Chuck up the recipe if you get a chance.

That Black Hops beer sounds hectic. Might have to convince my wife we should take the kids for a day trip down to the coast in the next couple of weeks!

The Assault Trifle probably won't last longer than this weekend as it was nearly out last weekend, but they have just tapped a Mandarin Wheat and I think a Grapefruit XPA along with their Beach House Saison, Coffee Porter and 30Cal.

 

[TiggaPlease]

Yep, that's me.



How much was that if you don't mind?



Chuck up the recipe if you get a chance.



The Assault Trifle probably won't last longer than this weekend as it was nearly out last weekend, but they have just tapped a Mandarin Wheat and I think a Grapefruit XPA along with their Beach House Saison, Coffee Porter and 30Cal.

It was $55 delivered - $30 for the Galaxy, $2 each (not a typo!) for the comet and barb rouge and $7 for the tardiff - plus $15 express post.

Will chuck up the recipe in a sec.

It's always nice to go check out local breweries when I'm able to. Staying at my mum's in Marrickville in September so will head out to Batch and hopefully Young Henrys.

 

[TiggaPlease]

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Oatmeal Stout
Brewer: TJ
Asst Brewer:
Style: Oatmeal Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 29.49 l
Post Boil Volume: 26.19 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 22.00 l
Bottling Volume: 20.60 l
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 60.0 EBC
Estimated IBU: 29.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.1 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4.00 kg Pale Malt, Ale (Barrett Burston) (5.9 EB Grain 1 78.4 %
0.50 kg Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC) Grain 2 9.8 %
0.20 kg Chocolate Malt (Joe White) (750.6 EBC) Grain 3 3.9 %
0.20 kg Crystal (Joe White) (141.8 EBC) Grain 4 3.9 %
0.20 kg Roasted Barley (Joe White) (1398.7 EBC) Grain 5 3.9 %
50.00 g Fuggle [5.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 6 29.3 IBUs
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 7 -


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 5.10 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 32.60 l of water at 70.1 C 66.7 C 75 min
Mash Out Heat to 75.6 C over 7 min 75.6 C 10 min

Sparge: If steeping, remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Notes:
------
mashed at 68* for 60

Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Great price on the hops - that's 6.5c/gram for the Galaxy!

 

[TiggaPlease]

Should keep me busy for a while!

I also just got a detailed water report email to me from QUU for my address. After putting it all in to Bru'n Water it appears that my mash PH is way too low. Next time I'm at the LHBS i'll pick up some appropriate water salts to try fix it up.

I'm hoping it increases mash efficiency!