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Thread: Kit 'O Beer #30 - Canadian Blonde hopped ~ 8 minute boil

  1. #1
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    Kit 'O Beer #30 - Canadian Blonde hopped ~ 8 minute boil

    First brew in ages. Slowly getting the kegs in good order. I think at least one will be ready for this beer.

    3.5L water boiled. 1.5Kgs Coopers light malt. A fist full of random hops for 8 minutes.

    The recipe:
    1 oz Galaxy
    1.5 oz Columbus
    1 oz Centenial
    1 oz Amarillo

    1 x 1.7kg Coopers Blnde
    1.5 kg Coopers light malt extract.
    2 x 7gms Coopers premier yeast - 4 hr rehydrate.

    Dry Hop
    2 - 3oz Cascade pellet hops

    Changes:
    None

    OG 1.050
    Volume: 23L
    Fermenter: Standard #1

    Brew temp: 28C - ambient
    Pitch temp: 22C
    Current temp: 22C

    Notes:
    OG is high at 1.050 but there is a lot of malt in there. 3.2Kgs of Blonde Extract and Unhopped light malt extract.

    I boiled the LME. Discovered pot was too small, you know when your hands are full and you're stuck. Managed to split it into a couple pots, left on to sit and used it for rinsing the extract cans out.

    I didn't really measure the hops. I had Amarillo and Galaxy that was around 1oz so they went in. Then i had some columbus and Centenial. Maybe an Oz of each. 8min boil.

    No flame out hop addition. I just went with the boil.

    Everything went into the fermenter, hops and all. Took a long time to cool. I got it down to 30C right away but it took another 4 hours to get to pitch temp.

    Rehydrated the yeast, had plenty of time waiting for the wort to cool. Pitched it about 1:30 in the morning. It might have been as long as 7 hours to cool down.

    Pitched the yeast. Everything looks and smells like it is moving along nicely.

    Intending to do a 24 hr dry hop of Cascade. I may or may not. I'll see closer to the time. Worried it might be a grassy mess as is. We see. Then it's kegging for the first time.
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  2. #2
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    Re: Kit 'O Beer #30 - Canadian Blonde hopped ~ 8 minute boil

    well this brew might be over already. Arrived home to find the laundry trough over flowing, water every where and the fermenter in a foot of water. The spigot is well underwater. It is far too low on these fermenters, or, they need some kind of riser or feet at the bottom to lift them a bit. Otherwise it is not really ideal to put them in a water bath. Only 1" of water is not enough to take heat out or provide enough water resevouir to wick up the towel wrapped around the beer.

    If any water forced it's way through the spigot the beer is ruined. Its possible because it is not fully tight. The thread has been over tightened so to fully tighten the spigot would make it impossible to get the beer out. Well it would come out, and up and then everywhere. I'm relying on o-rings to make the seal.

    Could be 250 gallons or more down the drain as well. thats gonna hurt come bill time.
    Great minds discuss Ideas, Average minds discuss Events, Small minds discuss People. E.R.

    Anytime I'm in doubt I go outside and give it a little shake.
    Liberty Tree.


  3. #3
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    Re: Kit 'O Beer #30 - Canadian Blonde hopped ~ 8 minute boil

    SG is 1.010 as of today. Temps dipped the last couple days. Beer is running at 19C which is the lowest you want to go. seems to have held that temp standing in free air, so ambient is perfect for beer right now.

    Aroma is nice. Get a good hop hit. Its difficult to pick any one hop but the aroma is still pleasant. Taste. Bitter. Grassy. not much else to take away from the flavour. It is very bitter. This is too bitter to drink. I don't know if that is spoilage or not. I'm contemplating bottling it and leaving it in the back of the cupboard and moving on. Not put it in the keg.

    There is a ton of floating material and a lot of hop particles. I had hoped to syphon the beer and leave most of the hop material with the trub. I will take another sample in a couple of days. If I get no hops we are good otherwise it could be under the level of the hops/trub and I'll get all of that. I would need a plan.

    Options are:
    filter it through something going into the keg,
    try some gelatine to settle out that material,
    cold crash it in the fridge for a few days

    Can I use gelatine at this stage? I don't know how it is used. Filter is easy enough. I could filter beer in or out. Cold crash is not far from where temps are now. Want to be sure yeast is done before cold crash.

    I was going to dry hop. I'd like to reduce the grassy taste a bit. I don't know if adding more hops a good idea. 24hr dry hop cascade.
    Great minds discuss Ideas, Average minds discuss Events, Small minds discuss People. E.R.

    Anytime I'm in doubt I go outside and give it a little shake.
    Liberty Tree.


  4. #4
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    Re: Kit 'O Beer #30 - Canadian Blonde hopped ~ 8 minute boil

    Thanks to Brutus Brewery seems you use at least 2 of those options in sequence:

    This is a topic I’ve brushed on before, but I get plenty of questions about it. So I decided to do a full post dedicated to my favorite fining agent: gelatin. If you ask people their feelings on using gelatin to fine beer, you’ll get a number of different opinions. Personally, I find it invaluable to clear my beer quickly. Fining one’s beer with gelatin isn’t difficult, but it does require a few specific steps. Here’s the process I’ve had success with.


    Fermenter or Keg
    The first question to ask, is: What state should our beer be in when we add the gelatin? There are two methods, and they both work equally well. You can fine with gelatin in either a fermenter (primary or secondary), or directly in the serving keg. I typically opt for the later. Although, in either case, you want the beer to be cold, and I mean ICE cold. The colder the beer is, the more haze-forming particulate will form. The more haze-forming particulate that forms, the more particulate the gelatin can fine out. I’ve heard people have used gelatin with some success at cellar temps (50-55F), but I’ve only had it work well when the beer was at serving temp (32-40F).

    Which Gelatin to Buy?
    Obviously, you shouldn’t buy cherry jello; you’re looking for unflavored gelatin. Knox is a popular brand that most supermarkets carry, but I find the store-brand works just as well. Most LHBS also carry gelatin, but they tend to include a hefty markup on the price. The specifics don’t matter much, so long as you buy unflavored gelatin, you’ll be fine.

    The Process
    With your beer chilled down and gelatin in hand, let’s get to the process of fining your beer:
    – Get a microwave-safe glass cup. I like to use a pyrex measuring cup. Measure out 2/3 cup cold water. Any water will work, but I wouldn’t use tap water if it tastes like crap.
    – Add one teaspoon of gelatin, and stir the solution. I like to use using my thermometer probe, so I can check the temperature at the same time.
    – Place the water/gelatin mixture in the microwave, and begin to heat it 15-30 seconds at a time, stopping to stir the solution and check the temperature. As it heats up, you’ll notice the gelatin will begin to dissolve.
    – The goal is to heat the gelatin to 150F, but not much over. If it climbs to 155 or so, that’s fine, but I’d be hesitant to go much over 170F. We’re not trying to make jello, rather just trying to pasteurize the solution.
    – Give the mixture one last stir, and dump it straight into your beer. Gently swirl the fermenter or keg, and return it to your fridge or kegerator for 24-48 hours.
    – If you used a keg, purge the headspace with CO2 to remove any oxygen that got mixed in.

    The Aftermath
    Gelatin works rather quickly. It’s extremely effective at dropping yeast out of solution, as well as lots of haze-forming particulates. I find that 48 hours later, the beer drops crystal clear. If you bottle your beer, rack the beer to a bottling bucket, and bottle away. Don’t worry, there are still plenty of yeast in solution to carbonate the bottles.
    If you keg, you’ll have to draw off a couple very cloudy pints before the beer clears up. Gelatin literally drops yeast and particulates down to the bottom of the keg. Since the dip-tube draws from the bottom, that junk will be the first thing pulled from the keg. After a pint or two, it’ll be smooth sailing until the keg kicks.

    One Last Note
    While gelatin does a fantastic job at quickly clearing beer, there’s still no substitute (unless you filter) for cold conditioning if you want your beer to truly sparkle. If I fine my beer with gelatin, and then leave it for a week in the kegerator, I can obtain commercial level clarity.
    That wraps up the easy, but detailed process of using gelatin as a fining agent. Cheers to clear beer!
    Great minds discuss Ideas, Average minds discuss Events, Small minds discuss People. E.R.

    Anytime I'm in doubt I go outside and give it a little shake.
    Liberty Tree.


  5. #5
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    Re: Kit 'O Beer #30 - Canadian Blonde hopped ~ 8 minute boil

    kegs this one yesterday. Checked the SG and still at 1.010.

    I didn't bother dry hopping after all. It's bitter but the flavour is nice. Not grassy. I'm currently drinking a store bought and it is about as bitter. It's a craft beer so it does very a little bit from time to time - carbonation, bitterness, hop intensity. Still very good beer.

    Anyway I took quite a long time. I broke the kegs right down. Soaked all the parts in PBW for a while. I brimmed the keg with PBW solution and rotated that through the other kegs as well. I broke those down in the process and discovered the keg I intended to use next is going to need some replacement parts. The bulkheads are rusting and its transfered to the posts. So they will need replacing as a set. Also realised that those posts need a bigger spanner (no not me) to get them undone.

    So I will flick those and replace them with some of standard size. The crappiest looking keg - a chinese one is actually in very good shape despite it looking like crap on the outside. So I will pay a bit more attention to it. It will probably be the next one to fill.

    Transfering the beer went well. Certainly easier than bottling. Pumped some CO2 into the bottom of the keg first and filled the beer below that. Keep the oxygen off the beer. The beer was fairly clear. The hops and Trub had packed nicely so no rubbish. I did have a jug to pour of the first part incase it was full of crud. Nope all good.

    I don't have a regulator with a guage on the output. Only for CO2 tank pressure. So I am going to have to wing it a bit. I've been trying to find an adapter from this CO2 bottle to a type 30 which the regular refill bottles use, so I could use the 2 guage regulator. No dice.

    So I am looking at either stumping up for a standalone guage, I could rig something to snap on to the gas post to read the pressure. A bit like checking tire or I could wing it for now and get a normal tank in a while. Don't really want to spend money for something I won't use much. Although if I get the right guage I could probably fit it to the other regulator as well. hmmm.

    Couple days before the beer is ready.
    Great minds discuss Ideas, Average minds discuss Events, Small minds discuss People. E.R.

    Anytime I'm in doubt I go outside and give it a little shake.
    Liberty Tree.


  6. #6
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    Re: Kit 'O Beer #30 - Canadian Blonde hopped ~ 8 minute boil

    ok this one is a failure. Tried the beer, no carb and the beer is off. Tastes like 3 day old dregs.

    Will ditch it when I get a chance. I guess I need to keep buying beer. Will try and do another brew tomorrow and we will try again.
    Great minds discuss Ideas, Average minds discuss Events, Small minds discuss People. E.R.

    Anytime I'm in doubt I go outside and give it a little shake.
    Liberty Tree.


  7. #7
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    Re: Kit 'O Beer #30 - Canadian Blonde hopped ~ 8 minute boil

    I remembered I filled 3 x 700ml PET bottles of this beer. I checked those and they are carbonating ok. I think another few weeks and we can try one.
    Great minds discuss Ideas, Average minds discuss Events, Small minds discuss People. E.R.

    Anytime I'm in doubt I go outside and give it a little shake.
    Liberty Tree.


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