Beer Mecca

Well not quite but Burton on Trent is important in the history of Brewing. The Birth Place of IPA, Burton came to dominate the trade, and at its height one quarter of all beer sold in Britain was produced here. Although over 30 breweries were recorded in 1880, a process of mergers and buy-outs resulted in three main breweries remaining by 1980: Bass, Ind Coopes and Marstons. Today, only Burton Bridge brewery remains as an independent brewer.

My Christmas present.
Cheers.

Old Speckled Hen in under 4 hours

Old Speckled Hen

Modified to my taste from a recipe By DAAB from http://jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum

Brewer:	Orfy		Email:	-
Beer:	Old Speckled Hen		Style:	English Old/Strong Ale
Type:	All grain		Size:	23 liters
Color:	15 HCU (~10 SRM)		Bitterness:	47 IBU
OG:	1.051		FG:	1.010
Alcohol:	5.4% v/v (4.2% w/w)
Water:	Tap Water
Grain:	4.350kg British pale 0.54kg British crystal 50-60L
Mash:	68% efficiency
	Single infusion Mash at 68°C for 75 minutes. @ 2.6l/kg Batch sparged with 23L
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.039	30.5 liters
	75g Brown sugar 454g Golden Syrup
	Golden Syrup and sugar added at the beginning of the boil. Irish moss added at last 5 minutes
Hops:	45g Northern Brewer (8.5% AA, 60 min.) 15g Kent Goldings (5% AA, 15 min.) 10g Kent Goldings (aroma)
Yeast:	Nottingham English Ale

Put to Secondary on 21/12/2006. Maybe a little early but it'd gone to 1010 and I wanted to clear the dining room before Christmas.
Kegged on 30/12/2006 with 130g DME.
Tasted on 02/01/2007 and has carbed already.


I've tried to cut my brew time down and have got it so it's possible to brew in under 4 hours.

My wife went out at lunch time, go back at 6.30pm and didn't even know I'd done a brew. AND I got praised for tidying the kitchen

This is the theory. If it takes a little longer I don't worry. I don't rush, not worth it.

Heat Mash water from hot tap water 55c to 77c in home made boiler. In mean time set up mash tun and weigh grain. I also nipped the shop to get the syrup. I rehydrate the yeast.30 mins
75 mins Mash. I cut this from my usual 90 minutes because people keep telling me conversion only takes 20 minutes. I use that time to set my kettle up. To save time I added my first run off to the kettle to start the boil quicker. To batch sparge I add more water which has been heating while I mash. I let the sparge water sit 5 minutes and run off adding that to the already near boiling wort in the kettle. I do this once more.
25 mins Time to sparge and bring to the boil
60 mins boil. In this time I've emptied cleaned and put the mash tun away. I've racked a brew to keg to give me a spare carboy, which I've cleaned and sanitised ready for the wort.
20 mins to cool. By this time all the stuff in the kitchen is clean and away. I collect the hot water from the chiller to clean the chiller and keg.
15 mins to aerate to the carboy and pitch yeast.
Whilst the wort is draining I clean an put away the wort chiller.
All I do then is scoop out the hops 'n stuff from the kettle dump in the hot water in the keg with a bit of oxy clean and empty in the morning.

So you can do AG in <4hrs.
But why rush it, Relax and have a homebrew.

My new water distiller!

I've just loaded her up with tap water to see what comes out.


First Upgrade

Pale Ale - 09/12/06

Pale ale

Brewer:	Orfy		Email:	-
Beer:	Pale ale		Style:	English Pale Ale
Type:	All grain		Size:	23 liters
Color:	6 HCU (~5 SRM)		Bitterness:	33 IBU
OG:	1.058		FG:	1.012
Alcohol:	5.9% v/v (4.6% w/w)
Water:	Tap Water
Grain:	6kg British pale .5kg Dextrine malt (Cara-Pils)
Mash:	65% efficiency
	Single infusion 17l at 68c for 90 minutes Batch Sparge with 23l
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.046	29 liters
	31l to boil, 23 into carboy.
Hops:	30g Kent Goldings (5% AA, 60 min.) 30g Kent Goldings (5% AA, 30 min.) 20g Kent Goldings (5% AA, 15 min.) 30g Fuggles (aroma)
Yeast:	Nottingham Ale

In preparation of an afternoon Brew Session.















I Fixed my old aerating spout while the mash was going.















And I moded the keg syphon and filter so that it actually syphoned and filtered.















The Gravity was spot on.















In the fermenter.



















20 hours later and an emergency blow off tube is needed.
The thing blew it's airlock off.

Turbo Cider

Thanks to the guys at Jim's Home Brew Forum I thought I'd have a go at "Turbo Cider"
I'm going to change a few things. I read peoples comments that the cider comes out very dry. This is fine by me but I have 80 pints of bitter that the wife hates so I thought I'd let here in on the cider and she likes Medium. So I plan to use beer yeast rather than Champagne or wine yeast that seems to be the norm. The standard AJ used seems to have a gravity of 1050 and the Asda stuff is 1040 so I'm adding 300g of table sugar. The cider says 100% from concentrate and doesn't list any additives or preservative so I hope it'll be okay. If my maths are right then it'll work out at a 1060 to 1010 Ferment giving 7% ABV.

C0st so far. 5l of apple Juice £2.90, young s beer yeast £0.55, 300g sugar £0.25
Total : £3.70 for 5l which is just cheaper than the Cheap Loopy Juice Ciders available in the Supermarkets.

Turbo Cider, here we come.
Asda's best 100% from concentrate no additives listed.

First thing is to add the yeast to half a glass of water and 1 tablespoon of apple juice. Put to one side till later.

Heat 1 litre of apple Juice Add 300g sugar.

Add 3l of juice to the fermenter. Add 1l warm juice and sugar
Check Temperature and chill if required to <27c style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge5ca57cKuj0isLh5UKmxIxpLQMEUuItWe6plTxWSxPKyFHudPiq3IOnVX8hSN03m1VUAsRBZUw1hu90BS0nY0rno1Ifu5dDStOoP5ao4MM7k9kes2dAY64ciCfgMbrQNSaDRvtyjnpB0/s320/Cooling.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5006119024108085058" border="0">
Pitch the Happy Yeast.

Shake the Hell out of it to aerate. Add the bung and airlock. Keep at 20 - 25c
Wait till the initial activity calms down then top up with the next 1l of juice.


The OG turned out to be 1064
10/12/2006 : I topped the fermenter up to the next with 3/4l of juice.
14/12/2006 : Gravity down to 0992, EEK that means BIG ABV! Racked to secondary
21/12/2006 : Primed with 30g of sugar and bottled in PET bottles
24/12/2006: First bottle drank, obviously not carbonated yet.
02/01/2007: All gone. WOW strong stuff.

Goblin ale

Hob Goblin Clone

This has become my house brew. It's been brewed by a few people and they all liked it.

Brewer:	Orfy		Email:	-
Beer:	Hob Goblin Clone		Style:	English Old/Strong Ale
Type:	All grain		Size:	23 liters
Color:	43 HCU (~20 SRM)		Bitterness:	21 IBU
OG:	1.050		FG:	1.010
Alcohol:	5.2% v/v (4.0% w/w)
Water:	Cheshire's best. Tap.
Grain:	5kg British pale 30g British crystal 50-60L 30g British chocolate 170g British black patent
Mash:	70% efficiency
	90 minute mash at 68c Batch sparge.
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.038	30 liters
	Add irish moss 5 minutes from the end of the boil
Hops:	30g Fuggles (4.75% AA, 60 min.) 20g Kent Goldings (5% AA, 15 min.) 15g Kent Goldings (aroma)
Yeast:	Any English Ale. I use Danstar Nottingham
Tasting:	mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

From Primary to Secondary.


In the keg and labelled.


Its Getting there.


It's going down well! I recommend the recipe.

My Keg set up.

 

IPA and Hob Goblin Clone

A night off the Homebrew

Orfy Pale Ale

A unplanned brew session..

A Pale ale I formulated the recipe to Style.

Brewer:	Orfy		Email:	-
Beer:	Orfy Pale Ale		Style:	India Pale Ale
Type:	All grain		Size:	25 liters
Color:	15 HCU (~10 SRM)		Bitterness:	41 IBU
OG:	1.054		FG:	1.012
Alcohol:	5.4% v/v (4.2% w/w)
Grain:	6.00kg British pale 0.30kg British crystal 50-60L 30g British chocolate
Mash:	67% efficiency
Boil:	minutes	SG 1.046	29 liters
Hops:	60g Fuggles (4.75% AA, 60 min.) 15g Kent Goldings (5% AA, 30 min.) 30g Saaz (3.75% AA, 30 min.) 30g Saaz (aroma)

The yeast is first rehydrated

Then The grain weighed

The grain is added to the Mash Tuna and 2.6L/kg of water at 77c is added. This gives a mash temperature of 68c. It is left for 90 minutes. The wort is drained then rinsed with a furter 23l of water at 77c. This is then added to the kettle and brought to the boil.

On boiling the first hops are added the others at there designated times along with the irish moss 5 minutes from the end.

The wort chiller is added 15 minutes before the end of the boil to sanitise. Then water is run through to fetch the wort to below 27c.

The wort is then drained into the carboy and aerated.

I collect the hot water from the chiller and use it for cleaning afterwards.

The Yeast is then Pitched and the airlock and bung are fitted.

One week later the Gravity is 1010 so it is racked to Secondary.

2 weeks in secondary
Primed and 3 weeks in Bottles to Condition.

The blog will be updated.

Picked up some new supplies today. :)
3 packs of yeast,
hops, crystal grain and 25kg of Maris Otter.