Just because I'm excited about it...

Our Wedding!!!

Bottling Number VIII

With Jean the bottling begins. Primer was 400ml light spray malt in a litre of water, boiled and cooled.

Final tasting notes show a beer with some esther characteristics but light and a little bitterness. The flavour is interesting,though it's still relatively early. Bottling went well following the same procedure as VII, giving about 55 bottles.

FG is 1024@17C
SG was 1056@20C

Hydrometer must be read at 20C, and to the lowest level of the meniscus.
Correction for other temperatures to hydrometer reading is 0.002 to 0.003 per 10C, temperature too high will give a reading too low, temperature too low will give a reading too high.

For this calculation:
Correct 1024@17C to 1023@20C

1.056 - 1.023 = 0.033 * 105 = 3.5
This, I think, is % by weight, not % by volume, or something and needs another correction.

Ah, found here: http://www.realbeer.com/library/beerbreak/archives/beerbreak0301.php
Alcohol percentage by weight equals 76.08 times Original Gravity minus Final Gravity divided by 1.775 minus Original Gravity. It is easier to scribble this down: ABW = 76.08(OG-FG)/(1.775-OG).

You should remember that ABW is used mostly in the United States, while the rest of the beer world (as well as the wine and spirits world) measures Alcohol by Volume (ABV). That conversion is easy: ABV = ABW (FG/.794).

So:
ABW = 76.08(OG-FG)/(1.775-OG)

ABW = 76.08( 1.056 - 1.023 ) / ( 1.775 - 1.056 )
= 3.5

ABV = ABW (FG/.794)
= 3.5 * (1.023 / 0.794 )
= 4.5%

More recipe research

General Ale recipes

http://www.thehomebrewsite.org.uk/category/real-ale-recipes/
http://www.breworganic.com/recipes/british_extract.htm
http://compooter.org/2006/10/homebrew-xii-english-nut-brown-ale

Summer Ale recipe:
http://www.allaboutbeer.com/homebrew/23.2-summerale.html

And another book (amazon.co.uk):
Clone Brews: Homebrew Recipes for 150 Commercial Beers
(Paperback)
by Tess Szamatulski (Author), Mark Szamatulski (Author)
Publisher: Storey Publishing (Oct 1998)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1580170773
ISBN-13: 978-1580170772

In print, cheap but mixed reviews. Covers a lot of non-ale beer, ie. fizzy crap.


And another, that appears out of print:
Brew Your Own Real Ale at Home
by Graham Wheeler (Author), Roger Protz (Author)
(CAMRA Guides) (Paperback)
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Verulam Publishing Ltd (30 Sep 1993)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1852491132
ISBN-13: 978-1852491130

GBP29 second hand, no reviews.

Camra Guide to Home Brewing
(CAMRA Guides) (Paperback)
by Graham Wheeler (Author), Campaign For Real Ale (Author)
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Verulam Publishing Ltd (28 Oct 1993)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1852491124
ISBN-13: 978-1852491123

No reviews, GBP41.

Camra Guide to Home Brewing
(Paperback)
by Graham Wheeler (Author)
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: CAMRA Books; N.e.of 2r.e. edition (1 April 1998)
Language English
ISBN-10: 185249137X
ISBN-13: 978-1852491376

Good reviews, no idea where to buy it.


Guide to Home Brewing
(CAMRA GUIDES) (Paperback)
by Jeff Evans (Author)
Paperback
Publisher: Verulam Publishing Ltd (31 Dec 1998)
ISBN-10: 1852491361
ISBN-13: 978-1852491369
No reviews, no copies on Amazon.

Number VIII - Progress Report

The fermentation has slowed, and I've let the temperature fall from a rather excessive 26C (measured by the foil thermometer on the outside of the barrel) to a more normal 23C. Vigorous fermentation was over in about 3 days, and yesterday evening it was all quiet. Time for a tasting over the weekend....

Adnams Bitter Recipe

While scouring the internet I found this recipe for Adnams Bitter:

Adnams Bitter Clone
by Dave Capolarello

Volume: 5 gallons, OG: 1.035, IBU: 55

Grains (mash at 153 F)
Maris Otter Pale 6 lb
Black Patent 0.08 lb
Cane Sugar 0.63 lb

Hops
Challenger (whole) 1oz at 65 min
E.K. Goldings (whole) 0.5oz at 65 min
Fuggle (whole) 0.5 oz at 60 min, 0.5 oz at 20 min

Yeast
Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale Yeast

For a partial mash recipe, substitute 4.25 pounds of light LME or 3.6 pounds of light DME for the Maris Otter Pale. Steep the Black Patent for 20 minutes in 160 F water. Add the cane sugar at the end of the boil.

And this book appears interesting:
* "Brew Your Own British Real Ale," 1998 by Graham Wheeler & Roger Protz. Consisting largely of recipes, the book now includes U.S. measurements. The recipes are all-grain, but several include methods for converting to malt extract recipes also. Some of the recipes: Ringwood Old Thumper, Tolly Cobbold Bitter, Morland's Old Speckled Hen and Adnams Bitter.

Taschenbuch: 196 Seiten
Verlag: Storey Communications (Oktober 1998)
Sprache: Englisch
ISBN-10: 1580171028
ISBN-13: 978-1580171021
Produktmaße: 21,7 x 14,2 x 1,3 cm

Number VIII - First Day Fermentation

Fermentation going well, bubbling nicely. Blow off hose worked well this time, some lost beer blown out and much evidence of bitter stuff expelled from the barrel. So far so good!

Number VIII Recipe and Method

Recipe and Method
The recipe is very similar to Number VII, but with more grain, less extract and less hops.

To make 30l beer:
6Kg Pale Ale malt
1Kg Munich malt
1Kg light malt extract powder
30g Fuggles hops (5.89% alpha) (60 minutes boiling)
20g East Kent Goldings hops (6.5% alpha) (30 minutes boiling)
15g East Kent Goldings hops (3 minutes boiling)
1 tsp gypsum
Yeast: WYeast 1187 Ringwood Ale

Progress

Heat 10.5l water to 63C
09:55am Added grains in grain bag, temperature difficult to measure, centre of grains seem to be about 44C, varies wildly throughout grains. Trying to get an even temperature, but need more water. Might change method next time, also adding water at 60C from the top into the grains. Held temperature at around 60C.
10:30am Added 6l boiling water with 1tsp gypsum in it to grains. Ensure temperature is 68C in grains. Another practical note: Grain bag with 7Kg dry grains is very heavy and really the limit.
11:15am Conversion complete, flushed grains with 10l hot water, started boil process at 11:40 with grains flushed with water to fill cooker, this is approx 25l. Problem here has been water used for flushing was not boiling, so starting boil has taken a long time.
12:15 Boil started, added 30g Fuggles hops left over from VII.
12:45 Added 20g East Kent Goldings hops, flavour.
13:15 Added 15g East Kent Goldings hops, aroma.
13:30 All cooking over, cooling started bit by bit. This will take a while, contrary to usual best practice, as I don't have a cooler sorted out yet.

OG from grains alone 1060@28C, approx 20l just by guessing on side of barrel.
OG after adding extract and topping off with cold water 1056@20C, a good healthy number.
Yeast pitched 16:10.