Brew 12 - Bramble Pie IPA Mk2 (Small Batch trial run)

 Brew 12 - Bramble Pie IPA (Small Batch trial run)


Brew day: 08/11/2020
Bottle day: 22/11/2020

Back in May, I made a lovely IPA using Bramling Cross hops that I had left over from the previous Autumn. I enjoyed the bitterness that the hop provided and really wanted to make this brew again - this time a little differently. 

Last time out, I was under on my ABV and also below where I wanted the IBU to be. This time, I have 200g of the hops so I can put in a bit more. 

I ordered 7kg of the malt (6.5kg Maris Extra Pale, 400g Crisp Caramalt and 200g Light Crystal) a few months ago with the view to brewing this as one big batch. The malt has been sat there for ages so it is time to use at least some of it. 

I'm running a 'Science of Brewing' project at work (FE College) and have always thought about really small batch brewing (5 litres) and this is the opportunity to try it out before the project kicks off. I have Brew 11 sat in my main FV at present so I'm going to improvise and use a large 10L lunch box as my FV this time around. 

I started off by giving my malt a really good mix (remember the issues with the darker malts being at the bottom of the bag on Brew 11?) - I can't guarantee the malt quantities going into the brew but at least the grain will b randomly distributed through the bag. I'm using 2kg of the malt mixture for this brew and a 75min mash (start temp 71 deg C which dropped down to 65 deg C before the lid shut). 

My calculations show that I could get somewhere up to 7.5% ABV with this grain/water ratio - I've hit 1.057 pre boil so it looks good for a higher Start Gravity (with the boil still to go). Currently at about 55% efficiency so might be looking at a 6.7-6.8% beer now.

Onto the boil and I'm going with the following additions: 
    - 22g Bramling Cross @ 60 mins to go (Whole Leaf/Flower)
    - Half Tab of Protafloc @ 15mins to go
    - 18g Bramling Cross @ Flame out (Whole Leaf/Flower) 

Mid boil, the tide line has drop a fair bit so a quick gravity check shows I'm at 1.070 (temp adjusted) - I have 30mins left to go so I have some wiggle room - I add 1 litre of water to bring the line back up a bit - I know this might reduce my final ABV but I want a decent batch size.

Final hops are added and I moved the kettle to an ice bath, using a large spoon to whirlpool stir the wort and hops. The temperature drops rapidly and cold break sets in nicely. I've premarked a 5 litre line on my make shift FV and the wort lands pretty much on the mark, now to cool further, take an OG and add the yeast (I'm using a bog standard brewer's yeast from an extract kit this time - not ideal but I don't want to use a whole packet on such a small batch - I also want to see how the yeast performs). 

 



17/11/2020 - I've caved... I've entered the dark world of water chemistry and now I can't stop reading about how I can alter and potentially improve the quality and taste of the beer... I know Campden Tablets has already got me into this world but I've actually gone and bought Gypsum. Tonight's task, I'm adding 4g of Gypsum to the FV a few days before bottling. It seems that the salt can be added pre mash to alter the mash pH (one for next time) and also before, during or after fermentation to bring out the bitter hops. This brew has some serious IBU so let's see if the gypsum adds to it. 

22/11/2020 - Bottle Day - smooth, no issues using the pressure barrel to fill the bottles. 23 g added to 200ml of water to prime. The brew is tasting great already so carbonation will just finish this off. 

I've also had a little play with some design software (Canva) to produce some labels that look very professional and adds a touch of class to the beer. Think this will become a regular feature. 

Taste update - very very happy with this one. Bitter, strong and dark fruits winning through with a nice malty base. The lunch box experiment paid off so a few more, smaller experimental brews in the new year might be afoot. Overall, I think this has a better quality to the 1st batch brewed in the summer and shows off Bramling Cross nicely. Overall score: 4/5. 

Ingredients
Malts: Maris Otter Extra Pale, Caramalt, Light Crystal. 
Hops: Bramling Cross
Yeast: Standard Brewer's Yeast
Batch size Target: 5L
Batch size into FV: 5L
Batch size Actual: 4.5L
Number of bottles from batch: 8 x 500ml + 1 x 330ml bottles. 
Actual OG: 1.064
Actual FG: 1.014
Actual ABV: 6.6%
Brew Efficiency: 52%

Recipe: https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1083270/bramble-pie-ipa-02




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