Fermentation Notes, Southern English Brown (Mon 28apr)

UPDATE (28 apr): Noticeable fermentation began sometimes within the first 11 hours, I would imagine close to 4-6 as it was already going pretty strong when I checked at 11 hours. Ambient temp was 66F, fermentor temp was 69F. I turned the air down a degree or two to try and keep it below 70F if possible. Very fruity smell coming from fermentor.

UPDATE (28 apr): Fermentor was up to 71F (ambient 65F) when I got home from work so I drape a wet t-shirt around it, after an hour or so, the temp was down to 69F.

UPDATE (29 apr): Temp was down to 67F (ambient 64F), t-shirt was removed.

UPDATE (29apr): Gravity was measured at 1.020. Yeast still very much in suspension. I'm hoping to get it attenuated down to 1.015-1.016 (~ 70%).

UPDATE (01may): Gravity is at 1.018. Yeast are still in suspension, taste was quite roasty, almost slightly bitter. I think this will decrease as the yeast settle out (hopefully).

UPDATE (04may): 1.017

Brewing Notes, Southern English Brown (Sun 27apr)

Brewed a southern english style brown ale today.

Recipe used was:

6.0 lbs. Gold LME
.75 lbs. Dark Crystal 80 (Simpson's)
.25 lbs. Caramel 60
.50 lbs. Caramel 120
.50 lbs. Pale Chocolate (Fawcett)
.50 lbs. Briess Special Roast
.25 oz. East Kent Goldings hops (4.5 AA)
.25 oz. Galena hops (13.1 AA)

Pitched it onto ~1/4 to 1/2 of the yeast cake (safale s-04) from the dark mild that I also bottled today.

Original Gravity clocked in at ~1.052, right about where expected (I never measure exactly how much I boil off, because I'm not brewing to absolute specifications at this point, just tasty beer) considering the amount of grains used.

Bottling Notes, Dark Mild (Sun 27apr)

Bottled the dark mild today after 9 days in fermentor:

Final Gravity ~ 1.011

% attenuation ~ 63%

% ABV ~ 2.5%

Calories per 12 oz. ~ 101

Obtained equivalent of about 47 twelve oz. beers. Being such a small beer, these should be tasty pretty much whenever they finish carbonating. I'll wait a week and try one.

Fermentation Notes, Dark Mild

(UPDATE 18apr, day 1): Signs of fermentation (foam forming on top of beer, foam formed in drum tap) sometime within 5-12 hours.

Fermenting at 67F with ambient temp of 65. I'm going to try to keep this on around 68F as best as possible.

(UPDATE 21apr, day 3): Glancing through the airlock hole, the yeast have seems to already have dropped out (as expected with this strain).
Gravity was taken, down to 1.014. I'm hoping to drop it another point or two by this weekend when I bottle.

Still fermenting around 67F.

Brewing Notes, Dark Mild (Fri 18apr)

Brewed Jamil's dark mild recipe today:

3.5 lb can of John Bull Maris Otter extract
.75 lbs. Caramel 60
.50 lbs. Caramel 120
.50 lbs. Pale Chocolate
22 g (~.7 oz) East Kent Golding pellets

fermentis Safale S-04

Used 2 3/4 Gallons of water to brew and proof yeast
Boiled down to around 2 gallons (volume of extract was ~ 1/4-1/2 gallon)

Gravity turned out at ~1.030
Yeast was pitched into 62 F wort

Bottling Notes, Steam Schwarzbier (Tues 08apr)

Bottled the steam schwarzbier last night after 24 days in fermentor. Obtained ~ 49 x 12 oz. bottles.

Beer was bottled with ~ 3/4 cup of dextrose (corn sugar) to obtain ~ 2.5 volumes CO2

Final notes on beer:


Final Gravity ~ 1.013

% attenuation ~ 70%


% ABV ~ 4.2%

Estimated Calories / 12 oz. ~ 148