Oh, and, I'm off work tomorrow to brew and go cycling. Oatmeal Stout planned, following one of the Durden Park recipes from the 2nd edition of their book. It could be a hell of a sparge, check it out:
2.5kg pale malt
1.5kg (!!) Harraway rolled oats
250g amber malt
500g black patent malt
about 50 IBUs of fuggles
will ferment it with wyeast 1338.
Supposedly a "chewy, satisfying stout". given that it gets mashed at 155F (3hrs) and 170F (1 hour), and i'm using a relatively malty, unattenuative yeast, i would imagine it will be, if i ever manage to get the wort out of the mash tun. Normally i would tinker about with a recipe like this, and try and second guess what will work best (eg. add a glucan rest, maybe add some chocolate malt, reduce the oats) but I'm just gonna follow it and see what happens. Fingers crossed - can't wait.
Yup, I've taken to running my wheat through twice to get it well crushed.
Seems to have lifted my extraction rate for beers with wheat (10%) a point or too
2 gravity points is pretty darn close ed, could be the difference between measuring gravity at 24deg and at 18deg (warmer equates to less viscosity).
I always adjust my gravity/temperature back to 16deg for a true reading. You can do it in promash.
yeah it is close, but which is another reason i'm not that worried. but as i say, using 200g more grain i wouldn't have expected a 2pt drop....even allowing for temp differences (as i do - it was measured at 18C so adjusted accordingly).
3.9kg Aussie pale
0.45 Caraamber
0.23 Munich
0.11 Dark crystal
0.09 Pale Chocolate
37g EKG (20IBU)
US05 or WLP028 (Scottish Ale) if my frozen yeast starter ever finishes.
Based on Jamil's Recipe from 'Brewing Classic Styles' but substituting CaraAmber (36L) for Crystal 40 and added a little extra to compensate for not having an honey malt. FIngers crossed.
Done. Went 60/- in the end...1.030. Pretty much the same recipe but toned down after sounding my dad out on Saturday and thinking of the long session we're bound to have at his birthday (plus we went for a 60k bike ride, and I bet he wishes he was turning 60!). He was a big fan of Fuller's London Porter - I didn't tell him it was English ;-)