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Saturday, March 30, 2013

LowTech Best Bitter

Previous attempts at this classic style have been "alright" but not great.  This time however, I am brewing with genuine English ingredients including WLP022 (Essex Ale), a characterful English top-cropping yeast from Chelmsford, UK (Ridley's Ale).  I hope it makes the difference.

Origin of WLP022 (not my ale)

LowTech Best Bitter v1

OG 1.046/ IBU ~33/ SRM ~9/ ~41L

90.9% Muntons Maris Otter
8.40% Muntons Crystal 150 (57L)
00.6% Muntons Chocolate Malt

7.6 AAU of Challenger @ 60 minutes
3.0 AAU of Challenger @ 30 minutes
3.0 AAU of Fuggles @ 30 minutes
9.7 AAU of Fuggles @ 12 minutes
12.3 AAU of EKG @ 3 minutes

The WLP022 will be a combination of top cropped (100ml) and bottom collected yeast (200ml) from previous batch of Brown Porter (brewed March 17th).


Brewed March 31st


30 minute hop addition modified due to lack of Challenger hops.  Mashed @ 2.9l/kg, rest @ 152F for 60 min.  Sparged to collect 46L  pre-boil vol.  During the sparge, at around the mid way point, the run-off stuck.  I had been drawing off the wort at a rather quick pace and must have compacted the grain bed too much.  After a quick stir and another vorlauf I was back in business.  Boiled for 70 minutes adding hops at 60, 30, 12 and 3.  Additional 1 tsp of Gypsum added to the boil.  Whirlfloc added with 5 minutes remaining in the boil. 

2 tsp Calcium chloride, 1 tsp Gypsum, 1 tsp Epsom and 105g Acid malt added to the mash for pH of 5.48.  Additional 1 tsp Gypsum added to the boil.   Final water numbers:
Ca 77, Mg 10, Na 18, Cl 66, S04 141


At flame-out, whirlpool chiller started immediately, wort cooled to ~70F.  Wort aerated through strainer before cold pitching WLP022 into each fermenter.  I tried a new kettle filter made from two stainless steel splatter screens.  The filter worked incredibly well!  I've never seen wort so clear when transferring to fermenters.  One problem, the rate of transfer was incredibly slow!   I may need to work the orientation of my dip tube slightly to allow better passage of the wort once the filter begins to collect a layer of hops and break material.   The starting gravity tested 1.0505 (12.5°P), which means my mash efficiency was higher than projected, 87% rather than the estimated 80%.

Update April 1st 

Both fermenters have krausen.  I re-areated both (19hrs since pitch) with my fizz-x for a minute or so.  Both krausens had a minimal amount of brown material on the surface.

Update April 2nd

Opened each 30L pail to see white fluffy krausen almost pushing the lid!  That's almost 8L of head space...crazy.  I promptly cropped each batch with a sanitized tea spoon.  Yeasty krausen was stirred into two 500ml mason jars which had been 3/4 filled with boiled and chilled water.  I'd estimate a total of 200ml solid yeast collected (100ml each fermenter).  Once the cropped, I closed up the lids and gave each pail a gentle swirl for 10-15 seconds.  Will do the same tomorrow and take a gravity reading.

Last evening before bed I noticed the krausen in one of the fermenters was beginning to back up into the bubble air-lock.  I did a quick clean up and cropped an additional 100ml of yeast into another mason jar.  This stuff is nuts.

Update April 3rd

Krausen has become more solid, sticky looking.  Sort of like the spray foam one might use to insulate their house.  I gave each fermenter a gentle swirl.

Update April 7th 

I've been swirling each fermenter once per day.  One pail has no yeast head/krausen left, it actually dropped a few days ago.  The other (more full) pail still has yeast cropping at the top.  When I snap down the lid, it's still producing quite a bit of Co2.  Gravity tested for the first time @ 1.0136 (3.47°P) which equals 73% attenuation.  Much better than the first time I used WLP022!  Sample is very nice, hoppier then I expected.  Some yeast character detected, I would describe it as bready.  Colour is to die for! Nailed it.

Update April 12th

Aside from a couple of hydro samples, haven't touched this for about a week.  I noted previously that the krausen in one of the two fermenters had completely fallen sometime ago, as of last evening, the second fermenter still has yeast cropped at the top of the beer.  Really interesting stuff!  I've stopped swirling the beers, I am pretty sure they were done a while ago.  Tonight I may skim the top crop and discard + take another sample to see of the FG has dropped significantly since the last reading.

Update April 13th

I racked the smaller of the two fermenters to keg ~ 17L.  Gravity tested 1.0117 (2.99°P).  I skimmed the top cropped yeast from the larger of the two fermenters, ~ 21L.  Gravity tested 1.0129 (3.31°P).

Update April 16th

I sampled a half pint and near flat Best Bitter last night, the one thing that jumped out to me was a noticeable "yeasty" flavour.  It was somewhat unpleasant.  I am hoping this will diminish with time.  Aside from that, there was some decent bitterness with an underlying fruitiness.  Hops mildly present on the aroma but the flavour was dominated by the aforementioned yeast flavours. 

Update April 25th

Second 20L racked to keg, pressure set to 36psi

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Hop Schedules (Revisited)

Almost a year ago I wrote an article on hopping schedules and I've stayed true to form on most of my original recipes since.  Lately however, I've been reading about new (or new to me) methods which have some pretty wild claims.  I'd like to revisit my previous article on the subject and provide some feedback on these new techniques based on some personal experiences.

(Hop Stands)

Touted as the equivalent to a commerical brewery's "whirlpool" addition, many homebrewers have been adding copious amounts of hops at the end of their boils in an attempt to mimic the hop character found in their favorite, hop forward ales.  Truth be told, I've always been underwhelmed with these additions in my homebrew creations.  I have never been able to achieve acceptable hop aroma from this addition alone.  I've always felt the late hops have been wasted to some degree.  Question is, why do commercial whirlpool hops give such killer aroma and flavour but my addition does little?  The answer is time and volume.

Many homebrewers, including myself, follow a flame-out routine something like - flame off, hops in, chiller on.  Given the standard batch size and chilling equipment, our wort temperatures drop to below 140F in 5-10 minutes, pitching temperature in under 30 minutes.  When dealing with commercial volumes, chilling this fast is near impossible.  So, is the aforementioned flame-out routine really all that similar to a commercial whirlpool?  No, not really.  A commercial whirlpool can last 10 minutes or more before centrifugal force does its thing clears the wort from break and hops.  The spinning wort is allowed to slow and is then  finally pulled through a chiller on-route to the fermentation tanks.  Remember, they're not dealing with a measly 10 gallons, we're talking several hundred if not thousands.  An hour or more might pass during these transfers, all the while whirlpool hops are exposed to hot wort.

While reading Northern Brewer's discussion board a few months ago, I stumbled across a discussion on Hop Stands.  The idea is rather simple.  Add your flame-out hops and allow them to steep in the hot wort for an extended period of time before beginning the chill.  On the surface it would seem reasonable that this step would more accurately mimic the commercial whirlpool.  Read the thread and you will find varying opinions on how to correctly perform a hop stand.  Some advocate lowering the temperature of the wort slightly before adding the flame-out hops to ward of DMS.  Others suggest the lower wort temperatures will minimize the amount of hop oils flashed off.  Certain hop oil will flash off at 100F, which would explain why Dry-hopping is so effective.  Most agree the longer the hops are steeped, the better (infection risk be damned!), some advocating as long as 80 minutes!  Well, I'll tell you, this better be some damn awesome aroma to warranty extending the brewday by 1.5hrs.

Having performed a hop stand now on two separate brews, I can tell you that I haven't been impressed.  I actually feel the aroma may be diminished! Certainly not worth the extra time.  There could be a number of explanations for my failure, first and foremost, what does the hop stand do to my early and middle additions?  An addition at 60 minutes will have stayed in the wort for near 2.5hrs.  Your 15 minute flavour addition may now impart more bittering type qualities.  The Northern Brewer discussion talks about shifting these additions to later in the boil.  I don't know... the unpredictability of variables introduced by the hop stand, not to mention the extra time and diminishing returns, far out way the benefits.  In fact, I've started thinking about my final addition and believe I might go in the opposite direction, increasing the boil time slightly and chilling as quickly as possible.  I mean, why not embrace the advantages of the home brewery?  We can chill and rack wort in less than 30 minutes!  This type of efficiency must certainly be the envy of the commercial brewer.

(1-3 minutes)

I read a cooking analogy and thought it very appropriate.  Hops are the spice of beer.  When cooking, many spices must be heated or simmered to bring out aromatic scents (oils).  With cooking in mind, perhaps the key to aroma is to quickly boil the hops, flashing the oils.  The boiling action will further aid to solubilize the oil into the wort, once complete we quickly chill to below flash temperature, thus locking in the flavour?

"Hop Oil Flashpoints 
Farnesene = 79F
Myrcene = 104F
Humulene = 110.2F
Caryophyllene = 200F"

(30 minutes)

In my previous article, I more or less completely wrote off the 30 minute addition as a supplementary bittering addition and some what redundant.  Lately however, I've come across discussion on hop Glycosides, Polyphenols and the benefits.  Warning, lots of scientific stuff!  To summerize

"The main effect of polyphenols on flavour stability isprobably situated in the mashing and wort boiling steps(Liegeois et al., 2000; Mikyska et al., 2002). In particular,polyphenols extracted from hop during wort boilingsignificantly contribute to the reducing power andeffectively diminish the nonenal potential of wort (Lermusieau,Liegeois, & Collin, 2001). Sensory experiments(Mikyska et al., 2002) also confirm the positive effects ofhop polyphenols, during brewing, on flavour stability.."
Further reading has described the benefits as a roundness of flavour, body, and general hop character.  It's agreed among many experienced brewers that the 30 minute addition is best to promote these mysterious reactions.

For the next few beers I am going with a 60-30-12-3 hopping schedule and will report back on how they turn out. 

Throwdown APA

Our local homebrew club is hosting a competition of sorts,  a "Throwdown".  Best APA using a common set of recipe ingredients, may the best process win.

Guidelines

  • 1.052/40 IBUs
  • 90% Domestic 2-Row
  • 5% Crystal 60
  • 5% Wheat/CaraFoam/Oats/Flaked Barley (pick 1)
  • Any combination of: Chinook/Centennial/Amarillo/Cascade/Citra
  • Dry hop with 0-2oz's
  • US-05 Yeast
Here's what my submission looks like...

APA Throwdown

OG 1.052/ IBU ~40 (Rager)/ SRM ~6/~41L

90.0% OiO Canadian Two-Row 
05.0% Weyermann CaraMunich III
05.0% Weyermann CaraFoam

12.07 AAU of Chinook @ 60 minutes
16.35 AAU of Centennial @ 05 minutes
16.35 AAU of Amarillo @ 05 minutes
16.35 AAU of Centennial @ 0 minutes
16.35 AAU of Amarillo @ 0 minutes

Dry hop 1oz Centennial for 7 days (each carboy)
Dry hop 1oz Amarillo for 7 days (each carboy)
 
Fermentis US-05 Yeast

Recipe Brewed March 9th
  
Mash was conducted at 153F for 60 minutes.  I then batch sparged and boiled the wort for 70 minutes hopping according to the schedule above.  At the end of the boil, I whirlpooled for 20 minutes and then proceeded to chill the wort to 68F.  The wort was given a chance to stand for 20 minutes where most of the cold break and hops and fallen to the bottom of the boil kettle.  

The wort was then transferred to each of the fermentation vessels where it was aerated with a Fizz-X wine degasser for 5 minutes.  US-05 packet pitched dry to both fermenters.  Showed signs of activity within 24 hours. 

1 tsp Calcium chloride, 1/2 tsp Gypsum, 1/2 tsp Epsom and 130g Acid malt added to the mash for pH of 5.52.  Additional 1/2 tsp Gypsum added to the boil.   Final water numbers:

Ca 42, Mg 10, Na 18, Cl 35, S04 99  

Update March 11th

Full krausen.  Performed first dirty skim

Update March 12th
Top cropped second rise, added to mason jar filled with boiled and cooled water.

Update March 25th

The cropped yeast continue to ferment in the mason jar even when placed in the fridge at 4c!  Twice, I had to clean up.  The top cropped yeast was very active.
Final gravity tested 1.0118 (3.03°P)

Update Match 27th 

Both fermenters racked to secondary.  1oz Centennial and 1oz Amarillo added to each carboy.

Update April 3rd

Both fermenters rack to keg.  The first transfer was very smooth.  When racking dry hopped beers, I use my 3/8th auto-siphon with a voile bag over the tip of the cane.  The bag is secured with a sanitized elastic.  This ensures no hop pellet particles make it through to the keg.  During the second transfer, I performed the same steps but this time the bag was causing quite a bit of air bubbles.  I removed the racking cane and change the bag for a new one after which, the transfer proceeded smoothly.  Hope I didn't oxidize the beer!  Will drink this one first.

Update April 4th

Sipping the first pint.  Cloudy and green but the foundation is there.  Interested in seeing (tasting) how this progresses.  I think the hop stand had a negative impact on the aroma.  I had expected more from the Amarillo hops (one of the hops I have decent experience with). 

Update April 7th

What a difference just a few days can make!  I bumped the pressure back to 34psi last night, vented and set to serving pressure again this morning.  Beer is now carbed and damn delicious!  The carbonation really helps to accentuate the hops.  It's had also cleared significantly since the first pour.  Looking forward to seeing how this one develops.

Update April 12th

We're several pints into this one now, aroma has diminished slightly, firm bitterness remains.  Could stand to be a touch clearer.  Excellent flavour, a real solid APA.  Thankfully I have a second keg because this is my go to tap at the moment.   

Monday, March 25, 2013

"Short Brew" Experiment

Wheels are turning on a little experiment I'd like to try, perhaps even this week.

Test
  1. 3 Gallon stove-top BIAB 
  2. <30 minute mash.  (iodine test @ 20 min through conversion).
  3. Full volume Boil for 30 minutes
  4. Simple 1.045 OG, Best Bitter recipe
Risks
  • Incomplete starch conversion
  • Insufficient hot break, protein coagulation, leading to various off flavours and cosmetic defects.  
  • Dimethylsulfide (DMS)

Thinking I'll follow this up with a quick fermentation schedule, primary straight to keg.  Bump carb and serve in under 10 days.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Whirlpool Immersion Chiller

Just a pictorial of my latest brewery addition, a Jamil Zainasheff inspired whirlpool immersion chiller.

First, I started off with some virgin soft type copper tubing. 50ft, 1/2" OD.  I bent it up into shape.

Bottom bends are the most difficult

Test fitted to the new 50L Keggle

Next, I soldered some 1/2 ID copper pipe with a couple of 90 elbows and a 3/8" reducer to improve flow.  Note, in this picture I am using the pump and whirlpool attachment to rack from my boil kettle to carboy.




Add some 1/2" silicone tubing and here's the unit in action

The pump setup.  This is a Great Brew Eh pump.


A video of the whirlpool action



Thursday, March 21, 2013

"BIAB" Mashing

So you're thinking about homebrewing but feel the cost of malt extracts to be somewhat exorbitant?  Perhaps you're not quite ready to lay-out the cash on a Mash Tun, propane burner and large stock pot?  The All Grain, Brew in a Bag (BIAB) method is for you!

I use this method for small batch stove top brewing in the dead of winter.  It can be adapted to larger scale volumes as well.  My first ever batch of beer was BIAB.  Equipment required?


  1. Paint strainer bag from your local hardware store
  2. Couple of your larger kitchen pots
  3. A wire mesh strainer/collender


Now source of the ingredients for your All Grain batch of beer.  Keep it simple.  Some base malt, a touch of crystal malt and you favorite hop.  You'll need a packet of dry yeast as well.  When you order your malt, make sure you have it milled.

Line pot with paint strainer bag.




Fill pot with full volume of water and heat to strike temperature



Pour crushed grain into bag/water, stir well.  Cover pot and let sit for 1 hr



Lift out bag with "spent" grain inside, place into strainer basket over top of pot


Let drain well.  Pour hot water over grain bag until you pot is full of wort





...Continue on with your typical boil/hopping/cooling routine.




You might also consider a BIAB mash to create wort for starters!  Much cheaper than Malt extract.  You can either hop the wort and drink the beer, or perhaps leave un-hopped for exclusive starter use.  For the later, you might even consider not doing the full 60 minute boil.  Maybe 20 minutes would be sufficient...  just a thought.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Tasting - Chinook SMaSH

This turned out to be a real nice session beer.  Light a crisp, malty notes on the aroma.  Would have preferred more Chinook aromatics given the late additions, not sure what happened there.  I've never really been able to get much aroma from late kettle additions, lots of flavour just not aroma.

At near 44 ibu, the beer drinks crisp and slightly dry but not nearly as bitter as you might imagine.  It's actually fairly well balanced all thing considering.  I started drinking it real young, brewed on February 20th, I was pouring pints by March 10th.

Easy drinking albeit fairly one dimensional.  Body and head retention surprisingly good consider the uber simple malt bill.

As far as appearances are concerned, a picture speaks 1000 words.

Chinook SMaSH

Chinook SMaSH

Not much to say about this one.  If you haven't tried brewing a SMaSH beer, they are an excellent way to fine tune your pallet and really experience was a particular malt or hop is all about.  In this case, the malt took a back seat to Chinook Hops.  I used a fairly clean neutral yeast, WLP007 to further accentuate the hops.  The recipe had originally been planned in the 1.065 IPA territory but some low efficiency numbers meant it finished more in the realm of an APA.  I adjust the bittering addition on the fly to account for the projected lower starting gravity.

Another nice this about SMaSH beers is that they don't require much conditioning time.  Case and point with this SMaSH as I believe it went from grain to glass in a little under 2 weeks.  I am writing this introduction well after the initial brewday.  On to the details.

Chinook SMaSH

OG 1.055/ IBU ~44/ SRM ~3/~26L

100.0% OiO Canadian Two-Row

9.00 AAU of Chinook @ 60 minutes
9.00 AAU of Chinook @ 20 minutes
13.5 AAU of Chinook @ 05 minutes
13.5 AAU of Chinook @ 0 minutes

WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast

Recipe brewed on February 20th

Brewed a 26L batch (post boil), ~23L into the fermenter.  Mashed @ 153F for 60 minutes, boiled for 60 minutes.  Fermentation controlled at 68F

1 tsp Calcium chloride, 1/2 tsp Gypsum 100g Acid malt added to the mash for pH of 5.49.  1/2 tsp Gypsum added to the boil to accentuate hop sharpness.  Final water numbers:

Ca 62, Mg 3, Na 18, Cl 53, S04 91


Update March 8th

Terminal gravity 1.012.   Ale racked to keg and "bump" carbonated.  Allow to chill in the fridge overnight and then received 36psi for 30hrs.  Carbonation acceptable.   WLP007 Yeast reclaimed for later use in LowTech IIPA. 

LowTech IIPA v1

My first IIPA!  I've had these ingredients measured out for sometime.  They've been sitting in my cold room ready for the mill but I've been waiting to brew a lower gravity batch of beer for which I could harvest the yeast and pitch to this monster.  The Chinook SMaSH brew on March 3 proved to be the WLP007 yeast Donner and my IIPA was born shortly thereafter!

This is a modify Pliney the Elder malt bill, complete with corn sugar to hopefully drive down the final gravity and help dry out the final product.  I also employed a low mash temperature of 149, again with high attenuation in mind.  Minimal crystal malt was used, just enough for a bit of colour.

LowTech American IIPA v1

OG 1.085/ IBU ~100+/ SRM ~6/~26L

90.0% OiO Canadian Two-Row
05.0% Weyermann CaraFoam
03.0% Corn Sugar
02.0% Weyermann CaraMunich I (38L)

6.40 AAU of Cascade @ FWH
47.4 AAU of Columbus @ 60 minutes
15.8 AAU of Columbus @ 30 minutes
25.6 AAU of Cascade @ 05 minutes
12.8 AAU of Cascade @ 0 minutes

Dry Hop with 2oz of Cascade and 2oz of Columbus for 7 days.
Additional 2oz of Cascade whole leaf hops added to Keg.

Recipe brewed on March 11th

Brewed a 26L batch (post boil), ~23L into the fermenter.  Mashed @ 149F for 60 minutes, boiled for 90 minutes.  Corn Sugar added to the start of the boil.  Fermentation room ambient temperature 62-66F

1 tsp Calcium chloride, 1/2 tsp Gypsum, 1/2 tsp Epsom and 150g Acid malt added to the mash for pH of 5.49. 1 tsp Gypsum added to the boil to accentuate hop sharpness.  Final water numbers:

Ca 65, Mg 7, Na 18, Cl 46, S04 129

Update March 20th

Gravity reading 1.017 (4.39°P), ~8.7% ABV.

Update March 25th

Gravity  reading 1.017 (4.39°P), ~8.7% ABV.  Looks like we've hit terminal gravity.   The sample had an assertive bitterness, not at all Barley Wine like (good thing).  It finished quite dry as well (good thing).  The sample was slightly cloudy, very minor.  Subtle hop aroma, some alcohol notes.  Should diminish with further conditioning.  

Update March 27th

Racked to secondary.  2oz of Cascade and 20z of Columbus added to the carboy.

Update April 3rd

Racked to keg, 20z of Cascade whole leaf hops bagged and added to the keg.  Co2 pressure set to 30psi, after 24hrs will vent keg and set pressure back to serving pressure ~10psi.

Update April 7th

This stuff has kick!  What a beer.  Full review upcoming.

Update April 12th

Submitted a sample last night to local BJCP study group, awaiting feedback.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

LowTech Brown Porter v4

Quickly becoming a household favorite, I've brewed this brown porter on 3 different occasions, subtle changes each time.  For batch #4, the hop schedule remains intact.

However, due to limited supplies as well as an effort to reduce the malt bill's complexity, I've switched out the Canadian Two-row base malt in favour of Muntons Maris Otter.  The Maris Otter adds enough character that I figured the 2% Melanoidin used in previous version was redundant.  I've dropped the primary crystal malt, CaraMunich I, which had previously accounted for near 5% of the grist and increased CaraAroma from 2% to 7.5%.  I am hoping with a slight increase in the total crystal malt as well as increasing the mash temperature to 154F, I have enough dextrines to make up for 7.5% Flaked barley which has also been eliminated.

LowTech Brown Porter v4

OG 1.050/ IBU ~23/ SRM ~23/ ~41L

87.0% Muntons Maris Otter
7.50% Weyermann CaraAroma (130L)
03.7% Muntons Chocolate Malt
01.9% Muntons Black Patent Malt

8.95 AAU of Chinook @ 60 minutes
5.60 AAU of Willamette @ 15 minutes
5.60 AAU of Willamette @ 5 minutes

I am now brewing on a 50L Keggle so I was able to use two different yeasts.  One half received WLP005, the other a special Whitelabs strain, Essex Ale Yeast WLP022.

Recipe brewed March 17th

As noted previously, mash was conducted at 154F for 60 minutes.  I then batch sparged and boiled the wort for 60 minutes hopping according to the schedule above.  At the end of the boil, I whirlpooled for 20 minutes and then proceeded to chill the wort to 68F in 17 minutes.  The wort was given a chance to stand for 40 minutes where most of the cold break and hops and fallen to the bottom of the boil kettle.  

The wort was then transferred to each of the fermentation vessels where it was aerated with a Fizz-X wine degasser for 5 minutes.  WLP005 showed signs of activity within 3 hours.  The Essex Ale yeast was pitched directly from the Whitelabs vial and took near 30 hours before showing signs of krausen.  Should have used a starter.

1.5 tsp Calcium chloride, 1/2 tsp Gypsum, 1/2 tsp Epsom and 60g Acid malt added to the mash for pH of 5.50.   Final water numbers:

Ca 44, Mg 6, Na 18, Cl 51, S04 64 

Update March 19th

Both batches are actively fermenting.  I've completed a first "brown skim" off the WLP022 and have top cropped the second rise.  The WLP005, which is fermenting in a glass carboy, is showing vigorous activity.  The WLP005 yeast had been reclaimed from a previous batch of low gravity bitter, it appears very happy in it's new Porter environment.  Ambient temperatures in the fermentation room have ranged from 62 to 66F. 

Update March 20th

Essex Ale Yeast has been skimmed a third time.  This crop was extremely clean. 

Update March 24th 

Essex Ale Yeast (WLP022) - Gravity tested @ 1.0185 (4.7°P), 64% Attenuation
British Ale Yeast (WLP005) - Gravity tested @ 1.0169 (4.3°P), 66% Attenuation 
I have roused the WLP022 and increased the ambient temperature in the fermentation room.  I'd like to see the attenuation higher.   The ratings on either yeast is near 75%, so I am well below at this point.  Since both yeasts are behaving similarly, I am attributing the low attenuation with my mash.  7.5% crystal malt and 154F conversion temperature may have produced more unfermentable sugars than I had planned for. 

Update March 25th

Essex Ale Yeast (WLP022) - Gravity tested @ 1.0182 (4.64°P), 64% Attenuation
British Ale Yeast (WLP005) - Gravity tested @ 1.0162 (4.13°P), 66% Attenuation 
It appears neither yeast is moving much.  I sampled both tonight, I'd say at this point, the WLP005 is the better of the two.  Finishes slightly drier, more bready although the nose on the WLP005 is fruitier.  The WLP022 Essex Ale smells slightly of green apple and clearly needs more time to condition.  As far as flocculation, it's close with WLP005 being slightly clearer. 

Update March 27 

WLP005 racked to keg.  Pressure set to 36psi.  Recovered 600ml of slurry (300ml x 2 jars), topped off with boiled and cooled water.  

Update March 29th 

Vented the WLP005 keg and dropped to serving pressure.  Pulled a couple pints tonight.  Nice beer.  A little too bitter, might consider a different hop at 60 on future batch.  I am also missing the complexity some of the dropped specialty hops had provided in previous batches.  Little cloudy still.  

Update March 30th 

Racked WLP022 Brown Porter to secondary.  ~ 250ml of slurry recovered from the bottom of the fermenter and added to a 500ml mason jar filled with boiled and cooled water.

Update April 1st

WLP022 wort currently sitting in secondary, looks very clean.  Almost completely free of all yeast and other materials. 

Update May 16th 

WLP022 beer racked to keg, pressure set to 38psi.

Little Devil APA - Now Available from OBK

Ontario Beer Kegs has picked up one of my recipes!

Check it out:
OBK Little Devil Pale Ale by Craig





What's New!

I haven't been able to keep up on the Blog but that doesn't mean I haven't been brewing.  Check out the new  Brew Log tab to see what I've been up to.

In other news, I am now brewing on a slightly larger 50L Keggle.  I have built a new Jamil-style whirlpool wort chiller complete with a new 50ft 1/2" copper immersion chiller and Greatbrew Eh pump.  Life is good!