Brew day: English Brown Ale

PaulBeer

Lately I have found myself drinking a lot of English ales...brown ones to be specific. I enjoy Newcastle and Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale so I decided to brew a beer resembling one of those. I found a recipe for a nut brown ale in Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing.
I bought all of the partial mash ingredients instead of the all grain mainly because I'm not done constructing my all-grain equipment yet. (Soon tho!) I did a hop substitution: Instead of using the Northern Brewer for the 90 minute boil, I used the Northdown in its place. I then use Fuggles for the 20 minute boil in place of the Northdown. It all works out.
Here are some of the photos I took today. You can see more on my blog if interested.
Northdown Hops -- .75 oz

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Grain for mini mash -- 2lbs. biscuit, 1lb medium crystal

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Boiling wort -- 6lbs. of amber DME and the extract from the mash plus the initial hops.

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20 minute hop -- .5 oz of Fuggle leaf hops

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More boiling

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OG -- 1.058(ish) I will measure again when transferring to secondary.

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Thirsty-Mallard

Looks good!  Keep us posted!
"If beer and women aren't the answer, then you're asking the wrong questions." -Anonymous
BN Army Corporal; Southern Support - Gulf Coast Division
Texas is better than your state.  Fact.

BadRock

Great photos. Hope it turns out well

PaulBeer

Thanks, I hope so too. The airlock is bubbling away and that's always a good sign. I'll keep you guys posted.

PaulBeer

Finally this thing stopped fermenting. I was able to rack it today. I did a couple of gravity tests to make sure this wasn't stuck. Each time I did one, it went down a couple of points. I aerated it again and resealed the lid. That seemed to help matters greatly as the final gravity is about 1.010 (after calibrating the hydrometer and allowing to settle in temp. The OG was 1.060, so the ABV should be about 6.6%. Here's a quick shot:
OG: Shot taken March 2nd, 2008

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Another test: Shot taken March 21st, 2008

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Final Gravity: Shot taken today, March 29th, 2008

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So now I will let this sit in the carboy for a while and then bottle in a month or so. At this rate, I won't be able to drink any until December!

BrewTa2

Once fermentation begins, do not aerate! You will oxidize the hell out of the beer. Before fermentation begins oxygen is your friend. After the yeast start converting sugars to ethanol, oxygen is your enemy.

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Promotions HERE

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Bub

Once fermentation begins, do not aerate! You will oxidize the hell out of the beer. Before fermentation begins oxygen is your friend. After the yeast start converting sugars to ethanol, oxygen is your enemy.
ditto, drink it quick, and next time it is slow RELAX, dwhahb
BUBLunch Meet "Limpian" Gold Medalist (x2) 2006
Winner of NO PANTS award 2006 and 2007
Make your own beer website... starting at $10 per YEAR.
www.bubweb.com & www.momenttoponder.com

PaulBeerBrewTa2

I need to correct myself. I stirred the beer again to move the yeast about. The temp was between 68 and 70 degrees, so it wasn't too cold. Maybe I used a weak strain, not sure.Ok, you roused the yeast. That's alright. What yeast did you use?

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PaulBeer

I used whitelabs wlp002 english ale yeast. I asked the guys at a local home brew supply store and they suggested against repitching, so I left it as is. It sat there for a few days with no activity in the airlock and I was afraid that fermentation was stuck. After some research, I saw that stirring the yeast might help "bring it back to life".

BrewTa2

That yeast flocculates so well sometimes it goes to bed without it's supper.

Promotions HERE

PaulBeer

I was going to bottle this shit the other day when I noticed there seems to be a film on the top layer in the secondary. Anyone have any ideas on what it could be? I popped the airlock and gave it a sniff and it smells fine. It could be nothing, then again it could be the "thrax".

Mylo

That's why I don't secondary anymore... Give it a taste before you bottle. Maybe you have a nice sour going....
Also, 6 weeks on an ale? What are you waiting for?

Mylo"Life is too short to bottle homebrew." - Me
"HEINEKEN? Fuck that shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon!!!" - Dennis Hopper, in Blue Velvet

Thirsty-Mallard

TimeLately I have found myself drinking a lot of English ales...brown ones to be specific. I enjoy Newcastle and Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale so I decided to brew a beer resembling one of those. I found a recipe for a nut brown ale in Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing.
I bought all of the partial mash ingredients instead of the all grain mainly because I'm not done constructing my all-grain equipment yet. (Soon tho!) I did a hop substitution: Instead of using the Northern Brewer for the 90 minute boil, I used the Northdown in its place. I then use Fuggles for the 20 minute boil in place of the Northdown. It all works out.
Here are some of the photos I took today. You can see more on my blog if interested.
Northdown Hops -- .75 oz


Grain for mini mash -- 2lbs. biscuit, 1lb medium crystal


Boiling wort -- 6lbs. of amber DME and the extract from the mash plus the initial hops.


20 minute hop -- .5 oz of Fuggle leaf hops


More boiling


OG -- 1.058(ish) I will measure again when transferring to secondary.

BadRock

Looks good!  Keep us posted!
"If beer and women aren't the answer, then you're asking the wrong questions." -Anonymous
BN Army Corporal; Southern Support - Gulf Coast Division
Texas is better than your state.  Fact.

PaulBeer

Great photos. Hope it turns out well

PaulBeer

Thanks, I hope so too. The airlock is bubbling away and that's always a good sign. I'll keep you guys posted.

BrewTa2

Finally this thing stopped fermenting. I was able to rack it today. I did a couple of gravity tests to make sure this wasn't stuck. Each time I did one, it went down a couple of points. I aerated it again and resealed the lid. That seemed to help matters greatly as the final gravity is about 1.010 (after calibrating the hydrometer and allowing to settle in temp. The OG was 1.060, so the ABV should be about 6.6%. Here's a quick shot:
OG: Shot taken March 2nd, 2008



Another test: Shot taken March 21st, 2008



Final Gravity: Shot taken today, March 29th, 2008



So now I will let this sit in the carboy for a while and then bottle in a month or so. At this rate, I won't be able to drink any until December!

Bub

Once fermentation begins, do not aerate! You will oxidize the hell out of the beer. Before fermentation begins oxygen is your friend. After the yeast start converting sugars to ethanol, oxygen is your enemy.

Promotions HERE

PaulBeer

Once fermentation begins, do not aerate! You will oxidize the hell out of the beer. Before fermentation begins oxygen is your friend. After the yeast start converting sugars to ethanol, oxygen is your enemy.
ditto, drink it quick, and next time it is slow RELAX, dwhahb
BUBLunch Meet "Limpian" Gold Medalist (x2) 2006
Winner of NO PANTS award 2006 and 2007
Make your own beer website... starting at $10 per YEAR.
www.bubweb.com & www.momenttoponder.com

PaulBeer

I need to correct myself. I stirred the beer again to move the yeast about. The temp was between 68 and 70 degrees, so it wasn't too cold. Maybe I used a weak strain, not sure.