Batches #3 & #4 - The Brew Shop Duo

So it's been a while, mainly due to work being quite busy. We've been a few people down, so it's been all hands to the pump. But somehow, I managed to work my way into having a five-day weekend. So, naturally, a bit of brewing had to happen.

Imperial Stout kit, and a camera lens cap...

While thinking of what to brew, I got an email from BrewShop. They're now doing all-grain recipe packs; if you have the right gear, you can order yourself a "kit" for making anything from an American Pale Ale to a California Common. They even have one made up for a Black IPA (as stupid as that style name is).

With my curiosity sparked, I quickly ordered a couple - the brown ale and imperial stout.

I didn't get any pics of the brown ale brewday, but it went fairly smoothly. I overshot the target gravity, got extra wort and it was the clearest beer I had brewed yet. All in all, a happy camper.

But while planning to brew the imperial stout, I saw some tamarillos. I thought back to the amazingness that was the Epic/Dogfish Head collab Portamarillo and I had to get some to throw into the brew. I figured I already had a recipe which should work, so why not screw around with it a bit?!

Clockwise from top-left: Tamarillos, tamarillos and brown
sugar, roasted tamarillos in bag, tamarillo juice.

So, I got my ten tamarillos and quartered them before popping them in the oven with a dusting of brown sugar. What I got was some sorta-crispy, sorta-mushy, quite juicy lumps of fruit. There was also a heck of a lot of juice left in the bottom of the roasting dish. I couldn't just waste this Ribena-coloured stuff, so into a glass it went.

And here's how the rest of the day went.

Grain bill:
8.5kg pale malt
.5kg oat
.25kg black
.25kg choc
.25 roasted barley

Target mash temp = 66C
Actual mash temp = 67C

Sparge until 25L in kettle.

Knowing my kit a bit better these days, I decided to go pretty big on the pre-boil volume. I tend to lose a hell of a lot of wort when I boil (no idea why still).

Pre-boil gravity = 1060

I was a bit worried about the gravity, so I ran and grabbed a cup of brown sugar to put into the boil at some point. Nothing wrong with giving it a bit of help, am I right?!

In with the hops!

60g Hallertau - 60min
18g Liberty - 60min
40g Goldings - 30min
Tamarillos and syrup - 20min
25g Goldings - 15min
1 cup brown sugar - 15min

Final volume = 17L
Final gravity = 1093

Yeast = Nottingham ale



I'm pretty happy with how the day went. My first runnings were the clearest I've ever had, so I'm very impressed with that. However, both BrewShop kits had lots of dough-balls in the mash that I had to clear out.

It's alive! ALLLLIIIIVEEE!!

And that high gravity sure saw the yeast kick into action in a big way. The next morning they had managed to blow the top off the fermenting bucket! Talk about some intense krausen.

I'm pretty happy with these BrewShop kits. I would recommend them to people like me, who don't have a grain mill and don't want to waste those few hundred grams of grains they get sent pre-crushed.


PS: There has been a Batch #2 take place already (just another pale ale, nothing to go crazy about).