What're you brewing right now?

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 5:49 pm

icemachine wrote:Just about to start my run off on the 1890 Whitbread Mild (X Ale). Looking to clock in at 5.9 ABV, 58 IBU and 8 SRM - these pre WW1 Milds are completely different beast from what we consider to be a mild now

Is the recipe from Ron Pattinson's book?

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 7:05 pm

matt7215 wrote:
icemachine wrote:Just about to start my run off on the 1890 Whitbread Mild (X Ale). Looking to clock in at 5.9 ABV, 58 IBU and 8 SRM - these pre WW1 Milds are completely different beast from what we consider to be a mild now
Is the recipe from Ron Pattinson's book?

Yup, having issues like hell with this brew day, so if it turns out anything near what's he expecting I'll be pleased

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 9:23 pm

icemachine wrote:
matt7215 wrote:
icemachine wrote:Just about to start my run off on the 1890 Whitbread Mild (X Ale). Looking to clock in at 5.9 ABV, 58 IBU and 8 SRM - these pre WW1 Milds are completely different beast from what we consider to be a mild now
Is the recipe from Ron Pattinson's book?
Yup, having issues like hell with this brew day, so if it turns out anything near what's he expecting I'll be pleased

Well it's in the fermenter, hopefully the wyeast 1099 takes off despite the activator not having been broken.

JasonTremblay · Post by **JasonTremblay** » Wed Apr 30, 2014 8:24 am

squeaky wrote:Do people normally de-chlorinate in Toronto? I've never bothered.

Slipping in a late post ...

I've brewed the same recipe using straight Toronto tap, carbon filtered, sediment + carbon filtered, and deionized water.

In general, I prefer deionized water + gypsum / calcium sulphate with a bit of calcium chloride. Since most of the beers I like skew dry and / or hoppy, I find the combination makes the flavours and aroma pop a bit more.

Mind you, the difference isn't really mind-blowing; Toronto's tap water has a neutral profile for brewing. The shift isn't like moving from extract to all grain for making a saison. It's more like a refinement in your technique.

FWIW, astringent flavours can also be picked up from over-sparging (different brewers measure this differently, but when your run-off drops below 1.008 or to 10% or your first runnings for big beers, you should stop), letting your mash get too hot (80ish), or from rising pH in your mash (again, different strokes for different folks, but 5.4 is a good place to start,). One of these factors (including chlorinated water and forceful hopping) is probably not enough to make a beer astringent -- you usually need to hit at least a couple of these to make a beer stand out.

If you're using bottled water, you can poke around http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bulk-reve ... stems.html , and find reverse osmosis systems that aren't particularly expensive (even if you factor in shipping and exchange). And you can put together a sediment + carbon filter that hooks up to a tap for about $100US that will filter thousands of litres of water.

If you're going the RO route, you're looking at getting, maybe, 10l of water an hour in Toronto, so it's not like you can roll out of bed and start mashing a half hour later. With the sediment + carbon filter, you're going at about half the speed you would from just your tap.

Cheers!
Jason

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Fri May 02, 2014 11:19 am

What can cause higher than expected attenuation? The Saison I did the other day did 86% attenuation, which is a fair bit higher than I was expecting. WY3711 supposedly has a range of 77-83%, so I suppose it could just be measurement error on my part? I find those floating hydrometers hard to read down to the third decimal.

ercousin · Post by **ercousin** » Fri May 02, 2014 11:25 am

Attenuation ranges and recommended temperatures from yeast manufacturers are never perfect. 3711 is especially known to dry out your beer, not uncommon to take a beer from 1.060 to 1.004-1.006 (or lower).

If you mash low, pitch large, and oxygenate well you will usually end up attenuating more than the stated range. Same thing with temperature, many people find you get better results if you ferment WLP001 at 63-65*F even though that is lower than the recommended 68-73*F.

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Sat May 03, 2014 6:40 am

ercousin wrote:Attenuation ranges and recommended temperatures from yeast manufacturers are never perfect. 3711 is especially known to dry out your beer, not uncommon to take a beer from 1.060 to 1.004-1.006 (or lower).

If you mash low, pitch large, and oxygenate well you will usually end up attenuating more than the stated range. Same thing with temperature, many people find you get better results if you ferment WLP001 at 63-65*F even though that is lower than the recommended 68-73*F.

and if you add sugar to your boil, you'll dry things out.

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Sun May 04, 2014 6:36 pm

brewing the 1846 Truman XXXXL as part of that traditional beer project thing.
hoping to brew on wednesday.
it's a beast of a brew. 20 lbs of 2 row.

ercousin · Post by **ercousin** » Sun May 04, 2014 10:40 pm

atomeyes wrote:brewing the 1846 Truman XXXXL as part of that traditional beer project thing.
hoping to brew on wednesday.
it's a beast of a brew. 20 lbs of 2 row.

So that's why you bought hop plugs!

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Sun May 04, 2014 11:06 pm

ercousin wrote:
atomeyes wrote:brewing the 1846 Truman XXXXL as part of that traditional beer project thing.
hoping to brew on wednesday.
it's a beast of a brew. 20 lbs of 2 row.
So that's why you bought hop plugs!

maybe they can double as hairplugs?

that was 8 oz for 5 gallons. should be interesting. totally up my alley!

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Sat May 10, 2014 2:57 pm

I just finished brewing a brett fermented black double mango-IPA.

Well no mangoes yet, they will be added in a couple weeks.

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Thu May 15, 2014 3:46 pm

rhubarb.
how many lbs per gallon would you use?
and i assume 2 weeks on chopped-up stalks?

anyone get any vegetal flavour from it?
and i'm doing it w/o lactob. hoping there still is some tartness.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Fri May 16, 2014 10:06 am

atomeyes wrote:rhubarb.
how many lbs per gallon would you use?
and i assume 2 weeks on chopped-up stalks?

anyone get any vegetal flavour from it?
and i'm doing it w/o lactob. hoping there still is some tartness.

I sent you a bottle of a simple pale beer with crooked stave yeast and aged on rhubarb. Without the rhubarb it was very plain... the rhubarb gave it a crisp tartness.

I think I used 1lb/gallon.

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Fri May 16, 2014 4:59 pm

markaberrant wrote:
atomeyes wrote:rhubarb.
how many lbs per gallon would you use?
and i assume 2 weeks on chopped-up stalks?

anyone get any vegetal flavour from it?
and i'm doing it w/o lactob. hoping there still is some tartness.
I sent you a bottle of a simple pale beer with crooked stave yeast and aged on rhubarb. Without the rhubarb it was very plain... the rhubarb gave it a crisp tartness.

I think I used 1lb/gallon.

yeah. it was a nice beer. did i ever email you my thoughts/thanks?
dumb me.

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Sun May 18, 2014 2:02 pm

Just finished brewing an IPA with soft Ontario winter wheat, and local wildflower honey. Hopped with Citra, Simcoe, and Galaxy.