Today I put on a simple beer brew to go back to basics:
-> 1.7kg Black Rock Light Liquid Malt Extract
-> 1.7 Kg Black Rock Amber Liquid Malt Extract
-> 500gms Maltodextrin (Corn Sugar)
Boiled for 55 minutes.
12 grams hops added for ~5 minutes at the end of the boil
Filled to 23L in the fermenter
Yeast Starter with M44 Ale Yeast, 22 degree water, and a few teaspoons of light dry malt extract added when at room temp.
Starting Gravity is 1.050 at ~20 degrees.
I’ll be using the new Plaato for this run, we’ll see how it goes.
Update: 20/05/2022
Plaato didn’t work. Spoke with Bryn he reckons I might need to factory reset it and try a different mode or something. Very annoying. Checked the gravity today, and it’s at 1.018 (or just under). I was worried that it wasn’t going along, but it is, so that’s good! I’ve added another 12g of Mosaic hops.
As a note, the body is very cloudy. There’s still a lot of suspended yeasts, but it’s likely going to be a fairly hazy beer. Good news is that this technique of yeast starter seems to work quite well.
Notes on flavor – honestly, it had really pleasant caramel and chocolate and roasted coffee notes, which was coming through from the amber LME. There was a higher bitterness than I would have liked, however, but time will tell whether or not it mellows out in the bottle.
Based on this trajectory, it might be ready to bottle in 2 weeks. I’ll take another gravity reading Friday week, and if its around 1.015 we’ll plan to bottle that weekend.
Update: 28/05/2022
Did a reading today, and she’s very solidly at 1.014. I’ll bottle tomorrow and we’ll go from there. The flavor has improved a lot – the hops are present but not overpowering and complement the otherwise very full bodied flavor. It’s more full bodied than I think I’d normally go in for, but the hops have countered the bitterness that was very noticeable before. Since it’s more or less cooked, I can very much understand how this will taste cold and bubbly. Looking forward to drinking this!
Update: 28/06/2022
Gave a few of these away at trivia, and enjoyed some at the after party:
The flavor is definitely richer than I’d have liked – too much body.
Also, this recipe has too much maltodextrin – the head is a little too unforgiving on the pour. only just!
Hops and bitterness is pretty much perfect.
If I do this again, I’d do two “light” tins, and maybe 150gms maltodextrin and 350gms dextrose, and it’ll be about spot on.