Hi all,
I’m taking a break from regular posts this week to allow me to delve a little deeper into research for future ingredients posts. This week’s post will cover my previous week’s brewing activities which were very different to normal!
Last Week in New Beerginnings
Last week in New Beerginnings I tried the first of the Pilsners that I bottled last weekend and it was delicious! The chill haze that I was worried about was none existent and it dropped incredibly clear, by far the brightest brew I’ve produced. It looks a little dark in this photo but I swear it’s just the photo, it’s much more Pilsner-coloured in real life!
Brew Club Brew – English Golden Ale
As part of an activity for a local brewing club, Brisbane Brewers Club, my local brewing supplies store, Hoppy Days hosted a brew night where the same beer was brewed simultaneously on 4 different systems. The only difference other than this was 4 different base malts for the beer so for the recipe I’ll just say use any crisp English pale malt like Maris Otter.
The brew was done simultaneously on a Grainfather, Robobrew, 3-Vessel HERMS system and an Electric BIAB. See below for photos.
It was a good comparison of the features of each system. Everything from $300 to over $3,000 set ups! By far the easiest were the Grainfather and Robobrew beers as you could set your mash temps and boil schedule and away they went. All mashed in at the same time, the Grainfather actually won the race to be mashed first and was first done overall since it could begin heating to boil sooner. The only downside to all the systems other than the Big HERMS system, which wasn’t an issue with this brew, was the fact that they were limited to a standard ~20l (5 Gal) batch and you would have to do two brew days in one if you were to brew a double. The comparative size and cost of the HERMS system was a far bigger downside in my opinion but it is something to look to in the future if ever I were to expand into double batches.
Now for the brew itself
Recipe
5kg Crisp English Pale Malt
40g of East Kent Goldings @ 60 minutes
40g of East Kent Golding @ 10 minutes
1/2 a Whirlfloc tablet for kettle finings @ 10 minutes
20g of East Kent Goldings @ Whirlpool for 10 minutes.
Mash at 66°c for 60 minutes with a Mash out at 75°c for 10 minutes.
Boil for 60 minutes
Expected OG was 1.040 and expected FG after 10 days in the fermenter should be 1.007 for an estimated ABV of 4.4%
It was then racked into a cube and picked up the next day by the lucky few who were assigned to ferment them. I put my hand up so I got one and was given a pack of Giga Yeast GY031 British Ale #2, a liquid yeast contatining 200 billion cells, more than enough to pitch into a standard, non-high gravity 19L batch without making a starter.
After 7 days at 18°C, the gravity reading was 1.020 and it tasted still very sweet. I was worried that fermentation had stalled somewhat so I put the temp up a degree in hopes of encouraging the yeast to kick back into action and finish the job off.
That’s all we have on this post so far as the brew is not yet finished. Next steps are to cold crash and bottle. I’ll update this post when it’s all said and done so we can check how it turns out!
My next brews I have planned are for Christmas this year and next winter. I’ll brew another Pilsner and a session Pale Ale for Christmas but I’m going to put down a Russian Imperial Stout (est 9.6% ABV) in hopes it will be adequately aged by next winter as a winter warmer!
Thanks for joining us with this quick update.
Cheers,
Sean
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