Bash-Shell.Net

Simplicity Mild was chosen because it is a very simple recipe which will allow for experimentation one grain or hop at a time. This batch isan experiment with adding Briess Extra Special malt to Simplicity Mild. For this batch I varied a bit from what the recipe was intended to be. I typoed my order and original recipe entry, putting 3.4 Lbs of Maris Otter instead of the intended 3.2 Lbs. Because of that my gravity is a bit high, on top of also overshooting my efficiency as I have been with these smaller batches.

In the future I may want to experiment a bit with different yeasts in this. S-04 is an obvious choice, although it may take the gravity a bit too low. Danstar LalBrew London ESB also seems like a good choice to try out and it may be closer to the Wyeast 1968 called for by the original recipe.

Preboil SG: 1.029

Original gravity: 1.045

Final gravity: 1.014

Volume in Fermenter: 3.6 Gallons

Mash process:

Mashed in at 158 with a full volume BIAB mash with about 3.9 gallons of water. Target mash time was 60 minutes, but ended up going longer because I was doing other things at the same time. Fortunately, that won't hurt anything. My final mash temp was about 150F. I then boiled for 60 minutes with hops added at the beginning of the boil. I forgot to use my hop bag this time, so I'll have a little bit more junk in the bottom of the fermenter than I have in my last few batches.

Fermentation

Due to having several packets of SafAle S-33 already on hand, I used that instead of Danstar LalBrew Windsor Ale Yeast. I pitched yeast at 64F and then let naturally come up to 67F and then used my heater to bring up between 68F and 69F. After 48 hours I increased the temperature controller to 70F, maintaining temps between 69F and 71F. No yeast nutrient was used. Yeast amount was not accurately measured, but was around 2/3 to 3/4 of a packet of S-33.

2021-06-19

I checked the gravity, expecting it to be finished, but got a high reading of 1.018, which is only about 60% attenuation, compared to the 1.012 to 1.014 at around 70% attenuation which I was expecting. This is based off of both Brewtarget calculations and the recipe in the book, which used Wyeast 1968 whic has about the same expected attenuation as S-33. If nothing else, I expected to be on the low side for my final gravity because I definitely did not maintain a 158F mash. I have bumped the temperature up to 72 and will let that sit for a few days while agitating the yeast to see if there is any change.

One interesting thing here is that my last batch which used S-33 also only saw about 60% attenuation. Reports online from others suggest that most people see at least the expected 70% and frequently closer to 75% attenuation with this yeast.

2021-06-22

After bumping the temperature up a bit and agitating the yeast/wort I noticed what appeared to be a small amount of new krausen at the top of the wort on the night of the 20th which stuck around. I checked the gravity again tonight and it was about 1.015. I will leave it for another day or two at 72F to see if this gets any lower. Brewtarget calculated an expected FG of 1.014, though, so this could reasonably be about done at this point.

2021-06-24

One last gravity check revealed hitting 1.014 which was my target. I added 43 grams of corn sugar (a couple grams more than intended, but close enough) to the keg and will now give it a couple of weeks to carbonate. My kegerator compressor appears to have died, so hopefully I'll have that repaired when this beer is ready to go on tap. Before carbonation and at roughly 70F the beer tasted pretty good and I think I will be happy with it. I might want to pull back on the Caramel 80 a little bit, possibly going with more Extra Special Roast, to reduce the sweetness a bit and let the Extra Special Roast flavors shine more.

2021-07-10

I had a first real drink of this today. At first I did not care for it as much as other variations, but as it warmed and lost some of the carbonation it became considerably better. I will likely experiment with the ratio of Crystal 80 and Extra Special Roast a bit in future batches.