Brew 13 - Bramble Pie IPA Mk3 (Larger Batch)

Brew 13 - Bramble Pie IPA Mk3 (Larger Batch)

Brew day: 22/11/2020
Bottle day: 21/12/2020

Another wet weekend and a chance to get brewing again. I spent the first part of the morning bottling my small trial batch (Brew 12) which took less than an hour. This left the best part of the day to have another brew day. This time, another go at Bramble Pie - this time I'm trying something different. 

I start by stretching the brew bag over the rim of my kettle. I didn't realise it fits so perfectly onto the rim and I'm able to pour out my malt without any issue. This gave me an idea. I'd tried using the stock pot as a mash tun before but wasn't happy with the outcome. This time, I left the brew bag open, allowing me to stir the contents regularly whilst maintaining a view of the temperature which I could then control using the gas. 

Next up, I'm toying with water chemistry. I'd found a water report for the local water supply and had input the values into a calculator and realised I could add a fair bit of Gypsum (Calcium Sulphate) to the strike water. 

I added 4 x Half teaspons to the water along with half a crushed campden tablet. 

This has 2 key effects. 1 - lowering the pH of the water, making it slightly more acidic and more optimal for the malt enzymes. 2 - adding calcium ions to the brew brings out the bitter hops further down the line. This is a bitter IPA so worth a go. 

I'm really impressed with the new mash method this time, I think it could be a combo of the stirring, controlled temperature and the more optimal pH but I get a really good pre boil gravity of 1.060 (possibly a record for me). I have a quick experiment to see if squeezing the bag has any impact on the gravity and it appears not - that said, I do extract a little more wort from the grist. 

Onto the boil and I'm going with a slight deviation to Brew 12: 
- 2L of extra water to bring the volume back to 10L (I know this dilutes the sugar but I'm trying to balance ABV and volume). 
- 22g Bramling Cross @ 60mins
- 15g Bramling Cross @ 30mins (this is the new addition to the brew)
- Half protofloc tab @ 15mins 
- 19g Bramling Cross @ 0 mins (whirlpool action)

End Kettle Gravity @ 1.062 which is looking like an efficiency of 68% - Pretty happy with this! Best result yet so I'm going to need to try this mash method again to see if the gain is consistent.







Quick update 07/12/2020 - Went to bottle the brew and it appears that fermentation has stalled at 1.030. I've repitched a new yeast into the beer and put it in a warm place in hope that I can rescue this batch! Fingers crossed! 

Update 09/12/2020 - Something is working as the vessel has gas being produced inside it (bulging lid) and gravity has dropped to 1.024. Prob needs another week or 2... 

17/12/20 - Gravity down to 1.020. 

21/12/20 - Down to 1.018. Time to bottle. I got 14 bottles out of this batch. 

Taste update: So far not great but early to tell. One bottle was over chilled - this beer doesn't taste great cold and the bottom of the bottle was full of yeast... so lesson learnt. Another opened on 09/01/2021 was tasting much better, good bitterness and less cloudy. I think another few weeks and this one might be ready. 




Ingredients
Malts: Maris Otter Extra Pale, Caramalt, Light Crystal. 
Hops: Bramling Cross
Yeast: Standard Brewer's Yeast and Lallemand Nottingham Ale Yeast
Batch size Target: 10L
Batch size into FV: 8L
Number of bottles from batch: 13 x 500ml + 1 x 330ml
Actual OG: 1.062
Actual FG: 1.018
Actual ABV: 5.8%
Brew Efficiency: 68%




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