Brew Number

108 and 109

Style

Ordinary Bitter OB1 and OB2

 Ingredients

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 32.00 Wort Size (L): 32.00
Total Grain (kg): 6.10
Anticipated OG: 1.035 Plato: 8.85
Anticipated EBC: 10.6
Anticipated IBU: 24.2
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential EBC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
96.7 5.90 kg. TF Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt UK 1.037 6
3.3 0.20 kg. JWM Caramalt Australia 1.036 56

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
42.31 g. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 4.20 18.3 60 min.
24.69 g. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 4.20 3.6 20 min.
32.43 g. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 4.20 2.3 5 min.

Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.00 Unit(s)Whirlfloc Fining 45 Min.(boil)
0.00 Unit(s)Zinc tablet Other 0 Days(boil)

Yeast
-----

WYeast 1968 London Extra Special Bitter

Safale S04

Bread yeast, whirlfloc, scaping zinc tablet, quarter campden tablet in mash and sparge water

Brewing notes

Yeast

1968 built up to DME starter, safale rehydrated and pitched.

Crush

All grain crushed once on 3th setting using power drill. No grain bag on manifold.

Mash

Water in HLT 80 degrees, 18 l to esky, wait 5 mins and add cold water, 74 deg. Malt in, mix well, 68.0 degrees in middle, add cold water, 67 degrees in middle. 60 min 66.5 degrees in middle.

Sparge

Dump 16l at 86 degrees into tun, mix, wait 10 min, bed temp 75 degrees, drain and recirc 4 l , drain fast - 9 mins. Get 30 l at 1.047. Add another 8 l at 86 degrees, then 5 l at 86 degrees. Total vol 44 l, cooled sample 1.030. Higher efficiency than anticipated, add 3 l of water to boiler.

Boil

Boiled for 90 mins, end boil have 36 l at 1.034 at 32 degrees. Corrected is about 1.036. Drop into 2 fermenters, 11 l and 21 l.

Ferment

Coopers fermenter, 1968 yeast. Mon 29 Nov, 8 am, krausen. Brew temp about 19 degrees in water bath. 12 Dec, 1.014. 2 Dec 1.011. 5 Dec 1.008. Prime 5 g/l dextrose, bottle as OB1.

Small fermenter, Safale yeast, brewed at about 19 degrees in water bath. 2 Dec 1.012. 5 Dec1.008. Primed with 5 g/l, bottled.

Tasting notes

OB1, 29 Dec. Cloudy - chill haze. Reasonable gas on opening. Reas lacy head. Not much aroma. Quite a light golden colour. Crisp malt up front, slightly fruity, minor caramel notes in the middle, finishes dry and clean but reasonably bitter. Quite a nice beer, a little out of balance. Needs slightly less IBUs, and a bit more malt in the finish. Maybe OK for style though weighted to hops, but I quite like it.

4 Jan. OB1. MM, when you get used to the lightness this is a pretty good beer. This one very bright, a little malty, a little fruity, well hopped, quite nice. Still slightly too bitter in the aftertaste. Compared to OB2. OB1 delicate fruity malty aroma, OB2 pretty flat aroma, in fact a little sulphury. Flavour - OB2 is quite dry, less caramel and fruitiness in the malt flavour, a bit flat/bland malt wise, with a crisp dry hop bitterness that comes through strongly at the end. It actually tastes slightly sulphury. Really a big difference in the overall flavour with OB1 (1968) being way better.

29 Jan OB1. Well gassed, OK head and retention, not quite clear. Dry, slightly fruity aroma. Light malt up front, slightly fruity in the middle, lingering hops at the end which are tasted strongly along the edges of the tongue, a little too bitter and a bit out of balance. But a moderately flavoured quite drinkable medium strength beer. Needs maybe a bit more malt (crystal), a wrmer fermentation for a bit more fruit, and maybe 3 less ibus from teh 60 min addition. Definitely worth another go, maybe trying to drop the alcohol a little as well.

1 Feb. OB2. Still quite dry and lacking a bit of character compared to OB1, but sulphury taste much reduced. Not clear, looks like chill haze, Safale yeast was welded to bottom of bottle.

6 Feb OB2. As above, and maybe the balance is OK now, assertively bittered but not unpleasant.

13 Feb, OB2. Sulphury smell/taste gone. A pretty nice mid strength beer. Balance isnt bad although on the bitter side. But there is just enough malt and fruitiness to balance. Nice vigorous carbonation, thick lacy head that lasts forever, nice golden colour. Very nice, maybe 2 less ibus next time?

5 March, Bathurst results, 96/150, 3rd place in bitter Ale. Marked down for high carbonation (true) and dry aftertaste. Also "could be darker". I guess maybe a few less IBUs, a bit more crystal.

12 April, not sure which one. Good gas, bit excessive. Robust long lasting head. Restrained caramel up front, reasonably balanced bitterness. Does finish a little dry. Few less IBUs basically.

21 April, OB1. Pretty gassy for 5 g/l. Chill haze. Nice beer, delicately malty, slightly fruity, clean finish, which is just a little too bitter for the malt. Tiny bit more crystal, tiny bit less hops, same yeast and ferment temp.