BX15 brew day

The brew day went pretty well, process-wise. Put the water on about 8am, started mashing about 9.30 and finished early afternoon. No mistakes, no equipment failures, but one problem. The extract from the mash was really low. We were aiming for 1.040 and it came out (measured in the fermenter) at 1.028.

We noticed that the grits came out of the mashtun looking pretty much as when they went in. So it’s possible that the grits did need some pre-boiling to gelatinise. It’s a poor day when random posts on the Internet give you bad information.

Anyway, we calculated how much sugar was needed to bring it up to 1.040 and added it to the fermenter before the yeast went in. Didn’t take into account the extra water required to dissolve the sugar (wish we’d thought of this before topping the fermenter up with bottled water) so it came out at 1.038.

The yeast is interesting: White Labs Belgian Saison II 566. Not worked with it before (not really done much with liquid yeast) so it was a novelty.

Firstly, it was three months old when we got it (I guess that Malt Miller don’t sell that much of it) so needed a starter to hit the recommended pitch rate. Never done a starter before, so a perfect opportunity to use the 10 quid stir plate bought off eBay. The stir bar is not round so rattled out of place once during the 18 hours it was in use. Other than that it seemed to do the job well enough.

The fermentation has been underway about 48 hours now. It started almost right away and has been going at a steady pace since. It sank to the bottom immediately after pitching but suddenly rose to the top, formed a heavy krausen and bubbled gently (no big bubbly mess, just a thin but dense layer).

Came home yesterday to a kitchen smelling of Indian cooking and wondered what the neighbours were up to. However, after a bit of sniffing, we were amazed to discover that it was the beer making the aroma. Should make for an interesting final product!

Next beer, this coming weekend, is BX15!

In a previous post I explained about the ‘Will it brew?’ challenge set by Manchester Home Brew group. We got Grits, courtesy of Lucy. At first we had no idea what Grits actually were so had to do a bit of research. They are a form of cornmeal to which water is added and turned into a porridge-like mixture. Hominy Grits (like the ones we have) have been treated with acid and had their husks removed. Quick Hominy Grits (ours) have been pre-cooked. i.e. just add water.

Grits

From a brewing perspective Quick Hominy Grits should be pretty easy to brew, in theory. Corn, in many forms, is a fairly common adjunct in beer making. Cornmeal/Grits is added to pale beers to keep them pale and just add extra fermentable sugar without altering the taste. Cheap lagers makers are well known for using these sorts of adjuncts unfortunately.

Uncooked Grits would normally require soaking to gelatinise them before adding to the boil but pre-cooked Grits have already been modified that way so it should just be possible to add them to the mash.

However, due to the un-husked nature and their potential to gelatinise it’s advisable to add some oat husks too. The husks will, hopefully, stop the mash becoming ‘stuck’ as they act as a filter. No idea how much to add though.

The plan then is to add the Grits and husks to the rest of the mash as per normal and see how it all goes. We’re only using half the Grits, just in case something goes badly wrong and we have to try again. The Grits we have appear to be an American import so we’re unsure how to get more. Alternatives appear to be Polenta or Cornmeal but we just don’t know how close they are in process or taste to the original.

Style

Once we were happy with the process we had to decide on a style. Research (google) indicated that corn was mostly used in Lagers for the reasons stated above – light colour, lots of sugar, little taste. So the most logical style to pick for our beer would be lager. Except that wasn’t going to work for at three reasons.

  1. The weather. At the moment the ambient temperatures are not really dropping below 16C even at night. During the day they’re in the twenties. Normally our cellar does a good impression of a cold store – constant 14C but that’s up at 20C now. And the tap water temperature is in the high teens too. Neither do we have temperature controlled fermentation or conditioning. So there’s no way we’d be able to make a lager at the appropriate temperatures.
  2. We’ve never made a lager and know that they’re very difficult to get right.
  3. Lagers normally take at least twice as long to produce as ales and there wasn’t sufficient time to make it.

So back to the drawing board. Eventually we found that corn is also a common ingredient in Saisons. Now this is a good choice of style for us because

  1. Saisons commonly ferment at higher than normal temperatures (24-25C) which is ideal considering the weather.
  2. Pale versions can be very pale (7EBC).
  3. They’re highly carbonated which gives us a chance to play with the Corny keg we bought recently.
  4. there’s an opportunity to play with a new yeast and a liquid one at that. We have an unused stir plate, Erlenmeyer flasks and a desire to experiment.

Plan

White Labs Saison II 566 yeast, prepared in advance. Malt bill from this Carlotta Saison recipe. Hops will be a mixture of Saaz and East Kent Golding. Water profile with favour maltiness. Kegged for a couple of weeks to mature. Carbonated in the Corny Keg to a pretty high level, as per the style.

Provisional name: Corny Keg

Full Design Specification

Corny Keg

Recently we got ourselves a Cornelius keg off eBay. This should solve the problems we’ve been having with carbonation. We think that two out of three of our existing plastic kegs are leaking gas and thus our brews aren’t carbonating. We’ve had to resort to adding sugar to the bottles directly.

After ordering the keg Steve the brewer suggested the use of a ‘bottling bucket’. i.e. condition in the keg without priming, put the priming sugar in another key, syphon out this keg and bottle from there. It should be easier and more reliable than per bottle priming.

However, we now have a corny keg so have a choice of methods to use.

  1. Prime as per Steve’s suggestion
  2. Condition and prime in the corny keg
  3. Force carbonate

As well as the keg we’ve got a regulator, some hose and a 6kg CO2 cylinder. All quite exciting. At first the keg was leaking but good service from Jonny on eBay meant that we’re now up and running. Even got a Spunding valve to measure the pressure if we try the prime-in-the-keg approach.

This also opens up the path for making soft drinks and carbonating them in the keg, for Mike obviously.

Manchester Beer Week Summary

Highest Scoring Beer: 4.5/5 – BA Saison Brut
Lowest Scoring Beer :2.75/5 – Two Hoots (Holts), Bitter (Holts) and Dinosaurs Will Die

Number of beers( not including unknown homebrew): 61
If excluding ones I drank at home and they were not event or pre-event beers : 58

Number of countries beer originated from: 9

Total number of events attended: 12 (but one was Heineken at which we did not drink, but got some cans in the goody bag which are yet to be drunk)

[Editor: It should be noted that many of the 61 were samples of less than one third of a pint and none were more than half a pint. All of the Homebrew Expo samples were 100-150ml. ]


Sun 8th July – Homebrew Expo

Lots of homebrew – 4-12% – UK
Special RealAletionshipBrick Field Brewery – Blonde Ale – 4.8% – UK


Sat 7th July – Temperance Street Party & SQUAWK Open Day

Cthulhu BrewBeer Nouveau – Imperial Lager – 8.2% – UK
Raspberry WitOrigami Brewing Company – Fruit Beer – 5.7% -UK
Belgian WitbierSQUAWK Brewing Company – Witbier – 4.8% – UK
Dhana (Strawberry and Coriander Seed) – SQUAWK Brewing Company – IPA International – 4.6% – UK
Cloaking DeviceBrooklyn Brewery – Imperial Porter – 10.5% – USA
Dry Hopped SourBlackjack Beers – Sour – 4.3% – UK
Rhubarb & Peppercorn With the Creameries – ???? – Saison/Farmhouse – 5.8% – UK
Thai WheatThirst Class Ale – Pale Wheat Ale American – 5% – UK


Fri 6th July – Beer Nouveau

Knee PandaOrigami Brewing Company – Pale Ale American – 4% – UK
Don’t Wear SlippersBeer Nouveau – Export Stout – 8% – UK


Fri 6th July – Holts Tour

Fool’s GoldThe Bootleg Brewing Co./Joseph Holt Brewery – Blonde Ale – 3.9% – UK
Chorlton Pale AleThe Bootleg Brewing Co./Joseph Holt Brewery – English Pale Ale – 4% – UK
DiamondJospeh Holt Brewery – Lager – 5% – UK
MildJospeh Holt Brewery – English Mild – 3.2% – UK
Two HootsJospeh Holt Brewery – Golden Ale – 4.2% – UK
BitterJospeh Holt Brewery – English Bitter – 4% – UK
LionbrewJospeh Holt Brewery – English Pale Ale – 3.5% – UK
IPAJospeh Holt Brewery – English IPA – 3.8% – UK


Thurs 5th July – day off from events – drank at home

Blood WolfDerby Brewing Company – American Red Ale – 4.8% – UK
KS Gose VerdeKeith Sowerby – Sour/Gose – 5% – UK


Wed 4th July – Evolution of IPA

GuillotineMarble Beers – International IPA – 7.1% – UK
IPA Citra EnigmaCloudwater – New England IPA – 6.5% – UK
One Way Ticket to PlutoTorrside Brewing – West Coast IPA – 6.8% – UK
TEIPABeer Nouveau – English IPA – 6.6% – UK
Barclay’s X Wood CaskBeer Nouveau – 8.4% – UK


Wed 4th July – Cole & Cole Food & Beer event

Dinosaurs Will DieMarble Beers – Sour/Gose – 4.1% – UK
LagondaMarble Beers – English IPA – 5% – UK


Tue 3rd July – Yeast Event

BA Saison BrutCloudwater – Saison/Farmhouse – 8% – UK
GenesiBirra dell’Eremo – Biere de Champagne/Biere Brut – 9% – Italy
Orval 2014Brasserie d’Orval – Belgian Pale Ale – 6.2% – Belgium
Orval 2018Brasserie d’Orval – Belgian Pale Ale – 6.2% – Belgium
Rodenbach Grand CruBrouwerji Rodenbach – Sour Flanders Red Ale – 6% – Belgium
Oude GueuzeHanssens Artisanaal – Lambic Gueuze – 6% – Belgium
Tzatzki SourMad Hatter Brewing – Sour Ale – 4.3% – UK
SevenUpright Brewing Company – Saison/Farmhouse – 8% – USA
Saison DupontBrasserie Dupont – Saison/Farmhouse – 6.5% – Belgium


Tue 3rd July – Ply scadanavian takeover

BenBrewski – Imperial Stout – 9.5% – Sweden
Stick A Finger In The SoilMikkeller – 4.6% – Denmark
GBG Beer Week 2018 (Strawberry Sour)Dugges Bryggeri – Berliner Weisse – 5% – Sweden


Mon 2nd July – Furture of Lager

Running With SceptresLost and Grounded Brewers – Lager – 5.2% – UK
Keller PilsLost and Grounded Brewers – Kellerbier/Lager – 4.8% – UK
Paulaner Original Munchner HellPaulaner Brauerei – Lager – 4.9% – Germany
Bitburger Premium PilsBitburger Braugruppe – Pilsner – 4.8% – Germany
Pilsner UrquellPlzensky Prazdroj – Pilsner – 4.4% – Czech Republic
Hacker-Pschorr Muncher Kellerbier – Kellerbier /Lager – 5.5% – Germany
Paulaner Ur-Dunkel Naturtrub – Lager Dunkel – 5% – Germany
Dream HouseLeft Handed Giant Brewing – American Pale – 5.9% – UK


Mon 2nd July – Fairfield Social Club on way to Future of Lager

PaleNomadic Beers – English Pale Ale – 3.9% – UK


Sun 1st July – day off from event – drank at home

Cleric’s CureThree Tuns Brewey – English IPA – 5% – UK


Sat 30th June – Four Kings Open Day

Four Kings IPAFour Kings Brewery – English IPA – 4% – UK
Easy Dark MildFour Kings Brewery – English Mild Ale – 3.9% – UK
Gold – Four Kings Brewery – English Bitter – 4% – UK


Fri 29th June – Ol Croatian Nova Runda event

ThroaTTwisteRNova Runda – Imperial IPA (?) – 9% – Croatia
APANova Runda – American Pale Ale – 5.2% – Croatia
Hill 438Nova Runda – American IPA – 6.5% – Croatia
HladovinaNova Runda – Session IPA – 4.9% – Croatia
C4Nova Runda – American IPA – 6.3% – Croatia
Smiley SmileOl Nano Bar and Brewery – 4.4% – UK


Fri 29th June – Beer Nouveau

Victorian BrownBeer Nouveau – English Brown Ale – 6.6% – UK
Manchester ExPorterBeer Nouveau – 6% – UK (this was one of the Clash of Cities beers)

‘Will it brew?’ Ingredient

Whilst at Beer Nouveau we picked up our ‘Will it Brew?’ ingredient. Each year the Manchester Homebrew Group issue a challenge; everyone brings in an ingredient (must not be dangerous to humans or yeast) and they’re distributed at random between the group. Obviously you don’t get to brew what you brought. We took potatoes and came away with Grits.

Will it brew? We’ll let you know.

Not knowing what Grits were we had to look them up. Essentially they’re flaked corn, an American thing. Specifically Homity Quick Grits which means the corn was treated and they’re pre-cooked. Corn is very commonly used as an adjunct in brewing, normally to increase the gravity and lower the colour. Thus they’re popular with lager brewers like Millers.

As yet we’re not sure how we’re going to brew with them.

Sunday 8th July – Home Brew Expo

Now this is the main event for us. Manchester, Chorlton and Liverpool home brew groups along with some independents bringing a variety of their creations to Beer Nouveau. Four bars each with membersserving their club’s beers in small samples. The public are welcome and asked to score out of ten the beers they drink. 750+ scores registered for 59 unique beers over six hours. At the same time some of the beers are entered into a more formal competition judged by beer experts (Abbeydale, Rob from Lallemand and Steve). And beyond that Steve will take the recipes, calculate profit margins and combine them with the other scores to figure out which is the best commercial beer and then brew it.

Our Homebrew Expo competition entry

We’ve entered our latest beer, Special RealAletionship (name courtesy of jason on UA) under the new, and ficticous, name ‘Brick Field Brewery’. It’s a Blonde Ale consisting entirely of Maris Otter. Magnum for bittering and a fair amount of Cluster for aroma and flavour. Simple recipe, cheap beer. It faired well in the public vote, above half way; poorly in the professional (10 out of 13) and we’re waiting to see how it does in terms of profit.

Both of us had great fun serving behind the bar but agreed that being able to just hand out whatever is asked for without needing to take payments is definitely the best way to tend bar.

It was a busy event but most punters joined in with gusto. One chap worked his way through the first 17 of the Manchester brews. Fortunately Keith’s were at the end so he didn’t have to suffer any bottle bombs.

Other than a spillage in the cold store and a slightly sick Rob Percival everything seemed to go well. Poor Steve was visibly shattered by the end though. Two solid days of work for him.

Saturday 7th July – Temperance Street Party

We’d been looking forward to this one for ages and we weren’t disappointed. About 20 breweries represented on about 10 stands, street food, craft soft drinks and lots of people having fun.

Mike had a good chat with the Steep couple. We saw them at the Manchester Beer Festival last year and they were a lovely pair who’d started in home brew then used their kit and skills to make soft drinks instead. Mike was immediately taken by the idea because at the time Barrs had just announced that Irn Bru was having sweeteners added. He wants to make his own. After a bit of online research he was left puzzled so this provided a good opportunity to clear up some of the confusion and hear the process from the people who know what they’re talking about.

Pen enjoyed herself with multiple beers and even went down the street to visit Squawk for a while. Not many of the people we’d advertised the event to turned up unfortunately but we met up with Gillian and her friends. It was fun to meet various family members of the home brew group: Craig’s wife and kids; Rich and his family; Arran’s little one and various others.

Friday 6th July – Holts Brewery

This morning we had arranged to drop our Homebrew Expo beer at Steve’s (Beer Nouveau). Steve either was not in at the expected time or had to go out – big party to organise. We had to go to Bolton for a few hours and did not want the beer getting hot in the car and jiggled about. Wandered along the arches and found a very nice chap called Paul at Manchester Brewing Company who before we could even ask said he would look after our beer and drop it off at Steve’s later for us.

The final ticketed event of MBW is Holts Brewery tour. Holts don’t normally do tours and it’s fairly obvious why: the brewery is a working brewery in an old, old building and health and safety is a bit, well, abstract. We have hi-vis vests but there are plenty of random hazards.

We’re joined again by Tina who we saw at Heineken, Ol and the Evolution of IPA (and it wouldn’t be the last time). She’s an interesting character with a fairly full on past. We like her.

The head brewer at Holts gives us a complete tour of the place, accompanied by Jane, who we met on Monday at the Lager talk. They’re a medium sized place with a fair bit of history behind them and produce about half a dozen different beers. Jane turns out to be sixth generation Holt and it set to take over the place at some point, after working her way through all the various area of the business.

At the end of the tour we’re let loose with various kegs of beer. Some people drink pints, some take small samples. Holts don’t really care though, it’s a drop in the ocean for them.

Popped to Steve’s after to check on our beer, and indulge in more beer, including some from Origami Breweing – bunch of women run this outfit and we had a really good chat with Erin and Pam. One of them has had bad experiences in the past with Holt’s when working at Bootleg Brewing 🙁 Oh dear, we had hoped that Holt’s were one of the better largeish breweries.

Barrelling at Holts
Yeast Preparation Vessels at Holts

 

Thursday 5th July – No MBW events

Tonight we are having a night off from beer events. However this doesn’t mean we aren’t doing beer related activities. So we spent the evening cutting out our labels and sticking them onto the home brew bottles we’re entering into the commercial brew on Sunday. After that we cut up even more, this time sheets of flyers for the Manchester Home Brew group, which will be available in Beer Nouveau over the weekend.

We’ve been suggesting business card that the members can hand out informally when they meet beer related people (hop growers, commercial brewers etc.) to promote the group. Many of these people are either interested in home brew or want to be associated with such groups and providing them with a business card is just and easy way to pass on the contact details.

Mike spend a chunk of the week designing a layout and Pen did a bit of printing.

Wednesday 4th July – Evolution of the IPA

Another evening with Rob Percival, this time on the subject of IPAs. Four local breweries have brewed five different beers on the theme of IPA. Steve from Beer Nouveau brewed two historic beers (Barclay’s X and Tetley’s East India Pale Ale, Pete from Torrside brewed a West Coast IPA, Mark from Cloudwater a New England IPA and Joe from Marble Arch a very modern zero residual sugar IPA using enzymes.

The Barclays was a 10% beer with a special historic malt. The T.E.I.P.A was the same malts but a lower ABV and slightly bretted in the way it used to be. The West Coast IPA was a good example of the current style. The NEIPA very low bitterness, with lots of dry hops. The Marble Arch beer used a new technique using enzymes to ferment out all (ALL) the sugars to more than 100% AA and is one of fewer than half a dozen beers done this way. No bitterness either.

With more than 40 people in the upper room of 57 Thomas Street and the outside temperature pushing 27C it wasn’t the most comfortable evening. We spoke at length to guys from the Chorlton home brew group and grilled the available brewers on all aspects of their brewing. Joe from Marble was drunk enough to invite us to visit the brewery, which we will certainly do. Mark from Cloudwater was forthcoming about the science behind much of what they do and Mike learned a great deal about beer.

It was an entertaining evening – Rob was his usual informative self and Steve failed to shed his image of being the loudest person in the room. A bit too hot and cramped to be described as fun though.