No photos alas. This was brewed on 31st March and was really a test brew to see if I still felt like and enjoyed brewing having been very down in the dumps over the loss of the Wuppit.
It went well. The recipe is from Graham Wheeler's superb Brew Your Own British Real Ale (3rd edition) and as I've written frequently before, if you haven't got a copy... GET ONE!!! get it here right now, this minute!
Have you got it yet?
Pale Malt
Crystal malt
T. Wheat
East Kent Goldings
Styrian Goldings
I ended up slightly under target volume of 23 litres but not enough to worry about and it gave me an OG of 1,056 rather than 1,054.
Final gravity of 1,011 which I calculated to give me a beer of 6.1%ABV
12 days in the FV which is a bit longer than usual and finally bottled on 11th April with 80g sugar dissolved in 250ml water.
I've only had a sneaky taster so far, it's primed well but needs to drop a bit clearer looking at the single, clear glass bottle I always have each brew (kept in the dark). Tastes very nice and it's probably the palest beer I've brewed yet. I used pale Crytsal malt due to mis-ordering the standard stuff.
I'll update this post wit a photo of the first proper pinta when I have it.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
AG#10 All Grain Own Recipe Amber Beer
First brewday posted for a while for various reasons.
This beer was brewed on 31st March 2012.
I became a fan of Amber Malt from my first ever all grain brew and have been looking for a recipe that featured more of this biscuity, flavoursome malt.
Having finally found, via teh Google, that it can be used as up to 20% of the grain bill I decided to construct my own recipe. In it I also wanted to feature Bramling Cross hops, another flavour and aroma I have found I've grown to really appreciate.
My aim was to brew a medium dark, biscuity beer with fruity hop notes. I came close.
Luckily I posted a few Tweets during the brew day and caught the attention of a brewer I have a lot of respect for and who's blog I follow as well as his numerous, informative and superbly photographed posts on Jim's Beer Kit forum, PDTNC.
He advised me of some Amber malt things to be aware of when used in higher quantities than typical and also offered some good advice on upping my original Hopping rates to balance the amber malt flavours. So, if you read this, cheers for the help Ade!
Here's the recipe:
Grain Bill:
Pale Malt: 3400g
Amber Malt: 900g
Torrified Wheat: 250g
Bittering Hops:
Challenger: 14g 90 mins
Northern Brewer: 14g 90 mins
Aroma Hops:
Bramling Cross: 60g (50% @ 10 mins - 50% @ flameout - 30 minute steep)
Irish Moss (10 mins), rehydrated and Safale SO4 made into a small DME starter a couple of days before.
Dry Hops: 15g Bramling Cross - added to secondary for a week before bottling.
Total liquor: 32 litres
Mash liquor: 12 litres
Mash time: 90 mins - Mash temp: 66C
Boil time: 90 mins
Target volume: 23l
Actual volume: 20.5 :(
Target OG: 1,043
Actual OG: 1,052 Oops! I didn't bother to top up with freshwater to adjust the gravity down.
Final Gravity: 1,011
All in all, an uneventful brewday, I like these as I read many that are fraught with equipment let downs. I'm still being very lucky in this aspect, no stuck mashes or blocked hop filters as yet. Using a gas burner for my copper I also avoid the seemingly common place electric boiler cut outs.
This time I batch sparged rather than fly sparging for no particular reason with 20l of liquor at 68C in the Mash Tun.
Here's the piccies...
I ran off the hopped wort and pitched the yeast the following morning then placed the FV in a heated water bath set to 21C.
Moved to secondary on 14th March but then everything went wrong, we lost our German Shepherd nicknamed The Little Wuppit (Holly) suddenly on the 18th.
Bottled on 22nd and not thinking very clearly primed it with 150g sugar in 350ml water. I usually prime with less than 100g.
As it turned out the extra priming must have fermented out as there's no detectable sweetness in the finished beer of which I have had a few now and it is nicely primed.
A piccy of my first pinta, which I raised to the memory of my very, very sadly missed Little Wuppit.
I love the colour and it has a fantastic head (my reason for adding the torrified wheat) that stays to the bitter (no pun intended) end.
Tastes... not my strong point in describing flavours but slightly burnt homemade biscuits springs to mind but with a floral, black current aroma that in my opinion sets it off very nicely indeed. For me, an enjoyable pint.
This beer was brewed on 31st March 2012.
I became a fan of Amber Malt from my first ever all grain brew and have been looking for a recipe that featured more of this biscuity, flavoursome malt.
Having finally found, via teh Google, that it can be used as up to 20% of the grain bill I decided to construct my own recipe. In it I also wanted to feature Bramling Cross hops, another flavour and aroma I have found I've grown to really appreciate.
My aim was to brew a medium dark, biscuity beer with fruity hop notes. I came close.
Luckily I posted a few Tweets during the brew day and caught the attention of a brewer I have a lot of respect for and who's blog I follow as well as his numerous, informative and superbly photographed posts on Jim's Beer Kit forum, PDTNC.
He advised me of some Amber malt things to be aware of when used in higher quantities than typical and also offered some good advice on upping my original Hopping rates to balance the amber malt flavours. So, if you read this, cheers for the help Ade!
Here's the recipe:
Grain Bill:
Pale Malt: 3400g
Amber Malt: 900g
Torrified Wheat: 250g
Bittering Hops:
Challenger: 14g 90 mins
Northern Brewer: 14g 90 mins
Aroma Hops:
Bramling Cross: 60g (50% @ 10 mins - 50% @ flameout - 30 minute steep)
Irish Moss (10 mins), rehydrated and Safale SO4 made into a small DME starter a couple of days before.
Dry Hops: 15g Bramling Cross - added to secondary for a week before bottling.
Total liquor: 32 litres
Mash liquor: 12 litres
Mash time: 90 mins - Mash temp: 66C
Boil time: 90 mins
Target volume: 23l
Actual volume: 20.5 :(
Target OG: 1,043
Actual OG: 1,052 Oops! I didn't bother to top up with freshwater to adjust the gravity down.
Final Gravity: 1,011
All in all, an uneventful brewday, I like these as I read many that are fraught with equipment let downs. I'm still being very lucky in this aspect, no stuck mashes or blocked hop filters as yet. Using a gas burner for my copper I also avoid the seemingly common place electric boiler cut outs.
This time I batch sparged rather than fly sparging for no particular reason with 20l of liquor at 68C in the Mash Tun.
Here's the piccies...
 |
| The obligatory grain shot. Lots of Amber malt and fascinated audience. |
 |
| I'd taken this pic and added the text before PDTNC advised upping the Bramling Cross (see recipe above) |
 |
| HLT coming up to temp ready to add 12 litres to the mash tun. |
 |
| Crud scum forming approaching the boil. |
 |
| Vigourous boil and bittering hops in. |
 |
| Spent grains, some went off to my Mum to make some splendid bread with and the rest went to the Chickens. |
 |
| Post boil hops going in. Just remembered this was an overnight cool down hence the lack of immersion chiller. |
Moved to secondary on 14th March but then everything went wrong, we lost our German Shepherd nicknamed The Little Wuppit (Holly) suddenly on the 18th.
Bottled on 22nd and not thinking very clearly primed it with 150g sugar in 350ml water. I usually prime with less than 100g.
As it turned out the extra priming must have fermented out as there's no detectable sweetness in the finished beer of which I have had a few now and it is nicely primed.
A piccy of my first pinta, which I raised to the memory of my very, very sadly missed Little Wuppit.
I love the colour and it has a fantastic head (my reason for adding the torrified wheat) that stays to the bitter (no pun intended) end.
Tastes... not my strong point in describing flavours but slightly burnt homemade biscuits springs to mind but with a floral, black current aroma that in my opinion sets it off very nicely indeed. For me, an enjoyable pint.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
The last few weeks :(
 |
| Little Wuppit (Holly) So, very, very missed. |
So, the last brew now named Bramling Amber got bottled and put away. It tastes great, I'm very pleased with it. Malty, fruity and with a nice body and excellent head.
Since then I have been brewing, it was close to not bothering again as I was feeling that I didn't want to do anything here, I'd done before. Holly as been with us every day since we moved to France in 2005. She came with us as a pup and every single thing here has a memory of her attached.
But, brew I did and so I now have even more brewdays to try and get written up and shared on here.
AG#11 - Batemans Victory (From Graham Wheeler's BYOBRA)
AG#12 - Double Dragon (Also from GWs book - If you don't own it, get it please, it's superb.)
AG#13 - Friday 13th Wheat Beer - based on Easy Wit, link to follow...
All brewdays have been photographed, I just need to get myself re-motivated again.
By the way, the double dragon is now bottled and I had a sneaky taster on day 4... awesome! I had a couple of bottles on day 5 and although it still needs to clear down, it's probably the best beer I've brewed so far.
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