I had a rather early bottle this weekend. I always bottle one in clear glass so I can see if it’s dropped clear, which it had, but the bottle I chose to drink was still very hazy. I think it could use another couple of weeks to condition.

Colour and bitterness are about right, and the aroma is quite similar. The flavour is noticeably less “fresh”; there’s less of what I think of as being grapefruit-like. It will be interesting to see how it is in another couple of weeks and with a non-hazy bottle – I’ll update later.

At this stage I’d certainly make another batch of the same, maybe lengthening the dry-hop time if the rest of the bottles also seem to be missing some of the freshy hoppiness.

…and I’ve just wandered off to pour some of the Golden Delicious I’m drinking into my trial jar. The refractometer read 4.6Bx when it was done, and by Beer Engine’s calculation that gave me a FG of 1.013 (given the OG). Brewzor on my Android gave me 1.007, and when I measured it just now I also got about 1.007 (or so, given that it is carbonated by now and was a bit frothy in the jar) – definitely well under 1.013, anyway.

Dunno why Beer Engine is so different, but since Brewzor matches my just-taken hydrometer reading, and also matches this online tool, I think I ought to stick with the Android app.

I do like the refractometer – I can grab only a drop or two with a pipette and get an immediate reading, rather than taking 100ml or so for the trial jar, which always seems a waste on smaller batches. If I take more than a couple that’s a pint wasted! I just need to stick with the one, seemingly accurate, tool when I’m using it with fermening wort.

Hmm… must be a blog post in this somewhere!

Cheers,
Bryan.

Great to see you’re brewing this again! The recipe you used is correct, UK munich malt is what you want. It is richer than the German one and gives the beer a great nutty finish.

I think your problems with attenuation might be down to your refractometer. Refractometers are great for all-grain brewing as they allow you to take an instantaneous reading from the wort, which of course is great for all-grain brewing.

The problem is that they do not give accurate readings when alcohol is involved, ie once fermentation has started. I think there is a way to do a conversion using some maths but really you should use a hydrometer for measuring FG. I don’t actually have one myself but one would be useful, especially when fly sparging!

Atb,
Bosium

I have found rather random attenuation, though this may well be a combination of temperature confusion in the mash (though I believe it did end up at 66C), and I do seem to struggle a bit with my refractometer. It’s usually a bit of a blurry line, and it often seems to change with time, so it may be that my reading of 5.8Bx wasn’t accurate.

It tasted great – everyone agreed it was my best beer yet (I have only been doing all-grain since January) and I’m definitely doing another batch soon. It was certainly similar to the Roosters pint – similar hop taste, I thought – but it had been a while between trying the Roosters and then my own, so it’s hard to be accurate.

The munich was British, Fawcetts stuff from The Malt Miller. The Melanoidin and Caramunich were both Weyermann. Is it better with German stuff all the way?

Speaking of Roosters, we’ve just been away for a week up in Yorkshire, and my favourite pint of the week was Roosters Hot Shot, at the Waggon & Horses in York.

Thanks for your comments – and even more, thanks for the recipe!
Bryan.