Author Topic: It's still grain: Home brewing  (Read 9657 times)

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Offline Matt

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #15 on: August 12, 2018, 07:20:51 pm »
Well I got back in time to make sure this had finished fermenting, faffed about a bit and bottled it all. I couldn't resist so fridged a couple yesterday and just opened. Winner! It's 4% which is fine enough, but I feel like I should buy some real guinness so I can actually try and compare. In any case I like it and am on the 2nd already :D.

After I bottled I managed to clean everything up and throw in a "Wilkos Mexican Cerveza" one can kit, where it's 1.5Kg or wtf of LME as opposed to the stout above which was 2 cans and more spendy. So to get the gravity (and alcohol) up they tell you to throw a Kg of brewers sugar in. So hopefully that'll work nicely anyway, and be an easier drink for those who have yet to appreciate the joys of a nice stout.

Oh yeah and then I bought a fancy mash tun thing because I'm a fool.

Then I painted the garage and am 75% of the way through building a bench/table to work on in there.
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Offline Phmode

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #16 on: August 13, 2018, 01:57:28 pm »
You got even more pallets then?

Offline Matt

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #17 on: August 13, 2018, 02:49:33 pm »
Finally took the remaining ones apart! I've got a bucket with a scary number of bent nails in it. Them pallets are meant to stay in one piece!
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Offline Phmode

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #18 on: August 13, 2018, 07:25:10 pm »
The first time I tried to crowbar one apart I gave up in a right sweat... ::)

Offline Matt

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #19 on: August 14, 2018, 06:11:44 pm »
I'd say there's a technique but every one is a different nightmare.

In other news i got kegs!

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Offline Matt

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #20 on: September 05, 2018, 09:23:54 pm »
Things have moved on a bit, and 2 of those kegs are, or were full of the mexican cerveza. I got through one last week which was nice enough but a bit plain and it doesn't seem to be carbonating in bottle or keg very much; probably bout the same as my stout even though I used double the sugar! Patience!

In any case it's a nice enough pint but a bit plain. If I had limes i'd be... chopping limes. The forums say it's a good base to modify so I guess that makes sense.

Next I made my first all grain brew with the new machine. Did a 10L batch of a BrewDog beer, Kingpin. It's almost at 2 weeks fermenting at a cool 10C, whereupon i'll check the gravity and have a whiff and a taste.

Oh! I've also used this clarity ferm stuff which supposedly pulls out any gluten. I've got some gluten in food test kits coming (expensive) so I can prove to myself and my coeliac mate that it's safe. Am quite excited about that, and he hasn't been able to drink stout since getting diagnosed 10 years ago, so my plan for rest of year is:

1. A 20L batch of some stout (~5%), recipe for which I'll either nab from many existing, or modify one a bit. Should be done for Christmas for my mate.
2. A 10L batch of imperial stout (~10%). This will need at least a year to mature, so I'll get some more fancy swing top bottles and then try and forget about it.
3. Finish off with a 20L batch of a nice earthy bitter, none of this modern overly floral hop stuff thanks!
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Offline stevel

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #21 on: September 06, 2018, 05:04:18 pm »
Matt,

Regarding the carbonation - it's lager yeast, so it will take a long time to carbonate (months, and several of them). Using double the sugar doesn't help - it doesn't change the rate at which the yeast works. Worst, it means they'll carry on way after they should have stopped, overcarbonating it.

Much easier - use forced carbonation! Ready to drink in 3 days or so.


Steve

Offline Matt

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #22 on: September 06, 2018, 09:23:34 pm »
Hey Steve.  Sorry I meant double the sugar compared to my very low primed stout, which was like 1.5 volumes or something. It's primed appropriately but yeah, time and lager yeast was or is something I'm still learning :).

Force carb yep I'm so tempted, but luckily there's too much other stuff I want first! Plus I'm going back to stout and bitters l!
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Offline Matt

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #23 on: September 06, 2018, 10:10:27 pm »
Oh! I was just chatting about this and remembered, I'm pretty sure that wilko use an ale yeast for this kit, as most do. It says and I fermenter at... 18c. In any case I've written on the second keg not to be opened before December :).
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Offline Matt

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #24 on: April 16, 2019, 10:10:36 am »
Well seeing as it's been 7 months since I posted in this most popular thread :P...

I made my first attempt as an Irish Stout last year, and at the same time did it parti-gyle, whereby i re-mashed (and added a bit more pale malt) the grain to get a second 'small beer'. They both turned out quite lovely, and I kegged most of the 'big beer' which went down a treat at Christmas. It also passed the tester kit for absence of gluten and so my friend could drink 'guinness' for the first time in a decade.
The little beer wasn't very bitter, but it was easier to drink young. Have a handful of bottles left even now, but it's carbonated a little much for my liking now.

I then made a 'London Bitter' from a recipe. That was very good, easy drinking. My first brew this year has been from the next page in that recipe book, 'Yorkshire Bitter'. And as you'd expect the main difference to the London one is that it pours with a proper head on it. But the main similarity is they're both pretty much all gone now :'(.

I'm now at the stage of adding 19L cornie kegs to my shopping trolley, then removing them and saying "no no don't do it". Then spending an hour looking up gas suppliers. My latest plan is to sort my garage out (insulate, stabilise relative humidity, brick up side door, brick and new door to back), then guy and 'safely store' 6Kg of CO2.

I have some lager yeast from somewhere, so am thinking next beer will be a lager. But need to also sort out steam extraction to avoid making garage even more damp.
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Offline Phmode

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #25 on: April 16, 2019, 11:51:19 am »
All that effort. I'm knackered just reading it.

Off over the road for a semi-decent pint...

Offline sudolea

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #26 on: April 16, 2019, 01:13:47 pm »
One day, they'll find Matt (empty and) dead on his toilet. In the end, the police might file it as a cold case, but we'll know it was his beer experiment which killed him...
There are I0 kinds of people : those who can count in binary, and those who can't...

Offline Matt

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #27 on: August 17, 2020, 04:14:53 pm »
Update time!

A gentleman on this here forum sold me some used kegs probably not long after my last update. I've replaced some O rings and just bought some new posts that I forgot to use damn it.

Anyway this year I made a Pilsner lager which took a long time to condition but eventually came up amazing. I also made a milk stout which was also delightful.

I still have just the one freezer used for fermenting and serving, and that's an exclusive OR statement. Too hot to ferment in the garage/house uncontrolled at the moment. Anyway, the two last beers ran dry and I made and just kegged a "Californian Common" that I brewed with a belgian ale yeast because rules are meant to be broken. That's now conditioning. Which means leaving it at whatever temp for 4 weeks more or so.

Next is either a re-run of the Pilsner or a "Patersbier" that apparently conditions and is ready to drink very quickly. That is what we want!

I've also built a wooden collar for the freezer so I can drill a hole through it and put the taps on the outside. Then I can pretend to be a proper bar man!

Oh and I have also made (3D printed, so ages ago actually) a stir plate, bought some fancy erlenmeyer flasks and do the occasional yeast propagation from one brew to the next. Quite satisfying and also saves some money when yeast can get quite spendy.

I have two hop plants growing in the garden but stupidly in containers and this year I think they've run out of space/patience with me. So need to move them to ground where they can grow better. Luckily there are a few spots where wild hops grow, so come early September I shall be going walking and harvesting!

Update ends. And again, if anybody has a spare fridge or freezer, send it here :D.
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Offline Matt

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #28 on: September 07, 2021, 06:07:33 pm »
Yearly update time.

I bought a mini fridge, some rigid insulation, some wood, and made a fermentation chamber. Chest freezer is now a full time keezer with a single tap atm because taps are expensive.

I am now drinking the below, which is a Weissbier. Nearest might be the pretend craft brewery Blue Moon. Orange peel and coriander seeds in a wheat beer. Fermented in about 3 days. Kegged after 7. Served after 3 more days and amazing already. Apparently wheat beers come good fast.



At the weekend I brewed what I am calling a Wild Hop IPA. It's going to be dark amber and although bittered with normo hops (East Kent Goldings and Fuggle to be true to the beer heritage!) I added 90g of wild hops from a nearby hedgerow at the end of the boil. That's the time to give the most aroma. No idea what the hops are, but I may have a better idea in a few weeks when I can smell the finished beer!

Oh, equipment wise I also upgraded to a stainless steel fermenter. Which is great from a being easy to clean perspective, and being conical with a dip tube to avoid kegging yeast. However it also does a good job of blocking the WiFi connection my floating gravity measuring device needs to call home!

I think next is a nice gluten free oatmeal stout for Christmas time.
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Offline Phmode

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Re: It's still grain: Home brewing
« Reply #29 on: September 07, 2021, 09:00:03 pm »
We all have to have a hobby and it's better than robbing old ladies. Who have a habit of kneeing one in the 🌰 🥜