chromosphere

If you can read this post…

Graeme Coates — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:28:19 +0000

…then it means that Apache is back to normal. On the server (I run it), we had a little bit of fun with a post ranking quite highly on Reddit. The corresponding traffic saturated Apache’s processes meaning that the whole server started to run slowly, and became apparently unresponsive.

Of course, increasing MaxClients doesn’t help if you start to be RAM/CPU limited, and it helps even less when the kernel starts sending out syncookies in light of the barrage of requests.

Anyhow, back to normal for the minute, but we need to move to a better front end… (at least sometimes) we are:

Yeast, fridges, beer

Graeme Coates — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:17:10 +0000

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 Marris Otter
0.25 kg Crystal Malt
0.20 kg Caramalt
0.15 kg Chocolate Malt

Mashed 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 )

Malt on the Way

Graeme Coates — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:54:59 +0000

More grain on the way - though unfortunately Tucker’s Maltings can now only ship in multiples of 25kg - so no more ordering a sack and then bits and pieces. Bugger. Landed up ordering some wheat, amber, cara and roasted barley from Hop and Grape (and got some yeast while I was at it).

Back brewing shortly we hope.

Bottled up my last brew (Bearskinful-ish) on Weds - FG of 1010 giving 40 bottles (mix of 500ml and pints) at about 3.6% ish. Tastes good from the FV too.

Out of Grain!

Graeme Coates — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:33:52 +0000

All grain brewday number 6 on the 19th May - and that’s it for that sack of pale malt! I had almost exactly 3.5kg left over and decided to go for the following recipe (which is pretty much like Norm’s Real Ale Almanac version of Beartown Bearskinful but with a slight alteration on the malt and hops):

30ml CRS (32L liquor), 1 1/2 tsp gypsum, 1/2 tsp Epsom Salts

3.5kg Maris Otter
210g Crystal
450g Wheat Malt

Mash at 66C for 75min.

50g CHALLENGER 5.6% 75min (~30IBU)
15g STYRIANS 3.9% 15min
20g STYRIANS 3.9% 2min

Irish Moss 15min
Yeast S-04

All went quite smoothly, landed up with 22L @ 1038 - all wrapped up in the FV and 24 hours later a nice krausen developing. Piccies below…

[Show as slideshow]

Brewing catch up - Dave Line’s Harveys and Townes IPA

Graeme Coates — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:01:08 +0000

Ages since I actually posted here - and time for a bit of a catch up on brewing activities.

First off was AG brew 4 on 23rd April. Following Dave Line’s BBLTYB recipe for “Harvey’s Sussex Best”.

3.8kg Maris Otter
300g flaked maize

Mashed for 90min at 66C

Goldings 50g (4.1%) 90min
Northern Brewer 20g (7%) 90min
250g light soft brown sugar

Treated water (30L) with 30ml CRS, 1 1/2tsp Gypsum and 1/2 tsp Epsom salts

OG - 1041 (23L)
Yeast: Safale-04

Went off like the clappers but then halted suddenly at about 1022 (think it got a bit cold), so warmed, roused and finally and repitched - finally finished at 1012. Bottled up 44 bottles with 3/4 tsp brewing sugar in each to prime. It’s a bit yeasty at present from the first few samples (probably from the re-pitch), but if it lasts long enough to mature properly, it’s going to be a good pint!

Second up was a bank holiday brew in preparation for a Badger BBQ in July. Following the recipe for Townes IPA:

4.45kg Maris Otter
180g Wheat Malt

Treated water (30L) with 30ml CRS, 1 1/2tsp Gypsum and 1/2 tsp Epsom salts.
Mashed for 1 3/4 hr at 65C and fly sparged.

64g Cascade (5.4%) - 90min
19g Cascade - 15min
Irish Moss 15min

Yeast: US-05

Landed up with 21L @ 1044 according to the refractometer. Cool - smells gorgeous in the FV.

Pitched at 21C - first time with this yeast and it fermented way past where I was expecting. It finished up at 1004 giving me somewhere about 5.3%ABV. I had to get out the hydrometer to check this - it seemed way too low! Racked this to keg with finings (very cloudy) and 55g table sugar. The US-05 is notoriously hard to clear and it looked a lot cloudy. A lot had settled out in the FV but there’s a fair bit more to go, so hoping the two part kiesesol/gelatine finings (Kwik Clear) will do their job - they’ve got 6-7 weeks to do it, and with any luck it’ll clear in time left to it’s own devices…

M42, M43, NGC 1977 - The Orion Nebula and Running Man

Graeme Coates — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:23:51 +0000

RA: 05h 35m 17s, Dec: -5°23′28″
The Orion Nebula (M42 (NGC 1976) & M43) is located in the “sword” of Orion and is a large emission nebula that is easily visible to the naked eye. It is an area of star formation - the closest such to Earth at a distance of 1500 light years. The nebula is an estimated 30 light years across, and contains a young star cluster (the Trapezium) in the bright core of the nebula. The reflection nebula at the top of the image is the “Running Man” nebula (NGC 1973, 1975 and 1977) - so named due to the resemblance of the silhouetted dust lanes.

I had lots of trouble with this image (taken on 6th Feb, 2007) - the flats I took didn’t work out (there’s the odd artifact here and there!), and I’m not quite happy with the colour balance - have another go at this later I think…

NGC2264 - The Cone Nebula and Christmas Tree Cluster

Graeme Coates — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:20:48 +0000

RA: 06h 41m, Dec: +9°53′
The Cone Nebula and Christmas Tree Cluster are part of a larger star forming complex within the constellation of Monoceros. A 2.5 hour exposure in H-Alpha light taken 22nd December 2006 using an Astrodon filter shows only glowing hydrogen gas and stars - the blue reflection nebula near to the “Fox Fur” nebula (below the bright variable star S Monocerotis) often seen in photos of this region is largely invisible as most light is of the wrong wavelength and is rejected by the filter.

NGC2244 - The Rosette Nebula

Graeme Coates — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:17:04 +0000

RA: 06h 33m 45s, Dec: +4°59′54″
The Rosette Nebula is a large H II region located in the constellation of Monoceros, just to the left of Orion. The nebula is a large star forming region with a cluster at the centre that , through the action of the stellar winds, has blown a large cavity out of the nebula from which it formed. The nebula itself is often referred to simply as NGC 2237 (though NGC 2238, NGC 2239 and NGC 2246 are all parts of the same nebula). The cluster is designated NGC 2244.

At 100% scale, the detail in the Rosette Nebula (showing the dark regions obscuring the bright emission nebula in the background) shows the effects of the stellar winds from the hot stars of cluster NGC 2244 (top right). This is a crop from the full size image above.

Theakston’s Old Peculier Clone

Graeme Coates — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:41:08 +0000

All grain number three at the weekend - this time something slightly stronger and darker. I want to try Orfy’s Hobgoblin recipe (from Jim’s Beer Kit) - the Wychwood Brewery is only about 5 miles up the road from here - but I need to order some Styrians and Carapils in, so had to go for something else. Clone Brews has a version of Theakston’s Old Peculier, which is somewhat different to other recipes, and probably not dark enough to be right, but none the less, I’m hoping it’s at the least going to turn out a nice pint (and who cares if it’s not spot on if it’s nice and drinkable).

Recipe:

Pale Malt 5.5kg

Crystal 460g

Chocolate 115g

Torrefied Wheat 150g

Mashed at 68°C for 90min.

Clear candi sugar 304g

Soft dark brown sugar 304g

Golden Syrup 150g

Hops:

33g Northern Brewer (7% AA) - 90min

18g Fuggles (4.5% AA) - 15min

18g Fuggles - 2min

5g Irish moss for 15min.

Yeast: Danstar Nottingham

Brewday went well - think I had good efficiency (tweaked the pH at mash down from 5.6ish by adding 10ml CRS, 1tsp gypsum and 1/2 tsp Epsom salts) - final runnings from the mash were about 1010, and after the kettle, I had 4.5 gallons at 1070. Diluted this down in the FV to about 1061 - should give me (based on 75% attenuation) a pint at about 6%.

[Show as slideshow]

Beorhthelm - “Triple Crown”

Graeme Coates — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:24:39 +0000

Had All Grain brewday number two on Sat 8th March while Tash went to the ballet in Oxford, and decided to brew up the Brains “Traditional Welsh Ale” recipe from “Clone Brews“.

Recipe was as follows:

Pale Malt (Maris Otter): 4.1kg

Crystal malt: 305g

Mash for 90min at 67°C, and sparge. Then boil for 90 minutes with:

150g Cane Sugar

75g Glucose Powder

Fuggles (4.5%AA): 55g (90min)

East Kent Goldings (4.1%AA): 19g (15min)

Fuggles: 19g (2min)

Yeast: Safale S-04

Went well in all - slightly more wort than before, but still lost a bit to dead-space in the boiler, and some to the hops. The run-off was nice and clear though.

Unfortunately, I have to call this one “Triple Crown” - a Welsh beer being brewed while Wales beat the Irish at Croke Park. At least we won’t mention how England did in the Calcutta Cup that afternoon…

Pictures!

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