Cujo's Best Bitter - Friday, January 20, 2017
22 lbs. GWM
1 lb. Crystal 80
1 lb. Toasted Wheat Flakes
5 ozs. Choc malt
3 ozs. Carafa Special III
EKG @ 60 min. 5.6% AA
EKG @ 30 min. 5.6% AA
Wyeast London Ale III
50/50 RO/WELL in mash
8 gallons well in sparge
4 gallons ro in sparge
1.50 qts/lb grain/water ratio
O.G. - 1.049
F.G. - 1.014
% - 4.6
SRM - 13.4 - Looks just like the pic above, maybe slightly lighter though.
BU - 27.8
I hope I got my water profile in range for this style of beer. I don't want to toss any more beer like I did last month. 2 batches, 8 cases of beer down the sink. The lager tasted like cough syrup and the bitter was infected. I used RO with water salts. Never, ever again. I do think I have got this right though. Will see in 14 days. Had a bit of trouble getting a good seal on the conical. No bubbling action from the hose, but when I checked there was a good krausen going on. Adjusted it 3 times and gave up. Give it 2-3 weeks and keg it. Smells bready and malty, so I know it is working. I peeked inside the conical and yes, a big krausen in there and near the pressure relief valve which is wet around the silicon o ring. No blow off in the pot and that is bugging the shit out of me. Nothing to do but wait 14 days, check the gravity and add Amy if needed and wait another 2 weeks.
Sampled on Jan 28
A ton of yeast, but very clean. Gravity was at 16. Hopefully it will get down to 12 - 14. Now that this water profile is working for 13 - 16 srm beers, I am going to step 2. Brewing 5 - 8 srm beers. This beer and the Altbier had too much roasted grains for my taste buds. Tasted like a watered down porter. Same water profile though.
TASTE ON KEGGING DAY
FEB 6
Okay. Not as roasty as the Altbier. Not a lot of caramel flavour that I like in this style of beer, but I am working on it. I bought some Carastan malt and if 1.5 lbs. doesn't work, I will add some Crystal 80 along with the Carastan malt and maybe go to a small amount of C - 120, somewhere around 3 - 4 ozs. You can't add too much or Mr. Cloying will come into play and we don't want that. 7% of C - 90 is what Kal used in his ESB and this only had 4% of C - 80, so I was too low. Other than that, this is a real clean beer with no cloying, buttery or other off flavours that I somehow seem to get on a regular basis. Sampled on Feb 10 and it is starting to clear. Being my beer of course, it needs 7 - 10 days or even more to clear. I am not going to transfer this, just move it to my fridge to sit there. Sample now and then to get a good timeline on how long these beers take to clear.
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