This brewsession actually started a few days in advance. First I took some time to remove all brewing gear that I don’t use during a normal brewday any more, clean out the clutter. Less is more and it’s a lot easier to keep everything clean and tidy when there’s less stuff everywhere (not that I have a very messy brewery but still). I also removed everything that I kept under my sink. It’s not a place for storage nor for cleaning equipment, it’s a work bench and not a shelf. In my ideal brewery, newly cleaned (and also still wet) equipment can dry in their dedicated storage space so I don’t need to move everything twice. I’m slowly getting there by adding more hooks one the wall and a place to hang hoses. I also made a temporary installation of a water hose in the cieling for the cooling mantle and immersion chiller so I don’t have to install/connect one twice per brewday and have it on top of my workbench. This might seem a bit silly but all these small improvements makes for an easier brewday with less boring tasks. Two days before the brewday I made a starter of about 1,5l with Weihenstephan W68 (WY3068) yeast. When talking directly to a guy with deep knowledge of Weihenstephans brew methods he advised against underpitching hefeweizen in a homebrew environment but I know what a massive kreusen the W68 can create so I didn’t dare to make a bigger one. Less yeast means more esters (mmm that banana isoamylacetate) but it can give you problems like sulfur and low attenuation. With hefe starters, let’s just say I do slight an underpitch and still sleep well at night. I have also made the decision to always (from now on) buy this yeast fresh for every brew. I’ve tried so many times to harvest the yeast by skimming the kreusen but I don’t get predictable results from it and I actually stalled one fermentation once. To keep a healthy culture going you need to brew with it often or keep feeding it and I only have the energy to keep one big culture alive that way…
PH of a Weißbier
Hefeweizens benefit from a higher initial pH because the ferulic acid is more active over pH 5,7 than my usual pH range of 5,3-5,4 so I waited to add the lactic acid until the beginning of the beta amyalse rest. Having tried two bottles already I can tell you the clove and black pepper like nuances are very pronounced, almost too much! This might even out in a few weeks when the flavours mellow and come together more but right now I’m thinking of lowering that mash rest by 10 min. I know that Kai @Braukaiser did an opposite conclusion of the ferulic acid rest but his experiment might have been flawed by the stuck fermentation and very low primary fermentation temperature. I wish I could spend my whole days in a lab testing these things out for real but for now I have to rely on batch-to-batch testing and I’m too lazy to have a double brew setup to do side by side tests. I want to brew beer, not just experiment every time.
No photos and no haze
Those who have been following me for a while will notice that the photo documentation starts in the middle of the brew day this time. That’s because I didn’t have my camera available and also spent part of the morning with my daughter in her new kindergarten. Nothing new or particularly visual happened during the crush, preboil or mash in so we can skip right to the mash out. This being a weißbier/Hefeweizen my grain bill is always minimum 50% wheat (sometimes up to 60%). That amount of wheat combined with a protein rest at 55°C would give me hazy wort according to my latest experiments but it went the other way. The wort at mash out was crystal clear so blaming wheat for your hazy beer might not be totally accurate!
My Braumeister decoction workaround method
Many of my favorite breweries still decoct their beers and while it is not at all recommended for low oxygen brewing, it is even more hard with the Braumeister when the malt pipe is over flown with water/wort. So I did a little thinking and came up with a solution. Most decoctions is taken early in the mash program and historically used to raise the temperature in a controlled way in times when they had no tools to measure temperature. Using one third of the thick mash, boiling it and then return it would always give a X amount of raised temperature since the boiling temperature is fairly constant. But on the way to the boil, many decocters (my own invented word; “Decocter”, a man who decocts) will first rest at beta/alfa-temperatures for starch to convert to sugar. That’s kind of the same thing as letting the mash go thru a full mash program and then boil it (but with less wort). So this is the method that I used; After I lifted the malt pipe and let it drain for 10 minutes, I transfered most of the spent grains to a new boil kettle with a lauter helix in it for my “Braumeister decoction workaround method”. I added a few liters of water for a “sparge”, hoping that the pH would still be within reasonable levels, and began boiling the thick mixture on low heat (1200 watts). I only stirred a few times during the 45 min boil but still there wasn’t any scorching. After the boil I recirculated the boiled wort for a while but it didn’t get much clearer to I gave up and collected the 4 litres and added it straight to the Braumeister that was boiling since half an hour. The hazy wort could have come from the boiling or the short malt bed that didn’t work properly as a filter, that I don’t know (and for a hefe I don’t really care either). Yes the amount of oxygen that got into the mash from transfer, stirring and boiling the decoction would destroy the LoDO-flavours of that part of the wort but I still had those flavours in the wort in the Braumeister. And since I boiled the decoction and transfered almost boiling decocted wort into an already boiling wort I don’t think I added enough oxygen to flaw the “main wort”. Anyhow, I did take a sample before and after the decoction to smell and taste what a 45 min boil would do and surprisingly there was only a small nuance difference. The decoct sample had a smoother and softer mouthfeel (kind of wheat flour-ish), some Munich malt flavours and sweeter. The non decoct sample had a more grainy, raw, green and fresher tone, almost a bit “watery” in comparison. They both had the same SG so no conversion took place in the kettle. The decocted sample was a little bit darker (see photos below).
My conclusion; I was surprised that there wasn’t a bigger difference in taste. I don’t see how this little amount of decocted wort would make a big or even noticeable difference to the main batch so even if the decoction was a success, I think I would have to “filter” my whole wort through the decocted mash to get more flavour out of it and that would not be possible with regards to low oxygen brewing. It was still a fun method to try out but I don’t think it was worth it and I will probably not explore this any further unless any of you guys out there try it and get different results than me.
Wheat = more cleaning?
Since I upgraded to the plus version of the Braumeister (new controller unit and cooling jacket) I have had a very easy time cleaning the insides and heat coils after a brew day but not this time. The coils have residues on them and the kettle inside need more action than my CIP ball can deliver with PBW. I’m not too fond of using NaOH for cleaning because of the danger of chemical burn on skin (and potential blindness) and it is also bad for the pumps but it gets the job done. My theory of what caused the extra junk was the wheat and/or protein rest.
The Braumeister boil
One new feature of the latest controller version for the Braumeister is the warning signal to remove the lid when the temperature is approaching 100°C. I just wish it could be louder so I can hear it from another room in the house or that it could send a warning to my phone via myspeidel.com or the wifi app interface. One other software related problem is that the count down of the latest firmware begins way later than I think the boil begins. This time I actually timed it and I had a good rolling boil nearly ten minutes before the 60 min countdown began. I’ve actually changed my boil time in the mash program to 50 min instead of 60 min because of this. Not a big deal but I can’t see the reason for it. The old controller began the count down a few minutes after passing the 98°C mark but this have obviously changed for some reason.
Bottle spunding
After many batches of hefes I’ve realised that this is one beverage that really benefits from being in a bottle and not a keg. I’m not very fond of bottling and switching to keg was a huge timesaver for me. But for a hefeweizen, the keg will begin to pour a very haze beer and after a few weeks it will almost pour a kristallweizen. One could shake the keg every now and then but that will not give a controllable mount of yeast in the glass. That’s why I’ve started bottling my hefes and also started bottle spunding, which means that I will bottle the beer with remaining extract left to ferment. I have brewed hefeweizen so many times that I know what the final gravity will be approxemently which is a must since a fast ferment test will not work very well because of the similar temperatures. If you’re not careful, you might end up with bottle bombs so use this method only if you are VERY confident about your presumed final gravity and sanitation! I want a pretty high carbonation level of this beer style and I’m aiming for 3,5-4,0 volumes of CO2. Every SG point gives you roughly 0,51 vol CO2 and my FG is always between 1.010 to 1.012. That made me wait until my gravity reached 1.018 before transfering to bottles and I have sneaked a few samples already and they taste very nice. It might not beat a fresh Weihenstephan enjoyed in their beirgarten in Freising (been there three times) but it sure tastes better then the bottles I can buy here in Sweden. I love to travel, but beer doesn’t and it should always be enjoyed locally is my philosophy.
The water hose for the chiller(s) is just twirled around some pipes for now but I might do a proper installation in the near future.
This clarity is unheard of in a wheat beer! The level of foam here is OK but not much more. I will keep on struggling for zero foam but I’m not willing to loose 3-4 SG points just yet.
Final draining and some light sparging of the malt pipe into my 36l kettle.
The beginning of the decoction.
The ”Remove lid function” that I really like but would prefer to have a louder volume of.
The countdown begins in 10, 9, 8… Minutes that is.
Doing the vorlauf (recirculing).
The before and after of the decoction. The left one is the before sample and the brightness difference you see here is about how much I saw with a naked eye. The sedimentation of the left sample is due to the 45m longer wait time before this photo was taken.
Yeast culture that have been standing on a stirr plate for two days.
The w68 makes a huge kreusen so I ended up splitting the batch into two buckets just in case…
(had to make the recipe a screenshot since it started messing with the sites width).
I’m thought my long vacation would let me brew many times to fill up my empty kegs but I only got around to three brewdays and this being the third. I have a few beers planned that I want to try to brew but right now I need to fill up with pils and hefe so I have a decent supply for the autumn. The recipe this time is the same as the last but I have some Maris Otter that I won at the Swedish Homebrew Championship that I want to get rid of so a 40/60 blend with Balder pilsnermalt was the rather odd base malt blend this time. I want my basemalt to be around 4 EBC like Weyermanns Barke and a blend can contribute to a fuller spectrum of tastes. Since the last time I have adjusted my 3-roller mill from 0.8mm to 1.0mm to see if it affects my efficiency that I would like a bit higher and it sure did. With the exact same amount of malt (12.o kg) as last time I got 4 SG points more and that’s a decent improvement for such a simple adjustment. The higher efficiency comes from less channeling in the malt bed because a coarser crush should in fact give you lower efficiency and not the other way around.
LOB Kit
This was my first time with the final version of the low oxygen brewing kit from Speidel and I tried to brew without any gasket on the top disc since all the plates are resting above the maltpipe and not inside as the original design is intended to do. It worked very well with no malt particles or husks in the boil wort so I will brew without the gasket from now on. One bonus effect that I hadn’t thought about before is that since discs are fixed on top and not moving anymore so I will not get splashed in the face during the lifting of the maltpipe after the mash. I raise my pipe very slow to reduce oxygen intake, demote channeling and to avoid the ”suck back” when the maltpipe is just about to leave the liquid level. Somewhere in the middle of this 3-4 min process, the filters will float a bit above the malt bed (which is contracting when the liquid leaves) and it is being held in place by the gasket. But when everything cools down and shrinks, the filter will fall down and hit the surface and give me a reminder of what a foul language I can fill my brewery with, and how sticky wort in your face can be. That’s all in the past now and while it will not improve my beers, it will make for a little better brewday for sure…
LQ Saison
This being a LoDO brewsession (as 95% of my ”real” brews are), I did not sparge the main batch. ”Main batch”, as I did a second batch by sparging the malt pipe above a separate kettle, both to take care of some precious malt sugars but also to fill up akegs with easy drinking beer with less alcohol. It kind of bothers me a little that some of these side batches, parti gyles or spargebeers (call the what you like) turns out as good as they do. I have abused the hell out of them (in proper brewing technique terms) by boiling for just 5-10 minutes and sometimes done no chill or ”bad chill”. And still they have came out quite good and quaffable. This time I did a Saison or rather a pilsner, fermented with Saison yeast, since I had some I needed to use up. I did chill it by daisy chaining my cooling jacket on the Braumeister to my 29m monsterhuge SS chiller but the boil time was just ”a while” (I didn’t measured it). I even added some sugar to raise the OG to around 1.040-ish/10°P and since a Saison can handle it. I’m guessing this will be the last time you hear about this ”Low Quality Saison” but I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out drinkable.
Back to the main batch
The German pilsner got an OG of 1.051 which is on the high side for the style but not by much. The only thing I did different from my usual pilsner brews was the late hops that I instead added at flameout together with my mash cap. Then I started a slow cooling to avoid too much bitterness from the hopstand and it took about 20 minutes before I was below isomerisation temps. Since I only used a 60m and flame out addition and not my usual hop schedule, I forgot to add my 10m lactic acid addition that I’ve been using for a while now. Even without that, I got a very nice hot- and cold break and I feel no need to start using protafloc again and the 10m lactic to lower the pH to the 5.0-5.2 is actually the only thing that makes me not beeing Reinheitsgebot. I’ve slowly removed all the ”extras” like gelatin, protafloc, yeast nutrients and foam reducers and I’ve found out I don’t really need them like before. Proper brewing techniques and quality control will make up for most of these additives (except maybe for zinc from the yeast nutrients) and even though following Reinheitsgebot will absolutely not make your beers better (and most of it has a bigger historic value than anything else), adding unnecessary things to your beers feels, you know, unnecessary. The RHG would never have survived without the ability to lower pH with workarounds like Sauergut or acid malt and most bigger breweries are working hard to come up with sneaky solutions like that. For instance, some breweries have installed a zinc pipe that the mash water goes thru to add zinc ”without adding it” which I feel is a bit silly.
It’s hard to see in this photo but there was a nice fog in the ceiling from preboiling the water without using my vent pipe (it’s under the table as you can see).
I got some moisture in the control panel this time as well and I’m not too fond of the combination of water and electronics. Hopefully the humidity will get lower as the autumn comes…
Look at this, I made it! I have no idea why it sometimes works and sometimes not but the feeling of opening a grain bag the right way is awesome.
Measuring salts.
The 1.0mm crush in a closeup.
Mash in after the stirr.
First the open disc.
Then the soft filter.
Hard filter.
Locking screw.
Add water above the maltpipe level.
This is how I do that in a slow and controlled way.
And finally the floating mash cap.
Press continue and leave the Braumeister alone for about 2 hours.
This was the clarity and foam level this time.
No ”fugitives” in form of kernels or husks.
It’s hard to take selfies while raising the malt pipe so here it’s already in resting position. All the filters are resting above the maltpipe and are very easy to remove.
I do rest the malt pipe like this for about 10 minutes and by that, I leave very little wort behind.
The ”LoDO-killer-sparge”. It’s almost painful to see.
Chilling both batches at the same time with the same water. Not a bad way to utilise water and get the main batch to lager temperatures and the side batch to ale pitching temp.
The yeast slurry in a demijohn bottle in the background and the Saison yeast.
About 70 litres of wort on their way to become beer.
The summer is slowly preparing for the arrival of autumn and as a perfect ending of the summer comes the yearly summer beer gathering/competition at Ekskogens Bygdegård north of Vallentuna (about an hour drive north of Stockholm city). I brought a 9l keg of low oxygen German pils which was pretty decent but not one of my absolute best. Since it was unintentionally overcarbonated I had some foam issues that a restrictor beer line unfortunatly didn’t solve. First I was thinking of bringing one of my latest helles instead of the pils but standing next to a couple of sour beers and IPAs would mean that my helles would have a very hard time competing in flavour intensity. At this gathering, big flavours generally generates more votes so a fine tuned lager will have a tough chance. My pils was of the Jever kind with high attenuation and pretty high bitterness together with medium to high hop aroma. It ended up on 17th place out of 47 contestors…
I have built a new portable tap tower with stand, reusing my old stainless tower and taps, for these kinds of competitions since I bought a new one recently and have this one just laying around. It worked very good, both for me serving or quickly just turn it around for self service pouring. Maybe just a lite touch up with some new paint since the box have endured a tough life in my daughters room but besides from that I’m happy with it and hope it will serve me (pun intended) a long time.
The sun was shining on us as usual but this year it was a bit windy. Overall a very nice and well arranged event that I really recommend you to visit if you have the possibility. Finally a big thanks to the host Humlegårdens Ekolager, SHBF and to all of you who sampled, enjoyed and drank my beer. See you next year!
Plats – Brygdnamn – Bryggare – Poäng – Brygdnr – Öltyp
1 – Pixie Bob IPA – Olle Wreede – 89 – 111 – 5 Kraftig ale
2 – Mon Dieu Champangeöl – Gustav Dominicus, Niklas Stenlås, Jakob Carlström – 57 – 148 – 9 Belgisk och fransk ale
3 – Am i promiscuous? – Jonas Andersson – 45 – 135 – 10 Syrlig öl
Live Passionately Martian Brewing Co. -Benjamin Tallmadge, Josephine Andersson 40 144 11 Specialöl
Pale Pexx (Bleka Pekka) Ari Vallius 39 131 4 Karaktärsfull ale
Draugt Punk Bertil Messing, Thomas Nyberg 38 115 5 Kraftig ale
Sura Sigurd Maja Koivunen 36 130 10 Syrlig öl
A passion for Berliner Daniel Borg 35 137 10 Syrlig öl
DUNZ-Bocken Danne, Uffe, Niclas, Zigge 33 106 2 Kraftig lager
10 Citronwit Christian Annerstedt & Morgan Ingmarsson 33 143 6 Veteöl
SKRAPAN Augustifest Michael Mackiewicz 32 101 1 Mild/karaktärsfull lager
Hazy days Malte Ekelin & Svante Ekelin 30 126 4 Karaktärsfull ale
Norwegian EarthKveik Jonas Andersson 30 136 11 Specialöl
Bretter together Håkan Johansson, Rune Nordborg 29 140 11 Specialöl
Hökmossens lager Håkan Liljegren 27 102 1 Mild/karaktärsfull lager
Folklig Bitter Kathrin Almerfors, Joakim Pettersson 26 116 3 Mild ale
Lindhs Pils Gustav Lindh 26 134 1 Mild/karaktärsfull lager
Oude Brüno Niklas Stenlås, Gustav Dominicus, Magnus Isaksson 26 147 10 Syrlig öl
Sommarbärs Lovisa Koivunen & Vera Fahleson Ekman 25 127 11 Specialöl
20 Lingonblond Olle Wreede 23 112 9 Belgisk och fransk ale
Somriga Solveig Maja Koivunen, Sanna Sonntag 23 129 11 Specialöl
Gällsta Lager Bengt Lindgren, Sven Lindgren, Magnus Lagerkvist 22 103 2 Kraftig lager
Triumf IPA Leo Westerstål 22 108 4 Karaktärsfull ale
Mangóöl Lovisa Koivunen & Vera Fahleson Ekman 21 128 11 Specialöl
Nuk´em All Bertil Messing, Thomas Nyberg 19 113 6 Veteöl
Burton IPA Bertil Messing, Thomas Nyberg 19 114 4 Karaktärsfull ale
Piranha Icetea Albert Braaten 19 221 Cider gjord på Te.
Karel Erik Nord 17 117 1 Mild/karaktärsfull lager
Grumpy elder (berry) men Peter Högström 17 132 10 Syrlig öl
30 Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg Stefan Spett & Rebecca Lynn Foreman 16 138 6 Veteöl
Moonlight Martian Brewing Co. -Benjamin Tallmadge, Josephine Andersson 14 145 11 Specialöl
Harpoon porter Albert Braaten 13 124 7 Mild stout/porter
Sommarsvalka Morgan Ingemarsson 13 142 11 Specialöl
The red panda sais its on Anders Jansson 12 133 4 Karaktärsfull ale
Solrök Anders Larsson, Jan Vallander 11 105 3 Mild ale
Sessionabel Sebastian Berg & Timo Berg 11 125 4 Karaktärsfull ale
Sky Fire Martian Brewing Co. -Benjamin Tallmadge, Josephine Andersson 10 146 11 Specialöl
Tropical storm saison Albert Braaten 9 120 9 Belgisk och fransk ale
THE SWARM: Occult Sour: Piña Colada Claes Eliasson 9 139 10 Syrlig öl
40 EWC IPA Petri Laukka (Leo Westerståhl) 8 109 4 Karaktärsfull ale
Pelican Wit Albert Braaten 8 122 9 Belgisk och fransk ale
Ligna IPA Leo Westerståhl (Petri Laukka) 7 107 4 Karaktärsfull ale
Nya Zeelands Guld Anders Nilsen 7 141 11D
Sommar EPA Jan Vallander, Anders Larsson 5 104 3 Mild ale
Indian Sommar Petri Laukka (Leo Westerståhl) 5 110 5 Kraftig ale
Lifeguard IPA Albert Braaten 5 119 4 Karaktärsfull ale
Fish Hook Lager Albert Braaten 1 123 1 Mild/karaktärsfull lager
Mitt utvecklings- och utvärderingsprojekt av lågsyrebryggningstillbehöret är nu färdigt och kitet finns nu att köpa i både 20 liters och 50 liters varianter från Speidels webshop. Jämfört med de 2-3 prototyperna jag testat så är den slutgiltiga versioner av mycket högre kvalité och finish. Framförallt den öpnna disken som ersätter det lilla liggande stålröret är numera högpolerad och har små öron på sidorna vilket underlättar hanteringen. Den nya skruven som ersätter vingmuttern är helt rak och utan ”hatt” som de tidigare haft och den är dubbelt så lång så nu slipper man stoppa ner händerna i 76-gradig vört, och den fungerar riktigt bra! Hålet i mash cap:en är perfekt anpassat för skruven med väldigt lite luftgenomströmning som resultat.
Speidel har gjort en manual som beskriver lågsyrebryggning med hjälp av kit:et. Manualen nämner tyvärr inte “underlet” eller användandet av antioxidanter (SMB eller SBT) vilket är absolut 100% nödvändigt för för att brygga lågsyre med Braumeistern. Om man har i malten uppifrån så är skadan redan skedd och beviset på det är den goda doften i bryggeriet som precis flytt mäsken och senare även ölet. Utan tillsatta antioxidanter kommer maltens egna antooxidanter reagera snabbt med syret och inom minuter är det för sent. Inte en chans att de överlever en mäskning på ens 30 minuter…
Tillbaka till lågsyrekit:et. Eftersom alla nya filter vilar ovanpå maltröret istället för inuti så rymmer röret desto mer malt. Upp till 7 kg i 20l-varianten och 15kg i 50l-varianten enligt Speidel men jag har inte testat just detta själv ännu. Enbart den funktionen gör detta kit värt att köpa eftersom det adderar möjligheten att brygga starka öl utan att behöva dubbelmäska eller tillsätta DME.
Jag har bryggt en gång med det färdiga kit:et och då utan någon gummilist som jag kört med tidigare på det hårda filtret. Inte ett endaste skal eller maltkorn tog sig ut genom maltröret eftersom den öppna disken i LOB-kit:et blockerar hörnen! Vid användande av kit:et börjar man med den öppna disken som vilar ovanpå maltröret. Sen det mjuka filtret och det hårda filtret uppochner. Därefter kan man välja om man vill sätta dit skruven först eller det flytande locket (mash cap:en), det spelar ingen roll. Om det inte vore för att disken skulle bli lite krångligare så skulle man lätt kunna svetsa ihop alla diskar till ett litet paket istället.
Jag är verkligen nöjd över hur detta kit slutligen blev och jag rekommenderar det varmt!
(english)
My co-development/testing of the Low Oxygen Brewing Kit has reached final production and the kit is now available in both 20 litre and 50 litre versions from the Speidel webshop. Compared to the 2-3 prototypes I’ve been testing, this has a a nicer build quality. Especially the open disc (spacer ring) replacing the metal rod/pipe is now in polished high grade steel and it also features small ”ears” on the sides which makes the disc easy to remove after the mash program. The new screw replacing the wing nut is now with out ”hat”, it’s twice as long and can be operated without putting your hands in 76°C wort. It works great! The hole in the floating lid (mash cap) is smaller so very little air can get in between the lid and the screw.
Speidel has also written a manual describing the low oxygen brewing method with the kit. It does not however mention the ”underlet technique” nor antioxidants (like SMB och SBT) which both are absolutely 100% necessary to be able to brew low oxygen style beers in the Braumeister. If you add malt from above, the damage is irreparable and the proof of this is the lovely malt aroma in your brewery that just escaped from your mash and later on your beer. Without adding external antioxidants, the antioxidants in the malt will be consumed within minutes and will never survive even a quick 30 min mash.
Back to the accessory kit. Since you rest all filters on top of the malt pipe instead of having them inside, you can fit in more malt in the maltpipe; 7 kg in the 20l-version and 15l kg in the 50-version (according to Speidel, I haven’t yet tried this for myself). That alone makes the kit worth investing in since it adds the capability to brew a lot stronger beers without double mashing or adding DME.
I have used the new kit once and used it without any gasket around the thicker top disc and absolutely no malt nor husks made it out since the open disc (spacer ring) blocks the outer edges! You start by adding the open disc followed by the thin filter and hard filter upside down. Then you have the option to add the mash cap before or after the locking screw, it really doesn’t matter. If it wasn’t for the much more difficult dishing of the discs after the mash, one could actually weld the three together into one single unit.
I’m very satisfied with how this kit turned out and I highly recommend it!
This is the only ”manual” that comes with the kit. The real manual is downloadable from here.
This is the order to add them in. First the open disc/spacer ring.
Then the soft filter (I’m using the Bac Brewing filter here).
The the hard filter upside down.
Then the locking screw. Secure it tight!And finally the floating lid/mash cap,
The mash cap can be added before the locking screw and it is equally easy that way.
Here you see the ”ears” on the open disc which makes the whole set of discs easy to remove.
Detta är provsmakningen av min helles bryggd med pilsnermalt från Warbro Kvarn. Ni kan läsa om bryggningen här och mer om malten Balder och Warbro kvarn här.
Färg och utseende (g, ig, för mörk, för ljus)
Halmgul öl med högt fluffigt vitt skum som håller länge och lämnar en del rester på glaset. Genomskinligheten är någonstans mellan kristallblank och blank. (g)
Arom (g, ig)
Doften inleds med en stor, maltig gräddighet med tydlig ljus och fräsch maltdoft. Medelstora inslag av säd och en lättare jordig doft avlöser. Lättare och eleganta inslag av humle åt det örtiga, snudd på jordiga hållet. Mycket diskret och lätt fruktighet som drar åt päron. (g)
Beska (g, ig, för hög, för låg)
Låg beska som är medellång och mjuk. (g)
Alkohol (g, ig, för hög, för låg)
Alkoholsmak på, för stilen medel nivå, men annars låg och lättsam. (g)
Smak och eftersmak (g, ig) (munkänsla, restsötma)
Smaken är sädig med kraftiga pilsnermaltstoner. Det finns en lätt jordighet tillsammans med en lättsam men tydlig humlesmak. Eftersmaken är ren med en lätt och frisk syrlighet. Medelfyllig munkänsla som är ren och krispig. Låg restsötma. (g)
Balans (g, ig)
Välbalanserad mellan maltsmaker, humle, alkohol och kolsyra. (g)
Kolsyrenivå ( (g, för hög, för låg)
Medelhög kolsyra som är mjuk, frisk och pigg. (g)
Teknisk kvalité (g, ig)
Mycket välbryggd och helt utan utan process- eller jässmaker. Mycket vackert utseende rent tekniskt. (g)
Summerat omdöme
Väldigt god och lättdrucken Helles som är helt stiltypiskt korrekt, som om den vore direkt från något av storbryggerierna i München.
44-50 Excellent, 35-43 Mkt bra, 28-34 Godkänd, 20-27 Ej typriktig, Under 20p Problematisk
Övriga kommentarer och råd (inget jag ger till mig själv)
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Diskussion
Detta är den perfekta sommarölen tycker många men för mig är Helles en ”åretruntöl” som är precis lika god i decembermörkret. Just denna version av min helles blev oerhört lyckad och god. Den är lättdrucken nog för att serveras i Maß men god nog att bedömas och finsmakas i småglas. Nu känns det lite fånigt att sätta betyg eller poäng på mina egna öl med någon sorts falsk förhoppning om att vara objektiv men om jag ändå skulle få för mig att göra det (vilket jag nu förvisso gör) så skulle jag placera denna öl inom spannet 44-50 ”Excellent”. Ölet är mycket rensmakande och mycket gott med mycket goda malt- och humlesmaker och det går inte att skönja några som helst felsmaker eller tekniska brister från varken bryggning eller jäsning. Ingen DMS, acetaldehyd, svavel eller andra liknande felsmaker som ibland förknippas med öl i denna och liknande stilar. Genomskinligheten är även den på topp, trots att det bara är 28 dagar från bryggdatum och att den inte är varken filtrerad eller behandlad med protafloc i koket eller gelatin i jästank/fat. Inte heller någon längre lagring har den hunnit utsättas för. Jässchemat så ut ungefär på det här viset (jag dokumenterar inte varje öls jäsning utan detta är från minnet): En dryg vecka (8-9 dagar) primärjäsning på 9°C. 3-4 dagar spundning/kolsyrejäsning i Corenliusfat 11°C. 2 veckor lagring 0°C. Resten i ca 7°C i kegeratorn.
Att brygga en öl för att kunna bedöma dess basmalt, men att inte samtidigt ha en referens bryggd vid samma tillfälle med samma metoder är såklart en brist och denna utvärderingen blir således inte speciellt objektiv eller en direkt komparativ jämförelse med de maltsorter från Weyermann jag annars använder. Jag tänker ändå sticka ut hakan lite och säga att detta är en mycket kapabel och välproducerad malt med excellenta smaker, och som utan svårigheter eller krusiduller kan producera väldigt bra öl! Bonuspoäng för att den är närproducerad och ekologisk vill jag passa på att nämna igen och jag hoppas Warbro Kvarn kommer lyckas bra med sin framtida produktion (kanske lite extra mycket i år pga vädret).
Bedömning av ett öls genomskinlighet
Som en liten påminnelse eller för de som inte följt bloggen så länge; här är min egna skala för genomskinlighet som jag använder när jag dömer öl och som alltså inte ingår i SHBFs bedömningsskala/standardbedömning jag har i fetstil i provsmakningen här ovan. Utseende över lag spelar en ganska liten roll i öldömningssammanhang men jag tycker att det ger en indikation på hur bryggarens process ser ut och inte enbart ölets råvaror. Jag vill understryka att när jag dömer officiellt för SHBFs räkning, ger jag utseendet mindre avdrag (eller pluspoäng) än när jag dömer mina egna öl.
Kristallblank – Ser ut som filtrerad eurolager eller ett glas gult kranvatten.
Blank – Bra genomskinlighet men inte det där briljanta, kristalliga.
Lätt disig – En svag hinna/dimma som minskar ljusinsläppet men fortfarande anses genomskinlig.
Disig – En tydlig hinna/filter som tydligt begränsar genomskinligheten. Gör text svårläst på andra sidan.
Kraftigt disig – Ogenomskinlig. Svårt att se igenom vätskan alls. En text på andra sidan glaset är oläslig. T.ex. veteöl.
Grumlig Har partiklar eller turbiditet likt juice. T.ex. NEIPA
Jag passar på att slänga in färgskalan också så allt finns samlat på ett ställe:
EBC 3 – 6 Ljust halmgul
EBC 7 – 10 Halmgul
EBC 11 – 15 Gyllengul
EBC 15 – 25 Bärnstensfärgad
EBC 25 – 35 Kopparfärgad
EBC 35 – 45 Mörkt kopparfärgad / Ljusbrun
EBC 45 – 60 Rödbrun / Brun
EBC 60 – 80 Mörktrödbrun / Mörkbrun
EBC 80 – 100 Rödsvart / Brunsvart
EBC 100+ Svart
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