First ever, all grain, with a very, very mini 1L mash

[Mumathomebrew]

Cream of three crops beer took a while to clear. I ended up cold crashing it in the fridge but it still wasn't totally clear. However after priming it in bottle it seemed to clear with a sediment. One bottle seems to be fizzing but the others are still. Maybe it's not sealed properly as I had a job getting the tops on because the slimmer cerveza bottles have a different shallow top to the fursty ferret deeper ones. The capper puts the top on then pulls it up again. I may have to get a hammer down simple capper for these sorts.

The stout isn't clear at all but it still smells ok. I'll have to look up how long stouts take.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

Well I was trying to save two of these for a beer meeting, but as there were only five, the third and fourth one just slid down nicely last night with supper. The third got added to our original Coopers first ever semi-kit + jaggery beer, which had gone a little dry and strong to my taste after keeping. That mixture really made a lovely beer, so shall be looking to combine these two beers in a single recipe in the near future. Just got to find out what sort of grain bill and hops might be in the ale Coopers kit.

This cream of three crops makes for a very nice, slightly sweeter, creamy, full mouthfeel, easy drinker light beer. A bit too sweet to be refreshing on a warm day, but still nice. Would be the sort of easy pleaser beer we might make for a party. We shall definitely make this again but aim for slightly dryer. We just learned about temp control so shall apply the learning and taste the difference if we can bear to keep the last one. Will definitely make a gallon next time.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

Bottled the ultrasound stout last night. It still wasn't clear and appeared to still be lightly bubbling so it might have been a bit too early. We used one cup of expresso left to cool plus 20g of light brown sugar in 200 mms of cooled boiled water to prime with. It was 25ml of coffee/sugar solution per 500ml bottle.

The strength of this was like beery chocolate rocket fuel. The FG was 1.014 down from SG of 1.070 so an online beer calculator puts it at 7.35%. Quite tasty but unpleasantly overpowering and a little harsh as yet. Maybe a month+ in the bottle will calm it down. One thing it didn't seem to be is infected (fingers crossed). Which considering the random production in four small batches is quite surprising but there's time yet for that to happen. We'll see.

 

[Miraculix]

Bottled the stout last night. It still wasn't clear and appeared to still be lightly bubbling so it might have been a bit too early. We used one cup of expresso left to cool plus 20g of light brown sugar in 200 mms of cooled boiled water to prime with. It was 25ml of coffee/sugar solution per 500ml bottle.

The strength of this was like beery chocolate rocket fuel. The FG was 1.014 down from SG of 1.070 so an online beer calculator puts it at 7.35%. Quite tasty but unpleasantly overpowering and a little harsh as yet. Maybe a month+ in the bottle will calm it down. One thing it didn't seem to be is infected (fingers crossed). Which considering the random production in four small batches is quite surprising but there's time yet for that to happen. We'll see.

View attachment 651427

The higher the abv, the more the beer benefits from aging (except ipas etc), especially dark beers mellow with time and are usually best after a few months or longer.

I got a dark mild which is now on the peak of it's goodness, which took about two months from brewing, but it has less than 3%abv.

Your stout will need at least 2 months to be ok but will be probably best after much longer.

You could start drinking a bottle each month after waiting for two or three months, then you can see the development for yourself. The last bottle will probably make you wish that you'd have aged all of the bottles that long.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

I don't think I would make this with cocoa powder again. The trub was really sludgy and I think possibly why it won't clear. I think I'd use cocoa nibs or something more subtle. Nor would I make it so strong, but my brother will like it.

 

[Miraculix]

I don't think I would make this with cocoa powder again. The trub was really sludgy and I think possibly why it won't clear. I think I'd use cocoa nibs or something more subtle.

I think all this stuff, cocoa, coffee etc., doesn't have a place in a beer, but that's just me.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

I certainly don't think they do in such a blast. Maybe as a subtle hint perhaps. Learning though.

This came from TUCKs recipe on here. Thank you Tuck.

 

[Miraculix]

I certainly don't think they do in such a blast. Maybe as a subtle hint perhaps. Learning though.

If you haven't brewed many stouts, I would start with something really really simple, to get a good idea about what each ingredient does. 90%pale, 10% roast barley and you're good!

The next time, add 10% darker crystal and see what that does to the flavour. That way you learn what each ingredient is doing to the beer.
After that, maybe change the yeast?

 

[Mumathomebrew]

I've just bought some new ingredients so will heed that advice and go back to simple.

The cream of three crops was a lovely start to all grain and a lovely finished beer. I've been leaving pans of 75 degree water with lids on, all round strategic places in the kitchen to see where a constant temp of 66 will be best. Next I shall sew a proper pan sparge bag.

I've just bought Nottingham yeast and Windsor. I've got S04, S05 and Youngs ale. Total grain larder is now Maris otter, Cara red, Crystal, Chocolate, flaked maize and flaked wheat, mostly in 500g bags but 1 kilo of the MO. We made a Fursty Ferret alike at the weekend and its already clearing.

I want to try the first cooper brew I made crossed with the cream of three recipe. I've posted the recipe idea on here.

 

[Miraculix]

I've just bought some new ingredients so will heed that advice and go back to simple.

The cream of three crops was a lovely start to all grain and a lovely finished beer. I've been leaving pans of 75 degree water with lids on, all round strategic places in the kitchen to see where a constant temp of 66 will be best. Next I shall sew a proper pan sparge bag.

I've just bought Nottingham yeast and Windsor. I've got S04, S05 and Youngs ale. Total grain larder is now Maris otter, Cara red, Crystal, Chocolate, flaked maize and flaked wheat, mostly in 500g bags but 1 kilo of the MO. We made a Fursty Ferret alike at the weekend and its already clearing.

I want to try the first cooper brew I made crossed with the cream of three recipe. I've posted the recipe idea on here.

I really like your sender for experimentation. I am quite like minded. However, at the beginning it is really good to start with the simplest things, like the stout I suggested.

You are doing smaller batches, so you can do more different ones which speeds up the learning curve, I did the same.

You could start with three 100% Maris otter pale ales, 1.045 og and ferment it with Windsor, another one with 04 and another one with 05. Use the same hopping schedule for all and you will learn a great deal about the differences of yeasts.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

Brilliant idea and will do exactly that. I think I'm going to prefer lighter beers to stouts anyway. I'll pay attention to the water thing later. That's why I made a stout. It's all going to get bog standard tap water for now. I might filter it but impatience will make for forgetting to sooner or later.

 

[Miraculix]

Brilliant idea and will do exactly that. I think I'm going to prefer lighter beers to stouts anyway. I'll pay attention to the water thing later. That's why I made a stout. It's all going to get bog standard tap water for now. I might filter it but impatience will make for forgetting to sooner or later.

If you know that you got hard water, than you could just add 2% of the total grain bill as acid malt to compensate for the alkalinity. This is a rule of thumb thing and not very scientific, but it works of your got really hard water.

I had about 300ppm alkalinity and the 2% worked for me many times.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

I've ordered some Harris beer testing acid strips.

 

[Miraculix]

I've ordered some Harris beer testing acid strips.

I think that this does not really help. You'd need a proper pH meter. A water report is probably easier to obtain. With that and a software like brunwater it is possible to calculate the pH in a way that is close enough to dose acids.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

Thank you. I have the regional one here so will investigate further.

 

[Miraculix]

Thank you. I have the regional one here so will investigate further.

View attachment 651433 View attachment 651434

Ok, you got high alkalinity and low to moderate cl and so4.

Use 2% of the grainbill as acid malt to compensate for the alkalinity and ignore the rest for now.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Curious, how are you bottling these? I have a pair of 1.5 gal fermenters with spigots. I bottle directly from the fermenter with sugar cubes in the bottles. I would be interested in doing even smaller experiments, but have not figured out a strategy for bottling.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

I use this and hose it straight from the demijohn. The mesh end stops the grobbleys getting in. The smaller 2L water bottles are easy to pour straight from the bottle through a mesh coffee filter to catch bits. (I have no affiliation with either product)

 

[Mumathomebrew]

Well, well, well. We tried a porter the other day to see how it was getting on and it was a different beast entirely a month later. Softer and more gentle on the tongue. Coffee and chocolate with a slight tobacco twang. Very smooth, full and drinkable with no jaggy aftertaste at all. Pretty strong in an alcoholic way but not unpleasantly so. I reckon my brother is going to love this Christmas present. I hope it will be even better another month later. What a nice surprise.

Even the 'small beer' I made with the dregs wasn't unpleasant either. I'd bunged the dregs in with a handful of garden raspberries and it made an unusual but light flavoured, dark style beer with a nice fruity twang.

After all my fiddlings with many baskets of gunk. I did not expect either of these to work. I love making beer as it's so fast to get a result compared to garden wines.

 

[@RoyalGallon]

Well, well, well. We tried a porter the other day to see how it was getting on and it was a different beast entirely a month later. Softer and more gentle on the tongue. Coffee and chocolate with a slight tobacco twang. Very smooth, full and drinkable with no jaggy aftertaste at all. Pretty strong in an alcoholic way but not unpleasantly so. I reckon my brother is going to love this Christmas present. I hope it will be even better another month later. What a nice surprise.

Even the 'small beer' I made with the dregs wasn't unpleasant either. I'd bunged the dregs in with a handful of garden raspberries and it made an unusual but light flavoured, dark style beer with a nice fruity twang.

After all my fiddlings with many baskets of gunk. I did not expect either of these to work. I love making beer as it's so fast to get a result compared to garden wines.

That’s great news - as we saw last month those beers ended up great after some long term storage - no matter what happens keep it in a cupboard and it’ll be fine eventually.

however it sounds like you nailed it right first time!

mare you going to try and brew the Golden ale for January?

edit - adding link to the recipe

http://www.wehomebrew.club/2019/12/03/january-golden-ale-recipe/

 

[Mumathomebrew]

Oooh yes. I'll have a go at that, but I'll need to buy those sorts of and more ingredients, hops unless I sub in mongrels again. I've now got fuggles and goldings too.

 

[Miraculix]

Oooh yes. I'll have a go at that, but I'll need to buy those sorts of and more ingredients hops unless I sub in mongrels again. I've now got fuggles and goldings too.

Good choice, Golding's is one of my all-time favourites

 

[@RoyalGallon]

Oooh yes. I'll have a go at that, but I'll need to buy those sorts of and more ingredients hops unless I sub in mongrels again. I've now got fuggles and goldings too.

Just a thought that if you do choose Goldings and Fuggles it’ll be a very different beer from the others using the Citrusy hops as per Paddy’s recipe. So most of the difference tasted between your beer and any others will be recipe driven and not process derived.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

I just re-looked at the recipe and at the end says he'll help with the hops. So I'm on for the right experiment.

I can do both for my own learning.

 

[Miraculix]

I just re-looked at the recipe and at the end says he'll help with the hops. So I'm on for the right experiment.

I can do both for my own learning.

Both in parallel would be best!

 

[Mumathomebrew]

I've got +/- 34 demijohns+++ languishing full of slowly maturing country wines.... now i want them empty.... for beers...

 

[Miraculix]

I've got +/- 34 demijohns+++ languishing full of slowly maturing country wines.... now i want them empty.... for beers...

Get yourself some decent buckets

 

[Mumathomebrew]

The three buckets I have are full of Müller T grapes... soon to be evicted though. I've resorted to lots of 2L water bottles instead. Bit fiddly on the evaporation stakes for a long boil but still doing the job so far. I'm sort of glad late harvest time in the country is almost finished because it causes so much work... I just cannot resist the call of the berries.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

Joy actually. I've just found a supplier on ebay who sells hops by the micro quantity in a tea bag. I'll report back when they come. I have no affinity but they seems to be a legit brewer with time for the micro brewers to even bother doing that small a quantity. Suits me better than having huge stocks going off in a freezer, let alone the expense.

 

[Miraculix]

Joy actually. I've just found a supplier on ebay who sells hops by the micro quantity in a tea bag. I'll report back when they come. I have no affinity but they seems to be a legit brewer with time for the micro brewers to even bother doing that small a quantity. Suits me better than having huge stocks going off in a freezer, let alone the expense.

That's crossmyloof, they are decent guys. They also repack yeasts and sell them for cheap, their lil saison is for example lallemands belle saison. I had good experiences buying from them on Amazon and I know other people had as well.