I promised a little more detailed report on this brew and hopefully you will understand what we are doing in the different steps of the process. This time we brewed some sort of IPA, a hop heavy ale, using two different hops from New Zeeland and genuine Westgotisk Nidhumle donated by my father from my parent’s garden.
1. Steeping Malt
The first step is steeping some caramel malt. This is done by gently crushing the grains and making something similar to tea from it. The process goes on with 16l of water for about half an hour at 65-75°C. This gives our ale a darker colour and a base taste and sugar for the yeast to feed from.
2. Boiling
The mash is removed from the brew and heat is increased to reach a boil. When boiling starts it will go on for one hour. At the start of the boil we added some kilograms of Extra Light Malt Extract (dried processed grains) as the main sugar source and main malt characteriser. We also add the first batch of hops, called bittering hops – in this case Pacific Gem from New Zeeland. Bittering hops boils with the brew all the way to give the brew its main bitterness and the after-taste will be very dependent on these hops. Pacific Gem has a heavy bitterness and should do the job well.
After 30 minutes of boiling its time to add the second batch of hops. Extra exciting since we used our own brand Westgotisk Nidhumle for the very first time. The second batch is the taste-hops that will mostly effect the mouth feel of the brew.
After 45 minutes we added our cooling device to the brew to sterilize it. After 50 minutes we added Granulate, a decoct with the same active ingredient as Irish Moss that will eat protein making the brew clearer. We also added Muscavado sugar to hopefully give the brew some nice anise notes. After 55 minutes we added the last batch of hops, called aroma hops. We choose Riwaka from New Zeeland for this and I’m very curious about the result since it promises interesting notes of citrus and passion fruit. Aroma hops are mostly for scent and first impression but I feel it is important for the beer’s overall impression, especially for hop heavy beers like IPAs.
3. Cooling
The cooling device we use is a home bent spiral formed copper pipe that with a constant flow of cold water does the work really fast. Beer takes bad taste when being below 100° and above room temperature so it is important to get it down as quick as possible. As you can see we had to manually attach the tube to the water supply this time but we will work it out till the next brew.
4. Fermenting
Time to filter the brew into a fermentation bucket and add the yeast. We used liquid ale yeast this time. First we filtered the brew over to the bucket and then added fresh water to a total amount of 25l. Then we measured the gravity of the brew to be able to calculate its ABV when it is done fermenting. The difference in gravity shows how much of the sugar in the brew that has been transformed into alcohol by the yeast. Lastly we added yeast and shook the bucket around some to mix it out evenly. In about a week from now it is time to pour the brew over to a second bucket for secondary fermentation and maybe then we add some seasoning but we haven't quite decided yet.
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