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**** it, I bought one of those Massive Brewery kits.
I'm liking the idea of being able to make something like the Sierra Nevada or Erdinger at home.
Another sale for Massive! I'd love to know how many people have bought one from here since I first posted about it! I reckon Steve owes me a beer or three....! 😀
sort out the basics on simple brews first ygh....
<pedant alert>
surely a "black" "IPA" is a contradiction in terms? If it's "black", it's hardly an India [i]"Pale"[/i] Ale 😉
</pedant alert>
anyway, Saltaire Brewery do a Black IPA in bottles, "Kala" is the name.
I think it's 6.7% ABV, and very nice it is too. Like an IPA but, well, black. I don't recall any particular roastiness...
Clobber's right though, keep it simple to start with.
For recipes, apart from the hundreds available online, Graham Wheeler's book "Brew Your Own British Real Ale" is almost considered "the bible"; other books are available, e.g. Dave Lines' Brew Beers Like You Buy
I have that Dave Lines book - I know he was a great pioneer an all but some of those recipes seem a bit unconvincing. He's got stuff like Harp lager in it. Guess I should try brewing it before casting doubt.
Sierra Nevada is a pretty simple recipe isn't it? Some bittering hops then an ass-load of cascade, done.
Sierra Nevada is a pretty simple recipe isn't it? Some bittering hops then an ass-load of cascade, done.
The link to the recipe in my OP is the one I used and it is indeed pretty simple. Turned out really well too.
He's got stuff like Harp lager in it
And Special Brew
[img] 
[/img]
Might give it a whirl.
Binners has let himself go a bit, hasn't he?
an ass-load of cascade, done.
is that a beersmith recognised measure? 😆
having failed to learn my lesson with chillers i'm now bawdeep in measuring voile fabric to make a truncated cone BIAB bag, bring on the pain! Luckily i know an excellent seamstress so i can blame her if the seams fail 🙂
Aye, I'll start with what you get in the Massive Brewery kit and once I've used that there is a home brew store on my street so I'll go in and talk to them.
I could expect to be making something like Sierra Nevada after I've had a few gos at it though?
yes something like it! lots of factors though from your water to your mash temp to controlling fermentation temp, bur somewhere near!
Mugsys_m8, [url= http://www.brasserie-pleinelune.fr/ ]http://www.brasserie-pleinelune.fr/[/url] is in your neck of the woods, at least it's your side of Valence and their IPA is good enough. I haven't tried the other beers they make, but they'll be worth a try if they're as good as that.
That Massive set-up is rather tempting, nothing comes close at that price.
a mate came round on sunday to do a double brew
here is the timlapse 8 hours. in 3 mins
[quote=CaptainFlashheart said]Binners has let himself go a bit, hasn't he?
He's slimmed down though.
Are there any Homebrew equivalents to Chain Reaction. I have a (work) idea that they and the micro / homebrew community themselves may be interested in but there's no way I could set up to distribute individually. If there was a CRC equivalent or equivalents that might be able to distribute for me, it might work.
Bit secret squirrel as it's just an idea for now.......
I made an awesome Black IPA/Cascadian Dark/whatever last year. 6% of dark, hoppy lovelyness 🙂
Got the hops in stock to brew it again soon.
Are there any Homebrew equivalents to Chain Reaction
Not really - the only ones that I've been aware of over the last few years haven't done so well, the most popular and reliable tend to be offshoots of LBSs - with the exception of Barley Bottom which is not a local brew shop, but it is a one man band type affair.
I don't think there is the scale in the UK market to support something like CRC - a quick look over the "big" websites and you will see it restricted to pretty much kit beers, rather than anything more substantial.
Homebrew is on the rise at the moment, as this thread shows, I suppose. More and more people I know are brewing full grain at home these days, mainly for cost reasons. So, there may well be a market for something like that, but the way that CRC really got going was by selling old stuff cheaply to start with. There's no real 'last year's model' marketing to be had in the brewing industry, is there?
There are loads of really good little independent brewshops out there, and many (if not all) of them do some sort of online stuff as well.
Cost of shipping must be an issue for online brew-shops. Involves a lot of low value, heavy and/or large items - not sure how you avoid piling on big transit costs to the buyer.
This looks like fun.
what do i need to get started and where do i get all the gear from??
what do i need to get started and where do i get all the gear from??
Another shameless plug here, but one I think that others would agree with. For a starter, full grain brew kit, http://www.massivebrewery.com/ is a really good place to kick off.
Everything you need to get started* brewing your own.
*Everything except sufficient empty bottles in to which you can put your beer. Of course, this means you'll have to find a way to get some empty beer bottles....First, take a full beer bottle......
Of course, this means you'll have to find a way to get some empty beer bottles....First, take a full beer bottle......
a dirty job but someone has to do it 😉
actually, just a thought... it's worth shelling out on a box of PET beer bottles, using one or two in each batch that you bottle. When you fill the bottle, it's soft & squeezable. When the beer has had enough time for carbonation, it's hard. oo-er missus
There's no real 'last year's model' marketing to be had in the brewing industry, is there?
That's very true - once you are set up with brewing kit, then it's just sundries, unless you want to upscale to bigger volumes, but that's rare really, most people are fine with 5 gallons, and it's not much more trouble to double brew, and you then get 2 different types of beer!
truncated cone BIAB bag template successfully carved out of paper this lunchtime, thanks to an empty floor space, some maths and a fibre patch cord and zip ties as a stringline 🙂
need to check it fits my brewpot now, procure the voile and hand over to our tame seamstress for finishing.
massive brewery have been sold out everytime I've tried today....
OCRider: thanks I'll take a peek.
massive brewery have been sold out everytime I've tried today....
It's only a one man band, so drop him a line and ask when his next batch will be ready. He's a top chap!
We pay 60p a Kilo for Crushed Maris Otter . Have to buy 1 ton to get that price though.
STM, would you do a cheeky reselling deal for STWbrewers? Smaller quantities, obviously!
Ditto hops....
Whereabouts are you, if collection is an option!
😉
Minimum order at Fawcetts malts in Castleford is 10 bags of mixed malts
cash on collection approx £18 for a 25 kg bag of Maris otter
and similar for other malts
[b]Massive Brewery - BeerSmith Equipment profile[/b]
I've spent a fair bit of time fine tuning my equipment profile on Beersmith the match the Massive Brewery kit.
To help anyone trying to scale recipes on Beersmith, I've uploaded it:
One thing you'll need to be aware of is that I now use one large bag rather than two smaller ones. My overall efficiency was dreadful trying to brew anything over 4-5% due to the bags getting too full. A bigger bag allows me to "rain in" the grain while stirring too. This change led to a jump from under 60% to 73% in efficiency. If you plan on using the two bags supplied with the kit, I'd suggest adjusting the efficiency figure in the profile back down to 60%.
By using this profile, you can download any recipe in beersmith format (or input ones you've found elsewhere) and then instantly scale it to work with the massive brewery kit.
As a failed brewer I am loving this thread! Must get my kit out the loft and extend the shed.
Thanks PF, that will prove really useful indeed.
+1 thanks peter
Where did you buy the new bag (or did you make it)? Reading around it seems stirring is useful for getting a good efficiency but that's not very easy with the Massive bags.
I picked up a mashing bag from my LHBS. It's much bigger than my pot but doesn't really matter.
It has a drawstring, so I can keep it tight round the pot, then "rain" the grain in whilst stirring. This avoids the grain clumping together.
When I do my dunk sparge, I dunk the bag in, open it up and give it a good stir for a minute, leave for a few minutes, then stir again etc. As I mentioned, my efficiency is MUCH better now, plus it's less faffing around with only one bag and less cleaning 🙂
Thanks all for your comments on the CRC equivalent in the homebrew world.
Seems for good reasons that there isn't one major, but I'm interested instead then by the myriad smaller LHBS network.
What's the STW equivalent in HB? Beersmith?
I read most of the bigger forums. Jim's Beer Kit has some UK specific info, but focuses quite heavily on kits.
homebrewtalk.com is probably my favourite, but it's mostly US. Not that it really matters, but it's worth bearing in mind that you'll end up an expert in US craft brewing rather than UK! I really like the US craft brew scene, so it works for me. There's a mountain of information and it's a very active forum.
Jim's Beer Kit has some UK specific info, but focuses quite heavily on kits.
???
have you been into the forum on JBK? there are separate sections for All Grain, BIAB, kit brewing, extract brewing, recipes etc
That's the bit I was talking about John. I do like the forum and use it loads, but just noticed it seems to have more kits talk compared to the US forums. Out of a few hundred thousand posts on JBK, about 100,000 are directly related to kits, which will then filter into the more general forums.
Homebrewtalk has (literally) millions of posts, but also with 100,000 on extract/kits, so proportionally it's much more focussed on all grain.
Actually, I don't even know why i'm bothering trying to attach figures to it, it's just what I notice when I search for stuff in either forum, it wasn't designed as a negative comment 🙂
[url= http://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum.php ]Homebrew Talk main forum page[/url]
[url= http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php ]Jim's Beer Kit forum page[/url]
perhaps there's not as big a kit side to the industry in the US as in the UK?
don't forget less than a century ago, alcohol & its production were [i]illegal[/i] in the USA.
you have to remember that many home brewers in the UK first come into the hobby when they're bought a beer kit for christmas; some brewers are perfectly happy with the results & never go beyond kits
oh aye, like I say, it wasn't meant as a negative thing. I just found that there's an incredible amount of info out there for new brewers, when you have a question you need to research, it makes it easier when you're comparing apples with apples. e.g. if I find a similar thread to my question on a forum, it helps me when it's about all grain/biab, since I know it will work for me. It's all quite overwhelming when you start out, so it's nice to focus on the threads that are following the same process as you.
There is also [url= http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/ ]The home brew forum [/url]
I've also used the brewuk forum (www.brewuk.co.uk), although its attached to a store its quite good as a resource.
It's all quite overwhelming when you start out, so it's nice to focus on the threads that are following the same process as you
you got that right 🙂
Its incredible the equipment, process and sometimes chemistry / art / alchemy thats employed in complex brewing. The good thing is its as complex as you want it to be and once you figure that out as a beginner, its great fun 🙂
Arrrggghhh, my first brewing "disaster" last night 🙁
Had an empty house so decided to brew a centennial blonde which I was going to keg for a mate's birthday.
Everything went well and after 30 mins of cooling I went to grab the pot and get it into the fermenter.
Unfortunately the cold water had caused the copper to shrink enough to allow water to squirt out of a space where it meets the plastic tubing. So when i went to collect my pot it was overflowing with tap water 🙁
That said, there was a clear separation between the wort and the 4 or 5 inches of tap water on top, so I tried to scoop it out as best as I could.
I took a gravity reading after it went into the FV and I only missed my target by a couple of points, so I must have got most of the tap water out. So provided it's not picked up anything that shouldn't be in there, it might work out after all.
Done that, I feel for you. You could've started the boil again...
@peterfile, I've been playing around with BeerSmith using your equipment profile. Thanks again for sharing it!
I was just wondering what mash profile you were using with it? I have done a bit of reading and if I understand correctly the Massive Brewery kit uses the Maxi-BIAB method (where the sparge water fills up the pot so by the end you've used more total water than the pot could originally hold). I found a few threads about how to program Beer Smith for Maxi-BIAB but I didn't really understand them to be honest!!
Sorry to hear about your brewing (near) disaster! Was that using the supplied Massive immersion chiller? Something to be wary of do you think?
You could've started the boil again...
Dammit...didn't even think of that!
I was just wondering what mash profile you were using with it? I have done a bit of reading and if I understand correctly the Massive Brewery kit uses the Maxi-BIAB method (where the sparge water fills up the pot so by the end you've used more total water than the pot could originally hold). I found a few threads about how to program Beer Smith for Maxi-BIAB but I didn't really understand them to be honest!!
Sorry, I should have mentioned, I just ignore the water volumes that beersmith produces (it doesn't have the ability to set up for Maxi BIAB).
Basically, I fill up my kettle with 9 litres of water, get it up to the strike temp and then mash in that. Then I fill up my FV with about 3-4 litres of hot water straight from my tap (I don't bother getting it to 80 degrees as suggested by massive brewery, it makes no difference to efficiency). Squeeze the bag from the kettle over the kettle, dunk it in the FV and stir it around for a bit. Squeeze it over the FV and then pour the FV into the kettle so that it's about an inch or two from the top. That's it. I'm consistently getting 73% brewhouse efficiency doing it that way.
Sorry to hear about your brewing (near) disaster! Was that using the supplied Massive immersion chiller? Something to be wary of do you think?
I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it in future, but I think it was a one off, just unfortunate. I suppose the key is to make sure the water pressure isn't too high, so no need to turn the tap on full!
I added a couple of extra jubilee clips to my immersion chiller. worked for a while but then it started leaking into the wort again.
so I got a counterflow plate chiller and now I use that instead.
Not cheap but there's NO chance of the tap water coming into contact with the wort, and as an added bonus, it uses a lot less water AND is done in the time it takes to empty the boiler.
Awesome, thanks!Basically, I fill up my kettle with 9 litres of water, get it up to the strike temp and then mash in that. Then I fill up my FV with about 3-4 litres of hot water straight from my tap (I don't bother getting it to 80 degrees as suggested by massive brewery, it makes no difference to efficiency). Squeeze the bag from the kettle over the kettle, dunk it in the FV and stir it around for a bit. Squeeze it over the FV and then pour the FV into the kettle so that it's about an inch or two from the top. That's it. I'm consistently getting 73% brewhouse efficiency doing it that way.
Basically, I fill up my kettle with 9 litres of water, get it up to the strike temp and then mash in that. Then I fill up my FV with about 3-4 litres of hot water straight from my tap (I don't bother getting it to 80 degrees as suggested by massive brewery, it makes no difference to efficiency). Squeeze the bag from the kettle over the kettle, dunk it in the FV and stir it around for a bit. Squeeze it over the FV and then pour the FV into the kettle so that it's about an inch or two from the top. That's it. I'm consistently getting 73% brewhouse efficiency doing it that way.
Same here. Never really needed to get it to 80. While mashing, I heat up a pan or two of water for the FV. This actually helps me, as using the hotter plate keeps the temperature of the Aga simmering plate a little cooler for the mash. It's working pretty well like that.
so I got a counterflow plate chiller and now I use that instead.
John, it's on my shopping list. Although i've already got some plans in action for when I move house...
Also, another idea.....
I'm not sure the logistics would work, but it would be good to set up an STW homebrewers beer swap?
Everyone could post up the beers they'd be willing to swap and then agree to exchange for one from another STWers list. Then give each other tasting notes! I'd happily give up 2 or 3 bottles from each batch in order to get some tasting notes and try some other people's recipes.
You could get 3 or 4 bottles sent for about a fiver via collect+ I think.
Right, STW - Pimp my brew
A quick audit shows that I have the following
Crystal, crushed crystal and chocolate
Target and Goldings hops
Various yeasts to cover pretty much anything from stout to a light 'farm beer'
What shall I go for this weekend? (MassiveBrewery stylee)
Well you'll need a base malt e.g. pale malt also.
Crystal and chocolate with target and goldings says traditional bitter to me - you could do anything from a mild through to a best or beyond depending on home much you put in.
Assuming you have some base malt then you are close to a Newcastle brown clone
By brother brewed this last week
Newkie Brown
Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale) (8 C)Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 23.00 l
Boil Size: 25.81 l
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 23.92 l
Final Bottling Vol: 23.00 l
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
Date: 19 Feb 2014
Brewer: Troutie
Asst Brewer:
Equipment: Trouts equipment
Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Taste Rating: 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5.11 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 96.6 %
0.07 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC) Grain 2 1.4 %
0.07 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 3 1.4 %
0.04 kg Black (Patent) Malt (985.0 EBC) Grain 4 0.7 %
23.00 g Target [11.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 26.1 IBUs
14.00 g Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 3.6 IBUs
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 7 -
Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color
Est Original Gravity: 1.052 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.4 %
Bitterness: 29.7 IBUs
Est Color: 27.1 EBC Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Calories: 427.1 kcal/l
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Sparge Water: 17.31 l
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE
Total Grain Weight: 5.29 kg
Grain Temperature: 22.2 C
Tun Temperature: 22.2 C
Mash PH: 5.20 Mash Steps Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 13.80 l of water at 74.2 C 65.6 C 75 min
Sparge: Fly sparge with 17.31 l water at 75.6 C
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Bottle
Pressure/Weight: 135.29 g
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 21.1 C
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Carbonation Used: Bottle with 135.29 g Corn Sugar
Age for: 30.00 days
Storage Temperature: 18.3 C
Notes
Created with BeerSmith
I'm another Massive Brewery convert and did my first all grain brew yesterday after previously dabbling in a few extract kits from brewuk. I wonder if any of you experienced brewers have suggestions for a couple of issues I encountered/am encountering...
#1 24 hours on and I've got no visible sign of fermentation. The room is a bit cool at 15c
#2 When I got the strike temp to 72 And added the grain, it dropped the temp of the water to 65c but the temp inside the grain bags was only 62 - even after stirring (I copied his brew day video). I wasn't sure what to do, so I just carried on. Will this cause any problems? OF seemed okay at 1044.
Cheers
Temp could do with upping to around 18 / 20 c
yes normal to see no signs of action in the first 24 hours
Your mash should be ok and may even have more fermentable sugars seeing as you mashed low .
OK guys, got my Massive Brewery kit - going to attempt my first ever homebrew tonight.
Send me beer-mojo.... and a link to that instruction video?
Thanks for the info Trout.. Will up the temp when I return home.
Link for the video is here guitarhero:
Good luck and don't let the colander drop in the wort like I did!
remember - keep the recipe simple until you've done a few
@Peterfile (or anyone)- Any suggestions for going about something like the Two-Hearted IPA with the Massivebrew kit. I've used your set-up on Beersmith (Thanks!) to scale the recipe down, but do you have any advice on when to add the speciality grains as I've only brewed using the single malt/hop standard recipe that came with the kit. Cheers!
I've always put all my grains in the mash together; the longer you leave them out, the less of the fermentables & flavours you get. granted I haver a 32L boiler rather than the Massivebrew kit, but the principle's the same
Hops on the other hand, are a different matter, as I'm sure you know
Thanks John - Yep, for the hops side of things sorted, (more or less. Plenty of experimentation to be done yet!) It's just the speciality malt side of things I need to get my head around. Going to try and pick up a few bits this afternoon . Excited to try something new!
I had my first go with the Massive Brewery kit on Sunday.
Some kind of reaction is happening anyway - got brown foam on top of the beer right now.
sounds good ygh. my latest batch (St Austell Proper Job clone) is about ready to bottle...
now to think what to brew for my next batch.
albino, post up your scaled recipe if you like and I can have a quick look at mine to check it has scaled correctly.
john - do you know your way around a water report? I've had mine from Scottish Water and have tried putting the figures through a few calculators, however i'm not 100% sure that i am doing it properly, it's a foreign language to me.
haven't a clue I'm afraid 🙁
I think there's a section in the Graham Wheeler book on this though
all I know is that the water I use makes nice beer without any additives other than a campden tablet.
I do a regular demo brewday at my LHBS and both the owner & I are both of the opinion "Start with no treatment, if it works don't mess"
Ditto what JD said though I do add a spoon of Gypsum to the mash and the boil as we do have very soft water here .
I'm going to brew proper job this weekend! Real nice pint and it's on in my local... What could be better!!
With water treatment I did the standard 1/2 a Campden tablet to de-chlorinate the brewing liquor and a spoonful of Gypsum in the mash for ages until I was comfortable with the whole brewing process. Then I looked into water treatment and found the water company's report didn't have the required data. I then used [url= http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/water/water.html ]Graham Wheeler's online calculator[/url], I simply use an [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Salifert-KH-Alkalinity-Profi-Marine-Test-Kit-/330950516676 ]alkalinity test kit[/url] and plug the figure into the calculator. We've got really hard water and I get a figure around 280CaCO3. The calculator works out how much [url= http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=388 ]carbonate reducing solution[/url] to use and the amount of salts / minerals to add to the brewing liquor.
It really improved my beers, but I'd say not as much as being able to control fermentation temperature in a fridge with a 60W tube heater.
EDIT: One of these days I'll get a proper report done by [url= http://laboratory.murphyandson.co.uk/our-products/water/ ]Murphys.[/url]
Cheers,
Jamie
@Peterfile (@anyone)- Here's the scaled-down version I've got on Beersmith. How does it look? (I've got a large bag for all the grain, so have used your improved efficiency calculation).
[img][URL= http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j159/albino1975/B2HIPA_zpsbd31597c.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j159/albino1975/B2HIPA_zpsbd31597c.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL][/img]
If it's just a case of adding all the grain for the full length of the mash, then that makes life easier for ongoing experimentation. Did you use the same yeast for yours? I've only ever used Safale05 (dry)- never done a yeast starter before.
Cheers
Ah, I'm not so good with lbs and oz! (you can change beersmith to metric if you prefer).
What's the total grain bill (it's just out of sight on the bottom right of that screen shot).
To do it the way I did use the massive brewery kit (which gives the 73% efficiency):
get about 9 litres of water up to 74 degrees
stir in all your grains (I use one bag rather than two, so if you're using two your efficiency will prob be a bit lower)
leave for 60 mins (I put it in to my oven at 60 degrees so no temp loss!)
at end of mash, fill up the FV with about 4 litres of hot water from the tap (provided you're on a combi boiler and not pulling from a tank)
squeeze bag over kettle
put bag in FV and stir about a bit, leave for 5-10 mins
squeeze bag over FV
pour FV contents into kettle
boil kettle and follow hop additions
put cooler in slowly about 5 mins from end of boil
at end of boil, hook up to tap and run cooler for about 30 mins
sanitise FV and any equipment that might touch wort
pull out hop bags and place them inside sieve
pour cooled wort over hop bags and into FV
pour in yeast
leave for about 7-10 days and then dry hop according to schedule (I just throw in whole hops to the primary FV 🙂
As for a yeast starter, you don't need to bother when using those WYeast packs on a batch of this size, there's plenty of healthy yeast. Smack the pack a few hours before you brew and it will be ready to just pour in when you're done.
put cooler in slowly about 5 mins from end of boil
I'd give it 15 to be honest, to be sure it's sterilised. also, run some cold water through it before you add it to the boiler to check for leaks. no point boiling for an hour to reduce the wort volume if you're just going to top it up again 😉
for yeast I tend to use either Safale US05 (or occasionally Mangrove Jack's US West Coast) for really pale beers, Safale S04 for dark beers, and Danstar Nottingham yeast for Stouts & Porters. If I did lagers I'd use Safale's Saflager yeast.
apart from the Nottingham, the yeasts just sprinkle directly onto the chilled wort; Nottingham needs rehydrating in 100ml of tepid water - instructions on the pack. About half the price of the smack-packs.
I'd give it 15 to be honest, to be sure it's sterilised. also, run some cold water through it before you add it to the boiler to check for leaks. no point boiling for an hour to reduce the wort volume if you're just going to top it up again
haha touché! That particular batch seems to have turned out OK. will be bottling at the weekend so fingers crossed!
Aye, I tend to sanitize the cooler before it goes in. It has a tendency to kill my boil, so I rarely risk sticking it in that far in advance any more.
About half the price of the smack-packs.
I normally use Safale for all of my brews, however after doing a bit of research, the common consensus seems to be that the Denny's yeast is "needed" for that 2 hearted IPA. I've just started drinking my second batch of it, used Safale the second time, and the difference is pronounced. I can only put that down to the yeast, since nothing else was different this time.
they are expensive mind you!
Does it matter if the boil stops for a couple of mins?
(serious question, I don't know...)
[quote=Clobber said]Does it matter if the boil stops for a couple of mins?
(serious question, I don't know...)
Nope
haha touché! That particular batch seems to have turned out OK. will be bottling at the weekend so fingers crossed!
I wasn't having a go, I've done it myself. twice 😳
Aye, I tend to sanitize the cooler before it goes in. It has a tendency to kill my boil, so I rarely risk sticking it in that far in advance any more.
but if you give it a 15 minute boil, you don't need to sanitise it...
THanks for the tips everyone and thanks for the comprehensive instructions Peterfile - That looks fairly do-able. Here's the bigger picture picture from Beersmith. I've changed to metric and the total grain weight seems to be okay.
[URL= http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j159/albino1975/B2HIPA2_zpsc2ce76e3.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j159/albino1975/B2HIPA2_zpsc2ce76e3.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
I've got another of noob question too, if anyone feels like helping on a Friday evening. I bottled my first batch today but have only ended up with about 7 litres of beer. It seems like I've managed to "lose" quite a bit - I'm just trying to figure out how.
I followed the volumes from the Massive recipe and figure that I lost some through Gravity readings and a bit of spillage. I also didn't fill the kettle right to the top, (maybe an inch lower) as I was a bit wary of any boil-over. Even taking this into account, it doesn't seem to account for a missing 3 litres!! Any ideas. I presume I've made an error somewhere, I'd just like to figure it out before the next brew on Monday! (OG was 1.044 FG 1.011)
Thanks again to all for all the informative posts on here...Keep it up 🙂
Only problem now is which one of these to have tonight...
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I've got another of noob question too, if anyone feels like helping on a Friday evening. I bottled my first batch today but have only ended up with about 7 litres of beer. It seems like I've managed to "lose" quite a bit - I'm just trying to figure out how.
7 litres is about right for the massive brewery kit in my experience. I tend to end up with 8-9 litres in the FV, but then you lose some to trub and shrinkage. Getting 14 bottles is about the limit with this kit for me.
You'll notice on your screenshot that the "batch size" is 8.5l. That's the amount you put into the fermenter, so you've only "lost" 1.5l.
Your grain bill looks fine to me though. If you're using two bags (i.e. the ones that came with the massive brewery kit), you can expect a wee bit of a drop in efficiency, which means a lower ABV. However, this is a fairly big beer, so it's not that much of a problem. If I'm honest, I'd prefer it a little weaker, although I know it's not technically in keeping with the style.
Great! At least I know I'm getting things sorted now! The taste I had from the final Gravity reading showed signs of promise so I'm pretty happy at the moment.
I'm looking forward to experimenting bit-by-bit now. Once I'm more confident I'd be up for your beer exchange idea too.