Rocky Ridge Dayman/Nightman recipe. Amazing

[Dustin Frothman]

10 minutes ago, Sam Armstrong said:

Absolutely @Wazza_wantsbeer
Thanks to this forum that's how we all learn, but I had originally held off coz not sure if it would turn out a mess - didn't want to give anyone a bad recipe!
You'll note this is a little different to what @Benoz had originally posted, and I had been in touch with Liam to clarify a few things. I didn't want to keep bugging him, so again as this was a new process for me, apologies to all if some of these techniques aren't right. But I guess that is the learning process for me which is still fun to mess around with.....

Dayman Base Ingredients : 
6 X1's 
2 X2's 
250g naked oats - not going through the full mash/boil process so suggested for the diastatic power
135g Galaxy Hops 
Lallemand Verdant IPA yeast - Suggested as very suitable dry alternative

METHOD 

1. Crush the Golden Naked Oats to expose the sugars on the inside - ** I got conflicting info (Brew shop said  I didn't really need to crush) and I didn't wanna keep bugging Liam, so I kinda did a 3/5 crush!
2. Heat 2.5L of water to 65°C add the oats and steep for 30 minutes - I think this was different from the original 4L
3. Strain the grain, and bring the liquid to the boil for 5 minutes 
4. Turn off heat and chill to 85°C. Add 35G Galaxy Hops and 1x X1, and steep for further 20 minutes
   *I put the 1x X1 in this stage - I am not sure if it is better to have just put all the X1 in at stage 7
5. Fill BeerDroid to 7.5L, add the wort 
6. Wait for temp to get to 22°C 
7. When the 10L in the droid cooled to 22° or less add the yeast, 5 X1's, 2 X2's 
8. Parameters: Ferment 18°, Keg 14°, Store 4° 
9. At EOF add in remaining 100g Galaxy Hops - This is also different to Benoz's initial recipe. Liam advised that adding the hops at 48 hours may mess around with the fermentation detections, so just keep all the hops for EOF.

Possible issues with my brew which might make it sub-optimal!
- see above stage 4
- In trying to be meticulous with the following of the recipe, I took much longer and ended up needing to rush. Put the Lallemand in at a bit over 22° so hopefully no detrimental impact on yeast performance. I'm also hoping the liquid at the top was warmer from the wort (with colder water underneath), and it would have cooled down quickly.

In any case, as long as it's not a total mess it should still be pretty good. The Galaxy smells amazing just on it's own!

Nice one Sam.

Get yourself a food grade plastic pail to help with your partial mash experiments. You can always mix up and cool down your wort in one of these (sanitised of course) before adding to the Droid.

As mentioned elsewhere on the forum, you really don't want to be adding any liquid above 40 degrees C to the Droid. (I always try for <= 35 C).

Cheers!

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

31 minutes ago, Sam Armstrong said:

Possible issues with my brew which might make it sub-optimal!
- see above stage 4
- In trying to be meticulous with the following of the recipe, I took much longer and ended up needing to rush. Put the Lallemand in at a bit over 22° so hopefully no detrimental impact on yeast performance. I'm also hoping the liquid at the top was warmer from the wort (with colder water underneath), and it would have cooled down quickly.

In any case, as long as it's not a total mess it should still be pretty good. The Galaxy smells amazing just on it's own!

In terms of the yeast, I wouldn't worry. For the Lallemand Lalbrew Verdant IPA yeast, it works happily between 18°C (64°F) to 23°C (73°F). And it is a great choice of dry yeast for this style of beer!

Looking at the Lallemand Website, the optimum temp for fermentation for the Verdant IPA is around 20°C so I would recommend raising the fermentation temp after 2 days from 18°C to 20°C and you'll find the fermentation will be a little quicker and you're in that particular yeasts sweet zone.

You can easily change the temperature using the app and I do it all the time and it's safe as.

In terms of adding hops, I've found that if double dry hopping, you can feel comfortable adding the hops when you pitch the yeast. Otherwise, adding the hops at day 2 really isn't difficult but since it's still early days in terms of your brewing experience, adding the full amount at the dry hop when prompted by the Droid is perfectly fine.

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out for you @Sam Armstrong

[Sam Armstrong]

Cheers @Wazza_wantsbeergood to know about the yeast profile. I'm in no rush for it to finish quicker, and happy to see how it pans out overall anyway. I'll undoubtedly do it again so will try those temp adjustments then.

[Benoz]

Adding the X1 to your steep was critical. Without malt in the boil you won't get "Alpha acid isomerisation" (the bitterness of a beer)

[J P]

On 15/8/2022 at 1:20 PM, Sam Armstrong said:

Absolutely @Wazza_wantsbeer
Thanks to this forum that's how we all learn, but I had originally held off coz not sure if it would turn out a mess - didn't want to give anyone a bad recipe!
You'll note this is a little different to what @Benoz had originally posted, and I had been in touch with Liam to clarify a few things. I didn't want to keep bugging him, so again as this was a new process for me, apologies to all if some of these techniques aren't right. But I guess that is the learning process for me which is still fun to mess around with.....

Dayman Base Ingredients : 
6 X1's 
2 X2's 
250g naked oats - not going through the full mash/boil process so suggested for the diastatic power
135g Galaxy Hops 
Lallemand Verdant IPA yeast - Suggested as very suitable dry alternative

METHOD 

1. Crush the Golden Naked Oats to expose the sugars on the inside - ** I got conflicting info (Brew shop said  I didn't really need to crush) and I didn't wanna keep bugging Liam, so I kinda did a 3/5 crush!
2. Heat 2.5L of water to 65°C add the oats and steep for 30 minutes - I think this was different from the original 4L
3. Strain the grain, and bring the liquid to the boil for 5 minutes 
4. Turn off heat and chill to 85°C. Add 35G Galaxy Hops and 1x X1, and steep for further 20 minutes
   *I put the 1x X1 in this stage - I am not sure if it is better to have just put all the X1 in at stage 7
5. Fill BeerDroid to 7.5L, add the wort 
6. Wait for temp to get to 22°C 
7. When the 10L in the droid cooled to 22° or less add the yeast, 5 X1's, 2 X2's 
8. Parameters: Ferment 18°, Keg 14°, Store 4° 
9. At EOF add in remaining 100g Galaxy Hops - This is also different to Benoz's initial recipe. Liam advised that adding the hops at 48 hours may mess around with the fermentation detections, so just keep all the hops for EOF.

Possible issues with my brew which might make it sub-optimal!
- see above stage 4
- In trying to be meticulous with the following of the recipe, I took much longer and ended up needing to rush. Put the Lallemand in at a bit over 22° so hopefully no detrimental impact on yeast performance. I'm also hoping the liquid at the top was warmer from the wort (with colder water underneath), and it would have cooled down quickly.

In any case, as long as it's not a total mess it should still be pretty good. The Galaxy smells amazing just on it's own!

She’ll be right I reckon.   
 

I’ve just done a batch with Hophead yeast (has enzymes) and sabro cryo for the DH.   Will let you know in 6-8 weeks but out of the droid it had all the familiar flavours and hazy goodness. 
 

alongside it I did a BRU-1 / sabro combo (pineapple and coconut aromas Definately there) PinaColadaMan has been born.  
 

stay tuned.  

[Sam Armstrong]

Reckon cold crash probably finishing today, sadly not going to be able to bottle or keg until the weekend...😤

[Sam Armstrong]

Well...firstly pretty devastated to say lost 5L to the ol' brewflo kegs....something I'll likely change up to proper keg's in the medium future. Bottled the other half

12 days secondary bottle conditioning....figured best to try it when the large hop volume is fresh, though will be interesting to know if better in a couple of weeks. I was actually getting quite a bit of apricot notes rather than the pineapple and mango that is associated to the Dayman. Either way taste is great, I mean if bought this at the bottle-o you'd be happy. Colour came out a little dark though, not sure why???

Feeling it though after a mountain range IPA prior 😀

 

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

9 hours ago, Sam Armstrong said:

Well...firstly pretty devastated to say lost 5L to the ol' brewflo kegs....something I'll likely change up to proper keg's in the medium future. Bottled the other half

12 days secondary bottle conditioning....figured best to try it when the large hop volume is fresh, though will be interesting to know if better in a couple of weeks. I was actually getting quite a bit of apricot notes rather than the pineapple and mango that is associated to the Dayman. Either way taste is great, I mean if bought this at the bottle-o you'd be happy. Colour came out a little dark though, not sure why???

Feeling it though after a mountain range IPA prior 😀

 

@Sam Armstrong that's a damn shame losing half your beer to a brewflow keg, R.I.P.

You are absolutely correct in saying that this style of beer with such large hop additions should be drunk and enjoyed early. Once the bottle conditioning period has completed, I would suggest drinking them quickly as the hop oils and aromas dissipate fairly quickly the older they get.

And yes, that colour. How did it looks when it came straight out of the keg? I would assume a nice golden yellow/orange colour?

If so, then definitely your DayMan has been hit with oxidation. Somewhere, likely in the bottling stage, O2 has been introduced.

The negative flavours associated with oxidized beer will only get worse with time and as the hop flavours diminish so I'd suggest drinking the remainder of your stockpile pretty quickly.

[Sam Armstrong]

Hi @Wazza_wantsbeer yep a damn shame.  And yeah, my initial thoughts were oxygen contamination. It did look a bit lighter from keg but I drank some dregs of it (why not!) to taste, and didn't taste too different, so I'm assuming O2 mixed in there as well. Would a slightly soapy taste be associated with oxidation?

[Captain 3 Droids]

7 minutes ago, Sam Armstrong said:

Would a slightly soapy taste be associated with oxidation?

“Soapy

Tastes/Smells Like:
Soap, detergent, oily, fatty
Possible Causes:
Keeping beer in the primary fermenter for a long time after fermentation is complete can cause soapy flavors. After a while, the fatty acids in the trub start to break down
and soap is essentially created.
How to Avoid:
Transfer beer into a secondary if you plan on aging it in the fermenter for a long period of time. Very light beers and lagers are more susceptible to absorbing and exhibiting off flavors than ales and darker beers”

I don’t believe this is an issue at cold crash temps, eg storage mode on the droid.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

29 minutes ago, Sam Armstrong said:

Hi @Wazza_wantsbeer yep a damn shame.  And yeah, my initial thoughts were oxygen contamination. It did look a bit lighter from keg but I drank some dregs of it (why not!) to taste, and didn't taste too different, so I'm assuming O2 mixed in there as well. Would a slightly soapy taste be associated with oxidation?

Okay wow, that is interesting. I've had a Hazy get oxidised and it didn't taste soapy.

From several websites, "if the beer is a lighter colored one, the oxidation reaction will gradually strip the beer of the hop and malt flavors and the beer may taste like wet paper or cardboard"

The cardboardy flavour is definitely what I experienced, especially as the beer aged. Also noticed that the hops flavour disappeared very quickly.

What was your cleaning routine of your Droid and bits & pieces prior to filling with this DayMan brew?

If it was darkish coming out of the Droid, can I ask what recipe you followed to make your DayMan clone?

This is my flat (out of a bottle which didn't seal properly) Hazy IPA that was also oxidised from some time ago.

[Sam Armstrong]

@Wazza_wantsbeerfor recipe see page 3. It is slightly different to the other methods used, including the dry yeast but I think oxidation is most likely culprit.

I'll have to try a couple more to see if that slight soapy aspect is consistent across the board.

As for cleaning, I try to be pretty meticulous, sodium percarbonate thoroughly in and through everything.

I have experimented with some smaller plastic 330 mL PET bottles recently (of which the above photo came from), and have had some quality issues with a few in the batch (cracking, bulging of the bottles), so perhaps it's also possible there is some oxygen penetration through these.

This was the keg photo btw.

As always cheers for the advice guys, disappointed but weirdly somewhat don't mind it being part of the process 🤷

[Sam Armstrong]

So I had a couple more bottles over the weekend, making them 2 weeks post bottling. Also made sure to include the two different bottle types to see if perhaps O2 penetrated the 'dodgy' ones. 

Colour essentially the same but for both pleased to say actually I think flavour profile better. More pineapple coming though, and none of whatever I associated the soapiness to in the previous samples....I could just be an idiot and have no clue what I'm talking about.

So I guess the two possibilities are:

Oxidation during bottling?

Recipe I used (or how I followed the recipe) caused the colour difference?

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Got a version of this in the Droid at present.

Changed it up in terms of hops but kept the same base recipe, grains and all. Using a combination of hops - Sabro, Nectaron and Bru-1 so calling it SBN-Man.

Somehow in yesterdays brew day, I missed my marks as I was shooting for an original gravity of 1.074 and only got 1.069. Oh well.

@Benoz@J P  interestingly, got a message from a guy who works at Rocky Road asking about my seltzers I post on FB in the BeerDroid owners group. Gave him some recipes and the method I use.

He also said the NightMan I did looked spot on and recommended trying a clone of StarMan which they released and was very popular, especially among the RR staff, which uses Strata hops.

Will definitely be giving the StarMan a go soon.

[J P]

The RR crew are legit!!!  They’re always pushing the envelope and and true dudes when it comes to the art of the brew.  (Shapeshifters in Adelaide too) 
 

that’s cool.  We will be looking out for some” Wazza Went Walkabout” seltzers on tap at their pour house  in the near future (you should actually suggest that name to them!!).  They have hilarious naming themes (a whole series around Carl for example)

your seltzers DO look amazing BTW!!

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

So I was a initially thinking that nothing much would come of it but I have to say, the Rocky Road guy delivered and I mean he seriously delivered.

A surprise beer-mail received this morning completely out of the blue as I wasn't expecting anything.

Just blown away by the generosity shown.

Cannot wait to try some of these Brews. Thinking to leave the darker beers until the cooler months so they are sitting in my wine fridge now.

Toughest choice, picking 3 to put in the fridge for Beer O'clock this afternoon.

Now will have to see what comes of the Seltzers at RR?

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Gentlemen, the latest in the "Man" series of beers that have inspired this thread.

Following on from crowd favourites such as DayMan, NightMan and StarMan

I have the honour to present to you... GreenMan

An all Citra DDH Hazy Double IPA

Wow, just wow!

Strong citrus fruit flavour with such a lovely mouth feel, smooth and luxurious all at a boozy but satisfying 8.5%.

Cheers on this early pisshead Friday!

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by Wazza_wantsbeer

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Latest in the line of Rocky Ridge "...Man" inspired brews.

This one is my SuBmariNe-Man for Sabro, Bru-1 and Nectaron hops used, 100 mg of each split across the whirlpool (20g), 1st and 2nd hop additions (40g each).

Went a with the same grains but used little less grain to get a "healthy" 7.5% ABV.

This hop combination really works, each complements the other.

2 days out of the Droid and its bloody awesome, lots of tropical fruit flavour, lime and coconut most prominent and as always, thick and juicy.

[J P]

On 16/2/2023 at 12:00 PM, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Latest in the line of Rocky Ridge "...Man" inspired brews.

This one is my SuBmariNe-Man for Sabro, Bru-1 and Nectaron hops used, 100 mg of each split across the whirlpool (20g), 1st and 2nd hop additions (40g each).

Went a with the same grains but used little less grain to get a "healthy" 7.5% ABV.

This hop combination really works, each complements the other.

2 days out of the Droid and its bloody awesome, lots of tropical fruit flavour, lime and coconut most prominent and as always, thick and juicy.

That hop combo sounds just awesome!!!!

[Sam Armstrong]

Hi all, just an update on a retry of this base recipe in case anyone interested. I didn't doas much brewing last year as I would have liked (infants and toddlers....) but happy to say this year I have brewed a version of a WCIPA, the Baltic Porter, original pilsner and now this RR re do. I messed up the first one a while back, and wanted to try and improve this.
A few slight differences, but still the key base wort and oat steeping process, and I tried to be better on temp monitoring on the stove.
Instead of total 6x X1 I used five. It's all I had(!) plus actually preferred to try it with a slightly lower total ABV. I also wanted to try the local homebrews malt/wheat dry malt extract, so used a 500g pack of that instead of the (hopefully close to) equivalent of 2x X2 packs.
Again slight change with the wort hops, instead of 35g galaxy, this recipe is 10g Citra and 25g Rakau. I'm bastardising the recipe, but just using up what I had.
As an aside, big trub and hop debris despite the filter inserted, I filled 750mL bottle first as the trial bottle and couldn't quite fill the 8L kegland PET keg I use. I keep wondering if there is a threshold the droid can actually handle in terms of hop volume???
End result: definitely no oxidation like I probably did first time. Tastes like breakfast juice! I know the style is an east coast IPA of sorts, but perhaps a little too cloudy??? I say this as the picture and opacity probably doesn't do justice to the colour. Overall can't complain at all! I've started judging a beer from what I'd be happy paying for at the bottle shop. Rocky ridge beers would go for about $7.50-8.50 a can, if I bought a beer like this for $6.50 I'd be happy. Pretty good considering a chump like me was behind it.