Q4 2022 Brewersfriend Quarterly Brew

Wow, the extra boil took a lot longer than I had expected. Wife kicked me out of the kitchen, said she didn't like the smell. Moved it down to the basement to countertop induction burner I have by the brewing equipment. 10.2 gallons in the fermenter, gravity was 1.057 on the tilt at 71 degrees. Looks like 1.056 on the hydrometer.

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Nailed it great work! It'll be worth it
 
Wow, the extra boil took a lot longer than I had expected. Wife kicked me out of the kitchen, said she didn't like the smell. Moved it down to the basement to countertop induction burner I have by the brewing equipment. 10.2 gallons in the fermenter, gravity was 1.057 on the tilt at 71 degrees. Looks like 1.056 on the hydrometer.

View attachment 23199
Nice color on that! Yeah, surprising how long it takes to boil it down
 
I see 057 but I am further away. The bottom of the meniscus is where the reading is.
 
Did you notice I had to zoom in with the camera. Probably need to see the eye doctor again, everything is getting harder to read these days.
I find that it's not that my eyes are getting worse, it's that my arms are getting shorter. Makes it hard to read so close...
 
I recently discovered this thread and would love to join in the fun. Thanks for making it open to all! I have some leftover brown malt and Fuggles hops, so this recipe is perfect... just ordered the rest to brew this weekend, so hopefully ready by the time family show up for Christmas.

I've never tried reducing wort for a brew, but excited to see how that works. Just to have a ballpark idea, what reduction rate? 50%, 25%? The pics help though!
 
I've never tried reducing wort for a brew, but excited to see how that works. Just to have a ballpark idea, what reduction rate? 50%, 25%? The pics help though!

I would say mine was reduced down about 75%. Was also my first time reducing down, excited to see how it turns out.
 
I would say mine was reduced down about 75%. Was also my first time reducing down, excited to see how it turns out.
Yeah I'd say do at least 75% reduction on it. You want it to be more like syrup than water in consistency
 
Dumb question here, what does the reducing do for the brew?
 
Dumb question here, what does the reducing do for the brew?
Yes, I’m interested in knowing this too. My most recent brew, a smooth stout, I sparged some extra wort that didn’t go in with the boil. Instead, that extra quart of wort went in the freezer, with intent to add it to a future brew. As recipe author @jmcnamara stated, the syrup works well in stouts.
 
Ok, let's try this one (don't pick it apart too hard haha)
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/698623/downtown-charlie

I know people will need to sub in available ingredients or tweak things based on their process, but I think the one thing everyone should try to do is boil down some of the wort to a thick syrup, and add that back into the boil

Guess I need to schedule a trip to the lhbs soon...
So, is it cheating to drain some of the boil into the pot to help dissolve the syrup back into the batch? That's gonna take a while to reduce, and I can't imagine running the boil that long. Why not hold the boil around mash temp (no grains in it to ruin it) while reducing the drawout, then use the hot wort to dissolve it back in?
 
So, is it cheating to drain some of the boil into the pot to help dissolve the syrup back into the batch? That's gonna take a while to reduce, and I can't imagine running the boil that long. Why not hold the boil around mash temp (no grains in it to ruin it) while reducing the drawout, then use the hot wort to dissolve it back in?

That is pretty much what I did. After my sparge I pulled a gallon of wort out (I did a 10 gallon batch) and while I was reducing it I kept the rest of the wort at about 165. When I saw that I was getting close to a syrup, I started my boil and added the syrup at about 30 minutes left.
 
So, is it cheating to drain some of the boil into the pot to help dissolve the syrup back into the batch? That's gonna take a while to reduce, and I can't imagine running the boil that long. Why not hold the boil around mash temp (no grains in it to ruin it) while reducing the drawout, then use the hot wort to dissolve it back in?
Not cheating to use wort to help rinse out the syrup, thats what i did to make sure i got it all.
I do the reduction inside on my stove while the wort heats up outside. So a half gallon will get really boiling while the 6ish gallons of wort outside is just starting to get heated up.
 
Wow, the extra boil took a lot longer than I had expected. Wife kicked me out of the kitchen, said she didn't like the smell. Moved it down to the basement to countertop induction burner I have by the brewing equipment. 10.2 gallons in the fermenter, gravity was 1.057 on the tilt at 71 degrees. Looks like 1.056 on the hydrometer.

View attachment 23199
I'd call that 1.057. Read at the bottom of the meniscus, not the top. At least that's what I was taught in Chemistry back in 1974.
 
Does it matter when you pull the wort for reduction? I usually batch sparge (been too lazy/busy to finish my fly sparge ring), meaning the first runnings will be the highest gravity, ergo shortest route to syrup. I typically batch sparge to make up volume. No point in leaving anything in the grains I don't have to, and plain water for volume is going to affect target gravity more. Is it better to homogenize the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd runnings before drawing the reduction volume? Now I got a new term (Maillard reactions) to go read about. I'd have flunked HomeBrewing 101 a long time ago because of my poor study habits. Not sure I can get this one in before end of the year, at least not fermented and conditioned enough to drink.

Might have to drink Q4-22 beer in Q1-23 if I decide to give this a go. Looks and sounds yummy.
 

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