British Mild/Ordinary Bitter w/ Pacific Northwest. (NW) Ingredients

[Bob]

Ok, I already have a bunch of OG CaraPils on hand so I thought I'd add some. I'm very new to All Grain (and brewing), so I'm still learning how to use the grains. Maybe I'll leave out the CaraPils to see how it is without it.

IMO, CaraPils is a tweak ingredient, not something you start with, that you automatically put into every grist you brew. Body a bit lacking? Foam not as nice as you like? CaraPils fixes both of those. Then again, so can mash temperatures and adding a short rest at 50C...

Bob

 

[KatoBaggins]

Well, what did you end up brewing?

BTW- I was wondering about the temp in your place. I'm just a little southwest of you and have been pretty cool lately. But all the data on keeping my brew cool during the coming summer months will come in handy.

 

[Picobrew]

My place is holding steady at 66-68. I have very good insulation and shared walls with people it is quite stable.

Anyway, I still haven't brewed this yet cuz the guy I want to brew it with has delayed it a bit. We will be brewing this soon! I am excited.

 

[Picobrew]

Ok I finally brewed this today! First outdoor brew and first 10G batch I have done. Did it with a borrowed keggle and my normal equipment (10g cooler mlt) plus my brand spanking new Bayou SQ14.

Here is the recipe we settled on:

targets
-----
efficiency: 75%
OG: 1.037
IBU: 30

ingredients
-----
10.00 lb Northwest Pale Ale Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain 72.73 %
2.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 14.55 %
1.00 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 7.27 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 5.45 %
1.03 oz Goldings, US [5.00 %] (90 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 11.0 IBU
1.03 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 11.4 IBU
1.03 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (15 min) Hops 5.6 IBU
1.03 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 2.3 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, US [5.00 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
2 Pkgs Northwest Ale (Wyeast Labs #1332) [Starter 500 ml] Yeast-Ale


I went into the boiler with 54 Quarts (13.5G) at 1.030 so that is 82% efficiency into the boiler. Then we ended up with 11G of beer, so boiloff wasn't quite as we planned, but that resulting wort was 1.035 so we rolled with it and just had an extra gallon of beer. We missed intended 1.037 OG by two points but thats no big deal.

Everything went smooth. It was the warmest day of the year so it was great to be brewing outside on a shady patio under a lilac tree. Too bad I don't have a yard of my own to do this in.


After I have kegged and tapped this, I will update the thread.

 

[Picobrew]

Here are some pics from the brew day.

Here is all the equipment sprawled out:

Here is the SQ14 Bayou Classic w/ borrowed keggle:

Here is the first wort hopping and mashout going down:

Here are some other hop additions:

The beautiful lilac tree:

Fermenting away feverishly:

 

[KatoBaggins]

Looking great! Saturday was a gorgeous day. I'm glad you were enjoying it making beer. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Picobrew]

Ok heres an update on this after a few months. The Ordinary Bitter turned out to be pretty good, but there are some things I wanted to tweak. It was a little thin (almost expected..) and the bitterness was a bit low. I think the hops we used might have been getting a little old and didn't pack the punch needed.

I didn't want to make the same recipe again, so instead, I ratcheted it up to an ESB with the same theme (Northwest ingredients). I cut out the munich malt, upped the rest of the grain bill, and upped the ratio of victory malt for a bit more flavor and body. Here is what I ended up with for a 5.5G batch at 80% efficiency:

OG: 1.058
IBU: 42.1

9 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (3.0 SRM) Grain 86.36 %
12.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 6.82 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2.27 %
2.30 oz Goldings, US [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 42.1 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, US [5.00 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1 Pkgs Northwest Ale (Wyeast Labs #1332) [Starter 1000 ml] Yeast-Ale


This made a really enjoyable beer. One of my favorites so far of any beer I've made. I am about to blow the keg on it and am debating bottling some. If I were to make it again, I would probably up the Victory malt and the bittering hops, slightly.