British hops

[guypettigrew]

Hi b_d

Good points.

Yes, a 1.040 beer would have a quarter gravity of 1.010. So if it's cooled at (say) 1.012, while it's still showing signs of active fermentation, then there's some sugar left for the secondary fermentation.

Don't know about some yeasts not supposed to get to 1/4 gravity. I'm a bit boring with my yeasts and only use WLP 001 and 002.

I'm also not sure about the 'final gravity' terminology. I keep meaning to check the gravity of the last pint in a keg. The yeast definitely carries on fermenting the less easily fermentable sugars. For some reason I never remember to measure the gravity at the end.

As to the speed of cooling; if a beer looks like it's close to the end, with very slow bubbles coming through the blow off tube, I'll drop a hydrometer into it. If it's close enough to 1/4 gravity the temperature is turned down to 10°C and ice cold water is pumped through the cooling coil in the FV from the Maxi 110. Not sure how long it takes to get down to 10°C, but it can't be more than a couple of hours.

This is not a perfect process. I do not get up at 3.00am to check the progress to 1/4 gravity!

The 1/4 gravity thing may be rubbish, but I seem to remember reading many, many years ago, that a good mash produces 75% short chain sugars which are easily metabolised by yeast, and 25% longer chain sugars, which are more slowly metabolised.

The other thing with 1/4 gravity is it's only 1/4 of the gravity from the malt. In other words, if the beer has sugar in it, then ignore this contribution when calculating 1/4 gravity.

Hope this makes some sense!

Guy

[bitter_dave]

Yes, that makes sense; thanks Guy.

I always use FG to mean the gravity when it is packaged so to speak, but as you say it continues to munch on available sugar after this. I suspect the extent to which it continues munching depends on the type of yeast, but this is a hunch. And maybe mash temp?

As I understand it WL001 is supposed to be more attenuative, all things being equal, than WL002, but as I have never used either yeasts I have no personal experience to back this up and I guess they are being used to make different types of beers anyway. When I've used Windsor ale yeast (once I think) and Empire ale yeast in the past they have not got close to quarter gravity, at least at the point the beer was being being barrelled.

[bitter_dave]

In a moment of weakness I tried some of the unprimed Ernest ale last night. There was a slight hiss on opening the bottle, and already a very slight level of carbonation. I only bottled it on Wednesday, but could sense that it had started from squeezing the bottle.

Obviously it is ridiculously early to be drinking it, but it was quite promising. I could detect a bit of an apricot flavour from the hops which I really quite liked. I think the freshness of the hops helped. I didn’t use a huge amount of Munich malt, but it seems to have added a bit of body.

Will try and keep my hands off it for a week or so before trying any more! Ernest hops seem to be a bit of a winner so far though!

[bitter_dave]

It’s been a week and a half since I bottled the Ernest ale. I bottled it on day six with no priming sugar but I’m perfectly happy with the level of carbonation already (although others might want more). I think the hops have worked really well. Not very good at articulating beer tastes, but I would say it’s pleasantly fruity without being over top. Will be interesting to see how if the flavours change over time. It is unusual for me to brew the same beer twice in a row, but I’m tempted to get more of these hops (if I can!) and do this.

[bitter_dave]

Ok, I brewed a single hop beer with Admiral today. I know it was recommended above that I use them alongside another hop, but I did it for science (that and the fact that I don't have a wide selection of hops in my freezer!). I found a couple of Admiral-only hop beers online, so I figure a beer made with them should be ok at the very least and I can get a sense of what the hop is like from doing this. The hops were noticeably sticky and smelled nice out the packet. Did not have the same pungent smell as the Ernest hops when boiling, which is not perhaps surprising from what I've heard/read.

Recipe was fairly similar to the Ernest beer - 1.042-ish, pale malt, munich, dark crystal, low-ish IBUs (24) and hops at 30 mins, 10 mins and steeped below 80C - but in a first for me I added a small amount of Torrified Wheat for head retention as an experiment. Mashed at 69 for body as before and used Liberty Bell Yeast, with fermenting fridge set at 19c. Intend to bottle it fairly early without priming it as this worked well last time.

Still enjoying the beer made with Ernest hops. It's very tempting to just get a load more of these and make the same beer again, but I think I should try some other hop types.

Anybody else got any updates about beers they've brewed with 'newer' British hops?

[MashBag]

No updates. I haven't pulled my finger out and ordered some yet.

I do a cascade single hop. Very nice.

[f00b4r]

I have had Admiral single hop beers before, at least one was very nice.

[Dennis King]

Just finished drinking a single hop brew with Jester. Decent but prefer Ernest.

[bitter_dave]

Just finished drinking a single hop brew with Jester. Decent but prefer Ernest.

Thanks for the update Dennis. What kind of yeast were you using for these beers out of interest?

[bitter_dave]

Anybody bought hops from this company?:

https://www.hukins-hops.co.uk/product/ernest-hops/

Hops any good? Do you know postage costs (thinking about 500g)

[Dennis King]

Just finished drinking a single hop brew with Jester. Decent but prefer Ernest.

Thanks for the update Dennis. What kind of yeast were you using for these beers out of interest?

Whitelabs yeast the Ernest beers were with WLP002 and WLP005 the Jester WLP005.

[MashBag]

Anybody bought hops from this company?:

https://www.hukins-hops.co.uk/product/ernest-hops/

Hops any good? Do you know postage costs (thinking about 500g)

Nope but might do...

250gm for £16 free p&p. Very sensible.

Who's going first?

[bitter_dave]

[/quote]

Nope but might do...

250gm for £16 free p&p. Very sensible.

Who's going first?
[/quote]

I’m not sure it is free postage, but if I get some hops from them I’ll report back. If it’s £24 for 500gms postage free for Ernest hops that seems decent to me

[Mashman]

Anybody bought hops from this company?:

https://www.hukins-hops.co.uk/product/ernest-hops/

Hops any good? Do you know postage costs (thinking about 500g)

I've bought from them in the past, excellent hops and service.

[MashBag]

I took them to checkout and it added no postage..let's see. I will go all the way to PayPal.