Brewing Activities (April edition)

@drink1121 I've been using John Palmer's residual alkalinity spreadsheet as my base for water adjustments. My RA when plugging in my water profile (which is extremely consistent quarter to quarter) starts around 16 and I usually find that adding calcium to drive it down to an RA of -60 will get me in the 5.2-5.3 mash pH range for very pale beers, usually around 115ppm calcium total.

For the pilsner I'm gonna brew, adding CaCl/Gypsum to get 50 ppm calcium drops the RA down to -20 on the spreadsheet. Plugging in 4.9mL (1 teaspoon, added to 7.5 gallons water) drops it further down to an RA at -122 which may or may not be enough. I'm just gonna add 1/2 tsp lactic acid to my total water before the mash and see where that takes me and add more if necessary after taking a mash pH reading. I'm not too worried about adding too much lactic acid, but I definitely do need to see what upper threshold I should limit it to. Worst case scenario I think I'll at least be able to get it in the 5.2-5.3 range without adding too much lactic acid, I know pH is logarithmic so I assume it will take more lactic acid for each incremental drop in pH.

It took some trial and error to get comfortable with what I need to do for pale pilsner malt based beers solely using calcium to get the mash pH where I want it. I am definitely expecting the same will be true with this approach. Luckily the city water is basically the same year round which makes things more predictable. Definitely will be taking detailed notes for next time!

 

Just finished up the sparge on this recipe: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/pseudo-zombie-apa-all-grain.216714/
but rather than Citra and/or Mosiac hops, per usual, I'm using Michigan Copper and Mackinac hops. I've heard good things. They come from https://www.tenaciousbadger.com/ so always nice to support local growers, as well, which, fortunately, is becoming more feasible with each passing year.

 

Keg cleaning. Transferring kettle soured sach trois session ale to keg for mosaic/citra dry hop. Realize I have some line maintenance to do on the keezer. Maybe that's a tomorrow activity.

 

Bottled my first dubbel whilst step-mashing my first all grain Hef. @VikeMan, didn't get to use your calc as I didn't not give myself enough time yesterday to do the (extremely minimal) amount of work to use it, so I went the full-volume-add-heat method with my BIAB setup.

 

Bottled Centennial/Jarrylo extract hoppy blonde today. Not exactly something I'd try to make again, but a good use of stuff I had laying around.

 

Brewing my first BIAB batch and first batch of the year. Hopefully it turns out well. I'm also realizing I need to shorten the tubing for my whirlpool pump getting more of a light twist then an outright whirlpool.

 

Ya the weakness of the whirlpool seems to have just kept the trub from settling rather than forming a cone. so this is probably the most trub i have ever transferred

 

So . . . bit of an NEIPA experiment here. Nothing exBEERiment worthy, but a departure from my usual techniques, none-the-less. What I want to see is what level of polyphenols does it take to make NEIPAs cloudy. In other words, what is the threshold for these highly flocculant yeast strains to produce protein-polyphenol complexes and/or fail to flocculate well.

For 5.5 gallons:

14 lbs. Maris Otter (usually my grist is 10 lbs MO & 4 lbs red wheat. Wheat is higher in polyphenols than barley)

Single infusion mash @ 148F for 1 hour

Runoff first 1.5 gallons and combine with 2 lbs cane sugar. Reduce by half. Cool. Add to fermenter.

Runoff next 6 gallons and boil for 1 hour without hops to concentrate and promote protein coagulation.

Add 6 oz. each of Jarrylo and Ekuanot at 180F (usually I add 16 - 18 oz.)

Cool and pitch Munton's Dry Ale Yeast

Ferment until krausen drops, then add first dry hop of 3 oz. Jarrylo

Dry hop for 2 days, then add second dry hop of 3 oz. Ekuanot

Dry hop for 2 days, then package

I know that this doesn't represent a huge change in recipe or technique by I am curious to find out how no wheat and 6 oz. less of hops will affect my end product.

Obviously these situations vary widely due to grist, hop varietals used, and yeast strain used, but I figured, "Why not give it a go?"

I'll report back when this beer has conditioned.

 

I did a similar process for a beer last summer. I had just brewed a milkshake NEIPA with oat milk, apple pectin, etc... for the following brew, I called it “no bullshit”. Turned out great
98% 2 row
2% acidulated malt
8oz citra + 8oz galaxy (half whirlpool, half DH)
London3
1.060 —> 1.014

 

@EvenMoreJesus i did the same exact thing last summer with marris otter and el dorado smash. All late hops and hopped during active fermentation and after it was done. Fermented with S0-4. It was DAMN good and a hit with all the people that came over. Tapped fast. Definitely hazy goodness, a beer snob (non brewer) would have sworn they could appreciate the oats.

Anyway prolly doing something similiar tomorrow. I got a bunch of Amarillo and some Citra I want to use up from 2016 so I can buy some new stock. Grain bill will be:
9lb castle Belgian pale ale malt ( heard it was similiar to marris otter and I bought a sack to experiment)
1 lb flaked oats
1lb simpsons golden naked oats
Safale04 or conan. Prolly so4

 

Going to brew my Gumballhead knockoff, love that one when the temps start rising. Nelson and Amarillo! Yum! Tastes like candy.

 

NEIPA



Something I've done before, but this time I will try cryo hops

 

Where are the cups labeled flameout/whirlpool?

 

If the look of this beer in the fermenter is any indication, it is going to be MUCH clearer than my previous attempts and I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's due to the exclusion of the wheat.

 

Other than FWH, they are all whirlpool additions.

 

So they are 40, 30, and 20 minutes into cooling?

 

Brewed 2 regular IPAs, wel one was a dipa using cascade, Columbus centenial and chinook. Usual marris otter L40 and caripills in one, Marris otter L20 victory and buisket malt in the other

 

Sort of... I had an immersion chiller in and took the temp down to 180F, then started a 40 min timer with the 40 min addition. At that point, the temp falls naturally, but I don't want it below 150F (or so). I recorded the 30 min addition at 170F and the 20 min at 160F. After the full 40 minute whirlpool, I then started cooling the wort down as you might ordinarily at flameout.

 

Interesting technique. How'd you come up with it?

 

Basically, it is my version (i.e. adapted to my equip.) of this: https://beerandbrewing.com/the-best-way-to-use-whirlpool-hops-in-homebrew/

Since you're also making a NEIPA, how are you achieving this?