Your current / planned brews

RasTa

Decided to enter a homebrew comp for the first time, IPA fest down in Galway and I ended up taking silver in it's category :pac:

Ronan|Raven

RasTa wrote: »

Decided to enter a homebrew comp for the first time, IPA fest down in Galway and I ended up taking silver in it's category :pac:

Well done!

Ronan|Raven

Back doing a kit brew this time.
Coopers Original Stout kit
1.5KG LME
250G Chocolate Grain for steeping
100G of coco powder.

fobster

Bottled a rye ale on Sunday, siphoned into the bottling bucket grand, had all the bottles lined up, turned on the top and... there was a constant dribble of beer from the bottling wand, had to move quickly from one bottle to the next!! On the plus side I only had 37 caps and I filled 37 bang on with just enough left over for a small glass, tasting pretty good!

Turns out the tiny black washer was missing from the wand and it's still missing!

aligator_am

Have the makings of a Coopers Irish Stout, will add in a 500g bag of cane sugar, did this before and it was very nice.

Was wondering if there are any other ingredients you would recommend adding or just do as is?

Also, was planning on doing it this weekend then bottling in a couple of weeks, would it have matured even a little by Christmas? (I ask because my Dad loves some stout around this time with his dinners

gothictwilight

Going to do this Mangrove Jacks Kit Hack I found on the website. Going to replace the Galaxy hops with Topaz Hops though.

Clone beer in the style of Little Creatures Pale Ale
posted by Andrew Childs

Expected Brew Figures:
OG: 1.051
FG: 1.012
ABV: 5.2%
Colour: 16 EBC
IBU: 32
Volume: 23L
Ingredients:
• 1.8kg Mangrove Jack’s Traditional Pale Ale pouch
• 500g Dry Light Malt
• 500g Dry Wheat Malt
• 250g Light Crystal Malt
• 40g of US Cascade (add at 10mins)
• 40g of US Cascade (add at 0mins)
• 30g of Galaxy (add at 0mins)
• 2 packs of Mangrove Jack’s M44 US West Coast Ale Yeast
Method:
• Steep the 250g of crushed crystal malt (in a grain bag) in 6L of 75 degrees C water for 25mins.
• Remove the bag and bring to a boil.
• Set a timer for 30mins. After 20mins have passed add 40g of US Cascade hops.
• At the end of the 30mins turn off the heat and add 40g of US Cascade and 20g of Galaxy hops
Strain this through a fine sieve into your sanitised fermenter. Top up your fermenter with cold
water to 23L.
• Put fermenter in an ice bath until it reaches 20 degrees C.
• Pitch the 2 packs of M44 US West Coast Ale Yeast.
• Ferment for 10-14 days at 19 degrees C
Bottle or keg as usual and enjoy!

willabur

I had an improptu Brew day last friday.

Since a visit to Belgium at the start of last year I have had an idea to make a Belgian Golden Ale. As much as I do enjoy a nice Belgian beer it was a style that struck me as something which I would be happy to tuck into 5 gallons off.
I didn't follow a recipe for the beer but I had the most important elements which were a Vial of Whitelabs Golden Ale yeast and a sh t tonne of fermentables.

Now this was impromptu so I didn't have the time to make a starter but I front loaded the day by making a simple mix of DME water and the yeast and put it in a gallon carboy and shook it every couple of minutes until pitching time in order to maximise the effectiveness off the yeast as best I could in the time allowed.

Here is the recipe

4kg Maris Otter
2KG Vienna
200G Munich
200G Brown Malt
1KG Demeara Sugar
454G Lyle Golden Syrup

60G Saaz 60 mins
40G Saaz 10 mins

White Labs Golden Ale Yeast

Collected 20 litres in the FV with an og of 1082 - the wort was very nice.

A thick Krausen had formed by the next morning (Saturday) so I assumed all was well and left it for the weekend. Checked gravity on Monday and it was at 1050, still very high. At this point i am fearing a stuck fermentation as bubbler activity has stopped and the Krausen has falled off completely. Fermenter is opaque so I cannot see activity in the wort itself. Not too worried yet, I'm actually pretty excited by it. I know I have probably under pitched my yeast, I'll check gravity again at the weekend and if it is still high and a few consecutive readings of gravity give me the same result I will probably rack onto a healthy cake of US05 I harvested from a previous brew. (I have no more belgian yeast I'm afraid)


Upon reading around the web a bit I probably should have held back the sugar and the syrup until the fermentation was up and running allowing the yeast to get a bit of a head start

RasTa

Don't bother opening or checking your gravity until 7 days have passed.

willabur

i normally don't go near it until 2 weeks or more have passed.

I have more of an interest in this one due to the probable under pitching of yeast. Won't take any action until a second week has passed

The One Doctor

Can anyone recommend a nice malty golden beer to brew? Ideally a fairly simple recipe, I've done extract and partial mashing so have a bit of experience, but want to avoid complex beers or long maturing periods. Ideally a month or less from fermenter to practical drinkability.

Any ideas?

Lovely Bloke

Xmas Ale - a pale ale with Cinnamon, Star Anise and Ginger added as a late addition.

Was brewed 6 weeks ago, and bottled 3 weeks ago, hopefully the flavours mellow adequately by Xmas

RasTa

Brewed this up on Halloween, thankfully my airlock has calmed down by now

7.71 KG's Pale Malt
680grams Roasted Barley
450grams Special B Malt
340 Grams Chocolate Malt
226 grams Cara-Pills/dextrine

113grams Challenger
56 grams Goldings

151f Mash

Coming in too big so added some water pre-boil to bring gravity down.

Also got about 7 litres out of the grains for a second beer with my smaller pot, that still finished bigger then expected at 1.050

Should be ready for drinking in 6-8 months...

baron von something

just after ordering some ingredients.i'm going to do an apricot wheat beer in time for christmas

Lovely Bloke

We've also recently done a batch utilising some left over grain and hops, we called it The Mongrel.

willabur

RasTa wrote: »

Also got about 7 litres out of the grains for a second beer with my smaller pot, that still finished bigger then expected at 1.050

1050 is very high indeed. Are you expecting that to drop while aging? Would you not be afraid of bottle bombs even when you do get around to bottling?

RasTa

willabur wrote: »

1050 is very high indeed. Are you expecting that to drop while aging? Would you not be afraid of bottle bombs even when you do get around to bottling?

Oh that was the OG

matrim

So haven't got a chance to brew in a while but am looking to get back soon. Thinking of going for an easy kit brew as a way back. For style I'm open to any but normally default to IPA, Anyone any recommendations?

blueshed

matrim wrote: »

So haven't got a chance to brew in a while but am looking to get back soon. Thinking of going for an easy kit brew as a way back. For style I'm open to any but normally default to IPA, Anyone any recommendations?

Coopers sparkling ale or English bitter with a bit of hacking.



lad i work with brewing with the Better brew kits and getting decent beers.

Ronan|Raven

Tasting the AG APA I made, I dry hopped it with Cascade. It is in the bottle two weeks now and I have to say it is the best beer I have made yet. Far far better than any Kit IPA I had made.

I had a taste of the Stout I made from the sample jar after taking a reading. It tastes a little too sweet at the moment.. I am hoping it will mellow out over the months.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Lads, I'm fecking loving the labels, fair play!

blueshed

One good thing about wife gone christmas shopping, free Sunday to brew.

3kg Munich
1.5kg Pilsner
200g Aromatic
200g Carapils
100g Crystal
75g Chocolate

20g Magnum @ 45min
20g Perle @ 10min
20g Hersbrauker @ 10min
20g Saaz @ 5min

used Gervin gv12 yeast, never used it before

OG was 1050

stuchyg

You full on into the all grain still since your trip out to brens?

blueshed

stuchyg wrote: »

You full on into the all grain still since your trip out to brens?

O ye

AG all the way now, i do BIAB and find it very handy.

That_Guy

So I've jumped into the world of homebrewing. Did a ton of research and watched a feck load of videos online so I figured, "why not"?

Anyway, got a 33L fermenter (though I'll only need to really fill it up 21 litres most of the time I'd say). Still, good head room to have I suppose.

Using a Cooper's IPA beer kit. I figured that for me personally, beer kits are the most time saving right now especially with college and all that. That, and it looks like the easiest method for beginners such as myself.

All the stuff came today. Sanitised everything with Star San and got it all into the bucket.

Managed to get the temperature to sit at an even 26 degrees before pitching my yeast. I was told that anything over 28 degrees may kill the yeast and the batch would be ruined so I'm assuming I'll be alright at 26 even if it is bordering on the higher end.

Given that it's an IPA, how long do you think I should leave it A) in the fermenter and in the bottles?

I figured it would take roughly 4-5 weeks from brew date to end date but not sure if I should do an even 2 weeks in fermenter and 2/3 weeks in bottles or what.

I guess it obviously depends on what happens with the fermenter I suppose but I'm looking forward to seeing the end results.... Positive results I hope.

BeerNut

That_Guy wrote: »

I'm assuming I'll be alright at 26 even if it is bordering on the higher end.

Perfect. 27C tends to be the recommended pitching temp on yeast, but anything up to 30 should be grand.

That_Guy wrote: »

Given that it's an IPA, how long do you think I should leave it A) in the fermenter and in the bottles?

Same for every ale (including the fake kit "lagers"): A) at least two weeks, two or three weeks minimum.

baron von something

Brew night tonight.brewing up a wheat beer. I'll be adding apricot puree after a week or so

228g - crystal malt
500g - wheat spraymalt
3kg - muntons wheat lme

1oz - willamette
Danstar Munich wheat yeast

I feel like I'm cheating on myself by using such little hops. I'm normally a hop fiend

That_Guy

Cheers Beernut. Much appreciated. Plenty of times to rob a few bottles from my local so.

RasTa

Stout season continues... SG was 1060

3.5kg's Pale Malt
450g Roasted Barley
340g Crystal/Caramel 60l
340g Munich Malt
340g Chocolate
280G Flaked barley
226g Oats

10g Magnum, 60min
28g EKG 10 mins

450g Lactose 10mins

knickerbocker

That_Guy wrote: »

So I've jumped into the world of homebrewing. Did a ton of research and watched a feck load of videos online so I figured, "why not"?

Anyway, got a 33L fermenter (though I'll only need to really fill it up 21 litres most of the time I'd say). Still, good head room to have I suppose.

Using a Cooper's IPA beer kit. I figured that for me personally, beer kits are the most time saving right now especially with college and all that. That, and it looks like the easiest method for beginners such as myself.

All the stuff came today. Sanitised everything with Star San and got it all into the bucket.

Managed to get the temperature to sit at an even 26 degrees before pitching my yeast. I was told that anything over 28 degrees may kill the yeast and the batch would be ruined so I'm assuming I'll be alright at 26 even if it is bordering on the higher end.

Given that it's an IPA, how long do you think I should leave it A) in the fermenter and in the bottles?

I figured it would take roughly 4-5 weeks from brew date to end date but not sure if I should do an even 2 weeks in fermenter and 2/3 weeks in bottles or what.

I guess it obviously depends on what happens with the fermenter I suppose but I'm looking forward to seeing the end results.... Positive results I hope.

Your post is a mirror for my activity last night.... first brew with the IPA kit with a spray malt thrown in. Threw the yeast in at 22 degrees, and have kept it at 21 degrees since. It started bubbling away this morning, and since about lunch time it's a constant stream of bubbles.
Plan (or aim) to bottle it up towards the end of next week all going well.
Also plan to get a sencond batch of the same underway straight after, but with 50/50 mix of spraymalt/brewing sugar...... just to see the taste difference.

The One Doctor

Started 8L of mead a week ago, been putting it off for months! Should be interesting.