Brewing with idiot #5: Brygget

Brewing With Idiot er Stovts vej gennem skabelsen af en øl. Afsnit for afsnit kigges der nærmere på ingredienserne, opskriften, begreber m.m. og undervejs skulle jeg gerne blive klogere på det, der gemmer sig bag skabelsen af en øl. Denne gang kigges der på tilblivelsen af øllen.

Efter at have brygget øllen, blev den sendt ud til blandt andet de bryggerier, der havde leveret lag til opskriften. Tanken var, at få noget feedback, således at opskriften kunne blive rettet til i retning af et mere færdigt produkt. Da der er flere ting man skal have for øje når man vurderer sådan en øl, fik jeg Alex fra Rock on Beer, som jeg havde brygget første batch med, til at skrive notater til brygdagen:

The recipe had to be rescaled for my brewing setup and to get to the desired volume of 25 litres. Water was a 60/40 split of RO and Odense municipal water. PH buffer/stabilizer was used in the mash but no other water chemistry adjustments were made. Mash in was successful at 68-69 degrees and the mash was left to rest for 90 minutes. Due to lower than expected efficiency and possible mistake when refactoring the recipe, ended up with a much lower pre-boil gravity than expected. Extended boil time to 90 minutes to try and regain some of those lost points. Ended up 8 points under target OG with wort going into the fermenter.

Fermentation was done with white labs 002 English Ale yeast. A 1.5 litre starter at high kreusen was pitched into the wort. Due to a failure in the temperature control of the fermentation area, fermentation happened at a much lower than ideal temperature. Ambient temperature in the room was 15 C while in the insulated fermentation chamber it would likely be 16-17. My ideal temperature would have been 19-20 C. Even with the low temperature the beer was down to 1.020 in just over a week of primary fermentation. This was the estimate in the recipe, though due to lower than expected OG I had hoped to get it slightly lower. I roused the yeast and set the fermenter in a much warmer area but was only able to bring the gravity down to 1.019. 

The beer has a nice body and sweetness due to the high finishing gravity and presence of unfermented sugars. This is nicely balanced out by the high IBU level from the hops. I think with a slightly higher ABV this FG would actually be perfect. As of now it gives the illusion of a much bigger beer then the 5.8-ish ABV. If I brewed it again I would perhaps cut the dark malt from the mash and do a cold steep to boost efficiency. Adjustments to the recipe to make sure the desired OG is reached with a target ABV of high 6 to low 7. I think because of the fractured nature of the recipe coming in, many of the faults here come down to operator error in recipe inputting and scaling. In the end though it turned into a nice drinkable beer that I would with minor modifications brew again.