What are you brewing?

[nzbrewer]

Since this is the most popular thread on the RealBeer.co.nz forum I thought I would start it here just to see what happens

[jt]

It's a Queen City thing Mike.

Mike, have you heard from Sid ? New grain brewer in the Upper Hutt, I hope you don't mind but I suggested that he contacted you (or Mr Cherry) to mill some grains

cheers, jt

[Mike Neilson]

No I hav'nt?

[JoKing]

I decided to use half the amount of dry hops that the original recipe calls for. It smells quite hoppy in the fermenter still, and next week will be transferring to the keg. I'll be able to bring a bottle or 2 up to the WBC with me if I use some boiled then dehydrated cow hooves. Mind you... I do have a good supply of dehydrated macerated fish innards that I could use too.

The choices....

[David Wood]

I brewed this clone recipe from joking last Sunday with ingredients from Joking using equipment made by Joking.
It was my first ever brew, and considering such I think it went pretty well.
Ruination Clone
14-C Imperial IPA

Original Gravity: 1.074 (1.070 - 1.090)
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.010 - 1.020)
Color: 21.65 (15.76 - 29.55)
Alcohol: 7.83% (7.5% - 10.0%)
Bitterness: 146.9 (60.0 - 120.0)

Ingredients:
7.7 kg Golden Promise Pale
.6 kg Caramalt 33
85 g Columbus (14.2%) - added during boil, boiled 90 min
57 g Centennial (9.7%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
74 g Centennial (9.7%) - added dry to secondary fermenter

I called it "Aroination IIPA" (because I live on Aro St). I hit 1.072 as my pre boil gravity, which I was very pleased with (there's video evidence). The one puzzling thing is that I got 1.062 as my post boil gravity. Due to a noobie mistake there was a whole lot of protein and hops in the wort that I tested though, would that lower the reading? (I adjusted all of the gravities for temp).
She's bubbling away in the lounge, smelling very nice and hoppy. I think I could get into to this brewing thing ;-)

[David Wood]

I forgot to add a huge thank you to Joking for making all of this possible! Go Liberty!

[JoKing]

That Gravity thing is very puzzling indeed! My initial instinct tells me that there was a temperature correction that needed to be done.... but then again you have taken this into consideration.

My knee tells me that 1.062 is a misread. Perhaps there was some water in your tube before you placed the sample in there. I cant see how it is possible to be as low as that with that system and 8.3kg of grain.... but then again - losing your false bottom from the outlet may well have been a killer here.

When you brew again, be sure to recirculate at least 10 liters before you runoff into the kettle (I used to employ the "jug and jug" technique - where you fill one jug, then start filling the next jug - at the same time tipping the full jug back into the top of the mash tun). This lets you get the wort nice and clear, as well as measuring the speed of your runoff.

When you start running off into your kettle, (the big nice shiny thing!) maintain the same flow rate as your recirculation (which should be approximately 1 - 1.5 Liters per 2 mins) for "fly sparging". When the level of sweet wort in the mash tun has dropped down to a level when the grains are either set, or exposed - start sparging with water that is 78 degrees C. I understand that it can be difficult to maintain this temp, but here is a tip... go down to Great Expectations or any other Brewcraft shop, and pick up a 2kW element and socket for that white bucket you have there. This can be your HLT. With the element in there - you can always control your sparge temperature... which is important, as the sparge helps disolve any residual sugars in your grain bed: thus increasing your brewhouse efficiency. Dont go over 80 degrees though - as this can extract some unpleasant flavours from the grains.

Finally don;t sweat efficiency too much. This number is only a guide to help you predict SG's when you plan your brewing. It's not a measure of how long ones penis is... more it's a measure of ones consistency. With bigger brews, the number drops because the grain bed becomes deeper, and the sugars become more difficult to extract from the limited brewlength. When the grainbed is shallow (4kg) the number skyrockets as the brewlength is such that the volume of water passing through the volume of mash rinses every last piece of sugar out of that mash. Infact you could make a graph to cross reference your expected efficiency in relation to the amount of grain in the planned mash!

For 8kg of grain - you should be looking at about 70 - 75% *
For 4kg of grain - you should be looking at about 85 - 90% *

* = In that system

Nice little disclaimer there...

... Man... what a ramble that was!

Cheers.

[Mike Neilson]

Gees Jo you can talk some shit!! Good Shit though!!!!! Take heed of what he's say's he will make you brew exceptional beer!!

[jt]

go down to Great Expectations or any other Brewcraft shop, and pick up a 2kW element

nah, think they're 1380w only in the Welly shop. There's an elictrical place in the block between Macca's and the melling bridge, really helpful, worth a try

be sure to recirculate at least 10 liters before you runoff into the kettle

Seems a lot - but the more I recirculate, the better my effic & beer, what's the reasoning behind this Joe ?

[JoKing]

All the little flecs of protein and husk count as volume in your kettle - yet the contain no sugar. As you recirculate, the grain bed filters this crap out... and hence your extraction improves. It may only be .5% sometimes - but that is still an increase!

[jt]

I batch sparge and have two 12 or 13 litre drains. I was recirculating until clear and free of husk and then a litre or two more, so maybe 5,6 or 7 litres.

I recirculated the whole 12 litres before each drain on Sunday and came up close to 1.5 points better off. I'll do the same next time and see if it's kosher or just a blip on that day

[JoKing]

I recirculate the entire volume of the mash. It's easy with a pump!

[denimglen]

Hard gee - pumps are the shit!

I recirc for like 5 or 10 minutes at a slow-medium flow, depending how I feel, either way seems to do the trick.