First Post - Not so Ordinary Bitter, Searching for Stout

[Glynn Foster]

Finally decided to start up a brewing blog. I have a work blog which gets a lot of geeky stuff, and given it's syndicated on a bunch of technical planets, figured realbeernz was the place to host it. I'll mostly talk about the brewing gear that I buy, magazine articles I'm reading, and the beer that I'm brewing (and will likely learn from the comments or pass on the knowledge that I've been privileged to learn). So I'll start off with 2 recipes I brewed last weekend.

Most of the recipes I brew start off their life in Beer Tools Pro (an awesome OSX app), from a read through the forums, Brewing Classic Styles and Designing Great Beers. They're often tweaked during brewing, usually because I have a heavy hand with grain and hops that I need to knock out of me.

Not so Ordinary Bitter #8
8-A Standard/Ordinary Bitter
Author: Glynn Foster
Date: 25/08/09

Size: 21.0 L
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 127.67 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.039 (1.032 - 1.040)
Terminal Gravity: 1.010 (1.007 - 1.011)
Color: 13.46 (4.0 - 14.0)
Alcohol: 3.78% (3.2% - 3.8%)
Bitterness: 33.4 (25.0 - 35.0)

Ingredients:
3.2 kg Maris Otter
0.2 kg Crystal 150
0.1 kg Munich TYPE II
15 g NZ Cascade (7.2%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
15 g Pacific Hallertau (6.4%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
30 g Pacific Hallertau (6.4%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
30 g Hallertau Aroma (6.8%) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
0.1 kg Melanoidin Malt
1.0 ea WYeast 1098 British Ale

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 21.11 °C
Source Water: 15.56 °C
Elevation: 0.0 m

00:03:00 Mash In - Liquor: 9.39 L; Strike: 74.89 °C; Target: 67.7 °C
01:03:00 Rest - Rest: 60.00 min; Final: 67.7 °C
01:03:00 Batch 1 - Draw off runnings: 0.0 L sparge @ 72.0 °C, 0.0 min; Add sparge 1: 9.4 L sparge @ 90.6 °C, 0.0 min; Add spare 2: 9.4 L sparge @ 78.6 °C, 0.0 min; Total Runoff: 25.33 L


Searching for Stout #9
13-A Dry Stout
Author: Glynn Foster
Date: 6/09/09

Size: 21 L
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 150.52 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.045 (1.036 - 1.050)
Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.007 - 1.011)
Color: 30.83 (25.0 - 40.0)
Alcohol: 4.45% (4.0% - 5.0%)
Bitterness: 41.6 (30.0 - 45.0)

Ingredients:
3.02 kg Maris Otter
0.38 kg Wheat Malt Pale (Organic)
0.2 kg Carapils®/Carafoam®
0.2 kg Crystal 150
0.3 kg Roast Barley
0.2 kg Chocolate Malt
20 g Pacific Jade (15.2%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
30 g Fuggle (3.8%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
1.0 ea WYeast 1084 Irish Ale

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 21.11 °C
Source Water: 15.56 °C
Elevation: 0.0 m

00:03:00 Mash in - Liquor: 11.22 L; Strike: 72.89 °C; Target: 66 °C
00:03:00 Batch Sparge - First runnings: 0.0 L sparge @ 75.6 °C, 0.0 min; Sparge 1: 9 L sparge @ 75.6 °C, 0.0 min; Sparge 2: 9 L sparge @ 75.6 °C, 0.0 min; Total Runoff: 25.57 L

Fermentation has gone decently. 1098 was a stunner right off the block and some lovely hop aroma coming through the airlock. 1084 has been incredibly slow, and on retrospect should have done a starter for this. Both reasonably fresh August 09 yeasts. Getting to learn a little more about absorption rates of grain and hitting my target volume a little better, though still hopelessly forgetting to measure the OG with most of my brews. Both go to the kegs soon, and pondering buying another few to act as cheap conditioning storage.

[Toast]

Hello Glynn,
Have you tried the incomparable Steve Flack's Beer Alchemy software for OSX?
http://www.kentplacesoftware.com/products/BeerAlchemy.html
If I owned a Mac :( I'd use his software. He's a regular contributor to www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk

[Glynn Foster]

Certainly interested in BeerAlchemy for the iPhone (if it's cheap), not sure I can justify buying another app. BeerToolsPro seems to do the job for me at the moment, and unclear of the differences.