Coconut Porter Failure

Sigh. I guess it was about time. And truthfully i knew i was taking the piss a bit by 'taking a punt', thinking in the back of my mind that it wouldnt really matter because i already have too much beer anyway. Still, sad to see it die (and possibly have to dump some equipment in the process).

So, i toasted as per the instructions and dumped 100g or so of Dessicated coconut in to the fermenter. Nowhere can i find any instructions on how to sanitise this stuff for this purpose (although plenty of people are talking about adding it) but sure enough a couple of days later the delicious porter smells like paint stripper and is sporting a thin white film. Apparently this is an Acetobacter infection (or looks a lot like it) - it basically turns the alcohol in to vinegar. I've had this once before thanks to summer brewing a 25L lager kit and a fruit fly finding its way in. Very sad times pouring that one away. but from experience you dont want to drink it, even though you still can.

So i suppose in some ways all is not lost. 6L of Dark coconut malt vinegar might make a good Christmas gift for someone.

someone i hate.

1952 JW Lee's Ruby Mild

Impromptu 'slow sunday' Brewday/evening.

Due to the apparent success of other Barclay Perkins site recipe (1914 AK) the write up on this Best Mild sounded promising.

Its a curious psychology - i guess part interest in how beers 'used to be', part investigation of the complete unknown (although not in this case, use of adjuncts like corn and high % of invert syrup seems to have died a death in the modern world of brewing) but mostly, if i'm honest, is the ability to say 'i tried this, and if its no good its not my fault, it was a complete experiment!' - lack of confidence on show i guess, but at 5L brewlength not much lost, potentially huge gain.

Anyway, this was chosen for a couple of reasons; first i'd like a different style for Christmas - Mild is supposed to be pretty quick turn around, and i dont have any 'in stock'. Secondly though is my Dad - he's supportive of the 'hobby' but not that interested in the specifics. Maybe he's just that way with beer anyway, but i'd like to make something that actually impresses him - convince him i can actually make 'beer'. Unfortunately (if you will....) he likes bitter. I don't not like bitter, but i'm still at that stage where its a world of wonderous flavours, styles to be copied, ingredients to be experimented with. He's given the thumbs up to the 'experimental pale ale', but its not his thing, thats fair enough.

So, this doesnt really support 'Best Mild', but, this recipe is from his year of Birth. Its a talking point. Hopefully representing something in itself that is enough of a curiosity it'll be interesting to try, analyse together? Who knows. Either way, not much lost, potentially huge gain.

Recipe (should start really doing these properly):

Brewlength: 5L
Assumed Efficiency: 65% (actually nearer 70...had to water down a bit - approx 5.5l result)
Aiming @ 3.5% ABV
OG 1.038
Mini-bucket kitchen top brew :)

Grain
770g Lager Malt (current base malt :/)
60g Crystal
40g Chocolate
20g Brown
20g Black
20g Barley Flakes (personal addition to up the body issues i've been having with some beers - seems to help, especially w/ lower gravity)
150g Golden Syrup (in place of Invert Sugar - In the boil)

Mash
90min Mash @ 66C (ended @ 64)
3.3Litres
Sparge @ 77C (Fly sparge over approx 30 mins, straight from kettle)
All Bottled Water.

Stopped a little early hitting approx gravity (1.025 - amended for temp). Approx 7.5L

Boil
90 mins
9g Fuggles @ 90
3g Fuggles @ 30
*Golden Syrup in @ 30.

Approx 30IBU

Yeast
SO4 @ Room temp - currently been 3 days and fermenting nicely. Room relatively warm - approx 20 so may ferment a little hot but fluctuations during day due to central heating. Must. Fix. Brew. Fridge.

Notes: 
1.7L Kettle (yes an actual Kettle!) + 600ml tap water takes temp down to Mash in @ 73 to hit 67 deg C for Mash. 450ml addition = 77C sparge.

Had to add in a little extra water to hit gravity. Currently Ruby Red and very dark (was expecting mild to mean watery...shrug!) and smells incredible - dark cherries or something. Genuinely the best smelling pre-ferment wort i've made.

Perle

This is a rewarding hobby. Mainly rewarding with disappointment that you thought you knew what you were doing, but it turns out you didnt, but that in itself leads to greater understanding - most importantly understanding through experience.It's funny how complex something that is actually so simple can be. And how some assumptions you make can turn out to be totally wrong. 

The example of my latest revelation: I had read, or maybe just assumed, Bittering hops were just for bittering. As long as you hit the required Alpha Acid level which itself will offset the sweetness of the malt to the right degree, your beer will be balanced. From this i extended my assumption (from reading....) that as all flavour and aroma is lost, you can more or less use any high alpha hop for bittering - the flavours are boiled off and its just...bitter. Of course i failed to consider the fact that if this was the case there probably wouldnt be so many options of bittering hops, and just one standardised, mass produced, cheap product that everyone used for everything. Ah....hindsight.

In addition to this i have a book which handily contains a chart of 'hop substitutions' - Hops similar to each other - useful in a pinch but (only now i consider...) it doesnt state exactly how these hops are similar - or for what purposes - flavour/aroma? Bittering? AA levels? Cone Shape? Geographical origin? - Valid reasons for comparison but in some cases absolutely no help when it comes to the end result. 

I should mention here that i have a tendency to bodge things, mainly due to some deep set desire to save money, in this case by substituting ingredients so i dont have to keep stock of everything and assuming the end result will be the same... and partly because i have next to no forward planning skills, and very little patience, so even if i did order up the right ingredients i'd probably get itchy feet and start 'substitute brewing' before they turned up. 

I digress. In this case my 4 Shades of Stout Recipe requested Cascade hops for bittering. A curiosity i thought because these are known for their citrussy aroma additions in american IPA (or is it APA now?). I didnt have any (surprise!) but thought as it was just for bittering a 'similar' hop with alpha levels scaled for the same bitterness would suffice. Out comes the book - somehow i ended up at Perle. I knew nothing about Perle - infact Tom's intention to put it in a Lager is the only reason i had any stock. I probably should have looked it up. Ah...hindsight again.

Last night: 3 weeks in the bottle and we have results. A near perfect stout (if a little young...) in body, colour, roastyness, mouthfeel. Finally a success after many substandard stouts! And that bitterness that lingers on the tongue... its like... Air. Like clean, almost minty air. Like drinking distilled water. Is it unpleasant? no. Is it right? no. 

Oh well, its all a learning curve.