Home Brewing (Complete Noob)

hywelg

RedRabbit said:

Hopefully just made a decent upgrade to my brewing gear.  I've finally taken the plunge and have bought a grain mill and a load of uncrushed grain (25kg marris otter, 15kg pilsner and some smaller bags of Munich, wheat, crystal etc).  Hoping to see an uplift in efficiency once I've dialled the crush in.

Was going to brew today but the mounting bolts for the mill were missing from the order and I couldn't find any that would fit.  Planned brews were a pilsner with huell melon (I was going to "cheat" and ferment under pressure) and an IPA with talus and galaxy.  Not sure the latter will be a great combo but there's only one way to find out.

That should be an excellent combination. But you owe it to yourself to try Talus as a single hop. It's quite complex and truly excellent . Sat drinking mine as I type this and loving it. 450g in the 19l and it's very hoppy. Might try it with 300g next time for a less Cloudwater/Northern Monk type DIPA style. Galaxy is more citrus /sharp and would complement it well, I'd keep it as the minority share though.

Just as a word of warning, I brewed a brown IPA with 400g of hops (Nelson and Mandarina) in at flame out 600g total. It always take me 1min 20 secs to cool from 100°C down to 80°C and I've never had a problem but this time the bitterness is very high indeed. So from now on I will chill first and steep only when the temp is down to 85°C

RedRabbit

hywelg said:

RedRabbit said:

Hopefully just made a decent upgrade to my brewing gear.  I've finally taken the plunge and have bought a grain mill and a load of uncrushed grain (25kg marris otter, 15kg pilsner and some smaller bags of Munich, wheat, crystal etc).  Hoping to see an uplift in efficiency once I've dialled the crush in.

Was going to brew today but the mounting bolts for the mill were missing from the order and I couldn't find any that would fit.  Planned brews were a pilsner with huell melon (I was going to "cheat" and ferment under pressure) and an IPA with talus and galaxy.  Not sure the latter will be a great combo but there's only one way to find out.

That should be an excellent combination. But you owe it to yourself to try Talus as a single hop. It's quite complex and truly excellent . Sat drinking mine as I type this and loving it. 450g in the 19l and it's very hoppy. Might try it with 300g next time for a less Cloudwater/Northern Monk type DIPA style. Galaxy is more citrus /sharp and would complement it well, I'd keep it as the minority share though.

Just as a word of warning, I brewed a brown IPA with 400g of hops (Nelson and Mandarina) in at flame out 600g total. It always take me 1min 20 secs to cool from 100°C down to 80°C and I've never had a problem but this time the bitterness is very high indeed. So from now on I will chill first and steep only when the temp is down to 85°C

I don't do single hop beers enough.  Really should do some small batches and try some hops I've not used before.

Cheers for the tip on the hop stand temp.  I do generally cool to 80°C before adding but it's good to have confirmation that I'm doing the right thing.  Can't remember the last time I did a 0 minute addition actually.

RedRabbit

Brew day!

It's the delayed pilsner with Huell melon. 

First time using the grain mill and efficiency has gone through the roof.  Expected an SG of 1.047 but got 1.052 with an extra litre of wort.  Brewfather says its 86% brew house efficiency, calcs were based on 75% I usually get with pre-crushed grain.  Essentially means a 5.3% beer when I was aiming for 4.7%.  Didn't bother adjusting the hops as I was on the leaning towards the bitter side as it was.

Fermenting under pressure and will rack onto gelatine when it's done.  Should be nice and clear for my 40th in October. 
 

RedRabbit

Finished my brew day a couple of hours ago.

No beer though - today's brew was a braggot - a mead/beer hybrid.  2.5kg of honey, 500g Munich malt and citra hops.  My understanding is that these aren't normally dry hopped but I'm going for a small dry hop of 3g/l.  No idea how it'll turn out but the voss kveik I used is already doing its thing.  Constantly amazed by this stuff.

RedRabbit

Got the talus/galaxy IPA brewing.  Decided to use magnum as my bittering hop to save the talus and galaxy for aroma and dry hopping.

This is my second brew milling my own grain and I've gone way over the expected preboil gravity again.  Thought last time might have been an anomaly but I'm going to have to change my efficiency for future brews.  This was meant to be a sessionable brew for my 40th but this is probably heading for 6%.

duotone

An hour ago I cracked open a bottle of “Weird Beard - Faithless Spreadsheet Ninja” that I brewed in October & it’s really good!
https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/weird-beard-brew-co-faithless-spreadsheet-ninja/

It’s a black German pilsner with ‘healthy additions of Sorachi Ace.’

I forgot to post on here at the time, from memory my hops were nearing their Best Before Date. So it was a case of having to get the brew done!

Just looking at that Malt Miller link now & it gives the option of ordering: Crushed/Uncrushed/Fine Crush. I remember ordering crushed, would there be any benefit to ordering fine crush in future? 

RedRabbit

Fine crush is sometimes recommended for brew in a bag systems.  Are you measuring your OG and FG with a hydrometer?  How does the OG compare to what the kit should give you (I'm assing TMM gives this figure in the recipe)?

If your OG is about right or over then I wouldn't bother changing to fine crush.  If you're a little way off then you might benefit from the change as you can get better efficiency with the fine grain.  The downsides can be slow/stuck drainage or sparging (if you sparge) and, according to some, a risk of crushing the husk which can lead to astringency but I've never experienced this.

For what it's worth I order fine crush for my BIAB brews before I got my grain mill.  My crush now is probably somewhere between the two as I use the same settings for both BIAB and the brewzilla.

Glad the last brew turned out well.  Nothing quite like enjoying a pint you've brewed yourself.

My brewing has slowed down since the mad rush leading to my 40th (4 kegs pretty much emptied on the night).  Only done one brew so far this year - an attempt at a "cheat" pilsner using lutra kveik.  It's in the keg conditioning now but the samples tastes promising.

bertie

an old mate was into this "big time" -  he used to "mix" various starters prior to brewing,  so mix a mlld with bitter  etc etc  some of the stuff that used to come out was really very nice indeed

victorludorum

I think i may have a stuck fermentation. Is it possible to buy yeast from a supermarket that will work with beer, or is it only the home brew shops that sell the good stuff?

vanlooy1

victorludorum said:

I think i may have a stuck fermentation. Is it possible to buy yeast from a supermarket that will work with beer, or is it only the home brew shops that sell the good stuff?

Do you have a Wilkos near you, they do Gervin ale yeast.

RedRabbit

victorludorum said:

I think i may have a stuck fermentation. Is it possible to buy yeast from a supermarket that will work with beer, or is it only the home brew shops that sell the good stuff?

How far through fermentation are you and how long has it been stuck?  Are you taking gravity readings or does it just seem inactive?  I've had beers where the airlock has never bubbled and the krausen fell after a couple of days.  Hydrometer readings confirmed that it was still fermenting though.  I think I've only had one truly stuck fermentation in over 50 batches.

That said, if it is stuck and it's still early on in the fermentation giving things a good stir and getting some oxygen in there can help the yeast along.  Not something I'd be doing later on in fermentation though as you want the yeast to be active long enough to consume the oxygen you introduce - you don't want it hanging about in your beer.

Amazon have some yeast available on next day delivery but selection isn't huge. 

Crossmyloof are usually pretty good at getting things out the same day you order if you order reasonably early.  They have a pretty wide selection and a decent summary of each yeast to give you an idea of what styles they are best suited for.  

https://www.crossmyloofbrew.co.uk/online-store/Yeast-c112262299 - I'm guessing you'd want something from either the CML Beer Yeast or CML Breim Yeast range.

victorludorum

@RedRabbit It's a canned brew, Munton's Nut Brown Ale + 1 can of Maris Otter Extract. I steeped in some grain (150g) and a few hops and I only brewed 18/19 litres. Very vigorous bubbling for 4 days and then nothing. After a week the reading was 1018, so i left it for another week, but no change. It might be something to do with the extra grain and the higher concentration. I'm happy to bottle it and see what happens, but I'm a little worried about exploding bottles... It was fermented at only about 18 degrees, which is on the cooler side of course.

RedRabbit

I doubt the grains have caused an issue but I'm guessing that it's a fairly hefty brew if it's a kit + an extra can + some steeped grains all brewed short - could be that the supplied yeast has just tapped out.  At 1018 I think I'd be wary of bottling as well.

It's getting a bit close to finishing to be introducing any amount of oxygen - might be worth a gently stir with a well sanitised spoon though to see if things kick off again.  Otherwise, it's probably time to pitch some fresh yeast.  Pretty much any ale yeast should do the trick but, if your buying from CML, I'd suggest their Midland yeast (under the CML Breim range).  I'm assuming it's based on Lallemands Nottingham so should be pretty alcohol tolerant with high attenuation.

AndyD

+1 for the gentle stir - maybe also put it somewhere slightly warmer if possible just to encourage the yeast.

What was you OSG?  For a 1060 starting point I wouldn't expect it to finish far below 1015 so maybe not too far away.at 1018

You could always bottle without adding any more sugar - might end up a little flat but avoids the exploding bottle risk.

victorludorum

I heated the room up today and it started bubbling again. Nothing like at the beginning, but a good sign. I'm going to push it up a touch more to see what happens.

hywelg

1018 finish is about right for a strong brew and won't necessarily taste overly sweet. If you're worried about bottle bombs it's time to get a keg.

I always raise the temp at the end of fermentation to 22-24°C before dropping it again to 14°C for dry hopping so perhaps that will help it drop a few points. What was the OG btw?

victorludorum

hywelg said:

1018 finish is about right for a strong brew and won't necessarily taste overly sweet. If you're worried about bottle bombs it's time to get a keg.

I always raise the temp at the end of fermentation to 22-24°C before dropping it again to 14°C for dry hopping so perhaps that will help it drop a few points. What was the OG btw?

The Nut Brown ale is 1045 ish i think, but I don't know how much the other elements added.

victorludorum

The bubbling has stopped again after a brief return yesterday. Current temp 21.

RedRabbit

victorludorum said:

hywelg said:

1018 finish is about right for a strong brew and won't necessarily taste overly sweet. If you're worried about bottle bombs it's time to get a keg.

I always raise the temp at the end of fermentation to 22-24°C before dropping it again to 14°C for dry hopping so perhaps that will help it drop a few points. What was the OG btw?

The Nut Brown ale is 1045 ish i think, but I don't know how much the other elements added.

Is it the muntons kit?  Did you add the extra sugar required or did you use the maris otter extract instead of the sugar?

If you added the sugar and the maris otter + steeped grains, Brewfather gives it an OG of approx 1067 if brewed to 19L with an FG of 1008.  Without the sugar you'd be looking at OG of 1049 and FG of 1012.

victorludorum

No added sugar, just the 2 cans and the extra grain.