By Posted on Posted in All Grain, Beer, Recipes No Comments

This one was my brew from yesterday, a nice simple APA with a good amount of hops, and even more to go into the brew as dry hops. Smells epic and the cheeky snifter from the gravity cylinder was very tasty, sweet, but tasty, the hops coming through even in that…

Title: ChemAPA
Author: ElChemist

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: American Pale Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 10 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 13 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.039
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.047
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV (standard): 4.58%
IBU (tinseth): 33.11
SRM (morey): 7.99

FERMENTABLES:
1.85 kg – United Kingdom – Maris Otter Pale (92.5%)
0.15 kg – German – CaraMunich II (7.5%)

HOPS:
7 g – Cascade, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.2, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 14.57
10 g – Cascade, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.2, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 7.55
10 g – Cascade, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.2, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 4.15
10 g – Citra, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 13.5, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 6.83
20 g – Cascade, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 8.2, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days
20 g – Citra, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 13.5, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 66 C, Time: 60 min, Amount: 8 L, Sparge with 6L @ 68

YEAST:
Mangrove Jack – US West Coast Yeast M44
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 78%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 15 – 23.33 C
Fermentation Temp: 20 C

By Posted on Posted in All Grain, Beer, Recipes No Comments

Not had a bottle of this yet, its taking a long time to carb up (not surprising considering the yeast was as lazy as a dont know what…) Smells good though!!

Title: BoonDoggle Clone
Author: Chem

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: British Golden Ale
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 10 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 14 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.032
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV (standard): 4.14%
IBU (tinseth): 29.75
SRM (morey): 5.25

FERMENTABLES:
2 kg – United Kingdom – Maris Otter Pale (100%)

HOPS:
10 g – Fuggles, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 90 min, IBU: 13.09
7 g – First Gold, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 7.5, Use: Boil for 30 min, IBU: 10.97
14 g – First Gold, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 7.5, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 5.69

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Sparge, Temp: 67 C, Time: 85 min, Amount: 10 L, sparge with 6 at 70 degrees

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
5 g – Irish Moss, Time: 15 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil

YEAST:
Wyeast – Ringwood Ale 1187
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 70%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 17.78 – 23.33 C
Fermentation Temp: 20 C
Pitch Rate: 0.35 (M cells / ml / deg P)

By Posted on Posted in Beer, Recipes 2 Comments

Okay, just a word of warning, I’m going to be transferring my entire recipe database from BF to here, as I’m moving to Beersmith instead. I like the android app and its a no brainer when you use the desktop one…

Be prepared for a lot of posts in a short space of time…

By Posted on Posted in Beer, Processes, Recipes 6 Comments

Falconers Flight is a blend of NW Pacific Hops including Simcoe, Citra and Sorachi Ace. This recipe should give a very hop forward APA with all the characteristic flavours you would expect, citrus, pine and tropical fruits. It is currently fermenting so I will have to report back on how it turns out in a few weeks….

When I brewed it I actually forgot to add the flame out addition (doh!) so I will be experimenting with using that for a hop tea that will be added prior to bottling.

Batch size: 19 Litres

Brewhouse efficiency: 80%
OG: 1.044
FG: 1.009
IBUs: 35.8
ABV: 4.6%
EBC: 11.8

MALT/GRAIN BILL

3.1 kg Pale Ale Malt
0.16 kg Crystal Malt 40L
0.06 kg CaraMunich II

HOPS & ADDITIONS SCHEDULE

10g Magnum at 60 minutes FWH (or use any clean bittering hop)
20g Falconers Flight at 10 minutes
20g Falconers Flight at 5 minutes
40g Falconers Flight at 0 minutes
50g Falconers Flight dry hop 5 days

YEAST

US05

Mash at 66c

Ferment at 20c

By Posted on Posted in All Grain, Beer, Recipes, Yeast No Comments

Given I’m still waiting for my order from THBC to be shipped across from Ireland, I’m having to look at alternatives for tonights brewvening and have come up with this. Any opinions before I mash in??

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Dunkel
Author: Chem

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: Dunkles Weissbier
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 10 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 13 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.035
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.045
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 4.45%
IBU (tinseth): 14.03
SRM (morey): 16.32

FERMENTABLES:
1 kg – United Kingdom – Wheat (50%)
0.2 kg – German – CaraMunich II (10%)
0.3 kg – Belgian – Pilsner (15%)
0.5 kg – American – CaraCrystal Wheat Malt (25%)

HOPS:
10 g – Tettnanger, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 11.92
10 g – Hallertau Hersbrucker, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 2.2, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 2.11

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Sparge, Temp: 65.5 C, Time: 60 min

YEAST:
Mangrove Jack – Bavarian Wheat Yeast M20
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 73%
Flocculation: Low
Optimum Temp: 15 – 30 C
Fermentation Temp: 20 C

I’m looking for a normal, standard weissbier with a good flavour from the yeast, so I might ditch the Hallertau and go purely with the Tettnanger, or ditch the tettnanger and go purely with a Hallertau 15g for bittering and thats it.

Its a fairly standard recipe, but am gonna mash at 65.5 for maximum fermentables to avoid a malty mouth…

By Posted on Posted in Mead No Comments

So, after reading the book on mead from the geezer at work, I decided to take the plunge and get straight in to a very basic apricot melomel.

For those who don’t know, a melomel is a mead flavoured with fruit. I wanted something sweet as dry drinks generally don’t do it for me, so I did this…

  • 1.5kg Honey
  • handful of Raisins
  • top off to 4.5L with water (My tap water is really good)
  • shake like hell to get it all dissolved
  • Add MJ05 mead yeast
  • Wait a day for fermentation to start
  • chop up a load of dried apricots (Approx 200g for me) and add to the DJ.
  • Wait.

Seems to have done the job as its bubbling away and doing its thing happily in the kitchen. I’m gonna leave it for 3 weeks then decant off the must into another DJ, then top up with water and repeat the decanting every month or so until its crystal clear (Approx 7-9 months). Cheeky Snifters can be had after approx 1 month, but like all wines, time is your friend… apparently.

By Posted on Posted in Beer, Recipes, Yeast 2 Comments

So, I’m looking at hopefully getting a couple of brews on this week, with maybe one more this weekend. I’m gonna be hitting up the recipes on here for inspriation, but I’m lacking some of the yeasts.

From the yeasts above, and bearing in mind I dont have a slants library floating around like some do, which yeasts would you recommend to work well with the Rye Amber? Maybe a yeast for a Dunkelweissen? (Confused between MJ20 and MJ21 for that one). I only have 1 pack of US-05 and a wife who is reaching the end of her tether with my brewing kit being all over the house, hence looking for alternatives rather than just buying loads more.

Also, does anyone have a recipe for a good Saison? Mine was a bit dark and clovey now I’ve had the last bottle, looking for something a little lighter…

Has anyone used BRY-97 before? What sort of profile does it have? Clean? Estery? That one was bought for experimentation, but I’m looking to get a stock of good quality tried and tested brews on…

Thanks in advance

Chem

By Posted on Posted in All Grain, Beer, Recipes 2 Comments

Chris has mentioned his fondness for the Amber Adder beer from Lidl so I thought I would post this one up, its not going to be the same as that but its in the general vicinity style wise and in my opinion is an excellent beer in its own right, nice maltiness with a touch of residual sweetness, fruity but balanced hops and a touch of spice from the rye on the finish.

The recipe is a shameless rip off of an amber recipe from the Bertus Brewery site but adapted to feature one of my favourite ingredients rye. If I did this again I think I would sub in some Simcoe, probably for the Cascade and some or all of the dry hops. Simcoe is king in this style of beer as far as I am concerned, I love the combination of big tropical fruit aroma and in your face pineyness that it brings especially when balanced by a rich malt bill as you see here.

Batch size: 23 Litres
Brewhouse efficiency: 78%
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.012
IBUs: 47.3
ABV: 5.5%
EBC: 25.4

MALT/GRAIN BILL

4 kg Pale Ale Malt
0.35 kg Crystal Rye
0.3 kg CaraMalt
0.3 kg Rye Malt
0.3 kg Munich Malt
0.08 kg Chocolate Rye (or normal Choc Malt)

HOPS & ADDITIONS SCHEDULE

20g Nugget at 60 minutes (or use any clean bittering hop)
30g Cascade at 15 minutes
30g Amarillo at 0 minutes
30g Centennial at 0 minutes
30g Citra dry hop for 5 days
15g Columbus dry hop for 5 days

YEAST

US05

Mash at 67c

Ferment at 20c

By Posted on Posted in All Grain, Beer, Media, Video Blogs No Comments

Here is a video of my attempt at a DIY mash tun based on the instructable project here, my version has a few tweaks to the design. It didn’t go entirely smoothly and my first mash in it got stuck big time but I think I have solved that issue and will report back once I have done the second test. If you fancy a go here is what I used:

3 Old FVs/Boiler Bucket (Need to be same size so they fit together)
Tank Connector
90deg Brass Elbow
Hex Nipple
Ball Valve
Hosetail
Expanding Foam
Thermawrap Insulation
Gaffa
PTFE Tape

A drill with 2-3mm bit and a 20mm spade

There will be loads of the insulation and foam left over, I used it to add insulation to my shed roof.

By Posted on Posted in Beer, Cider, Wine 2 Comments

So, I threw my mead on and was stuck for an airlock. Couldn’t find a bung anywhere. Wilko.com was closed and me the missus and the little monster were due out for dinner with the outlaws…

Quick Google showed this method and it seems to work really well…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPLZSykeNxw

Positive pressure inside the balloon and a couple of tiny pinprick holes means instant airlock. Brilliant. I think I’ll be using this method with my DJs from now on. So bloody simple…