Beerdroid All Grain Brewing

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

pH is something I've been working on but relying on Brewfather to give me the guidance in terms of acid additions.

Like @Dustin Frothman I probably should learn to use my pH meter better and make use of it more often given I made the commitment of a purchase. But having to calibrate it before every use just seems so painful.

In terms of brewing, I feel I've getting that reasonably well dialed in for my Nano Brewery by making . I make small adjustments in Brewfather to my mash efficiency given the gravities achieved each brew day.

I now never go under my efficiency but often go over.

However, one area where actual versus predicted by Brewfather is in final gravity. More often than not, I'm under by several points or more.

[Hambone]

During the mash, do you stir or do you leave it alone during recirculation.  I was have low efficiency about 3 or so years ago and an experienced brewer suggested giving the mash a few time during the hour or whatever. After using this technique my efficiency increased. I sometimes overshot the numbers. 

The other consid is the grain. Is it what it says it is, is it cracked properly. Not too much and not too little. 

If stirring doesn't work, try grain from another supplier. 

For the finishing gravity it seems some sugars may not be completely converted. 

Cheers 

Edited September 9, 2022 by Hambone

[Dustin Frothman]

Apricot Weissbeer.

This has turned out really well. It tastes like a wheat beer but has a really nice apricot aroma and very subtle sweetness. It also has a very slight pink hue (which the photo doesn’t capture).

This is the first wheat beer I’ve attempted and the head this beer holds is really impressive.

I have learned that I’ll need separate inline regulators on my gas manifold if I want to serve beers of this type more often. Being a lighter carbonation, getting the serving pressure right without over gassing the beer is tricky.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

@Dustin Frothmanthat definitely looks the goods.

How did you achieve the apricot flavour?

[Dustin Frothman]

1 hour ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

@Dustin Frothmanthat definitely looks the goods.

How did you achieve the apricot flavour?

About 1/2 kg of apricots from our tree added to the Droid in a paint strainer bag on day 3 of fermentation.

It’s a really nice beer. 

[Dustin Frothman]

I brewed a Hazy Pale Ale on the weekend (no photos, they're all the same anyway) using Verdant yeast, Dr. Rudi (I substituted Crystal) in the boil, Idaho 7 in the hop stand, Mosaic, Amarillo and Eclipse dry hops.

And picked up a bunch of grain and some yeast from the nice people at Beerbelly for the next few brews as well. Most of the recipes are from Hoppy Days Brewing in Brisbogan and freely available on their website but also in the Brewfather application.

- Camshaft IPA (Bentspoke Crankshaft IPA clone)

- Bolder XPA (Balter XPA clone)

- Marrickville XPA (Batch Brewing XPA clone)

- American Amber Ale

I still have a Hazy Citra and Mosaic IPA to brew but I stuffed up and it's a little too much grain for my kettle, so I'll either do it brew in a bag style in the big pot or buy a gadget to expand the grain basket on the Braumeister. Unfortunately the gadget is made in Italy and is priced in Euros so like all things Braumeister it's horribly expensive. Oh well.

It's nice to have both Droids working away again.

[Dustin Frothman]

On 19/9/2022 at 2:40 PM, Dustin Frothman said:

Ibuy a gadget to expand the grain basket on the Braumeister. Unfortunately the gadget is made in Italy and is priced in Euros so like all things Braumeister it's horribly expensive.

I’m a sucker so I ordered the gadget and a special “shovel” for making a strong whirlpool in the kettle following the boil.

The shipping was almost 2/3 the price of the order a makes BrewArt shipping look like a steal.

[Captain 3 Droids]

5 hours ago, Dustin Frothman said:

I’m a sucker so I ordered the gadget and a special “shovel” for making a strong whirlpool in the kettle following the boil.

The shipping was almost 2/3 the price of the order a makes BrewArt shipping look like a steal.

Shipping is a curse and a deterrent in many a purchase however sometimes it’s a “just do it” particularly if associated with home brew.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

The Wai-iti single hop, double dry hopped 7.9% NEIPA.

Damn good drink.

Lots of fruit but less on the citrus side. More muted tropical with some nice piney flavour coming thru.

Colour is good and mouthfeel is excellent. Very thick, little bitterness but plenty of thick fruit flavour on the palate with a little pithiness which I enjoy. The colour isn't well respresented by the pic below but better in the second picture inside.

Head on this one is a little thin, starts out good but quickly dissipates due to some larger bubbles.

Smell is fantastic, fruit but you can't say whether it's tropical or citrus which is classic of the Wai-iti hop.

And yes, I am chilling on a beautiful Wednesday arvo here in Sydney. Had a 3 hour teleconference cancelled for the afternoon but the meeting is still in my diary meaning, why not indulge in all aspects.

Two full glasses in, a favourite western on Netflix, High Plains Drifter, and just waiting on the wife to come home as it's our 15 year anniversary today.

Made a dash to the Sydney Fish Markets this morning so all stocked up with fresh XL Tiger Prawns, sashimi and oysters as well as a bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Wazza_wantsbeer

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Getting ready for the next all grain brew day which will be tomorrow.

Planning something a little different, a SMaSH (for those who dont know this term it means Single Mash and Single Hop) beer using cryo hops, namely Cryo Pop and 4 kgs of Golden Promise for the SM part.

But before that, did some recent upgrades to the 36l Nano brewery. Added all Camlock fittings which are so much better than those butterfly hose thingies.

Also, when I purchased the Nano, I got an immersion chiller with it but hadn't used it as yet. That all changes tomorrow.

One of the more painful things on a brew day has been waiting for the wort to chill to whirlpool (hop stand) temps and then from that temp to a temp low enough to pour into the Droid and pitch the yeast. It's been such a frustration that my wife has commented on it.

Finally got around to getting all the right fittings for that and a 2 metre garden hose to run from the hot end into the drain.

The test went well and clearly showed me the areas I need to add plumber's tape which is exactly what I wanted.

Testing the immersion chiller on hot water, with the tap at almost fullbore, it dropped the heated water from 95°C to 75°C in under 2 minutes. Which is great for getting to whirlpool temps.

Then turning down the flow (to conserve water somewhat) at the tap, it dropped 35°C (70-35°C) in less than 9.5 minutes.

Very happy with that. Can't wait to start tomorrow and get another beer into the Droid. 

Edited September 30, 2022 by Wazza_wantsbeer

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Brew day going very well so far. The mash has gone to plan.

Trying a new technique today, the whirloff (sp?).

After mashing out at 76°C for 10 minutes, raise the temp to 80°C, lift the grain basket and recirculate the wort thru the grain basket. Will do this for 20 minutes then let the basket drip as I raise the temp to boiling.

A 30minute boil with no hop additions until the whirlpool.

Had to make sure the pump flow is low to not splash out the sides of the basket. Using the lid and recirculation ball by placing the lid directly on top of the grain basket.

Hope is to get even better mash efficiency.

Edited October 1, 2022 by Wazza_wantsbeer

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

What a great brew day. Done and dusted. The immersion chiller made such a difference. And the camlock fittings make it so easy to move the silicone hoses around.

From boiling to 75°C for the whirlpool in 2 minutes. After whirlpooling for 30 minutes, it took just 17 minutes to get to 21°C.

Straight into the Droid, pitched the London Fog yeast and set the custom program.

A great advantage of filling the Droid from the dump ball valve is that I can really splash it into the Droid and get a lot of O2 into the wort to help the yeast.

Cleaned up and I'm done in less than 5 hours start to finish.

BTW, the Cryo Pop hops have such an intense aroma. I've never smelt anything like it before during the whirlpool. The smell for the full 30 minutes was just amazing, so enticing!

For the Cryo Pop hops in this brew, I'm going even split, 50g in the whirlpool, 50g first hop addition at around day 2 and then a 50g second hop addition when the Droid tells me to.

[Dustin Frothman]

Nice one Wazza. New bits on the kettle to make your processes better or more efficient are a good thing and add to the overall enjoyment.

I made the Balter XPA clone again yesterday and tried out the new whirlpool shovel gizmo.

I didn't take any photos but the thing is a beast, incredibly well made and does a thorough job.

4 days to ship from Italy to Radelaide was impressive too.

Looking forward to trying out the new grain basket extender gizmo next time.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

14 hours ago, Dustin Frothman said:

Nice one Wazza. New bits on the kettle to make your processes better or more efficient are a good thing and add to the overall enjoyment.

I made the Balter XPA clone again yesterday and tried out the new whirlpool shovel gizmo.

I didn't take any photos but the thing is a beast, incredibly well made and does a thorough job.

4 days to ship from Italy to Radelaide was impressive too.

Looking forward to trying out the new grain basket extender gizmo next time.

Now that looks space age.

Would love to see how it works so a video of it in action would be great thanks @Dustin Frothman.

[Captain 3 Droids]

14 hours ago, Dustin Frothman said:

4 days to ship from Italy to Radelaide was impressive too.

Quicker than your place to mine, ☺️

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Efficiency

As I alluded to previously, this is something I’ve been wanting to touch on for a while now.

In terms of the mash phase, I’m getting good efficiency and normally getting numbers above what Brewfather was estimating.

I then started tweaking the Mash Efficiency number in Brewfather - Equipment Profile so that estimations and results come closer to matching. I've now set that number to 73% and the estimates versus actuals are getting closer. I'm using the Official Equipment profile provided by Cheeky Peak for their 36l Nano brewery and the original Mash Efficiency in that profile was less than 72%.

As asked, yes, I stir the mash every 15 minutes or so. And as you can see from the photos I’ve posted previously, I recirculate the wort during the mash and I found adding a couple of handfuls of rice hulls really helped efficiency as well.

Interestingly, last weekend when I used the Vorlauf Process for the first time, my efficiency went up by 10 points over the Brewfather estimate. 10 points is a damn good result.

On a side note, I may have done the vorlauf at too high a temperature as further reading on the process suggests you shouldn’t heat the wort over 77°C as you might start to release tannins into the wort. I did the vorlauf for 30 minutes starting around 75°C and let it reach 80°C where it stayed for the last 15 minutes or so.

Oh well, time will tell if there are tannins introduced into the wort when fermentation in the Droid finishes and it's tasting time.

Also, further reading has revealed that a 10-20 minute vorlauf is sufficient so next time I will keep the time to say 15 minutes and temperatures around that 75-76°C mash out temperature.

Where my efficiency now most varies from Brewfather is in the final gravity. My final gravity readings are often way off what Brewfather estimates.

I sometimes hit the mark but more frequently, I’m usually high in my final gravity readings. Likely because I’ve more unfermentable sugars in my wort than estimated by Brewfather. Interestingly, I’ve been dropping my mash temp down from 68 to 67°C to see if that helps.

Any other suggestions or thoughts on this?

[Dustin Frothman]

On 2/10/2022 at 10:55 AM, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Now that looks space age.

Would love to see how it works so a video of it in action would be great thanks @Dustin Frothman.

No video sorry but here’s a photo of it from this morning whilst making the Batch Brewing XPA clone.

You can attach it to a drill as well but it’s not really necessary for smaller volumes of liquid.

[Dustin Frothman]

On 7/10/2022 at 10:15 AM, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Efficiency

As I alluded to previously, this is something I’ve been wanting to touch on for a while now.

In terms of the mash phase, I’m getting good efficiency and normally getting numbers above what Brewfather was estimating.

I then started tweaking the Mash Efficiency number in Brewfather - Equipment Profile so that estimations and results come closer to matching. I've now set that number to 73% and the estimates versus actuals are getting closer. I'm using the Official Equipment profile provided by Cheeky Peak for their 36l Nano brewery and the original Mash Efficiency in that profile was less than 72%.

As asked, yes, I stir the mash every 15 minutes or so. And as you can see from the photos I’ve posted previously, I recirculate the wort during the mash and I found adding a couple of handfuls of rice hulls really helped efficiency as well.

Interestingly, last weekend when I used the Vorlauf Process for the first time, my efficiency went up by 10 points over the Brewfather estimate. 10 points is a damn good result.

On a side note, I may have done the vorlauf at too high a temperature as further reading on the process suggests you shouldn’t heat the wort over 77°C as you might start to release tannins into the wort. I did the vorlauf for 30 minutes starting around 75°C and let it reach 80°C where it stayed for the last 15 minutes or so.

Oh well, time will tell if there are tannins introduced into the wort when fermentation in the Droid finishes and it's tasting time.

Also, further reading has revealed that a 10-20 minute vorlauf is sufficient so next time I will keep the time to say 15 minutes and temperatures around that 75-76°C mash out temperature.

Where my efficiency now most varies from Brewfather is in the final gravity. My final gravity readings are often way off what Brewfather estimates.

I sometimes hit the mark but more frequently, I’m usually high in my final gravity readings. Likely because I’ve more unfermentable sugars in my wort than estimated by Brewfather. Interestingly, I’ve been dropping my mash temp down from 68 to 67°C to see if that helps.

Any other suggestions or thoughts on this?

Good post @Wazza_wantsbeer

I checked the water report for my suburb this morning and discovered it had changed a little, and adjusted the profile in Brewfather accordingly.

Using the new grain basket disc and the adjusted water profile achieved 5 points better than the Brewfather estimate which was a good result.

I don’t bother with a final gravity reading so I won’t know how it compares once finished.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Kegged my SMaSH beer today.

As a reminder, this was 4 kg Golden Promise malt for the SM and 150g of Cryo Pop hop for the SH. Hops were used evenly across the brew... 50g in the whirlpool, 50g at day 2 for first dry hop addition and a second dry hop addition 4 days ago when alerted by the Droid of a last 50g.

A 13 day from start to finish was a good result.

Stats

Original Gravity: 1.078

Final Gravity: 1.016

ABV: 8.5%

The taste straight from the Droid is sublime. Thinking this could be my best ever brew so far. Colour is also just amazing, will take a picture tomorrow when carbed to show it in its full glory.

Amazing fruit character, great mouthfeel already. Got it in the Kegerator at 30 psi to have my first proper taste tomorrow.

The cryo hops meant very little grainy grassy bits in the trub. It was green but soft and so easy to clean. Also best kegging experience to date without a single issue.

Cannot wait until tomorrow to have a first taste. 

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

First taste and what a taste.

Given its a SMaSH Hazy IP using only Golden Promise malt it's surprisingly thick in mouth feel, a good clean, sweet Malt backbone and then those Cryo Pop hops shine thru.

The Cryo Pop hops bring a very complex set of hop flavours, very citrus fruity and quite juicy but then the more complex tropical fruit flavour dominates the palate.

Colour, is truly "golden" as promised... hahaha

Will do this again as I'm planning to do this for our work Social Club Xmas party. For this party, I will do 2 10l batches in the Nano Brewery to get 20l of wort into the FermZilla next time because I need the volume.

I will make a few changes as it will be only a single dry hop version rather than Double Dry Hopped. I've purchased some cooking safe magnets to use so that I will completely avoiding any O2 and will go with the LalBrew Verdant IPA yeast.

[Dustin Frothman]

 

Happy Friday.

Balter XPA clone and Finest ESB on the bar tab tonight.

[Dustin Frothman]

Happy Friday everyone. (drinking one now but took this one the other day in the nice weather)

A Hoppy American Pale Ale after a month in the keg.

This is a nice beer and I would make it again. Craft fiends and your standard swill drinkers would both enjoy.

[Captain 3 Droids]

2 minutes ago, Dustin Frothman said:

Hoppy American Pale Ale

Your producing some very nice looking all grain brews which appear to be very consumable. 

[Dustin Frothman]

Just now, Captain 3 Droids said:

Your producing some very nice looking all grain brews which appear to be very consumable. 

I can't take all the credit.

It's the fancy kettle and the Droids that do all the hard work!

[Dustin Frothman]

Happy Sunday Brewarters. A bit of “outdoor” wort cooking again today and sampling a clone of Bentspoke’s Crankshaft IPA at right on two weeks in the taster bottle. Very happy with the colour and head retention on this one. A nice IPA indeed.