Your current / planned brews

padre78

Just popped open a few St. peters ruby red at the weekend. It was only my second attempt at a brew and i think it turned out pretty well. A lovely beer and not too cutting.

Anyway i was hoping to get another brew in so i can enjoy it over the Christmas. I am looking at the coopers original stout kit and i was hoping for a bit of advice from the experts here....

As part of a bundle i get the can with either all malt LME or all malt spray malt. Im very new to this game so im not too sure of the difference between the two. Any recommendations for a stout kit like this?

Cheers

That_Guy

I've not brewed a stout yet but personally I'd go with a dark malt extract.

This one from The Home Brew Company would do the trick.

https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/spraydried-malt-extract-dark-1kg-brewing-grade-p-1045.html

Ronan|Raven

After a run of some very poor brews over the last few months due to no real temperature control and possibly infected equipment I have gone back to basics.

Ambient temp in the apartment is finally back in good levels.
Got a new F.V., im not willing to take another chance on my buckets..

Decided to brew a slightly hacked Coopers English Bitter kit using some left over hops.
1kg light spraymalt
300 g sugar

30g of EKG boiled in the spraymalt / sugar mix for 10 mins and will dry hop hop with 20g of Styrian.

Links234

Just got some nice swing-top bottles for my mead that I'm gonna bottle soon, some people I know have warned me against using them because they're harder to sanitize, but I tried one recently and found it grand. The thing that drew me to them was that supposedly they'll blow their tops rather than explode, so I can avoid bottle-bombs, as can sometimes happen with mead.

Going to take some time to draw up some fancier labels too

Also, gonna try a dry mead soon, and then oak it. That might be nice, and it's an idea I've been kicking about for a bit.

MadsL

Just got latest brew into a couple of 1 gallon jugs. I did a mini-batch to try and clone a local brewery's Hefeweizen.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24659/82375/

Slice of Heffen Clone
Method: All Grain
Style: Weizen/Weissbier
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 2 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 3 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.038 (recipe based estimate)
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)
Original Gravity: 1.057 Final Gravity: 1.014 ABV (standard): 5.56% IBU (tinseth): 17.41 SRM (morey): 5.98

Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
2lb American - Pale 2-Row 37 1.8 43.8%
2lb American - White Wheat 40 2.8 43.8%
2 oz Canadian - Honey Malt 37 25 6.3%
2 oz German - Acidulated Malt 27 3.4 6.3%

Hops
0.2 oz Perle Pellet 8.2 AA

Mash Guidelines
Ferulic Acid Rest 110F 30 min
Protein Rest 122F 10 min
Beta-amylase 140F 20 min
Alpha-amylase 158 F 20 min
Mashout Temperature 168 F 0 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 2.5 qt/lb

Yeast
Wyeast - Weihenstephan Weizen 3068


Of course being a brew day nothing ever runs smooth, my pump died on my 140F mash rest, so lost some clarity and efficiency. Good news is that it isn't dead. I think it overheated when some grain got stuck in it. Lesson learned: Don't go eat your dinner when the pump is running.

Murphy's law also meant I bought a fresh pack of WPL001 yeast as I'd run out of harvested yeast (I was waiting for a carboy full of an English IPA to finish out to re-farm the yeast and restock the fridge) because I thought the Citra Pale Ale I brewed three days ago was not going to take off. Of course as soon as I had the yeast pack in hand I come back to an active airlock on the Citra. I'll be farming the hell out of that pack and get my money's worth.

RasTa

RasTa wrote: »

Biggest beer to date, be opening at Christmas. Hit 1100 and 16L

http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/823786/stout-city

So 4 months and a half months later I will be bottling this tonight, haven't opened it since I transferred to secondary. Hope it's ok

BeardySi

Still haven't gotten off my arse and finished my boiler and mash tun, so I picked up a kit of Youngs American Mocha Porter to have something ready for christmas. Might also pick up a tin of pale malt extract and run up a 10l batch of my simple brewers gold experiment that turned out so well... (pale malt liquid extract, light dme (was using up what was lying around), crystal malt, brewers gold hops (mostly in 2 big late additions) and s-04 yeast)...

Lovely Bloke

RasTa wrote: »

So 4 months and a half months later I will be bottling this tonight, haven't opened it since I transferred to secondary. Hope it's ok

only 1 packet of yeast in that high OG, did you get to target FG?

Knifey Spoony

Put on my first all grain brew over the weekend, a Mosaic/Marris Otter SMaSH.

5.5kg Marris Otter, mashed at 64'C

1 packet US-05

25g Mosaic @ 60min
15g Mosaic @ 15mins
30g Mosaic steeped for 30 mins at 66'C

Will dry hop it with 30g of Mosaic 5 days before bottle.

Went pretty well for the first time. Only upset was the mash temp, wanted to mash at 66'C, but ended up at 64'C. I think I ended up with an efficiency of around 67%. So, not bad at all for a first try. Now we play the waiting game.

RasTa

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

only 1 packet of yeast in that high OG, did you get to target FG?

Yeah all good, still tasted boozy. There was 2 packs of yeast added, never bother changing that stuff in beersmith

BeardySi

First taste of the Youngs American Mocha Porter tonight and it's bloody fantastic already (going to bottle on fri most likely). Seems to have finished up at 1.013 which is a bit higher than I'd expected, but after 3 weeks in the fermenter I'd be amazed if it drops any more between now and friday. Still a perfectly respectable 4.5% - will do lovely for christmas!

UnknownSpecies

Forgot to post this brew when I did it. I have it in the bottle now and from tasting my final hydrometer sample, I can already tell it's gonna be a good one!

I like the brewersfriend recipe format posted by MadsL above so I'll stick with that.

Method: All Grain BIAB
Style: Irish Red Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 21L into Fermenter
Boil Size: 24L
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)
Original Gravity: 1.052 | Final Gravity: 1.010 | ABV (standard): 5.42% | IBU (tinseth): 22.89 |SRM (morey): 12.77

Fermentables
4.1 kg - German - Pale Ale - 84.5%
300 g - German - CaraHell - 6.2%
300 g - German - CaraMunich II - 6.2%
150 g - United Kingdom - Pale Chocolate 3.1%

Hops
20 g Centennial Pellet @ 60 min
10 g Centennial Pellet @ 0 min
10 g Amarillo Pellet @ 0 min
20 g Centennial Pellet @ 5 days Dry Hop
20 g Amarillo Pellet @ 5 days Dry Hop

Other Ingredients
0.5 Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 min
1 tsp Gelatin @ 3 days

Mash Guidelines
Single Step Infusion - 68 C - 60 min

Yeast
Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05

Notes
Overall I'm pretty happy with how the brew went. I overestimated my boil off rate @ 4L/h when in reality, it's more 2L/h, so my actual OG ended up being 1.050. No big deal really and at least I'll know for my next brew.

Another thing I've learnt is that when using hop pellets, I'll need to put them into muslin bags. The bazooka screen in my boiler got clogged, which meant I had to continually scrape the screen while draining it into my fermenter. That was just asking for an infection to be introduced but it looks like I've gotten away with it.

I also underestimated my trub losses in all steps, meaning I ended up with only 18L into my bottles. I'm going to regret that as I've a feeling this brew is going to be tasty!

After just over a year without brewing anything due to moving house,lack of time etc. I just bottled a stout batch. I used a coopers Irish stout and dark ale with a tin of coopers liquid malt extract and safale us-05 yeast. It turned out around 6.3%. Added some oak chips soaked in Jameson caskmates. Samples were delicious, nice and chocolatey. Should be ready for Christmas day.

oblivious

Deleted User wrote: »

After just over a year without brewing anything due to moving house,lack of time etc. I just bottled a stout batch. I used a coopers Irish stout and dark ale with a tin of coopers liquid malt extract and safale us-05 yeast. It turned out around 6.3%. Added some oak chips soaked in Jameson caskmates. Samples were delicious, nice and chocolatey. Should be ready for Christmas day.

Nice,

RasTa

First brew in yonks, didn't seem to take as long as I remembered. Hit 1090 doing a bastardized version of Founders breakfast stout

That_Guy

After 3 weeks in the fermenter and after 2.5 weeks in the bottle, I'm going to try one of the St. Peter's Ruby Red Ale I made.

Really looking forward to it. Have 26 750ml bottles of it so I'm really hoping it's as tasty as it looks. Fingers crossed.

mordeith

That_Guy wrote: »

After 3 weeks in the fermenter and after 2.5 weeks in the bottle, I'm going to try one of the St. Peter's Ruby Red Ale I made.

Really looking forward to it. Have 26 750ml bottles of it so I'm really hoping it's as tasty as it looks. Fingers crossed.

Made that before. It was lovely

Philburns

I agree, St. Peter's Ruby Red is a gorgeous drink. I have one mini keg of it left for Christmas.

Also in mini keg I have Munton's best bitter (nice but average) and Woodford Nelson's Revenge (excellent strong ale)
In primary I have a Woodford Wherry and a Get Er Brewed Craft A Beer kit, both ready to keg/bottle when I get time

Links234

Some more of my hand-drawn labels, I gave these to friends for Christmas. Yes, I have a thing for bad puns.




These were the plain mead that I bottle recently, it's turned out extremely well.

mordeith

My rosemary and bay ale, ready just in time

That_Guy

That_Guy wrote: »

After 3 weeks in the fermenter and after 2.5 weeks in the bottle, I'm going to try one of the St. Peter's Ruby Red Ale I made.

Only got around to trying this on Christmas day. I'm absolutely thrilled with how it turned out. Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous.

Was like an extra present for myself.

Can't beat a bit of patience for a good drop.

fobster

Links234 wrote: »

Some more of my hand-drawn labels, I gave these to friends for Christmas. Yes, I have a thing for bad puns.

These were the plain mead that I bottle recently, it's turned out extremely well.

Mr. Meadseeks, I want to be a better brewer! :pac:

blueshed

Brewing up and English pale ale today, hope it turns out a bit like Proper Job.

Lovely Bloke

Did an IPA yesterday

5kg Pale Malt
500g Caramunich II
50g Cascade 7% 60m
50g Cascade 7% 30m
50g Cascade 5.2% 15m
50g Cascade 5.2% Dry Hop 1 wk

OG is about 1.068, so expecting somewhere 6.5% to 7% ish

Should be enough time to ferment out, rack and bottle by the 31st Jan cut off date for the nationals.

VW 1

Doing my first homebrew after an Xmas present of a but brown ale kit.

Followed steps found online and have it in the fermenter now.

3l of boiled water, on top of the sugar. Stirred to dissolve, added the can of liquid. Stirred for about 3 mins until completely integrated.

Added cold water to bring to 23l.

Added yeast which had been rehydrating for about 10 mins in 35° water.

Stirred more to aerate.

Added lid and airlock.

Now sitting wrapped in a couple towels waiting for activity.

Any estimation how long this should take!?

BeerNut

Usually a day, sometimes a couple. Be aware that no bubbling in the airlock does not mean there's no activity.

VW 1

BeerNut wrote: »

Usually a day, sometimes a couple. Be aware that no bubbling in the airlock does not mean there's no activity.

Much appreciated.

Had a hiccup with the hydrometer, had bought one from a bricks and mortar in Dublin, when I took it out of the packet it was broken, so didn't get a reading on the OG.

VW 1

So having kept the brew in constant temp of 18-20 degrees, there have been no bubbles in the airlock which I realise isn't an indicator of anything much in itself. There was what looks like a foamy residue above the liquid so I presumed it was doing its thing and fermenting.

Cracked the lid to take a peak and there is a residue around the outside of the bucket but the liquid itself looks flat with nothing on top of it.

Is the yeast likely dead and I need to re-pitch, or is this how it would look after 72 hours?

Unable to take a gravity reading at this point due to aforementioned broken hydrometer.

BeerNut

Sounds fine. Leave it alone.

Tigger

Im doing a belle saison graffe which is basically good apple juice, fruity hops and lme
And my coopers red hack that is a dry hopped coopers kit with two cans and lme .