Your current / planned brews

drumswan

loyatemu wrote: »

Yep - possibly should be aiming higher. Went for 2.2 in the APA and 2.0 in the stout, based on the style guides on that page.

Having said that, the bottle I tried couldn't even be described as "lightly" carbonated, so either something has gone wrong, or the process is just occurring very slowly.

Or the one bottle you tried isnt sealed.

loyatemu

BeerNut wrote: »

That's mad low. I can't stand overcarbonated beer and I generally go for 2.3 or 2.4 vols in mine. It gives a nice casky sparkle rather than full-on fizz.

right - I'll definitely aim higher the next time - I was wary of creating bombs as I hadn't batch primed before...

doubt it's an issue with the capper - its's a very basic piece of technology, apart from the levers breaking there's not much that can go wrong with it.

RasTa

2.5 for IPA's and 2 for stouts is what I do. No problems thus far, how long you boiling the water + sugar mix for?

loyatemu

RasTa wrote: »

2.5 for IPA's and 2 for stouts is what I do. No problems thus far, how long you boiling the water + sugar mix for?

I just brought it to a simmer then threw it in the bottling bucket.

RasTa

loyatemu wrote: »

I just brought it to a simmer then threw it in the bottling bucket.

I got some bad results first time priming. I would bring to a boil, simmer for 10mins and then enter contents into the bucket.

loyatemu

RasTa wrote: »

I got some bad results first time priming. I would bring to a boil, simmer for 10mins and then enter contents into the bucket.

I know they say this is to sanitise the sugar, but I've bottle-primed loads of times with no issues so I don't think it's necessary. Once the sugar is fully dissolved - job done.

That_Guy

Bottled my first batch of homebrew. Cleaned out the fermenter there but am gonna leave it to air out for a day or so. Will be bringing a mate down to the house on Thursday to show him how easy it is to brew.

Going to go with the lager kit I got. It also came with hops which is interesting. Will be using 500g light spraymalt and 700g of beer enhancer though am tempted to just shove the whole 1kg bag in there....

Gonna leave off opening a bottle of the IPA I bottled until Christmas. Should be grand by then... I hope.

Just have the two boxes of bottles in a wardrobe. Reckon that should be grand. They'll be undisturbed and no light gets in it because it's an unused wardrobe.

drumswan

loyatemu wrote: »

right - I'll definitely aim higher the next time - I was wary of creating bombs as I hadn't batch primed before...

doubt it's an issue with the capper - its's a very basic piece of technology, apart from the levers breaking there's not much that can go wrong with it.

I dont know how many meets Ive been to where experienced brewers have brought along bottles which havent carbonated properly. Things can and do go wrong with capping, espeicially with cheap caps, hand cappers and reused bottles.

RasTa

Anyone have any experience with a king keg or one of the cheaper kegging systems.

Ronan|Raven

I have a top tap King Keg and a cheaper youngs pressure barrel.

I find the youngs barrel the better of the two. Easier to seal in my experience with them.

I had a porter in it until recently, I only had to use the c02 after I got around 3/4 of the way down.
In terms of space, the King Keg takes up a lot more room which is why I'm getting rid of it.

I am looking at replacing the tap on the other barel with one of these http://www.homebrewmegastore.co.uk/shop/homebrew-accessories-for-beer-wine-cider-and-spirit-making/beer-barrels/dalex-tap.html

baron von something

Currently bottling my wheat beer.it tastes delicious but I'm not getting any hints of the apricot puree I put in it.when I was racking into my bottling bucket I made sure to transfer some of the apricot sediment. Hopefully whatever bits make it in to the bottles will add a bit of flavour while they're conditioning

oblivious

baron von something wrote: »

Currently bottling my wheat beer.it tastes delicious but I'm not getting any hints of the apricot puree I put in it.when I was racking into my bottling bucket I made sure to transfer some of the apricot sediment. Hopefully whatever bits make it in to the bottles will add a bit of flavour while they're conditioning

The carbonation will also help to draw out the flavour

RasTa

Stout season continues, those grains bar the pale malt cost me €3.18 in that Dublin homebrew shop.

Think pale worked out at €3 from my 25kg bag, re-used yeast and 25c for the whirfloc tablet.

Cheapest brew to date...

3.2 kg pale malt
450g oats
340g Victory malt/munich malt
285g chocolate pale
220g roasted barley/black barley
220g Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L
56g chocolate

56grams Willamette 60mins

156f mash 60mins

British Ale yeast or Us-04

lee_baby_simms

Muntons Nut Brown Ale - boiled up 1.5kg of DME and added 50g of target for 5 minutes. Strained and added to FV along with kit can. Will dry hop with another 20g of target.

Lovely Bloke

Supposed to be conditioning this until Xmas, but cracked a bottle tonight for a look.

It's a pretty simple stout, but it's very drinkable. Still have 5 left for Xmas Day, if they survive that long.

That_Guy

Opened up a bottle of my IPA (after two weeks in the bottle). Nice colour, nice and clear but still has a bit to go. Very drinkable but will leave off until Christmas Eve/Day.

Going to bottle my second batch tomorrow. Took a reading and it's where I need it to be. Smells and tastes delicious so can't wait to try it out. Can really get the taste of hops already. Looking forward to this one. Hopefully it'll be ready by New Years all going well.

Lovely Bloke

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Also made a bit of an experiment, 600g biscuit steeped, 3kg Amber DME, with 60g EKG and 10g Target at 60m, then 10g Target at 30, 25, 20, 15, 10 & 5

This also got dry hopped with ~130g of Cascade for a week, and was bottled on Saturday.

Had a little taste of it from the secondary fermenter, and it's very good. Lightly carbed from the secondary, and if you got it from cask you'd be delighted.

Can't wait to crack it open in 3 weeks.

oblivious

WLP833 starter for Evan Rail (www.evanrail.com) tmavé pivo (dark czech lager) recipe from "For the Love of Hops" . The last brew before Christmas

Knifey Spoony

My winter brew has finally conditioned, a dry Irish Stout. Brewed with roasted barely, chocolate malt, carapils, extra light DME and East Kent Golding hops. Also, used WLP1004 Irish Ale yeast.

The taste is dominated by the roasted barley, giving a black coffee flavor, accompanied by rich dark chocolate and floral notes from the East Kent Goldings hops. It comes in at 37 IBU's and with an ABV of 5.1%, it will keep you warm on a cold winter's night.

willabur

do you write the labels for diageo?

Knifey Spoony

willabur wrote: »

do you write the labels for diageo?

Think I'd get a job writing those little blurbs on the sides of bottles?

mayto

Tried a pale ale last night I made about a month ago with chinook and cascade as late hops, turned out great. I used WLP001 yeast that took off quickly after pitching which is always nice
46L batch
9 kg Pale Malt
.5 kg Caramunich® (Organic); Weyermann
42 g Warrior® (Whole, 14 %AA) boiled 60 min.
25 g Chinook (Pellets, 11 %AA) boiled 10 min.
25 g Cascade (Pellets, 8 %AA) boiled 10 min.
25 g Chinook (Pellets, 11 %AA) boiled 0min.
25 g Cascade (Pellets, 8 %AA) boiled 0 min.

willabur

I managed to salvage my stuck fermentation that I posted about http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=92812029&postcount=1148
I made another starter, I had no more belgian yeast so I used mangrove jacks workhorse yeast. At high krausen I syphoned in 1 litre of the semi fermented brew. Then 12 hours later I added in another litre and did so until I had a gallon. Due to bad timing I ended up throwing in the mix into the fermenter past the time the krausen had fallen down. But the strategy itself seems solid enough.

Bad points are that i have used another yeast, so the character will not be to style but hopefully will result in a nice complexity. Second thing is that I diluted the strength off the beer. It will now be closer to 8% than the 9 intended.

I plan to let it age for a couple of months in the fermenter before bottling it up.

baron von something

just ordered a brewbag for my first BIAB and the HBC Tellicherry Saison Mashkit so i'm looking forward to getting that delivered.i just hope my 32ltr peco boiler will be big enough to hold a full mash/boil

Ronan|Raven

baron von something wrote: »

just ordered a brewbag for my first BIAB and the HBC Tellicherry Saison Mashkit so i'm looking forward to getting that delivered.i just hope my 32ltr peco boiler will be big enough to hold a full mash/boil

It may be a tad tight.. I find with a 5KG or so grain bill I can fit in around 30 Litres of water.
After the mash I find I lose around 6 litres or so of water.
I have dunksparged the grain bag in around 5L of water and topped up the boil with it.
After boiling for 60 mins and loss to hops and trub I seem to average around 19L

(I should point out I don't keep notes which I really should start doing so all this is rough figures and not to be used if you want a guaranteed result)

Just ordered some grain and hops to do a Hobgoblin clone. It should be ready in early February which is perfect timing for when I plan to start having a beer again!

SeaFields

I posted here awhile back looking for advice as Mrs Seafields wanted to get me a home brewing kit for Christmas. I got a wine kit and Australian blend 7 day wine kit.

All was set up during the week and for the first time tonight I believe fermentation has really kicked off. Cant wait to taste it already. The temperature in the room where it is is a steady 19c which I think might be just a bit on the cool side so it might take a bit longer than normal. Having access to a lot of wild fruit, the ultimate goal is to make some wines from that once I get my head around everything.

baron von something

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

It may be a tad tight.. I find with a 5KG or so grain bill I can fit in around 30 Litres of water.
After the mash I find I lose around 6 litres or so of water.
I have dunksparged the grain bag in around 5L of water and topped up the boil with it.
After boiling for 60 mins and loss to hops and trub I seem to average around 19L

(I should point out I don't keep notes which I really should start doing so all this is rough figures and not to be used if you want a guaranteed result)

Just ordered some grain and hops to do a Hobgoblin clone. It should be ready in early February which is perfect timing for when I plan to start having a beer again!

I'm a fan of hobgoblin.a clone sounds interesting.i was planning on maybe mashing in 27 litres and then sparging up to boil level

HMD

For tomorrow's brew day I'm doing a Zombie Dust clone and an O'Dell's St Lupulin's clone plus i've to bottle a batch of Amarillo/Chinook IPA.

Lovely Bloke

Having a sit down with the crew tomorrow to plan out the year's brewing schedule.

We've a couple of beers brewed in the latter part of '14 that we are quite happy with - an amber, an IPA and a stout - they need tweaking, but if we can concentrate on them and perfect them we'll be happy.

HMD

HMD wrote: »

For tomorrow's brew day I'm doing a Zombie Dust clone and an O'Dell's St Lupulin's clone plus i've to bottle a batch of Amarillo/Chinook IPA.

That's the last time i'm doing two brews in a day.