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

[Kelly Milligan]

My god that's a beast! How much wort did you lose to hop trubbies? ;P

[Matt]

Hop losses were pretty epic, there was a solid 5L plus of evil hop slurry that got left behind

[Kelly Milligan]

Agh that's a shame.. Would almost be tempted to make it into a smoothie!

[jt]

All weighed out for the weekend, 775 Cheeky Mot Pale
70% Malteurop
15% Munich II
15% caramalt

W1968 in 1034 and hoping to stop around 1010 or 1011

Super Alpha to bitter then Motueka and Sauvin at 20 10 and 1 for about 40 IBU

I used Sauvin and Pacifica in a Lil' Darkie a while back and loved the aroma in the fermenter.
Unfortunately the fermentation, malts and yeast didn't let that come through as I'd have liked
So I'm trying it in a pale (and stupidly changing the hops) with Motueka, which I love more than Pacifica

[Kelly Milligan]

Planning this guy for Saturday! Loosely based off Firestone Walker's Union Jack. got the 007 chewing on a 4L starter. Doing a 30min whirlpool with flameout hop addition. Going to ferment at 17c for first 24hrs, and raise to 21 over following week. Transfer to keg with first dry hop for 3 days, first dry hops removed and 2nd dry hop added and sealed.
malt & fermentables
% KG MALT OR FERMENTABLE YIELD EBC 83% 6.300 Golden Promise 78% 5 ~ 12% 0.900 Weyermann Munich Type I 76% 15 ~ 4% 0.300 Weyermann CaraPils 71% 6 ~ 1% 0.100 Caramalt (Thomas Fawcett) 73% 56 ~ 7.6 Batch size: 23.0 liters	Original Gravity 1.070 / 17.1° Plato (1.062 to 1.073) Final Gravity 1.015 / 3.8° Plato (1.013 to 1.016) Color 16° EBC / 8° SRM (Gold to Copper) Mash Efficiency 70%
hops
USE TIME GRAMS VARIETY FORM AA boil 90 mins 41 Pacific Jade pellet 13.5 boil 30 mins 20 Cascade pellet 5.5 boil 30 mins 20 Centennial pellet 9.7 post-boil 30 mins 50 Cascade pellet 5.5 post-boil 30 mins 50 Centennial pellet 9.7 dry hop 10 days 30 Cascade pellet 5.5 dry hop 10 days 30 Centennial pellet 9.7 dry hop 10 days 30 Falconer's Flight leaf 10.5 dry hop 7 days 45 Cascade pellet 5.5 dry hop 7 days 45 Centennial pellet 9.7 Boil: 26.0 avg liters for 90 minutes	Bitterness 82.1 IBU / 47 HBU ƒ: Tinseth BU:GU 1.18
yeast
White Labs Dry English Ale (WLP007) ale yeast in liquid form with medium to high flocculation and 79% attenuation	Alcohol 7.3% ABV / 6% ABW

[Tilt]

That looks mighty tasty...and with a 180g dry hop it'll smell damn good too!

007 is a good attenuator - what temp are you mashing at to get the balance of hops and malt right?

[Kelly Milligan]

Planning to go pretty middle of the road at 67c, from what I've read their proprietary strain is closer to 002, then they step mash from 62/63c up to 69c. So I'm hoping that the 007 should end up pretty close at 67 to what they get with that process :) Really excited to try out the falconers flight! some pretty awesome varieties go into that blend. 

[Tilt]

Sounds a good plan - would be interesting to compare the step mash with the single infusion.  To my mind why complicate things with steps if the end result is the same?  Heard good things about Falconer's flight too - although it might be hard to distinguish it from all the other goodness in this one!

[Kelly Milligan]

Yea! I'd be interested to compare too, with my watercooler setup heating the tun during the mash becomes a bit tricky though ;P 

[Tilt]

posted in the wrong place - see below

[Dougal]

To my mind why complicate things with steps if the end result is the same?

I've been playing with step mashing recently after reading threads like this one on AussieHB. It's definitely more work, but I'm not sure the result is the same as single infusion.

The Aussies seem quite keen on it and they seem to do more simple, malt-focused styles like German pilsners where you can't rely on specialty grains or lots of hops to contribute to head retention. Efficiency increases too. I recently had 92% on a step-mashed BIAB brew- the same crush has given me a maximum of 82% with single infusion batch sparging or BIAB. The final thing would be clarity. More complete modification definitely helps with protein haze.

I wouldn't step mash all the time, but it's a nice tool to have in the tool box. 

   

[Tilt]

Hey thats interesting - so ultimately the end result isn't the same - and it sounds like its sometimes worth the extra effort. 

Dougal do you step temps by decoction or direct heat or extra infusion?  I'd guess with BIAB you'd just fire up the burner/ element and stir.

I've just got hold of a heatstick type element that I was planning to use to step mash in my esky tun - I've seen some advice around ways to prevent scorching (and putting a hole in the plastic tun) so will be giving it a go soon. 

Clarity is one area I know I can improve on so this sounds like a step in the right direction on brewdays when I've got the time to muck about.