After my pre birthday #Brewday woes the boiler is fixed and some of my equipment got bigger 

Although I’m not ready to use it yet ! as I Still need to get a bigger pot to use as my boiler ! I think a 70L will suffice, that should be just enough to do a 9 and a 5 in the same batch! unless I’m told otherwise !
The next decision get it from @themaltmiller    (   themaltmiller.co.uk )or I’ve seen some equally nice ones from @homebrewbuilder (   homebrewbuilder.co.uk )

Tomorrow is #BrewDay 

Friday 21st was to be a pre Birthday #BrewDay, I was all set to do a Simcoe Double IPA  I Got up early opened up the shedquarters before I had my breakfast, Rinsed out  the HLT and then I promptly Burnt out the element
I thought I’d got away with it but it took too long to heat the Liquor..

1/2 of the element had burnt out !….I’d Had to modify the boiler to maintain a rolling Boil otherwise the thermal protection would have saved it…
I spent the rest of the day looking for a spare but finding it was listed as obsolete and then contemplating should I get a 70L or 100L boil pot and propane ring. I couldn’t decide!

Saturday was my Birthday and I had a leisurely day , a few beers in Coopers of Guiseley and then home for a nice Curry from IndianSpice also in Guiseley and some Sticky Buns..

Sunday Back in the shed.. 40mm hole cutter in one hand and £5 kettle and assorted ‘o’ rings in the other. The Kettle Element stripped out and into that 40mm hole but No Joy I just could’t get a seal….

Back to searching  ! I think this will do the job until I decide on what to get….

So there’s still a Big un answered question, Do I get a 70L of 100L pot?

Just got some hops from @themaltmiller, Nice and quick delivery using DPD , I love the tracking system.

I ordered some Citra, Simcoe,and Columus Hops, the Simcoe were a twitter special 500g, that should be enough to try  a couple of brews. Although I did forget to add a us-05 standby Yeast to my basket -DOH 

Lets see if I can do  a single hop like the Mikkeller  Simcoe  I tried last year.  Those hops even though they are sealed the aroma is seeping out yum… best get them split , re sealed and in the freezer soon…

I have a couple more brews in mind one with Juniper berries but I’m not sure if to go light (IPA) or Dark (porter)  and another with Vanilla and coffee, BTW the 4g of whole bean coffee in that 2L pressurised PET of Black IPA  that I left infusing  for 1 week tasted great, I’ll be definitely trying small scale infusion trials with other brews…

I also spiced up the Dana’s Delight with Corriander and Orange Zest with a post ferment infusion of 28g crushed.ground coriander seeds, Zest from 3 oranges left overnight in  several measures of Gin and then topped up to 1L with Boiling  water and left to soak for a day, strained and then added to the cornie keg…

I transferred the Columbus brewing challenge to keg yesterday but I’m not happy 
A quick sampling Of the brew from the testing tube when I measured the F.G.  left me with a soapy aftertaste ! So either it’s an attribute of the hop , which I’ve never used  before so i’m  not sure! or I’ve left it in the trub  in the FV too long ! If it hadn’t been blowing a whooley all week I’d have been down to the shed and  transferred it to a secondary . BTW. the FG was 1.008 so it’s coming in at 5.27% but I’m Very seriously thinking of doing it again but this time making sure I move it 1/2 way through to a secondary FV !!! But that ‘d be cutting it too fine for the next meeting! 

I’ll give it a couple of days then have another taste as it could have been the plastic cup….

I had Quite a successful BrewDay for the OlicanaBrew challenge.  
The water was quite cold and it took a while to get the Buffalo Boiler that’s my HLT upto the right Strike Temp .

Buffalo Boiler and PID set to 74˚c

In went the 16L of liquor followed by the 4.6KG of Maris Otter and 0.5KG of Pilsner Malt, The brew I decided on called for a light body and to be mashed at 64.5˚c, So I the STC1000 to stop pumping above 65˚c as I’m Still fine tuning my Recirculating Mash technique using the immersion Coil in the HLT, it was cold in the shed and I initially overcompensated with a too high HLT temperature until I knocked it down  and stirred the mash to get it back to Temp…!.


The Sparge went well and it was back into the Buffalo for the boil.

25g of Columbus  added at the start of the Boil another 15G added with 15Minutes left. Irish moss added 5 minutes  before the end and then the remaining 10g added at ‘Flame Out’. I decided to pump the wort through the Flatplate cooler back and into the Buffalo to leave some of the cold break material in the copper, Not sure it worked that well so I might just gravity feed straight into FV next time…

OG 1.048′ ish

BeerSmith estimated the OG at 1.042  so it’s slightly over , lets see what it’s FG is …..
The wort was a little on the cool side when I added the Safale US-05  ..Took it till lunchtime to get to temperature.
(ignore the brew name that was the New Years Brew )
But was already bubbling when I checked

A Very Very Late Start to my Brew-day, but hey I can run into the evening , thats If my fingers Thaw out !

This is the Recipe I have designed Lets see how it turns out !