Ingredients:
5gal Water
6lb Pale Malt Extract
1oz Kent Goldings (saved off 1/4 oz for last 15min of boil)
1oz Styrian Goldings (saved off 1/2 oz for last 15min of boil)
Nottingham Ale yeast
1 Wirlfloc tablet
The general idea is to clone my favorite Yorkshire Bitter, Timothy Taylor's Landlord (tm). This a seriously tasty beer and there is simply nothing like it to be found here in the states. I wanted to keep it simple so I used a Pale Malt Extract. Ignoring the cock-ups, this was about the easiest brew I've ever done. The total preparation time was about 4 hours.
The procedure is rather simple. I started by rinsing off the dust gathering on my equipment with warm soapy water, then rinsed it all with a no rinse sanitizer. The fermenter was filled with 5 gallons of water then transfered to the copper. The water was heated to 40C then the malt extract was added with the heat off, stirring all the way until the malt is fully dissolved.
The wort was brought to a boil in about 60min and the hops where pitched in, with the exception of the bit that was saved off. The wort was boiled for 90mins then I pitched in the rest of the hops and full tablet of Wirlfoc, when I should have only used half. The tablet fissed like an antacid tablet.
I also jumped the gun a bit and put the immersion chiller into the wort. That quickly dropped the wort temp to about 92C and stopped the boil. I've heard that 80C is the perfect temp of finishing hops so I decided to go with it and slowly reduced the temp to target temp of 80C over a 15min period. After that the rate of flow through the chiller was increase and I continued to reduce the temp towards 30C. I added some more liquor to restore the volume and measured the gravity ratio of the wort; 1040 at 35C which corrected for temp was about 1045, right on the target of 1046. The wort tasted like a sweet version of Landlord, but lacking the nutty creaminess that hopefully the yeast will provide.
Some wort was spooned out to cool for the yeast starter and a teaspoon of corn sugar was added. I didn't read the instructions for my yeast before doing this but it suggests adding to boiled water cooled to 30C and specifically not to use the wort as a starter. Any road, I pitched in the yeast at 30C and let it sit on the top for 15min after which a health foamy cake had formed.
The fermenter was rinsed with sanitizer and the wort siphoned off into it. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the residue so I tipped into the drain. In retrospect that's where on the Alpha acids from the boiled hops and the oils from the finishing hops would be. After 3 hours of steady drinking, or should I say, research, I'm mostly operating on instinct.
The wort was aerated by pouring it back in the copper with a swirl to get the vortex going in the carboy. Some wort was spooned into the yeast starter to avoid temp shocking. I pitched in the yeast and check the temp again. The temp read 32C! Quick panic! I put the immersion chiller back in the wort and pump it up and down. The temp rapid was back down to 30C and I hoped for the best.
I transfered the wort back into the fermenter and capped it with a vapor lock, then rolled the fermenter on to a rug and pulled it into the closet. I shut the door with a heavy heart and concern about the high pitching temp and tipping the hoppy goodness. I tried to distract myself with an episode of "All Creatures Great and Small" but when the pub landlord popped down to the coil 'oil for another pitcher of Ale, it was too much for me. I went to bed and curled up into a ball.
I woke up in the morning concerned but optimistic. I figured at worst I could pitch in some old yeast I had in the frig, but none of that was necessary. I opened up the closet, flipped on the light and was meant by a delightfully rocky foam head. The yeast was very much alive and active. The wort was clear with giant churning chunks. It was one of the most active batches I've ever seen!
In the afternoon, about 18hr into fermentation, I couldn't leave well enough alone and gave it a bit of a shake. What I've read about Northern British Yeast is that there are bottom fermenting and a bit slow. Well, this Nottingham Yeast is a vigorous top fermenter and this shaking was probably not needed. It was already bubbly with gas and smelled very much like the target beer.
The wort quickly cleared again, but by the next day (32hr of fermentation) the wort was cloudy with fluffy pillow of yeast 1 to 2 inches high on the bottom. This yeast is supposed to have a high attenuation at a SG of 1008 after 4days. We shall see. I'm planning on correcting the errors in the next batch and we shall compare the results.
No comments:
Post a Comment