Ok - things I now have:
- An ATC800 (temperature controller)
- Fridge
- Beer in a fermenter in said fridge with said controller
The brew is much like Orfy’s Hobgoblin but since I had no carapils I used caramalt instead (less body, probably more sweetness). I used Nottingham, which decided (though it’s not that warm here, it’s warm enough!) that it’s going to try to make it’s way out of the fermenter by pushing it off the top.
It was running at 20C, which is on the warm side, but probably OK, and maybe could give some fruityness (though it’s Nottingham, so it could be very clean still…) - so i chucked the FV into the fridge, whacked it on the ATC800 and have left it too it - I set the temperature to 19C but it overshot slightly overnight to 17.6C - fine, and there’s no heater in there at the minute so the daytime temps will have to do their work on it to bring it back up a bit.
On the subject of yeast, I found Fuller’s 1845 in the shops the other day, and I’m gonna have a go at reviving the yeast from it for future use. John has a good guide to reviving yeast from an 1845 and I’ll follow his lead…
Here’s the Hob Gobbler type thing I brewed up (got 22L@1049 with Nottingham):
4.80 kg Maris Otter
0.25 kg Crystal Malt
0.20 kg Caramalt
0.15 kg Chocolate MaltMashed at 65°C for 90min; Add first wort hops to boiler (well - collection bucket…) at start of sparge.
Boil for 75 min
20g Styrian Goldings 3.9% (75 min) (First Wort Hop)
15g Fuggles 4.5% (75 min) (First Wort Hop)
20g Styrian Goldings 3.9% (30 min)
15g Fuggles 4.5% (30 min)
Irish Moss (15 min)
15g Fuggles 4.5% (15 min)
18g Styrian Goldings 3.9% (15 min )
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Cheers for the mention Graeme. Those fridges are really good, I’ve just acquired one myself it currently has two polypins fukll of ale sat in it in perfect condition - lovely.
I found that as well as regulating the temperature of fermenting and conditioning brews you can also use them to drop the yeast out of suspension at a given final gravity just like commercial breweries do. I have also used it to force carbonate some wine for my good lady friend, brownie points all round.
The fridge really has opened up a few new opportunities for me - year round brewing, not having to worry about shifting FVs round to keep the temperature correct, playing with temperatures to increase/decrease levels of esters, lagering, etc,etc. And since it’s outside in the shed, it gets a load of brewing stuff out of the house which earns further brownie points
Only thing is that I could do with another - one to ferment, one to condition. It never ends does it…?
Getting the gear out of the house was how I sold the idea of a beer shed to my better half
[...] watching session, I hid away and got another brew on to start building up the stocks again. The Hobgoblin is very good to drink now, but not a session beer as such. I’m hoping to get back to some [...]