Brew UK Forum | Extract Brewing
Downton Brewery Cookoo Fair Bitter
Hi, I was looking at the insructions/reciepe for Downton Brewery Cookoo Fair Bitter, and others as it happens. It talks about what goes into the Gist but does not mention how much water. In cases like this do I assume the full final brew volume or is there a magic formula to use.. As you can guess I am new to this but finding it difficult to understand the end to end process at times.
Any feedback would be appreciated
Responses
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Hi Steve
Most recipes use about 2 to 2.5 ltrs of water to 1k of grain.
You'll need to work out how much to use in the mash and how much sparge water though.
Most of mine I do at 2.5 to 1 - but I use BeerSmith and those calculations are done for me. If you haven't tried it, download the trial from http://www.beersmith.com it's great fun!
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
I agree with Tony, 2.5 litre per kilo is ideal as you can then add a bit more if you miss your strike temp.
I have 80 litres of that recipe just finished fermenting at the moment and tasting really good so far. I fermented 20 litres with S04 and 60 litres with liquid yeast. There is a huge difference in the taste, completely different beers.
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
So what are the big differences at the moment greg and do they both make great beers or is one massivly/slightly better than the other? What temps are you fermenting them both at?
Plannin'-
Loads a beer after an upgrade!
nathbrew@gmail.com
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
So far there is a MASSIVE difference in both flavour and aroma.
The wyeast is smooth and quite delicious with no real stand out flavours, just nicely rounded. Tastes ready to drink.
The so4 is quite harsh and bitter, with real malty flavours and aroma. Much stronger flavours in all departments and each flavour comes through, especially the hops and the roasted barley. It not a bad beer and I'm sure it will get a lot better but the wyeast tastes much more like a brewery brewed beer.
Both were fermented at 20c to start with then liquid yeast one raised to 22c at the end. I had no temp control on the so4 so it was just fermented in my spare room for 7 days then moved to the garage since Mon.
The s04 fermented much quicker than the liquid with hardly any lag time.
I'm going to split all immediate future brews this way use 2 different yeasts as been a really good way to create 2 different beers from one brew day and also a great way to test up different yeasts.
Posted 1 year ago by Member
I think that's a great idea Greg!
I suppose I could get a big FV, but that's too easy!
I'm getting a new 50 ltr boiler and have planned to do the same - although it will be splitting 23/23. there's two reasons for this, 1) I want to experiment with different yeasts. Recent experience of harvested and liquid yeasts have improved the quality of the beer immensely, and 2) I only have 30 ltr FVs
So which wyeast was it Greg? I did a few experiments with washing and saving yeasts and I've been reading a couple of articles on creating slants (and storing in the 'fridge). I'm going to try freezing some of my mead yeast in glycerine next, have you had any experience of that?
I'm starting to become obsessed with yeast. My missus thinks it is worrying, I'm talking to them!
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
Hi Tony, well I think that obsession will definitely result in better beers. How did you get on with the brewlabs yeasts?
The wyeast was 1968. I'm so glad the experiment so far is confirming what I already thought, liquid yeast gives you a much better beer. From now on I'm going to just pit liquid yeast against liquid yeast. Next up is a pale ale using 1469 West Yorkshire as the main yeast and 1187 Ringwood as the trial. I've only used 1187 Ringwood in slightly darker beers up to now but its a great yeast so would love to compare it in a pale.
There are a lot of yeasts to try though.
I'm also looking into a way of aerating better as my new system hardly splashes the wort as it comes of the the chiller so its lacking aeration big time. I've been stirring vigorously with my big spoon but its not easy and even then there is not enough dissolved oxygen really.
Need to looks at aquarium equipment although I need to be careful about not introducing bacteria.
I think the 50/50 split is a great idea, that way you get to produce big batches of beer but still get some variety in the brews.
Posted 1 year ago by Member
I've been meaning to try the 1968 for ages now but just haven't got around to it - I heard it's a lovely smooth 'old-fashioned' bitter yeast. The 1469 I hear is similar to the F40 (see below)
The brewlabs yeast (F40) is absolutely outstanding. I'm getting all the subtleties of the hops come through, real orange and grapefruit from the Ahtanum... and it's only been in the bottle a week but this is the closest clone that I've done... which is odd as when I racked to secondary, I forgot to add the dry hops. This is going to be pretty close to the Jaipur on tap (haven't tried the bottle as yet) The only thing that's winding me up is that I haven't tried any of the three hops before so I can't say what flavours are coming from what hops... except the Ahtanum as the smell is so distinctive. Be a nice one to mix with Nelsons I would think.
The mead yeast is still going... one bubble every 2 seconds and that has been a constant since it kicked off two weeks ago. I'm told the yeast could go to between 18 & 20%. From what I've been reading lately, one of the best ways of storing your yeast is to just keep a bottle back and harvest the yeast from that - but I can't do that with the mead as it will be left to drop (completely) clear and not conditioned. That's why I was thinking of either freezing in glycerin or creating slants. We should all have a bash and swap them between us - I know that's not good for your yeast sales, but if you sold the agar-agar and test tubes and associated paraphernalia it should be ok. We could try it?
The aquarium stones do look like a good idea but then again, pure oxygen cylinders look pretty good too!
All these yeasts, so little time.
I'm going to look now on your site to see if there's a 50 or 60 ltr version of the two brewpacks FVs I bought from you a while back!
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
I'm all for recycling as it makes them more economical and therefore more appealing which ultimately increases sales.
Did you post that recipe for the Jaipur clone as I don't remember seeing it? Sounds interesting for sure although Ahtanum hops are a bit short in supply at the moment.
Um pure Oxygen.... must take a look at the options for that!
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Try this
Jaipurish
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
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