| Ref | 2022-03 Opshaug Pale | Brewer | Pain & Patience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Style | American Pale Ale | Type | Beer, all-grain |
| Started | Wed 16th Mar 22 | Status | Archived, |
| Packaged | Fri 25th Mar 22 | Fermenter | Fermzilla |
| Handle | 2022-03 Opshaug Pale |
|---|---|
| Brewer | Pain & Patience |
| Style | American Pale Ale |
| Type | Beer, all-grain |
| Fermenter | Fermzilla |
| Status | Archived, ABV |
| Started | Wed 16th Mar 22 |
| Packaged | Fri 25th Mar 22 |
Another go at a hoppy APA with Kveik, fermenting in Fermzilla at 10 PSI / 30℃ using the remains of last year’s Opshaug Kveik. My last go at this style (if you can call it that) was pretty good but I seem to recall that the hops weren’t all that prominent and the yeast was so-so, which is reason enough to double up on the greens and crank up the fermentation temperature, really giving the Kveik a workout. Tracking via Brewfather.
All gone! Exactly three weeks after kegging I’ve emptied the last of this brew. Hop aroma had tailed off after two weeks and the flavour’s been taking a dive too since then, so even with MBS to act as an antioxidant we’re not able to keep this hoppy brew for too long. Will be interesting to see how Hornindal Pale gets on in this respect.
No major drama here, just plopped around 18 litres into a Cornelius keg and plugged it into 25 PSI of pure CO2 at 4℃ for speed-carbonation.
My 3 day hop additions went in today since the fermentation curve has now flattened out. I used the usual method of gradually de-pressurising the FV, almost-closing the butterfly valve, and then chucking the pellets in via the hole in the top. Before refitting the lid I attached the sanitised floating dip tube.
Although the top of the brew was clear at the start of this procedure, by the time the FV was open there was a good amount of foam on top, maybe half an inch, which I’m putting down to carbonation releasing on depressurisation. It also had an unusual aroma, but that’s likely down to the 30℃ fermentation temperature. New territory here. Anyway, pressure started building up again as soon as the lid was back on, though it seems to be stopping at 5 PSI. That’s cutting it pretty fine for cold-crashing so I’ll add some gas from my bottle later today if it doesn’t increase on its own.
The foam that’s been atop my brew since Primary started has now cleared up, and the fermentation curve is beginning to flatten out. I expect tomorrow the curve will be completely flat so I’ll take that as my dry-hopping point, aiming to cold-crash 3 days later.
It’s 18:00 and there’s a good amount of Krausen atop this brew now, so I thought I’d capture some for future use before it gets too far into development. Cleaned a big jar and a ladle, gradually de-pressurised the Fermzilla, and filled that jar with glorious foam. Once that was done I fitted the jar’s lid and swung it about in order to compress the foam through G-force, allowing me to get another couple of spoonfuls in there. On refitting the Fermzilla’s lid I saw the pressure climbing up again, hitting 10 PSI 15 – 20 minutes later. The jar’s in the fridge and the contents will be decanted onto parchment and dried then frozen at some stage.
According to the Tilt, things started happening around 04:00, and when I checked in this morning there was a good covering of foam on my brew. I didn’t bother calibrating the spunding valve yesterday because I’m short of gas (in fact I’d almost forgotten to refit the valve after swapping out the first Tilt) so I just guessed the number of turns needed for my target of 10 PSI, and that transpired to be closer to 20 PSI. Sorry Fermzilla, sorry Tilt! I backed the valve off gradually over the next couple of hours and she’s now sitting pretty at 10, will leave it to build a bit longer before harvesting some yeast.
A fairly good brew day with no mishaps and me almost hitting all of my numbers, just a bit low on fermenter volume at just 20 litres which I’m putting down to inaccuracies between the kettle’s scale and that of the Fermzilla, and also some elevated trub losses since I started using the Trubinator for hoppy brews.
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