Summer Lightning (Hopback) Brewing Journal

Started 14/04/13

This brew was planned using the Beer Engine software to make a 2 Corny batch.

As I did not have good results with a yeast starter I will not be making one this time. I already have 2 packs of S-04 that I need to use up so I will just sprinkle this on the wort.

Recipe

Ingredients:

Recipe	Measure
Pale Malt (EBC 4 or less)	8244g
Challenger Hops (start of Boil)	76g
Goldings Hops (Last 10 Min of Boil)	24g
Goldings Hops (End of Boil)	14g
Yeast	S-04 X 2
Mash Liquor	21 Litres
Strike Heat	72C
Mash Temperature	66C
Mash Time	1 Hour 30 Minutes
Sparge Temperature	77C
Mash Efficiency (estimated)	75%
Boil Time	1 Hour 30 Minutes
Batch Volume	38 Litres
Fermentation Temperature	20C
Expected OG	1049
Actual OG	1050
Expected FG	1012
Actual FG

Water Treatment:

Recipe	Measure
CaCo3 Adjustments
Calcium Carbonate (CAC03) Anglian	211 ppm
Calcium Carbonate Required	30 ppm
Adjustment Necessary	181 ppm
CRS per Litre Required	1.0 ml/L
Total CRS to add to Mash (21L)	21 ml
Total CRS to add to Sparge- Can Only got 28L in HLT	28 ml
*Chlorine Treatment*
Campden Tablets (half in mash, half in sparge)	1 tablet
Calcium Adjustment (using brupaks calculation)
Calcium in Water	133.2 ppm
Calcium Required	180 ppm
Adjustment	53 ppm
DLS (using GW Calc it suggests adding none)	None Added

Mashing:

While water was being heated, half a crushed campden tablet and 21ml CRS were added to treat the water.
The Mash water (liquor) was heated to around 78C and transferred into the Mash Tun.
Temperature dropped to 74C immediately, a little stirring reduced to 73C.
Mash tun was left for 5 minutes for water to heat the Tun. After 5 minutes the temperature was 72C so doughed in.
Grain was given a good stir and then the lid shut with temperature probe in place.
Temperature settled at almost exactly 67/68C. A further stirring reduced this to 67, which is what I wanted.
At this point the lid was sealed properly and the probe removed. The wire on the probe means that the tun lid is not sealed properly, so I will not keep this in during the mash. My glass thermometer was left inside.
Refilled the HLT with sparge water and switched on to ensure sparge water was ready. Temperature was set to 85C, which allows for some cooling as the water runs through the sparge arm.
Sparge water was also treated with half a campden tablet and 28 ml of CRS.
After about 35 minutes the temperature was 67C, so I will now leave the Tun closed for the rest of the mash time.
Cleaned and sterilised sparging equipment and boiler while waiting. Not forgetting to connect hop filter in the boiler.
After the Full Mash Time, the temperature was around 66C as planned. I think that the larger grain bill and mash liquor of 21L definitely works better in my mash tun, smaller amounts of grain loose more temperature than I like.

Sparging

Sparging should be done at around 77c but by the time that the sparge water hits the grain it will have lost some temperature. I am aiming to keep the sparge water at 85C to take account of this. I will be using the fly mashing method using my "Phils Rotating Sparger"
Sparge water was heated to 85C in HLT using temperature controller to maintain the temperature.
I am using a 3 tier set-up with sparge water at the top, then mash tun, then boiler at the bottom.
First runnings will be tipped back into the Mash Tun to avoid taking too much grit into the boiler.
The Wort will be collected in batches as the full 40L is too heavy to move.
The first 2 litres of run off were returned to the mash tun as they contained trub.
The first batch was collected directly into the stainless steel boiler which was then moved to the garage before becoming too heavy.
After collection about 2 gallons, the wort was taken out to the garage and the gas ring turned on to full.
In total I have about 8 Gallons to move so this was done in about 4 loads of 2 gallons which worked well.
Run off into the collection bins was balanced with sparge water being added for about 2/3 of the brew length.
I then slowed down the sparge and let the mash tun empty. I have given up keeping a note of the grain bed temperature during sparging as this seems to fluctuate wildly and I am achieving target SG, so will not worry about this.
My HLT is a little small so to make up the volume, I boiled a few kettles and gently poured them into the Mash Tun. I think 4 kettles got me to the volume I wanted.
Measuring SG the final runnings were still around the 1015 mark, which is Ok but shows that not all the sugars were removed during sparging.
Sparging took just over an hour in total.

Boiling

Took about 15 minutes to come to the boil once moved to the garage. I fitted the lid as this seems to speed this process up.
Once boiling started the lid was removed and the first batch of hops added.
Timer set for 1 hour 30 minutes.
Using the gas gives much more control and allows me to set the rolling boil without overcooking it.
I topped up with the excess wort that I had as space became available in the boiler. All wort got at least 1 hour boil.
Nearing the last 15 minutes, so I have put the Wort chiller into the boiling wort. This ensures that it is fully sterlilised.
The second batch of hops was added for last 10 minutes together with the profofloc tablet.
After the full 1 hour 30 minutes the boiler was switched off and the final batch of hops was added.
The cooler was connected up and started.
Measured SG and got a reading of 12.6 Brix 1050. This is perfect.

Cooling

Connected up the garden hose pipe to the wort chiller and started the cooling process.
The cooling coil was suspended so it was only just below the surface. This ensures that the top part of the wort cools.
After about 40 minutes the wort was below 30c.
The cold break was now visible and the wort looked crystal clear with clumps of trub forming.
A further 15 minutes and it was around 24C, so 10 minutes more should do it.

Draining/Aeration:

The cooled Wort was Slowly drained into another bucket. Even the first litre drained was clear but had a few bits of grain husk so was tipped back into the boiler.
Once it started to pour without any bits, it was left to drain slowly.
The wort was very clear and a beautiful golden colour. Very little trub was extracted from the boiler.
In order to be able to move 40L of wort I used 2 wine fermenters to collect the run off. These are then only 20L each and can easily be moved back inside the house.
I had about 2 feet of tube attached to the boiler tap, which creates a siphon effect to ensure all wort can be extracted.
The flow rate was excellent and filtered well right down to the bottom of the pot.
There was very little wastage, mainly wet hops and a little murky wort (500ml maybe).
During the draining, the wort also got a good aeration.
The 50L boiling pot was then cleaned and re-sterilised ready for use as a fermenter. This was set up on a heat pad with the temperature controller managing the heating. I have put the probe straight into the pot as this is now my new stainless steel 200mm version.
The two wine fermenters were then emptied into the 50L stainless steel pot giving a good aeration.

Fermentation:

The wort was around the 19C mark, so safe for yeast pitching.
I did not make a yeast starter as I have had trouble with these in the past, so just sprinkled the yeast on top of the wort as suggested on the packet.
I left the yeast on top of the wort for around 20 minutes to re-hydrate and then stirred in.
14/04 16:30 - Yeast stirred into Wort at 19C.
14/04 22:00 - The wort temperature is steadily rising, which is a good indication that something is happening. there are no bubbles yet.
15/04 07:30 - Krausen is evident so fermentation has now started. The temperature is 19.9 with no heating switched on so this will climb during the day.
15/04 18:30 - A good healthy Krausen has developed so it looks like verything is going to plan so far. The temperature has now risen to 21.6C, which is getting near the limit. I am away on business tomorrow and do not have any automated cooling, so I am hoping this has already peaked and will drop overnight. If the temperature continues to rise, the wet towel trick may come into play.
15/04 20:30 - Temperature seems to be rapidly rising and has just exceeded 22C so I need to take some action. The only option I currently have available is to wrap a wet towel around the fermenter but it is surprising how effective this is. Wet towel is now bungeed to my fermenter. This has the advantage of applying very gentle cooling and therefore not shocking the yeast.
16/04 09:00 - The temperature has been steadily dropping and has now reached 21C. My STC1000 is controlling heating but I am not sure this will be required for a few days yet. As I am away now for 2 days, I have connected the heating tray as it will only come on if required.
17/04 18:00 - Called home from Oslo to check on family so also got an update on the beer temp. It is now down to 19.5C so has stabalised. I am glad that the heating tray is plugged in ready to go as it may be needed.
18/04 22:00 - Temperature is 19.5C and all but a few bits of Krausen have now dropped back into the beer. There are no visible bubbles so i will take a hydrometer reading tomorrow when I get home.
19/04 16:30 - Temperature is still 19.5C. The SG reading is around 1012, which is in-line with my expected final gravity. There are a few slow bubbles rising but I think that I will move the beer into wine fermenters tomorrow and switch off the heating. This should then encourage clearing.
21/04 - The Beer has now been siphoned into 2 wine fermenters and an airlock has been fitted to each one. There is a slow bubbling through the airlock so the beer is pretty much done.
During transfer a sample was taken to check clarity and taste. It is already quite clear but will need at least another week, if not 2 before it is crystal clear. Taste wise, it is very clean with a strong bitter taste but this will mellow as it conditions.
27/04 - The beer is not completely clear and there I can still see the odd bubble rising. I will leave this in the wine fermenters under airlock for one more week before kegging.

Clearing:

Nothing special was done for clearing, I have just left the beer in the fermenter under airlock for 1 extra week.
The beer is looking very clear so after the extra week so ready to be Kegged.

Kegging:

2 Corny Kegs were cleaned with Oxy Clean, rinsed, sterilised with IO Star and then rinsed with boiling water.
I also sterlised 2 bottles along with caps and all my siphon tubing in VWP.
Kegs were filled and sealed with a smear of vaseline on the lid o-ring.
The Kegs were purged 3-4 times to remove any oxygen.
Both botttles were filled to with 1" of top and primed with 1/4 teaspoon of sugar. These were then capped and put in a warm place for a couple of days.
The Kegs were connected to the Gas at 20 psi for 1 week to carbonate. These will now go out into the garage where it is cooler.

Tasting Notes:

I had a crafty taste while the beer was being transferred to the Kegs and it tastes great. Not too dry with some nice malty flavours and a well balanced hoppy bitterness.

28th June - I have just put a Keg of this beer on-line and pulled off half a pint. The beer has had 6 weeks to condition and is now ready for the final verdict. All I can say is WOW!, this is perfect. The beer has a great mouth feel and a lovely smooth malty taste. The balance of bitterness to maltiness is perfect and is very satisfying. The hop taste is fantastic and adds bitterness and flavour without being sharp and obtrusive. This beer has quite a high IBU but does not taste too strong, which must be down to good water treatment. The colour is pale and Golden, see picture.