Another year has past, with 2018 being somewhat experimental and getting use to brewing on new equipment (ss brewtech kettle, buffalo boiler & standalone mash tun) 

In hindsight it probably wasn't a good idea to do experimental batches while figuring out a new brew system, but brewing what I fancied at the time meant this. 

I also had  a bit of a set back in Oct when I fractured a bone in my right (dominant) hand, which put me out of action for 6 weeks. Fortunately I had just had kegged my milk stout (Brann's Breakfast Stout) however unfortunately that was the last brew I have done this year and with difficulty typing/use of computer I didn't right my reactions/thoughts of the beer/brewday up.

What I can say now though is that it came out exactly how I remembered from last year. Very pleased with it and when my parents came over for xmas, my Dad happily consumed 4 pints of it in one sitting. He was blown away by it!

For a present I got Camra's Essential home brewing book, which has some tasty looking recipes like from Verdant & their Pulp. I'll be looking forward to going through the book, it looks really interesting even for me who's been brewing for 3 years.

I also got a ball and keg level indicator which I'll leave my impressions here when I get round to testing my next batch. 

So what am I planning on brewing in 2019.....

I'll certainly be brewing Brann's Breakfast Stout again, maybe a smaller batch so I can drink it alongside a lighter beer. 

Saison of Love will be brewed again too, I tried to do a variation this year but it didn't live up to the original so I'll be sticking to my 'core range' version.

2019 will also be a time where I'll some recipes I didn't do last year, maybe to hone them so they can become part of my 'Core range'. I only have 4 'core range' currently, ones that I'll brew over and over, year after year. Brann's Breakfast Stout, Saison of Love (dry hopped Saison, Thai-Panda-Ale (American Pale Ale with Kaffir Lime Leaves) and a Cream Ale (which might get some variation/update in 2019). 

Until next time...... Have a Happy Brew Year!

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After much deliberation I took the plunge on buying a Tilt Hydrometer, its not a cheap piece of Homebrew Tech by any means. It came to £144 pounds from Malt Miller, pretty good as it was the updated v2 of the Tilt which usually goes for nearer/over £160.

The Tilt V2 has some improvements over it's predecessor:
Range: Better reception and range. With the increased transmission power your Tilt will send data through larger, thicker-walled fermenters.
Precision: Upgraded sensors. With an improved temperature sensor and accelerometer your Tilt will operate with more precision.
Efficiency: We’ve reduced power consumption so more brews, less battery. New Look: Newly designed custom circuit board and harness.

There are two ways to keep track of your brew, One which the google sheet is hosted for you, which you get access to, or you can host your own cloud app and store the brew sheets yourself. I wanted to do the later so I can keep hold of the sheets and felt bit more in control knowing its all hosted in my own 'google space' I followed these instructions on how to do it.



see also written instructions/links to sheets template

I did a few 'test brews' basically just putting the tilt in water to get use to the cloud logging/tilt setup and I just had remember to email the cloud url to myself and copy the link into the tilt app.

Another thing to note is that if you want a constant stream of data throughout the day, you will need to have a bluetooth device in range of the tilt. Fortunately I found an old iphone (probably the wife's!) that I keep plugged in next to the fermenter in the garage. You will also need to stop the phone/device from going into sleep mode or switching off.

iphone sits on top of cool brewing bag (housing fermentor)

Initial Impressions

The Tilt does not control fermentation, nor will it make a better brew. I still have an inkbird (probe goes into my SS brewtech termowell) to control fermenation temperatures.  

It is a great piece of equipment. Having that data and seeing the trend in fermentation opened, has helped stop obsessing over & wondering what the brew was doing. It's allowed me to gain extra control over the fermentation process - avoiding stalls and knowing when fermentation is done without taking numerous samples to find out.

I currently have my Saison Of Love in the fermentor with the yeast being pitched on 27th August.  

I could track easily when fermentation kicked off and the rate it was going, allowing me to increase the heat source in my brewing bag to maintain the temperature to slightly higher than room temperature (26c). It now appears (5 days later) that the fermentation has slowed, even though my OG was 4 points lower than my estimated OG of 1.052 the belle Saison yeast has been a monster and eaten 93.75% of the sugars. Apparent Attenuation is another bit of info the tilt allows you to track, so even though I was looking at on estimate a 5.5% saison, I am now looking at something in the region of 5.9%.

Screenshot of the Tilt Report Sheet

I have noticed however, that the during active fermentation the sheet did record some fluctuations of gravity readings, sometimes only 1 points sometimes it jumped up to 3 points.  You could however see a trend in activity so these blips can be ignored as it could record 2 'blips' say over several hours.  so nothing to really worry about, I could see the trend visually using the chart sheet.

screenshot of the Tilt Chart sheet

How the new Tilt V2 holds up in a heavy dry hopped brew, that is something I have to find out. The V1 Tilt apparently wasn't very accurate when using lots of dry hops as they were effecting the sensors.  The battery was another well documented flaw of the V1 with  a lot of users expressing frustration with the Tilt V1 cutting out mid fermentation after just using the Tilt for 1 previous brews before hand. Make sure you keep the Tilt upright when not in use as that will conserve power (puts the Tilt in sleep mode).

Both of these I will have to wait and see if the Tilt V2 has overcome, but my initial use of the Tilt V2 is that it could be a welcomed gadget in my home brewing arsenal.

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On many home brewers wish lists is a Brew fridge / kegregator or fermentation chamber.


 I for one have been one of those brewers, and I also know for one that you can drive your wife nuts going back and forth in deciding do you actually need one, rather than just wanting one!

I had all the parts to my keg setup already - Keg ✓ Keg Taps ✓  Co2 Canister ✓ Various lengths of 3/8" inch tubing ✓  All I really needed was a way to constantly keep the temperature, I was struggling to keep up with keeping 2 kegs chilled as water bottles in my cool brewing bag were defrosting too quickly and the temperature was fluctuating by about 7 degrees. Our main fridge/freezer was also struggling to freeze 8L of water in 2l bottles too.

So with abit of birthday money I bought a Beko fridge, one that could cope with the ambient temperatures that an outhouse/garage has.



Currently I have fridge magnets from the main fridge and a calendar to mark F1 dates and brew days. I'm looking at doing fridge magnets of the keg/tap labels to show what's on tap. Eventually I'll have a magnet chalk board but at the moment I like the randomness of the decoratations and the keg/tap labels will look really good once I print them off on magnet paper.

Now for the important inside.

 
I have 2 perlick 650s flow control taps, the one with the wooden handle is a newer model and seems better, has an extra gasket inside the tap and the flow handle is peiced together better.

I have a three way John guest splitter from my co2 canister, two tubes feed kegs and one spare to purge any bottles or growlers.

Each of the 3/8" tubing have a flow control cut off close to the spilter, useful when I only want to focus on 1 of the outlets. At the end of each tube is a quick release/push fit connector, making it easier for maintenance/cleaning.

The co2 canister lives outside the fridge so I can monitor the pressure easier.
I also use my inkbird temp controller so that the fridge is only on when it needs to be, saving electricity. It holds the temperature well however when I open it in this heat it quickly rises a few degrees but chills back down just as quick.

All seems pretty good and a solution to my problems, especially when I had the taps and didn't want to drill the fridge door to put proper shank taps in to make a proper kegregator.
Hopefully this gives some pointers for other brewers if you've been thinking of doing the same steps.

Until next time...... Happy brewing

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I've been wanting to try Denali hops for a few brews now but haven't come up with a suitable recipe/hop schedule. However after reading an article in a recent BYO magazine on Award Winning Home brew APA recipes, I got a few pointers and fleshed out a new recipe. Even though I have a few cans from them I also wanted to create something like thairannocitrus from staggeringly good, using Kaffir Lime leaves too.

I aimed this brew day to coincide with Fathers day, so my dad could have a full keg (of my 9l keg) and I could have some too.
During the mash the target temp was more like 70oC than the 67oc target. While I over spared my preboil gravitiy was 10.40 instead of 10.35, I did this sparge as my boiler was heating up, so it seemed to take less time to hit boiling temps which has been litterly like watching & waiting for a kettle to boil in the past - pain staking!

SG was 1050 and FG was 1014 making it 4.7%

When it came to kegging it filled my 9l keg full for my dad (as it was a fathers day present) and probably about 1/2 that amount in one of my full sized kegs for myself.

The very small sample when I kegged it had a sweet pineapple/peach aroma, tasted the same but the lime came through after. Not too overpowering.

I waited 4 days after applying the gas, and although still slightly under carbed it tasted so so nice, full of citrus (aroma and flavour), then the aromatic lime taste from the kaffir lime leaves.

Basically was like Staggeringly Good's Thairannocitrus but super charged! If I have a craving for their beer now I might just have to brew my own.

Very pleased with the results so far. Have to drink this fresh! I could be the first new batch that gets added to my 'core range' (brews to brew again). 

See the full recipe on brewers friend.






Until Next Time...... Happy Brewing

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Have you ever wanted to give your home brew as a gift/present but only have a keg setup? Since moving house and using my keg equipment more I have been thinking the same..

I use to syphon some beer off into a bottling bucket and condition x amount of beers (usually 6 or 12) to give to, say my dad, as a gift or fathers day present. However in the past the carbonation of the bottles have been somewhat inconsistent and on one occasion (bottled version of my Breakfast Stout) a bottle bomb could of happened. Well almost - upon opening it frothed out more than the Kilauea volcano (too soon?)  so my dad didn't end up having much apart from a big head on a few bottles. You also always get unwanted sediment and the time to condition is always an extra factor to take into effect.

So I thought of the idea to use my keg and use my bottle filler to bottle from my keg directly. Knowing I can get the carbonation right and will eliminate the issues I've had with bottling.
One problem however is that if I give a full 6/12 pack to my dad he could not drink a bottle for a few weeks. Which could mean that the carbonation levels drop in the bottle. All the how to videos I've watched state you should cap on foam and you purge the bottle before filling.

Something that is quite common when bottle filling from a keg, regardless of the way you transfer it. Counter pressure fillers work well but I wouldn't want to leave for 2/3 weeks to find it was flat. A week seems the cut off before carbonation starts to drop.

Transferring to a Flip top bottle.

So this leaves me with doing some 'Beer Tokens' that I intend to give to the amount (in pints/bottles) that I would usually give. In my case for this Fathers Day I intend to fill my 9l keg for my dad and have beer tokens to the amount (in pints) that the keg holds.

If you have someone that lives close you could do a few bottles a time to take around/they come to you whenever they want, it'll be like having your own personal tap room!

It might even be a bit more fun for them to get stamped for the beers.
I still have my old bottling bucket so can give this a try this time and if it doesn't really work then I can go back to bottling. 
Have you any other good ideas to give your home brew away as gifts?

What beer tokens could look like

Until Next time......Happy Brewing

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Its been a long few months with lots of DIY/home improvements going a few weeks ago I was able to do an experimental batch of beer.
Why is it experimental? well unfortunately recently when I purchased one of my favourite beers Proper Job in bottle form I found it tasting abit bland and 1 bottle I had almost tasted off, the next day I had the new JD cider and liked the smokeyness but then followed by the classic refreshing cider aspect.  Which lead me to think...have my tastes changed.....and how will a smoked beer taste.....

Two questions that made me ponder over a few weeks, until I could research smokey beers (and if they worked well with hops). What I wanted was a smokey beer but hoppy (but minimal bitterness) in a citrus tropical way too....An odd combo but having the ability to try our own style you can satisfy (hopefully!!) the cravings. Turns out that there are, small number mainly a derivative of an American Brown Ale/ Brown IPA.

Brewday happened and this past sunday I kegged it (carbing up with my new soda stream canister to test for coming months ahead of my next wedding batches), worked out pretty well as I was just about got a full keg. I mean just about as I was fearing I was going to get an overspill as it kept on coming.

I also had 2/3 of a pint spare at the end which I could do a quick sniffer test....it was 11am so didn't want to consume the whole glass that early!

It appears to have turned out really well - its carbing up ready for a proper test over the weekend however it does appear very well rounded, smells very tropical/citrus. You then get a taste of smokeyness not overpowering as I played safe and used cherrywood smoked malts which give a rounded subtle smoke character.

I kept with my favourite galaxy hops and went with citra (apparently one of the beasty citrus hops) to accompany them, these came through at the end, followed with a slight aftertaste of smoke again. Slightly more time to meld together will hopefully improve this beers characteristics.

Would I want to do this beer again, we'll find out in 18 pints time when the keg's empty.....by 1st impressions it could be one to drink while its fresh..

Until next time......Happy Brewing

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Hi all, Happy Brew year.

Its been a lot longer  than my usual intermission between posts, mainly due to me moving into a house, leaving the flat after 5 years.

We (myself and my wife) moved at the beginning of Dec and while its felt like home instantly there is a number of improvements and add  'our touches' across the house to make it more us.

With us also hosting Christmas and inviting my parents over during the Christmas period I wanted get a brew on, as 5 months break was too much and I probably annoyed the wife too much complaining I wanted to brew but couldn't, as things were all boxed up.

I managed to fit a brew in and get it ready for Christmas, I would of preferred longer time but at least I could determine I could do it at a push.
It probably was the best brew day to date, not only did I not have to worry regarding leaving things out or in the way, as our new home has an internal garage, but the smell didn't upset the wife nor did I have to book a day off to do it as I just got up early doing it on the weekend.



The recipe was abit of a test - borrowing elements from different recipes I've done in the past, however I did name it - Home is where the Hop Is. No label currently due to Christmas and things being Topsy Turvey due to silly season.
I will keep the malt profile, however the hops might change and use it showcase different hops.

Either this was a fluke or due to the temps I started at but I got the best efficiency I have ever got, so instead of aiming for a seasonable - 3.8% it actually came out at 5.2% however even with me and dad drinking a few pints each during Christmas eve and Boxing day we didn't notice it.



So all good things....as I type this and munching on my Christmas chocolate I'm getting the craving for my Brann's Breakfast stout....

 Until next time.....Happy Brewing

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