Sunday, December 2, 2012

Yelllow Goose - Time to bottle

Time to bottle the beer, this is the without doubt the best tasting sample from the fermenter.

I haven't had a full trial of the dark green goose yet, but it's looking like with temperature control reused yeast is the way to go.


I've been experimenting a little bit with some scripts to graph temperatures (using dummy data as the probes still haven't turned up).


At the end of the bottling session every bottle, mini-keg and polypin will be full of beer.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Yellow Goose 2

A quick brew to test reusing yeast (from Dark Green Goose), in the past this hasn't worked out too well, and it was either crystal malt (but Dark Green Goose seems to be ok) or reusing yeast.

It may have been that the reused yeast was giving a more vigorous ferment, and not having a fridge at the time might have been too much.

This also happened to be the cleanest and driest brewday ever (still some washing up left tomorrow, but no sticky messes). Let's hope the ferment goes well too.


To help understand what is happening during different stages of the brew process, I've got most the parts to assemble a raspberry pi temperature logger.  It's staggering the power in a raspberry pi is available for less than £25.

Friday, November 16, 2012

more calculations...

Had to really think hard about the fermentation of the Dark Green Goose.

Fermentation seems isn't wanting to move from 1.020 from 1.052.
Looking back at Citra, gave an attenuation of 67%, applying that to this brew gives with a fudge factor for using less fermentable Crystal malt suggests 1.020 is about the right ball park.
The big question in my mind now is if 67% fermentability of the base malt is too low, and if it is then this is something new to consider in the calculator.

Both Citra and Dark Green Goose had a similair 69degC mash temperature. Nelson,was mashed cooler at 65degC gave a 75% fermentability.

Maris Otter Crysal 80L Total

1.052 1.052


52 52 52

31.6727272727 1.1818181818 32.8545454545



19.1454545455



1.0191454545






Qty Weight Qty % Fermentiiblity

5500


Weight
5000 0.9090909091 67 60.9090909091 Percentage Maris Otter
500 0.0909090909 25 2.2727272727 Percentage Crystal

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Dark Green Goose

Brewday is underway, the first from a new sack of 25 kg malt.
This is as much an experiment to optimise a process around boiling the full volume of wort in a 3 stage process.

This will start to use up some hops that I didn't get around to using straight away... I need to concentrate on using up hops now.


Sunday, October 28, 2012

Nelson Bottled





Bottled the single hop "Nelson", moving closer to the £1.50 per pint line (including all equipment and ingredients).

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Nelson ready for bottling

The Nelson single hop has come on quite well, given it was stab in the dark with the bitterness it isn't too bad.... probably could have more bitterness but time will tell when it's in the bottle.
The cooler mash has resulted in a perfect Final Gravity.


Next brew planned is a remake of Pure Green Goose using crystal rather than caramalt to try pin-point if the slow conditioning problem seen with AG9 and AG12

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Brew day over

26.5 Litres of a new brew in the fermentation cupboard.

A big update to the process towards trying to get bigger batch sizes, and also a bit of an experiment in trying to get best utilisation after listening to Glen Tinseth and John Palmer discussing that hop utilisation isn't linked to gravity but the proteins in the wort.

The boilers comfortably hold 26 litres without risking boilerover, the fermentaiton bin has 28 litres this time (1.5 litre dead space). I think going to 29 litres may be ok in the fermentation bin which would give a maximum batch size of 27.5 litres.

Tasting this brew during the boil seemed to be quite bitter so cut the hops back and added a few more finishing hops. The big flaw in the process was trying to boil (12 + 14 in the primary boil) and 14 litres (secondary boil)- but the left over wort cooled to 50deg between the sparge and draining one of the boilers. The time to get back to boiling with the hops left in the boiler wasn't insignificant.

Proposal for the next process:
T0:
T15: - as soon as the first 12 litres of wort is sparged begin boiling for 45 minutes - no hops (A)
T~30:  begin boiling
 - carry on sparging and collect next 14 litres of boiler
 - carry on sparging and collect 12 litres of wort.
T~60: add pipes/immersion chiller for sterilisation
T~75: begin draining wort from (A) into fermentation bin and cool to 37deg
T~90: begin boiling 14L wort with medium gravity and hops (B) and 12L with low gravity (C)
T~165: drain into fermentation bin and cool.
 -

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Nelson Recipe

Planned recipe, hoping the accuracy of the calculations can be refined throughout this brewday.
Back to pen and paper rather than using the tablet.

process  : Calculating with Process 19AG16i17
process  : brewerslabEngine rev 2012-10-09
process  : changes since 2011-09-14
process  :  - conversion to use Gql datastore rather than pickle
process  :  - removed ingredients against activities never used so far
process  :  - found potential bug with checkStockAndPrice and kegs
process  :  - now using implicit caprequired/co2required 
process  : changes since 2011-04-15
process  :  - waterRequirement changes to better include FV deadspace
process  :  - waterRequirement ignore hop wastage if boilder deadspace is greater
process  : key assumptions
process  :  - hops not scaled based on topup assumed marginal
process  :    ( need some calculation for this as big assumption)
boilWaste: Adding 1.25 for wastage in the boiler
boilWaste: Adding 1.25 for wastage in the boiler
boilWaste: batch size adjusted to 28.50 to account for wastage in boiler
boilWaste: batch size adjusted to 30.0 to account for wastage in fermentation bint
calcferm : Calculating expected gravity
calcferm : fermentable: 340.0gm Honey
calcferm :  hwe: 291.84 extract: 76.0
calcferm :    contribution = 3.30678589353
calcferm :    3.30678589353 = 0.34 * 291.84 / 30.00666
calcferm : fermentable: 200.0gm Torrified Wheat
calcferm :  hwe: 299.52 extract: 78.0
calcferm :    contribution = 1.99635680879
calcferm :    1.99635680879 = 0.2 * 299.52 / 30.00666
calcferm :    Including in Mash Gravity
calcferm : fermentable: 5000.0gm Tipple
calcferm :  hwe: 315.648 extract: 82.2
calcferm :    contribution = 52.5963236162
calcferm :    52.5963236162 = 5.0 * 315.648 / 30.00666
calcferm :    Including in Mash Gravity
calcferm :  uncorrected gravity for grain 1.055
calcferm : correcting gravity based on mash efficiency of 71.0 %
calcferm :   estimated_gravity_mashedgrain = 38.7608031017
calcferm :    38.761 = 57.899 * 0.71
calcferm :    1.039 = 1 + (38.761/1000) 
calcferm :   estimated_gravity_nonmashedgrain = 3.30678589353
calcferm :   estimated_gravity = 38.761 + 3.307calchops : Calculating Tinseth Hop Calculation
calchops : http://www.realbeer.com/hops/research.html
calchops : setting volume for hops calculations to 38.01 (was 30.01)
result   : hop_utilisation = 0.0000 for 1.0421 @ 0.001 m 
tinseth  : 0.0000 = 1.1306 * 0.0000 
tinseth  :   bigness_factor = 1.1306
tinseth  :     1.1306 = 1.65 * 0.000125 ^ ( 1 + estimated_gravity / 1000 )
tinseth  :     1.1306 = 1.65 * 0.000125 ^ (1.0421 - 1 )
tinseth  :     1.1306 = 1.65 * 0.6852
tinseth  :   boil_time_factor = 0.0000
tinseth  :     0.0000 = ( 1 - e ^ (-0.04 * hop_boil_time) ) / 415 
tinseth  :     0.0000 = ( 1 - e ^ (-0.04 * 0.001) ) / 415 
tinseth  :     0.0000 = ( 1 - e ^ (-4e-05) ) / 415 
tinseth  :     0.0000 = ( 1 - 0.9999600008 ) / 415 
tinseth  :     0.0000 = ( 3.99992000106e-05 ) / 415 
result   : hop_utilisation = 0.0025 for 1.0421 @ 60.0 m 
tinseth  : 0.0025 = 1.1306 * 0.0022 
tinseth  :   bigness_factor = 1.1306
tinseth  :     1.1306 = 1.65 * 0.000125 ^ ( 1 + estimated_gravity / 1000 )
tinseth  :     1.1306 = 1.65 * 0.000125 ^ (1.0421 - 1 )
tinseth  :     1.1306 = 1.65 * 0.6852
tinseth  :   boil_time_factor = 0.0022
tinseth  :     0.0022 = ( 1 - e ^ (-0.04 * hop_boil_time) ) / 415 
tinseth  :     0.0022 = ( 1 - e ^ (-0.04 * 60.0) ) / 415 
tinseth  :     0.0022 = ( 1 - e ^ (-2.4) ) / 415 
tinseth  :     0.0022 = ( 1 - 0.0907179532894 ) / 415 
tinseth  :     0.0022 = ( 0.909282046711 ) / 415 
result   : hop_utilisation = 0.0012 for 1.0421 @ 15.0 m 
tinseth  : 0.0012 = 1.1306 * 0.0011 
tinseth  :   bigness_factor = 1.1306
tinseth  :     1.1306 = 1.65 * 0.000125 ^ ( 1 + estimated_gravity / 1000 )
tinseth  :     1.1306 = 1.65 * 0.000125 ^ (1.0421 - 1 )
tinseth  :     1.1306 = 1.65 * 0.6852
tinseth  :   boil_time_factor = 0.0011
tinseth  :     0.0011 = ( 1 - e ^ (-0.04 * hop_boil_time) ) / 415 
tinseth  :     0.0011 = ( 1 - e ^ (-0.04 * 15.0) ) / 415 
tinseth  :     0.0011 = ( 1 - e ^ (-0.6) ) / 415 
tinseth  :     0.0011 = ( 1 - 0.548811636094 ) / 415 
tinseth  :     0.0011 = ( 0.451188363906 ) / 415 
calchopsW:  0.00 IBU = 15.0gm Nelson Sauvin @ 0.001 minutes
calchopsW:   this_hop_ibu = 0.001
calchopsW:     0.001 = hop_utilisation_factor * (hop_alpha * qty * 1000) / batch_size
calchopsW:     0.001 = 0.00000011 * (12.25 * 15.0 * 1000) / 38.00666
calchopsW:  19.96 IBU = 25.0gm Nelson Sauvin @ 60.0 minutes
calchopsW:   this_hop_ibu = 19.960
calchopsW:     19.960 = hop_utilisation_factor * (hop_alpha * qty * 1000) / batch_size
calchopsW:     19.960 = 0.00247708 * (12.25 * 25.0 * 1000) / 38.00666
calchopsW:  5.94 IBU = 15.0gm Nelson Sauvin @ 15.0 minutes
calchopsW:   this_hop_ibu = 5.942
calchopsW:     5.942 = hop_utilisation_factor * (hop_alpha * qty * 1000) / batch_size
calchopsW:     5.942 = 0.00122914 * (12.25 * 15.0 * 1000) / 38.00666
calchops : 25.90 IBU = Estimated Total IBUs
calchops : not taking account of additional hops required for top-up dilutions
calchops :  hops calculated on batch size of 38.01 
calcColor: Calculating Morey SRM Colours
calcColor: http://www.brewingtechniques.com/brewingtechniques/beerslaw/morey.html
calcColor:    color_srm = 1.016 for Torrified Wheat
calcColor:     1.016 = 2.0 EBC * 0.8368  
calcColor:     weighted_grain_color = 0.45 
calcColor:     0.45 = (qty / 1000 / 0.454) * color_srm  
calcColor:     0.45 = (200.0 / 1000 / 0.454) * 1.0  
calcColor:     0.45 = (0.440528634361) * 1.0  
calcColor:    color_srm = 3.00228 for Tipple
calcColor:     3.00228 = 5.9 EBC * 0.8368  
calcColor:     weighted_grain_color = 33.06 
calcColor:     33.06 = (qty / 1000 / 0.454) * color_srm  
calcColor:     33.06 = (5000.0 / 1000 / 0.454) * 3.0  
calcColor:     33.06 = (11.013215859) * 3.0  
calcColor:    total_weighted_color = 33.51 
calcColor:     33.51 = sum(weighted_color)   
calcColor:    estimated srm = 3.4
calcColor:     3.4 = 1.4922 * mcu ^ 0.6859
calcColor:     3.4 = 1.4922 * 3.337 ^ 0.6859
calcColor:     mcu = 3.337
calcColor:     3.337 = weighted_grain_color / volume_gallons
calcColor:     3.337 = 33.512 / 10.041
calcColor:     volume_gallons =  10.041
calcColor:     10.041 = (batch_size + top_up) / 3.785
calcColor:     10.041 = (30.007 + 8.000) / 3.785
result   :    estimated ebc = 6.7
calcColor:     6.719 = 3.4 SRM * 1.97 
calcfgrav: Calculating Estimated Final Gravity
calcfgrav:    estimated_final_gravity = 1.0088
calcfgrav:     1.0088 = 1 + (estimated_gravity - (1.23 * (fermentable_grain + fermentable_nongrain ))/1000 
calcfgrav:     8.7801 = 42.0675889952 - (1.23 * (24.48 + 2.58 ) 
calcfgrav:     fermentable_grain = 24.48
calcfgrav:     24.48 = (estimated_gravity * grain_pcnt * grain_fermentable_typical_pnct)
calcfgrav:     24.48 = (42.07 * 0.94 * 0.62)
calcfgrav:     fermentable_nongrain = 2.58
calcfgrav:     24.48 = (estimated_gravity * nongrain_pcnt * nongrain_fermentable_typical_pnct)
calcfgrav:     2.58 = (42.07 * 0.06 * 1.00)
calcfgrav:    estimated_yeast_attenuation = 11.3582
calcfgrav:    yeast attenuation for Safale S04 0.7 
calcfgrav:     11.3582 = estimated_gravity * (1 - yeast_atten) 
calcfgrav:     11.3582 = 42.0676 * (1 - 0.7) 
calcfgrav:    Yeast Attenuation used for final gravity estimate
result   :   Final Gravity Estimate = 1.011 
calcabv  : Alcohol By Volume
result   : abv = 4.02 %
calcabv  : 4.02 % = ( original_gravity - final_gravity ) * 131
calcabv  : 4.02 % = ( 1.0421 - 1.0114 ) * 131
striketmp: Calculating Strike Temperature
striketmp: http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter16-3.html
striketmp:  strike_temp = 82.5C
striketmp:   82.5C = ( ( .41 / mash_grain_ratio ) * (target_mash_temp - initial_grain_temp) ) + target_mash_temp
striketmp:   82.5C = ( ( .41 / 1.50 ) * (70.0C - 17.0C) ) + 68.0C
waterreqd: Calculating Water Requirement
waterreqd: Batch Size Requried = 26 L
waterreqd: Batch Size Requried (plus wastage)= 30.00666 L
waterreqd: TopUp Volum of 8.00 --> 22.01 L
waterreqd: fermentable: 200.0gm Torrified Wheat
waterreqd: fermentable: 5000.0gm Tipple
waterreqd: Grain Weight = 5200.0gm --> 5.2 L water
waterreqd: hop: 15.0gm Nelson Sauvin
waterreqd: hop: 15.0gm Nelson Sauvin
waterreqd: hop: 25.0gm Nelson Sauvin
waterreqd: Ingoring hop weight and using just boiler deadspace
waterreqd: Mash/Lauter Tun Deadspace = 2.25 --> 2.25 L water
waterreqd: Hot Liquor Tank Deadspace = 3.5 --> 3.5 L water
waterreqd: Fermentation Bin Deadspace--> 1.50666 L water
waterreqd: Cooling Loss (4.0 %) --> 0.9405328 L water
waterreqd: Boiling Loss (15.0 %) --> 3.44207892 L water
waterreqd: Total Additional Water Required 16.8 L (in boil 26.4 L)
waterreqd: Total Water Required 38.8 L 
waterreqd: post boil volume in boilers 19.90 
waterreqd: not counting any hops as boiler deadspace higher
waterreqd: post boil volume in fv/precooling 19.90 
waterreqd: post boil volume in fv/cooled 18.96 
waterreqd: available out of fv 17.45 
waterreqd: InFV = batchSize + FV_Deadspace
waterreqd: 27.51 = 26.00 + 1.5067
mashliqid: Mash Liquid required, based on
mashliqid: http://www.brew365.com/technique_calculating_mash_water_volume.php
mashliqid: fermentable: 200.0gm Torrified Wheat
mashliqid: fermentable: 5000.0gm Tipple
mashliqid: grain_thickness_ratio 1.500
result   : mash_liquid = 16.3
mashliqid: 16.3 = ( grain_thickness_ratio *  total_grain_weight ) / (4 * metric_lb_kg )  * metric_gal_l
mashliqid: 16.3 = ( 1.500 *  5.20 ) / (4 * 0.4536 ) * 3.7854
mashliqid: 16.3 = ( 7.8000 ) / ( 1.8144  ) * 3.7854
mashliqid: 16.3 =  4.2990  * 3.7854
mashgravi: Calculating Mash Gravity (Post Mash/Pre Boil/Pre Evaporation Concentration)
mashgravi:  Boil Volume: 26.39
mashgravi:  Gravity Expected from Grain: 1.0388
mashgravi:  Volume after boil/cooling: 22.01
mashgravi:  1.032 = (1-(estimated_gravity_grain * 1000) * batch_size_with_wastage) / boil_volume
mashgravi:  32.32 = (39 * 22.01) / 26.39
mashgravi: Pre Boil Gravity (Pre Boil/Pre Evaporation Concentration)
mashgravi:  Boil Volume: 26.39
mashgravi:  Gravity Expected: 1.0421
mashgravi:  Volume after boil/cooling: 22.01
mashgravi:  1.032 = (1-(estimated_gravity * 1000) * batch_size_with_wastage) / boil_volume
mashgravi:  35.08 = (42 * 22.01) / 26.39
topupVolu: Have a topup volume of 8.00
topupVolu:   Scaling Post Mash Volume 1.0323 --> 1.0502
topupVolu:   Scaling Estimated OG 1.0421 --> 1.0655
topupVolu:   Scaling Estimated OG Grain 1.0388 --> 1.0603
topupVolu:   Scaling Pre Boil Gravity 1.0351 --> 1.0545
preCoolOG: Volume before Cooling Contraction = 22.67
preCoolOG: Assumed Approx Loss during cooling =  0.66
preCoolOG: Estimated OG After Cooling Contraction = 1.042068
preCoolOG: Estimated OG Before Cooling Contraction = 1.040905
ABV : 4.0229  1.0421 OG 1.0114 FG
IBU : 37.7878
340.0 Honey
200.0 Torrified Wheat
5000.0 Tipple
15.0 0.0 Nelson Sauvin
15.0 15.0 Nelson Sauvin
25.0 60.0 Nelson Sauvin

Monday, October 8, 2012

Label


It's hard to come up with a clever name- so CITRA will have to do. I wish I had brewed more of this as it is probably my best brew to date.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

planning a Nelson Sauvin single hop brew with Tipple instead of Maris Otter.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

ABC

It's taken a long time for the second beer with reused yeast to start coming into condition.

The mini-keg wasn't that good but opening a bottle has a fair amount of carbonation..... 5 months is a long time to wait for a beer though.... but it's more than drinkable

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Citra bottled

Citra is bottled, despite not keeping track of the timing for the hops this seems to be looking good.

Time will tell how well this conditions

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Citra

A citra based brew on the go.

The last brew hasn't conditioned very well... looking for a pattern would say it's either Crystal Malt, Northern Brewer/Challenger hops or reusing harvested yeast.

The first brew that used reharvested yeast took a long while to condition into something drinkable so heres hoping in 3 months it will be 40 pints of something drinkable.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Another bottling day

Another brew bottled and mini-kegged, pretty much to plan 20 bottles and 3 mini kegs.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

finished

Must have had the cleanest brewday and the yeast is already pitched... usually start later and end up pitching the yeast after 9pm.

The investment in the fermentation fridge has taken its toll on the cost per pint graph, but the last two brews have been using up ingredients so have helped minimise the damage to the graph.


Brewday on

This brewday is going to use up a lot of ingredients, 25kg of Maris Otter is now empty only have 500g of crystal and less than about 350g of cara gold.
After this I'll only have Willamette/Hallertau Hersbucker hops in the freezer.
And I'll only have 1 protfloc tablet left.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

An uneventful bottling day- 2 mini kegs an 29 bottles.... this was tasting good when tasting the gravity samples so looking forward to this one. Gathered the yeast slurry to go forward for the next brewday.

This was the first brew where starting to cut back on the amount of pre-boil sterilisation. The beer coming out the fermentation bin was the clearest yet- so things looking good. To make things easier for next brewday I've invested a couple of quid in a mash paddle and modified the inner lauter tun to let a temperature probe to feed through the side of the buket to avoid the wire from catching the sparge arm.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

First brew for 2012

A respin of the Gold Goose but this time using Green Bullet for the bittering hop, with Willamette and Hallertau Hersbrucker. Thinking back I'm not sure if I prefer Glacier over Willamette but having 150g of Willamette in the freezer means the next few 2-3 will use Willamette.

I am in the process of converting the brewing software from a collection of python scripts, which then became a web interface until getting an android tablet and was a raw python xmlrpc server for an android client (with pickles), and not moving towards a google-appengine/sql xmlrpc server for the android client.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Android Homebrew Recipe Viewer

Android Recipe Viewer now on Android Market, and has been updated to include a native QR scanner and to parse BeerXML recipe files.
Impressed with The Gold Goose and Green Bullet Pale Ale, the unnamed brew with yeast slurry is drinkable but hopefully if will get better.




Over Christmas I watched a lot of Dave Gorman, which inspired a graph of homebrew costs since starting in September 2008 to the end of 2011. The bottom line plots the cost of a pint @ 40p (below this line must be bad by definition), the middle line is the cost of a pint @ £1.50, ideally I'd be below this line.
The navy top line shows the cost of beer

The next graph shows the pints brewed vs pints drunk, showing the 2nd, 4th didn't cut it, and the 8th brew survive long enough to drink... happily the last brews have been consistent.