English Bob - Sunday, February 25, 2024

 

Ingredients

12 lbs. Horton Ridge Organic

1 lb. Breiss Crystal 60

20 g Wye Challenger at 60 min.

20 g EKG at 60 min.

20 g EKG at 0 min.

US-05

 

Water Profile - Amber Dry

CA - 50

MG - 15

S04 - 110

CI - 51

PH - 5.50

 

O.G. - 1.042 - 66% - Why am I getting 66% efficiency?

F.G. -

% -

SRM - 7.3

BU - 28

Mash

Gyp - 2.1 g

CI - 1.7 g

Eps - 3.4 g

Baking Soda - .6 g

Strike Temp - 163F

Mash at 154F.

Boil

Gyp - 1.8 g

CI - 1.5 g

Eps - 2.8 g

Lactic Acid Sparge - .2 ml

Mash water volume - 6 gallons

Sparge water volume - 5 gallons

Hope this is the first of many good Bitters, ESB, and Pub Ales. Our Beer Store quit selling most British Beers and the LCBO seems to be out of most of them. Brew Your Own I say!!! I have 120 grams of US-05 left. I am using 42 now and have enough for a batch of something in May in the Conical. After that, I have to decide on what British Ale yeast to use.

                                                 BREW DAY NOTES

Watching the boil this seems way darker than my old Promash said it would be. 7.8? Looks more like around 10. No matter, it will be beer, but a lite beer. Wort tastes great.

                                         US-05 PITCHED AT 3:30 PM

Day 1 - Next morning starting to get some krausen. 64F. Too cold. May move it though.

Day 2 - Going good but still at 64F. May have to move it but the outside temp is supposed to

             rise so it may get warmer down there.

Day 3 - Had to turn on the wall heater even though it is quite mild outside. 64F. Ordinarily I

             would leave it at that temp, but I am using US-05 so I think it has to get to at least 66F. 

             It was 68F, but I am going to shut off the heat and open the door and it should cool

             down a bit.

Day 4 - Slowed down. Bubbling every 5 seconds or so. 70F. Wall heater off for now.

Day 7 - 64F. Cooler than it should be since it is warm outside. No room on the bench so it is

             staying there.

                                                    KEG AROUND MARCH 11

There is lots of time to keg and clear this before you go on vacation. 

                                                        TASTE ON KEGGING DAY

I am not expecting much but hoping it will be drinkable. 

                                                  ADDED 5 ML OF BIOFINE ON MARCH 13

Carbed up a bit, had to go to the Lake for the weekend. Not that clear, but the biofine did work somewhat I guess. Nice colour, it will be a nice looking beer if clear. Tastes fine. Nothing sticking out that shouldn't be. Not very bitter. It is definitely not a 28 bu beer. However, it is still beer. 

Yea, if I used way less crystal malt it would be a better beer. Other than that, it is fine. No awful blonde ale flavour I had a month ago. 2 brews in a row which are quite good. A record for me lately. The over the top crystal malt flavour is fading away now. That is letting the bitterness shine through and it is fine. No flavour is sticking out, just a beer.

                                                   TASTE ON MARCH 27

Sampled a glass to check for clarity. Clear beer. Now that took 2 weeks to do that. Gelatin works faster but this is way easier to use. Tossing my old Bulk Barn gelatin and buying sachets of it at Sobeys. If I have time I will most likely use Biofine. This beer is still okay. Still, the crystal malt kind of sticks out. I tossed my C 40. Buying UK crystal malt in the future.