Monday, June 11, 2012

A pint of ag16 all grain Double Dragon homebrew

I didn't bother with posting the brewday for this one as it was pretty much the same as the first time I brewed this all grain Double Dragon.

Gorgeous pint, malty and hoppy and a definite re-brewer for me. Loving the Bramling Cross hops just peeking through the malt. Nice, gentle carbonation, good head retention.

My recipe has changed a wee bit from the original that I got from Brew Your Own British Real Ale.


ag#19 Own Recipe Summer Blonde (again)

Second brew of this beer as myself and other drinkers of it enjoyed the first batch so much (see here: all grain summer blonde)

Not the most exciting of grain bills or hopping but it makes a bloody lovely session bitter.

I'm posting it again because there were a couple of brewing firsts for me in this batch. My first time with gypsum added to the mash and my first mega clear first runnings.

The gypsum was a guesstimate as I hadn't received my water analysis from the water company so I chucked a tablespoon in.

So, Brewday: 4th June 2012

Brew length 25 litres.
Target OG: 1042
Target FG: 1,010

Mash liquor: 11 litres
Total liquor: 38 litres

Maris Otter: 4,171g
Pale crystal: 101g
Flaked wheat: 150g

Hops. (Adjusted from first batch for different alpha acids)

Target: 12.66%AA 25g 90 mins
Fuggles: 3.81%AA 20g 30 mins
EKG: 5.85%AA 13g 10 mins

Flameout and cool to 75C steep for 30 mins
EKG: 5.85%AA 31g
Fuggles: 3.81%AA 31g

1/2 protofloc
Safale SO4 - rehydrated and starter made with 150ml first wort runoff

750ml first wort runoff boiled down to 300ml to caramelize and added at 10 mins from end of boil.

Obligatory dull grain shot
In case the grain shot was too dull, here's a Star Destroyer instead.

2 litres run off to clear the bits and this started flowing from the mash tun. Clearest yet, I don't think it'll get clearer than this.

Caramelizing 750ml first wort - it reduced to 300ml

Blah blah hops, rolling boil etc

Break formed in the caramelized wort - I didn't see this happen first time I tried this technique

Aroma hops steeping at 75C for 30 mins - Temp dropped to 62C during the steep.

Break shite settling

Bang on 1042 OG and 25 litres ran off to the FV
All in all, pretty uneventful other than a neighbour turning up just as I was doughing in to use our internet to find a phone number.

I tested this yesterday, the gravity was down to 1,012 and the sample is tasting very close to batch 1. I might yet decide to dry hop when I rack it off to secondary.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Corsican Chestnut Beer - Pietra Biere Corse

Pietra made with chestnut flour in the mash... Brasserie Pietra
I ended up at a friends house the other day after a leisurely afternoon strolling through a massive, street Brocante (car boot sale type thing) in Ambazac, a town about 20 minutes from our home.

It wasn't long before the beer came out and, knowing I am rather passionate about beer, he'd gathered together a selection of beers he thought I might not yet have stumbled upon.

First was a wheat beer, in a champagne bottle. Powerfully carbonated, rather bland and not at all wheaty. That went quickly.

Next though was a little surprise of a beer. Corsican. Chestnut.

What interested me was the mention of chestnut flour on the label (farine de chataigne) and how that could be involved in a mash tun without setting solid and screwing things up pretty rapidly.

It poured well giving a nice, off white head that hung about for a while but didn't lace the glass to the end.

Aromas - I had my nose stuck in this for a while trying to figure it out, it was different and to me there was a subtle hoppiness I couldn't place. Malty indeed and the chestnut was apparent. IMO more apparent than my beer brewed with chestnuts.

Not bitter, not sweet and quite difficult to easily classify it really but I'll say this, when I finished it, I fancied another one.

For another review of this "different" beer check out Beer Demon.

The following beer was an Amber from Fischer - it was fu**ing awful!!! Artificial, Sweetened, Crap pop flavour plant extracts (unspecified) and citrus fruity additives, no hopping - hence the clear bottle... utter shit and everything I hate about commercial beer. Imagine a shandy made with shit beer and really crap pop, that's about it. Dear Fischer (Heineken I have since learned), Go Fu** Yourself.