Brewday - 24/06/2020 - Play it again Sam...

... just slightly different.

So the next brew is very similar to the last. In fact, the grist will be identical and I'm swapping hops from the original European hops to a combination of American and New World. Simcoe and Galaxy to be exact. 

So the recipe for this brew looks like this;

3350g Maris Otter
300g Cara-Pils
180g Dark Crystal

Mash for 75 mins @ 67c

Hops during a 75 minute boil;

Galaxy 15g @ 50 mins

Galaxy 15g @ 7 mins
Simcoe 15g @ 7 mins

Galaxy 5g @ 2 mins

Simcoe 20g @ 2 mins

The hops have a higher alpha than the last brew so the quantities/timings are reduced but the intention is to hit  an OG of around 1.036 with around 30 units of bitterness again.

Yeast this time will be Lallemand BRY-97

Brewday is pencilled in for Wednesday June 24th. As usual I'll update this post on the day to report if things went to plan. 

EDIT: The day was hot, but drama free. It tool a while to cool the wort, but got it to 20.5c before pitching and put it in the temperature controlled fermenting fridge, where it dropped a bit more and when the yeast krausen started to form it was sitting nicely at 18c.

Homebrew Review - Best Bitter

This beer was brewed back in November

Best Bitter? 

To be honest, it's another disappointing beer. Yes, it looks the part, but in all other aspects it's very unexceptional.

It pours nice and bright, is a decent colour, although the white head doesn't hang around very long. There's not much on the nose, a few earthy and spicy notes, but nothing particularly inviting.

The taste is slightly better, hints of citrus, but the hops are largely underwhelming. To be fair, it was only meant to be an easy drinking ordinary bitter and neither hops nor malts dominate. I guess in that respect, you could say it was nicely balanced, but I was hoping for a bit more from the Simcoe hops.

Mouthfeel is a bit on the thin side. My brewday notes show I mashed on the low side, so I ought not to be surprised. Other than that, I can't detect any obvious brewing faults. It's limitations are purely due to design.

Perhaps if I was drinking this with the sun on my back during a summer heatwave, my impressions would be more favourable. As it is, conditions are grey and wet, much as they have been for the last six to eight weeks. My mood is sombre and the beer is distinctly average. At best.

Brewday - Best Bitter 06/11/2013

No time to waffle. I've wasted too much time over the last couple of weeks dealing with computer problems and emotional crap from the family. I'm certainly in no mood to write chapter and verse.

Suffice to say that anything expensive around the home that might breakdown, has done exactly that over the last fourteen days. If it carries on, I might be next.

Today I'm washing my hands of being a father, a husband and and employee. Today, the real world can feck off. I'm brewing.

Best

Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Type: All Grain	Date: 06/11/2013
Batch Size (fermenter): 45.00 l	Brewer: Mark
Boil Size: 52.43 l	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: Elite 45l Brew
End of Boil Volume 48.88 l	Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 45.00 l	Est Mash Efficiency 73.1 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage	Taste Rating(out of 50):
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 8200.00 g Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 94.8 % 450.00 g Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (157.6 EBC) Grain 2 5.2 % 30.00 g Progress [6.78 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 12.2 IBUs 20.00 g Whitbread Golding Variety (WGV) [6.78 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 8.1 IBUs 15.00 g Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 5.8 IBUs 1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 6 - 15.00 g Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min Hop 7 0.5 IBUs 2.0 pkg British Ale Yeast (Mangrove Jack's #M07) Yeast 8 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.042 SG	Measured Original Gravity:
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG	Measured Final Gravity:
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.1 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol:
Bitterness: 26.6 IBUs
Est Color: 15.0 EBC

Brewday - Best Bitter 11/12/2012

Weather permitting, I'm planning to brew tomorrow. After some dark beers and a couple of big ones, it's time to brew something a bit more sessionable. My plan is for a standard English bitter.

I'm having another crack at my best bitter recipe as the last few attempts were not the best, as they came at a time when some form of infection was ailing my brews. As I've appear to have turned a corner on that front, I reckon it's worth another go.

A variation of this beer, was one of the first recipes I put together after leaving kit brewing behind, so it's kind of special to me. A very simple grist of 95% Pale and 5% Crystal malts, with a combination of Progress and WGV hops for bittering, plus a late addition of Celeia.

Although temperatures are likely to be below freezing when mashing in, I'll take steps to try and ensure the outside water supply isn't completely frozen, for what will be my last brew of 2012.

Best (Celeia)

Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Type: All Grain	Date: 11/12/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 50.00 l	Brewer: Mark
Boil Size: 61.39 l	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 75 min	Equipment: Elite Brewery
End of Boil Volume 55.12 l	Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 50.00 l	Est Mash Efficiency 77.4 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage	Taste Rating(out of 50):
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 8700.00 g Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 95.0 % 460.00 g Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (236.4 EBC) Grain 2 5.0 % 30.00 g Progress [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 12.1 IBUs 30.00 g Whitbread Golding Variety (WGV) [6.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 11.0 IBUs 30.00 g Celeia [4.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 3.2 IBUs 0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 6 - 2.0 pkg Nottingham Yeast (Lallemand #-)  Yeast 7 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.042 SG	Measured Original Gravity:
Est Final Gravity: 1.009 SG	Measured Final Gravity:
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.3 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol:
Bitterness: 26.4 IBUs
Est Color: 16.9 EBC