Dark Mild Reaper's Mild, 1st place 2011 HBT Competition

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When done brewing, I pull some of the grain, squoosh out as much liquid as possible and fill up a few ziplock sandwich bags with about 2 cups of grain each and freeze to use later to make spent grain bread, it's fantastic with this grain bill!
 
Just got done. That wasn't so bad at all. I was nervous about using the correct amount of water as I didn't know how much the grain was going to absorb nor did I know how much I was going to lose during boil. I must of done something right, my pre-boil SG was 1.036 and post boil was 1.042. Hopefully, my FG will fall into place as well.

I was also very happy with my wort chillers performance. I was able to go from boil to 64F in less than 20 minutes.

Looking forward to getting this kegged and in the glass.

Thanks for the help along the way. Much appreciated.
 
waverz said:
Just got done. That wasn't so bad at all. I was nervous about using the correct amount of water as I didn't know how much the grain was going to absorb nor did I know how much I was going to lose during boil. I must of done something right, my pre-boil SG was 1.036 and post boil was 1.042. Hopefully, my FG will fall into place as well.

I was also very happy with my wort chillers performance. I was able to go from boil to 64F in less than 20 minutes.

Looking forward to getting this kegged and in the glass.

Thanks for the help along the way. Much appreciated.
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I use .10 gallon/pound of grain for my absorption volume calculating purposes, so this recipe uses 7 lb 6 oz of grain, so that would be 7.375 pounds of grain so you would need .7375 gallons, I just round it up to .75 gallon for simplicity sake.

And if you are using a keggle or similar sized pot a fair bet is 1.5 gallons boil off in an hour. Try this test, I marked my long plastic spoon with notches for each gallon of water I added to my pot, this made it easy to calculate how much I boiled off during the test hour this got me baseline numbers for when I actually brewed up beer.



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I'm brewing this up tomorrow. Can't wait to give it a taste. I've been getting in the habbit of boosting the ABV a little each time I brew my regulars lately and everything I have on tap is over 5.5% ABV. Been looking for a good session brew and this one looks to fit that nicely.
 
Clonefan94 said:
I'm brewing this up tomorrow. Can't wait to give it a taste. I've been getting in the habbit of boosting the ABV a little each time I brew my regulars lately and everything I have on tap is over 5.5% ABV. Been looking for a good session brew and this one looks to fit that nicely.
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Schaumburg! I work in Schaumburg! Nice to have close fellow brewers to compare notes with!
 
azscoob said:
Schaumburg! I work in Schaumburg! Nice to have close fellow brewers to compare notes with!
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Weather finally broke enough to brew this on Sunday. Had a great day. I had been having issues with my mash tun and my stainless steel hose clogging. I changed it during the few weeks off I had had from brewing and this was my first time using it. Well, it worked like a charm, but it increased my efficiency quite a bit compared to the old hose (not having to add more water to get it to flow, messing with stuck sparges, etc. Anyways, came out a little higher than I wanted. 1.042, Oh well, she's nicely fermenting away as I type this.

I'll let you know how the final product turns out.
 
It's been nearly a month since I brewed this batch. It's been kegged for 2 weeks and still seems pretty cloudy. Will it clear or is it supposed to be cloudy? I've been waiting patiently but I'm about to just start drinking it.

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Won another gold medal with this recipe.

It was actually aged in the kegerator for ~6 months. So, while it is a great beer young, it also holds up well over time.

:mug:
 
AZ_IPA said:
Won another gold medal with this recipe.

It was actually aged in the kegerator for ~6 months. So, while it is a great beer young, it also holds up well over time.

:mug:
Click to expand...

Awesome news! When next I'm back in AZ we are going to have to get together for a beer, gotta get up in your area anyway!
 
Just finished constructing my mash tun. I'm planning on giving this recipe a go as my first all-grain batch! Excited to see how it turns out.
 
This is a nice one as a first all grain, the few things you will run into is hitting and maintaining temp with such a small grain bill. Sifting through this thread should reveal some pointers you may find useful, nothing to fret about just things to pay attention to is all.
 
I'm going to make 5 gals... Challenge is my s-04 started smells infected. I have a package of dry -04 on hand. Do you think a starter is necessary? I hate diacetyl!


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For a low OG, and dry yeast? Nope you should be good to go imo. You aren't supposed to use starters on dry packets from what I know anyways
 
azscoob said:
This is a nice one as a first all grain, the few things you will run into is hitting and maintaining temp with such a small grain bill. Sifting through this thread should reveal some pointers you may find useful, nothing to fret about just things to pay attention to is all.
Click to expand...

Cool, I'm looking forward to it. I've looked through a good number of pages already and think I'll be able to use what I've gathered to nail it.
 
Making this as I type... About 15min into boil at the moment. Been drinking a Clown Shoes sombrero stout bomber while mashing in. Ended up stirring the mashout with a spoon I used to make tortilla soup (duh!)


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Gonna brew this up today. First time brewing in a long time and on my new system. Hopefully all goes well.
 
I ordered the ingredients Sunday should be able to brew this weekend, weather permitting. This looks like a tasty brew.
 
I really need to brew this soon, my nephew wants to learn to brew, so I might brew this one and also brew my hefe!


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So I used a new homebrew shop and the crush was off. Came in at 1.030. Oh well, should still be a tasty beer.
 
It's been in the fermenter a week. How many days til you guys keg this beer since it's a session beer?
 
Yeah, I'm at 8 days. I think I'll wait til Friday to keg this then use the cake for some Centennial blonde.
 
Just bought the grains. Using phoenix hops which was the uk hops I had around. Not my favorite but should work well with the style. Using 1335 British ale 2 in this. Planing on using this batch to grow up a pitch for a barley wine I'm planing in brewing in two weeks. My wife thinks I'm insane with 15 gallons already done, and 3 more in secondary. But I like the variety.

I love low alcohol beers and am very excited for this one.


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zaphro said:
Just bought the grains. Using phoenix hops which was the uk hops I had around. Not my favorite but should work well with the style. Using 1335 British ale 2 in this. Planing on using this batch to grow up a pitch for a barley wine I'm planing in brewing in two weeks. My wife thinks I'm insane with 15 gallons already done, and 3 more in secondary. But I like the variety.

I love low alcohol beers and am very excited for this one.


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Click to expand...

I'm planning on a 10 gallon batch of this one pretty soon myself!

This recipe and my Bitter Brit ordinary bitter are my two go to lawn mower beers for the summer.
 
I've had this on the keg for 2.5 weeks and it tastes awesome. I finally dialed in the right pressure and it's so good with great mouth feel. It's been about 7 weeks since I brewed it so it's nice and clear. Thinking about bottling some up and entering a comp to see how it does.
 
You should enter it! Comps are a great way to help perfect your process and whatnot. I figured out that the tap water at my old house was about perfect for these types of beers when cut 50% with RO water. Never would have pinpointed the fact that I had water chemistry issues were it not for feedback from competitions.


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Brewed a batch this morning. Efficiency was a bit higher than expected, and I ended up at 1.040. Also found I was out of Fuggles, and ended up substituting East Kent Golding. We'll see how it goes!
 
Yup, I've won a couple golds using EKG with this recipe!

Despite my preference for hoppy beers, this one always has a spot in my kegerator. It's a quick brew, cheap (not a lot of grain or hops), has outstanding flavor, and you can drink several pints (even on a work night :)) without much regret!

Gonna brew up 10g soon!
 
AZ_IPA said:
Yup, I've won a couple golds using EKG with this recipe!

Despite my preference for hoppy beers, this one always has a spot in my kegerator. It's a quick brew, cheap (not a lot of grain or hops), has outstanding flavor, and you can drink several pints (even on a work night :)) without much regret!

Gonna brew up 10g soon!
Click to expand...

Maybe I should brew this again too, I have most everything on hand! 10 gallons is about right too.
 
how many oz of prime sugar (corn sugar) did you use to bottle a 5 gal batch?
i was reading on another website that this particular style of beer requires low carbonation.
i just wanted to know your thoughs.
thanks.
 
Are you brewing to style to enter in a comp. Or brewing for enjoyment? If the latter, prime it to whatever you want. I'd probably go with 2.1 or so, maybe a little more. I like a little head on my beers.

Note that I originally typed I like a little head on my bears. Guess I've had too many bears tonight.
 
I've brewed this a few times. Last time I bottled a case and took it to work. I had several BMC drinkers tell me it was the best beer the have ever tasted! I have to agree with them. I use willamette and EKG as you suggested a while back. It will always have a spot on my kegerator!
 
royal1911 said:
I've brewed this a few times. Last time I bottled a case and took it to work. I had several BMC drinkers tell me it was the best beer the have ever tasted! I have to agree with them. I use willamette and EKG as you suggested a while back. It will always have a spot on my kegerator!
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I love the "whoa, that's a really dark beer, I don't like dark beers they are too bitter and heavy"

I tell them to shut up and try it, then they start saying that it tastes great, way lighter than they thought and not bitter.

Then I go on to explain that color of a beer is the least accurate gauge of a beer, you want bitter? Wrap your BMC drinking mouth around a pint of west coast IPA.

Conversely, want something sweeter? try my chocolate mint milk stout, or a pint of my caramelized fig Belgian Dark Strong Ale
 

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