6 more brews since my last brewday post...

Once again I've managed to get well behind on blogging my all grain brewdays. I don't know where the time goes. I've had a busy few weeks with a couple of short breaks away and then some visitors came to stay so brewing has been sporadic to say the least.

I've just finished Ag#25 today, the fourth brew of a superb beer based on GWs Double Dragon. I've modified it somewhat so it is only loosely based on the original.

Since my last brewday post (AG#19) I've brewed the following beers.

Own recipe Cascade Gold AG#20 - bittered with Magnum hops (12.7% AA) and late hopped with Cascade, post boil steep hopped with more Cascade and after primary fermentation, dry hopped with even more Cascade - the result, a golden belter of a beer 5.5%abv and nicely sessionable - it didn't last long and was a definite fave with friends and family.

Double Dragon AG#21 (3rd batch) - This vanishes rapidly, another fave with friends and family.

Own Recipe Mocha Toasted Oatmeal Stout AG#22 - Challenger and Target for bittering, no aroma hops at all. Pale Malt, Munich, Amber, Roasted barley, Chocolate malt and home toasted oatmeal. 6 shots of freshly brewed espresso at the end of the boil. - the result, 4.5%abv, heavenly coffee and chocolate stout. Smooth and creamy and a definite re-brew in order.

Own recipe, Lathiere Blonde (pronounced Latt-ee-err) AG#23 named after the hamlet we live in and a hybrid of traditional UK hops and Cascade - This is only just bottled with 20l racked off to a plastic tank to condition ready to be chilled (my theory to preserve the co2 from the light priming I gave it) and racked off into bag in a box (kept cold) for serving but it's smelling gooood.

Own recipe Nelson Sauvin single hopped IPA or NZPA perhaps. First time using Nelson Sauvin and I must say I'm impressed. Lovely citrus, grapefruit reminiscent of some US hops but with an underlying tropical aroma to it, not sure what. Difficult to describe. I only brewed this the day before yesterday but it's smelling super in the FV.

I'm not going to do any write ups as far as I can see at the moment for these last few brews. They've all been pretty uneventful and not really any different to previous brewdays.

AG#3 All Grain, Extra Dark Stout

For my third all grain brew I wanted to do a Stout and having seen a couple of recipes I liked the sound of but was unable to decide between the two, I decided to create a hybrid and at the same try to increase the darkness and throw some torrified wheat in to further help with the head of the finished brew.

Much more relaxed this time as well and I didn't encounter any real trip ups this time. Totally chuffed with my additional insulation on my mash tun, I didn't lose a single degree during the 90 minute mash.

First off, the obligatory grain shot. Naich on Jim's Beer Kit forum has started what I hope will become something of a trend to jazz up the boring grain shots a little. So, for mine, I have included a rabbit with a pancake on its head.

The grain bill. Quite a hefty bulk of grains and wheat as I wanted to achieve a higher gravity to end up with a slightly stronger stout:

Pale Malt
Flaked Barley
Roasted Barley
Amber Malt
Black Malt
Torrified Wheat to further help create a creamy head on the finished brew.

I haven't bothered with any water treatment yet, our tap water tests at around 6pH. I'll see in time if there's need to alter anything. We're in a very granite area so I'm not sure what calcium is likely to be present, perhaps the water board add some... dunno. At the end of the day if I can get nice beer, consistently without having to fart about too much I'll be very happy.



Very efficient mash of the grains this time, 90 minutes and didn't lose a single degree in temp - my new insulated box around the mash tun worked a treat. This shot is after the mash had finished and the wort run off with the sparging device in place to rinse hot water over the grain bed and extract further fermentable goodness and taste.



Quick video of the sparge. It's a bit boring but I'm posting it as I want some feedback about the flow rate, too high? too low? Personally I think it's a little on the fast side but any slower and the hot liquor doesn't reach the extremities of the tubing matrix.

Into the copper for boiling, new gas burner not quite in shot but it works really well too.



 Approaching the boil.



Rolling boil reached so ready to add the first, bittering hops (Target hops - I'm using these a lot right now as I just received a new bag with the date code about to expire... grrrrr!)



 Bittering hops added.



90 minutes later and time to cool the hopped wort to 80C so I can add the aroma hops (8g each of Cascade, East Kent Goldings and Northern Brewer).



Soaked the aroma hops for 20 minutes then ran the chiller again to drop the temp to 30C and transferred to the fermenter, vigourous aeration during transfer produced this very large head. Allowed the hopped wort to cool further to 25C and pitched the yeast (visible in demijohn in the background). I used a special Irish Ale yeast and because I'd made a starter with it, in the demijohn using some malt extract, it got to work right away.



 The remains of the day, great for compost.



Three or so hours later and the yeast was going mad, the surface was rippling with activity as the yeast began creating co2



As this has been something of an experiment and me being a total newbie I've been waiting to see how it turned out before posting the brew day. I have just finished bottling and I have to say the early flavours are very promising although there doesn't seem to be as much hoppiness as I'd have liked. We'll see how it goes. Nice smoky burnt flavours coming through just as I like and the colour is incredibly dark. The bottles I have used are 650ml hefty old swing top things so I've used one clear glass bottle so I can keep and eye the brew on it as it conditions.



 And here are the others :O)



It's quite surprising how that extra 150ml in these larger beer bottles affects how many you end up with.