Another beer for the second half of the Southeastern Homebrewers Association competitions and again trying to improve my NHC beers. I kept this recipe the same but I am messing with the process to make sure it finish out with a low enough gravity and also cleans up all the diacetyl which was an issue the last time I brewed this beer. The fixes I’m going to try is dropping the mash temp from 154 to 152F and as fermentation starts to slow I’m going to swirl up the carboy to get the yeast back in suspension. The issue with WLP002 is that it flocculates out like a rock (really big nasty cottage cheese) and so day 4 or 5 it has all sunk to the bottom and the beer finishes a bit sweet and since the yeast has all dropped out it doesn’t clean up the SMM/Diacetyl properly. My other issue with this beer is I think it is a bit too caramelly so if this version is still too caramelly even with properly drying out and no diacetyl I’ll try cutting the crystal malt from 8 to 5% and maybe using midnight wheat to adjust the color if thats out of range.
Recipe Info
Recipe: best bitter 3v 2
Style: Best Bitter 11B BJCP 2015
Date: 07-23-2017
|
Recipe |
Guideline Min |
Guideline Max |
|
|
OG |
1.048 |
1.040 |
1.048 |
|
FG |
1.010 |
1.008 |
1.012 |
|
Color |
8.6 |
8.0 |
16.0 |
|
ABV |
4.9 |
3.8 |
4.6 |
|
IBU |
39.0 |
25.0 |
40.0 |
Brewery Info
Efficiency: 71 %
Attenuation: 78 %
Mash Info
Weight: 12.5 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 5.91 G
Volume: 6.91 G
Temp: 152.0 F
Boil Info
Kettle Gravity: 1.039
Predicted Mash Run-off: 4.78 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 8.5 G
Boil Duration: 60 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 7.0 G
Fermentables
|
Weight |
% by Weight |
Name |
Yield |
SRM |
|
11.000 Lb |
88.0 % |
Maris Otter (Crisp) |
82.0 |
3.0 |
|
1.000 Lb |
8.0 % |
Crystal, Medium (Simpsons) |
76.0 |
55.0 |
|
0.500 Lb |
4.0 % |
Torrified Wheat |
79.0 |
1.7 |
Hops
|
Weight |
Name |
AAU |
Time |
Use |
IBUs |
|
0.75 Oz |
Northern Brewer (DE) |
4.9 |
60 mins |
Boil |
11.0 |
|
1.0 Oz |
Challenger |
6.7 |
15 mins |
Boil |
10.0 |
|
1.0 Oz |
Willamette |
5.1 |
15 mins |
Boil |
8.0 |
|
1.0 Oz |
Challenger |
6.7 |
20 mins |
Aroma |
6.0 |
|
1.0 Oz |
Willamette |
5.1 |
20 mins |
Aroma |
5.0 |
Yeast
|
Amount |
Name |
|
1.000 unit |
English Ale White Labs WLP002 |
Misc
|
Amount |
Name |
Time |
Use |
|
1.000 tablet |
Whirlfloc Tablet |
15 mins |
Boil |
|
0.500 tsp |
Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast) |
10 mins |
Boil |
Water
Predicted Mash Ph: 5.48
|
Ca |
Mg |
Na |
Cl |
So |
Bicarbonate |
|
|
Water |
7 |
3 |
21 |
30 |
24 |
30 |
|
Mash |
99 |
3 |
21 |
30 |
245 |
30 |
|
Sparge |
96 |
3 |
21 |
30 |
238 |
30 |
|
Final |
161 |
5 |
34 |
49 |
397 |
49 |
|
Target |
75 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
200 |
0 |
Mash Water
Total Water Treated: 6.000 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.000 G
Mash Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 9.0 g
Sparge Water
Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 5.500 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 5.500 G
Sparge Water Adjustments
Gypsum: 8.0 g
Notes
Mash 152f 60 mins
168f 10 mins
cool to 200F and put in whirlpool hops and let sit for 20 mins
Ferment 68f for 2 weeks
8/20/17 0.5L starter 50g DME WLP002
8/22/17 1/2″ kreusen and steady bubbling
8/25/17 kreusen dropped and slow steady bubbling already dropping clear so heavily swirled up the carboy to get yeast back up into suspension
8/27/17 ~4 sec between bubbles
8/29/17 no bubbling
9/6/17 racked beer to keg FG 1.014
tastes really good. not getting diacetyl this time but still a bit high on caramel. very good but i would like to tune that back. promising. moved to lagering fridge.
9/24/17 added gelatin since still a little haze.
9/26/17 moved to keezer and put in 30 psi over night. then moved down to serving pressure.