BIAB Courage Directors - Great Success

[AdyG]

Hello everyone,

I just thought I would share my second and very successful BIAB brew with you all. I took the recipe from the Graham Wheeler book and did it as a BIAB in more or less the same method as my previous Timothy Taylor Landlord BIAB. Only difference to the process really was 30 minutes rolling boil on the water first, and the addition of Brupaks DRS.

BIAB Courage Directors (Graham Wheeler Book)
(2nd BIAB 29/09/2012)

3830g Maris Otter Pale Malt
265g Crystal Malt
27g Black Malt
355g sugar
26g Target Hops (start of boil)
5g Styrian Golding Hops (post boil)

O.G 1048
P.G 1012

- 35l tap water boiled for 30 minutes
- 7g of Brupaks DRS added after boil
- Grain added at 69 deg and mashed for 90 min, stirred once at 45 mins – end temp of mash was 66 deg so towels as insulation worked well.
- Drain bag into FV and sparged with 3l from urn, grain bag liquid squeezed out
- Urn heated to 80 deg with grain bag left back in urn for 30 mins plus liquor from FV
- Grain bag removed and squeezed out, 14g of Brupaks DRS added and brought to boil
- Target hops added in muslin bag
- 45 mins into boil sugar added
- last 10 mins of boil 3g Irish moss added and copper wort chiller added to urn.
- 90mins boil complete and Goldings hops added
- Yeast pitched at 20 deg OG 1048
- Added to keg with 80g sugar at PG 1012

It was put in my garage at a about 10 deg ambient temp and was clear and drinkable 2.5 weeks later.

The only difference from shop bought bottles was they had a slight hop aroma and were slightly fizzy. I've had three tasting sessions of this so far with mates and it has been very well received. One of my mates even prefers mine to the original shop bought as it's less fizzy and tastes a bit less commercially brewed!

I would maybe dry hop the keg for a bit more hop aroma next time. There will be another batch of this being brewed soon as half of it is gone, and I was planning on leaving it 5 weeks before drinking. I must try and rack a few pints off into bottles to save for later, I think after a few months this will be even better.

Mean while, I just have to wait for my next brew of Hook Norton Old Hooky to mature.....

[liquidman]

I really enjoyed my batch of directors although I have to admit having never tasted the real thing I don't know how close to the original it was.

A

[eugene.harris]

Well done AndyG great detailed discription, sounds like a nice brew will give it a try next brew day.

[AdyG]

Thanks for the comments. I'm hoping to try and save some until the full 5 week maturation time..... not sure whether I will manage it though as it's so nice!

I might do another batch to drink over Christmas I like it so much

[cwhouston]

Hi - what yeast did you use to get such a good result? Cheers

[aamcle]

DRS?

Drag Reduction System?


Aamcle

[AdyG]

Hi - what yeast did you use to get such a good result? Cheers

I just used a generic English ale yeast given to me by my local homebrew shop, that was back in my early days of home brewing before I paid so much attention yeast. I brewed it again with Notts yeast doing everything the same and the second batch was no where near as nice. I haven't gone near Notts since even though it's a popular choice and my mates have great success with it.

[AdyG]

DRS?

Drag Reduction System?


Aamcle

Haha a newby typo error... Brupaks DLS

[Bribie]

Sounds tasty. Nottingham tends to ferment the beer very dry and can strip out some hop flavour so it's not suitable for all styles. Makes a great fake lager. However for most UK style ales, the liquid yeasts such as Wyeast do a great job and there's one suited to just about every style.

They aren't expensive if you consider that you can carry the yeast on for several brews and if you plan it carefully can get a dozen or more batches from your original ferment.

[AdyG]

Sounds tasty. Nottingham tends to ferment the beer very dry and can strip out some hop flavour so it's not suitable for all styles. Makes a great fake lager. However for most UK style ales, the liquid yeasts such as Wyeast do a great job and there's one suited to just about every style.

They aren't expensive if you consider that you can carry the yeast on for several brews and if you plan it carefully can get a dozen or more batches from your original ferment.

I am a bit of a yeast novice at the moment so need to get into collecting it to reuse. I did a successful Belgian Triple a few months ago with WLP550 yeast that fermented very vigorously... that could have helped with a few more batches if I had saved some!