Brewers Return
Today's brew marks a return for me after two months off to sort out the issues I've been having with an infection that seems to have got into the fermentation stage of my process. The symptoms of the infection were ever-more cloudy beers coming out of the fermenter and a muted hop flavour. You can see the last one of these beers in my Admiral IPA No.3 write up.
Since then I've thrown away my fermenter and pretty much all the dowstream kit from it. New kegs, disconnects and lines. New stainless fermenter, valve and tri-clamp fittings. New kettle valve and element as well, just in case any of those parts were the culprit.
I'm hoping that with all those parts replaced I'll have tacked the issue head-on and won't have any more problems.
Yeast starter day, stage one
New kit, new yeast. I'm back on with the Brewlab strains again and this time I've bought a slope of the Sussex strain from the Malt Miller. The internet thinks this is the Harvey's strain. They of the famous Sussex Best Bitter. According to the sticker it was manufactured less than a week before I got it so it's very fresh.
The first stage starter was prepared according to Brewlab's own guide. 300ml of water and 30g of DME make up the wort. A small amount of the wort is poured into the little vial and shaken to dislodge the yeast from the agar. The mixture is then returned to the flask and it goes into the brew-fridge on my home-made stir plate for a couple of days.
After 48 hours the starter has clearly changed colour because of all the suspended yeast in it.
Yeast starter day, stage two
Now I've got a decent amount of yeast from the first stage I move straight on to the second stage 1500ml starter. 500ml will be saved back in the fridge for next time and 1000ml will ferment this beer. I decanted the first stage starter after it had time to chill and settle in the fridge then added to the 1500ml second stage starter.
In no time at all the Krausen was up and after 48 hours it had finished.
I successfully transferred the 500ml to a Kilner jar and put it in the kitchen fridge with the remaining 1000ml sitting in the brew fridge waiting for brew-day.
My observations so far of the Sussex yeast is that it doesn't drop out of suspension immediately - with some of the White Labs and Wyeast strains I have to go immediately from the stir plate to decanting off into my 500ml Kilner jar because the yeast settles in seconds.
This Brewlab strain sits in suspension for a while but once chilled in the fridge it does drop out and settle on the bottom. It's also easy to rouse back into suspension by swirling the flask. It doesn't glue itself to the bottom like some of the aforementioned strains from the American labs.
Brew day
Today's recipe is going to be a straightforward bitter to get me back on track. Pale malt, a little medium crystal with Pilgrim hops doing the bittering and early flavouring, complemented by the subtle floral and spicy flavour of the classic Hallertau Mittelfruh for late flavouring.
Recipe Specifications
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Date: 2nd February 2025
Batch Size (fermenter): 24.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 15.3 EBC
Estimated IBU: 39.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.6 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Water profile: Ca:85 Mg:16 Na:9 SO4:120 Cl:121
Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type %/IBU
29.91 L Tesco Ashbeck Water -
4.20 g Calcium Chloride (Mash) Water Agent -
3.50 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash) Water Agent -
2.50 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash) Water Agent -
0.40 ml Lactic Acid (Mash) Water Agent -
4.575 kg Crisp Plumage Archer (4.0 EBC) Grain 94.8 %
0.250 kg Simpsons Medium Crystal (180.0 EBC) Grain 5.2 %
0.90 g Calcium Chloride (Sparge) Water Agent -
0.70 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Sparge) Water Agent -
0.50 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Sparge) Water Agent -
0.20 ml Lactic Acid (Sparge) Water Agent -
20.00 g Pilgrim [8.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 20.1 IBUs
15.00 g Pilgrim [8.80 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7.5 IBUs
25.00 g Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 4.1 IBUs
15.00 g Pilgrim [8.80 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5.5 IBUs
1.04 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 7.0 mins) Fining -
25.00 g Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 2.3 IBUs
1.0 pkg Brewlab Sussex Ale (Brewlab #) Yeast -
Total Grain Weight: 4.825 kg
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Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 24.91 L of water at 70.9 C 67.0 C 60 min
Brew day went without any hitches and at the end of the boil I transferred about 24 litres into the fermenter.
The sample was a nice mid-brown colour and came in at 1.043, just one point below the target. It's also possibly the clearest wort that I've ever drawn straight from the kettle which I hope is a good sign for the fermentation!
I was able to chill quickly to 22C due to the cold ground-water in February and so the yeast could be pitched immediately and the fermenter placed into the brew fridge with the temperature control set to 20C. Eight hours later fermentation was already under way. It looks like this Brewlab Sussex strain is every bit as eager as the superb Yorkshire strain that I've used before.