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.

Bottling Number VII

400ml extra light extract powder in 800ml water, boiled 15 min and cooled.

The bottling went well, the idea was to fill the 30l bucket with water and chlorine bleach to sterilise it, then drain this into the bottles to sterilise them. Then drain the beer into the now sterile bucket, drain the bleach out of the bottles, wash them with clean water and then put the beer into the bottles. Simple. It all worked well except the bottle washer didn't fit on the tap tightly, again, and this is beginning to get irritating. I'm now in posession of 51 bottles of beer, upstairs for a week or so to start fermentation, then ready for the Grand Opening in Strasbourg on 22nd/23rd December. I've got a glass here, it's not bad, but I hope it's not become contaminated somehow. While bottling I drank a bottle of Bill Brau No. II and Bill Brau No. III and No. VII is quite different. Let's see how it ages in the bottles...

Number VII Final Fermentation

FG 1015@15C. Tastes good, hoppy and bitter but light. Colour is too dark for Adnams Regatta, and too bitter. Must be different types of hops in Regatta, and the colour is from the extract. Next time no extract, or only extra light powder. I'll do the bottling on Saturday or Sunday so it has about two weeks for carbonation. Should be enough to be ready for December 22nd when the beer has its grand opening at my lovely girlfriend's parents.

No. VII Fermentation slowing

Measured today at SG1014 @ 18C. Progress slowing but as the beer is in the cellar this is OK and I'd expect the final gravity to be something like this.

Quite bitter taste, too bitter to be a pale ale, the hops are East Kent Goldings 6.5% alpha, Fuggles 5.89% alpha. Must do the sums to work out how bitter this brew should have been. Anyway it tastes good, just not quite what I was aiming for. It ready for bottling early next week and then ready for Christmas. Perfect.