GHBG Raisin Beer (7L)

Method: BIAB
Style: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB)
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 7 liters (fermentor volume)
Pre Boil Size: 8.65 liters
Post Boil Size: 7 liters
Pre Boil Gravity: 1.043 (recipe based estimate)
Post Boil Gravity: 1.054 (recipe based estimate)
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)
Source: Me
Calories: 253 calories (Per 500ml)
Carbs: 28.7 g (Per 500ml)

Created: Wednesday November 29th 2023

Amount	Fermentable	PPG	°L	Bill %
1,425 g	Crisp Malting - Finest Maris Otter1425 g Finest Maris Otter	38	3	78.9%
145 g	Dingemans - Special B145 g Special B	33.1	125	8%
145 g	Crisp Malting - Dextrin Malt145 g Dextrin Malt	36.8	1.8	8%
90 g	Rice Hulls90 g Rice Hulls	0	0	5%
1,805 g / £ 0.00

Amount

Fermentable

Cost

PPG

°L

Bill %

1,425 g

Crisp Malting - Finest Maris Otter

78.9%

145 g

Dingemans - Special B

33.1

125

145 g

Crisp Malting - Dextrin Malt

36.8

1.8

90 g

Rice Hulls

1,805 g / £ 0.00

Amount	Variety	Type	AA	Use	Time	IBU	Bill %
10 g	East Kent Goldings 202110 g East Kent Goldings 2021 Hops	Pellet	5.5	Boil	60 min	21.15	33.3%
20 g	East Kent Goldings 202120 g East Kent Goldings 2021 Hops	Pellet	5.5	Boil	10 min	15.34	66.7%
30 g / £ 0.00

Amount

Variety

Cost

Type

Use

Time

IBU

Bill %

10 g

East Kent Goldings 2021

Pellet

5.5

Boil

60 min

21.15

33.3%

20 g

East Kent Goldings 2021

Pellet

5.5

Boil

10 min

15.34

66.7%

30 g / £ 0.00

Amount	Variety	Cost	IBU	Bill %
30 g	East Kent Goldings 2021 (Pellet)		36.49	100%
30 g / £ 0.00

Amount	Name	Type	Use	Time
1 tsp	Irish Moss	Fining	Boil	15 min.
0.90 g	Fermaid-K	Other	Boil	10 min.
25 g	California Seedless Raisins (Sun-Maid)	Flavor	Boil	0 min.
100 g	California Seedless Raisins (Sun-Maid)	Flavor	Primary	5 days
56 ml	Vodka (37.5% ABV)	Other	Primary	5 days

Amount

Name

Cost

Type

Use

Time

1 tsp

Irish Moss

Fining

Boil

15 min.

0.90 g

Fermaid-K

Other

Boil

10 min.

25 g

California Seedless Raisins (Sun-Maid)

Flavor

Boil

0 min.

100 g

California Seedless Raisins (Sun-Maid)

Flavor

Primary

5 days

56 ml

Vodka (37.5% ABV)

Other

Primary

5 days

Ca⁺²	Mg⁺²	Na⁺	Cl^-	SO₄^-2	HCO₃^-
0	0	0	0	0	0
Mash Chemistry and Brewing Water Calculator

Ca⁺²

Mg⁺²

Na⁺

Cl^-

SO₄^-2

HCO₃^-

Mash Chemistry and Brewing Water Calculator

Amount	Description	Type	Start Temp	Target Temp	Time
9.9 L	BIAB mash in kettle	Infusion	67 °C	67 °C	60 min

Amount

Description

Type

Start Temp

Target Temp

Time

9.9 L

BIAB mash in kettle

Infusion

67 °C

60 min

Water	Liters
Strike water volume (equipment estimates 15.6 L)	11.4
Mash volume with grains (equipment estimates 16.7 L)	12.5
Grain absorption losses	-1.8
Mash Lauter Tun losses	-0.9
Pre boil volume (equipment estimates 12.9 L)	8.7
Boil off losses	-5.7
Hops absorption losses (first wort, boil, aroma)	-0.2
Post boil Volume	7
Volume into fermentor	7
Total:	11.4
Equipment Profile Used:	System Default

Water

Liters

Strike water volume (equipment estimates 15.6 L)

11.4

Mash volume with grains (equipment estimates 16.7 L)

12.5

Grain absorption losses

-1.8

Mash Lauter Tun losses

-0.9

Pre boil volume (equipment estimates 12.9 L)

8.7

Boil off losses

-5.7

Hops absorption losses (first wort, boil, aroma)

-0.2

Post boil Volume

Volume into fermentor

Total:

11.4

Equipment Profile Used:

System Default

Date	Days	Event	Gravity	Volume	Updated	Comment
12/5/2023 1:07 PM about 1 year ago	+0	Mash Complete			12/5/2023 8:53 PM about 1 year ago	Strike temp = 70.7C Target mash temp = 67C Mash @ 60 mins = 66C Mash @ 45 mins = 62C (reheated back to 67C) Mash @ 0 mins = 65.5C Pot was removed from the stove and wrapped with a blanket taped around it, with tea towels tucked on top. I missed my starting temp by -1C.
12/5/2023 2:55 PM about 1 year ago	+0	Pre-Boil Gravity			12/5/2023 5:32 PM about 1 year ago	No pre-boil gravity taken. Gaz squeezed the grain bag a lot using the veg colander and potato masher. He got a good 200-300ml extra wort out the bag.
12/5/2023 5:12 PM about 1 year ago	+0	Boil Complete			12/5/2023 5:34 PM about 1 year ago	A bag of 25g raisins was thrown in to the kettle and submerged by stirring, 1-2 mins before flameout. The bag was kept in the kettle while chilling, and removed around 40C; no particular reason for this temp, I just thought the raisins probably wouldn't be contributing too much flavour having been in the kettle for 20-30 mins. The raisins were added whole. I think I will chop the 50g addition going in as a 'dry hop'.
12/5/2023 5:13 PM about 1 year ago	+0	Brew Day Complete	1.052	7.2 Liters	12/5/2023 5:48 PM about 1 year ago	Had a good day brewing with Gaz for the first time and listening to Steven Seagal, ha! The wort is a lovely orange colour. It tastes sweet with some bitterness, as usual. There's no obvious raisin flavour but we'll see how much this develops through fermentation. The 10L fermenting bucket has been insulated with a blanket taped around it and tea towels on top. The Inkbird probe is taped to the side and set to 19.5C. The FV is sat on top of the heat pad in a lean-to which is currently around 5C temperature. A full pack of Windsor yeast was pitched dry at 19.5C.
12/5/2023 7:28 PM about 1 year ago	+0	Other			12/7/2023 1:19 AM about 1 year ago	7:30pm --------- Chopped 50g of raisins (original amount decided for this recipe) and added them to a mason jar, ready for adding vodka to sanitise for several days. I decided that 50g looks too small, so upped it to 100g chopped raisins. Covered with 56ml vodka (37.5% ABV). I'll need to add the vodka and extra raisins into any ABV increase calculations, but the vodka will add 0.26% to 7L of beer. 100g raisins will apparently add 0.32%, so 0.58% ABV increase overall. I'll call it 0.5%. In the meantime, I checked the airlock, which is now bubbling every 60+ seconds only 2-3 hours after pitching! The fast yeast activity led me to check the last time I used Windsor yeast... Turns out I've never used it before; I had confused it for Mangrove Jack's Empire Ale Yeast (Black Lung Porter, 2018), which was a pain in the backside for stalling. I've read that Windsor can ferment within a few days, so I'll be interested to see how fast it goes through the wort and raisins. 10pm --------- Bubbling every 26 seconds. No apparent change in gravity yet though - maybe one point drop. Holding steady at 19.5C, still.
12/6/2023 10:11 AM about 1 year ago	+1	Other			12/6/2023 8:31 PM about 1 year ago	10am ------- Tilt reporting 1.037 at 20.6C. Inkbird says temp is 19.7C, so a discrepancy there, but an acceptable one. Airlock bubbling every 1.5-2 seconds. 11:15am ------- Bubbling even faster. Inkbird is now reading 20.1C so I have upped the Inkbird from 19.5C to 20.1C to help maintain temp. The lean-to smells strongly of fermentation. The airlock smells lovely - lots of estery floral character coming out of the FV. 3pm ------- The Inkbird temp has dropped to 19.8C so I've upped the Inkbird temp from 20.1C to 20.4C. Tilt is still reporting 20.6C temp. Airlock is still bubbling twice a second but I don't want to risk this yeast stalling. Conflicting information online says the yeast is good up to either 22C or 25C. 4:30pm ------- I shook the FV earlier to rouse the yeast a little - again, in an attempt to prevent any stalling. Now the Airlock is bubbling faster, about once a second.
12/6/2023 6:31 PM about 1 year ago	+1	Other			12/6/2023 11:14 PM about 1 year ago	6:30pm ------- I decided to add the raisins given that we're at around 60% attenuation at 1.024. I'd usually wait a little longer, but with this yeast, 60% is sometimes all you get out of it. Opening the lid, there was a healthy krausen. The beer smells AMAZING. I thought I could smell raisin in there, but that's probably more from the Special B malt than the raisins added at flameout. I gently lowered in a muslin bag which had been boiled and then had the raisins added. The muslin bag has some sanitised dental floss attached so I can pull it out at any time. I tipped in a few ml of the remaining vodka solution too, which has mostly been absorbed by the raisins. The raisin-vodka tincture tastes incredible. I'm confident the raisins are going to come through in this beer, given that just a tiny taste of the tincture holds so much flavour. Really warming and not too dissimilar from the fig 'liqueur' I made with rum a while back. After adding the raisins, the Inkbird is reporting 21C and the Tilt 21.7C (EDIT: this later came down to 21.1C). I'll try and keep the temp no higher than this until the krausen has fallen. The yeast has a good amount of sugars from the raisins to chomp through, so I expect activity will stay high until at least tomorrow. Ideally I'd have waited a bit longer to add the raisins, but given the prep needed and the fact it's now early evening, I'd probably have missed the boat if I were to have waited until morning. I am really excited for this beer. The smell when opening the FV was just fantastic. Can't wait to see how it turns out. 11pm ------- Bubbling every 3.5 seconds at 20.6C (Inkbird). Tilt reporting 21.1C, still. Gravity 1.017, so around 4.59% ABV currently.
12/7/2023 8:40 AM about 1 year ago	+2	Other			12/7/2023 9:46 PM about 1 year ago	8:30am ------- Tilt is at 1.016. Airlock bubbling gently maybe every 10 seconds. I've upped the Inkbird from 20.6C to 20.9C. 10:30am ------- Cracked the lid to observe that the krausen has fallen. Raisin bag is floating but contents appear submerged. I wiggled the bag a bit to ensure all is submerged. Airlock still bubbling, so any oxygen ingress should be scrubbed out. 2pm ------- Bubbling every 90 seconds. Upped temp by 0.3C to 21.2C. 9:30pm ------- Still bubbling. Didn't stick around to see how slowly, but it's still bubbling. Tilt reporting 1.016.
12/8/2023 7:45 AM about 1 year ago	+3	Other			12/8/2023 7:45 AM about 1 year ago	8am ------- SG still showing as 1.016 this morning. Upped temp by 0.3C to 21.5C.
12/8/2023 10:58 PM about 1 year ago	+3	Sample	1.016		12/9/2023 1:05 AM about 1 year ago	Took a hydrometer sample of 1.016. I added some Star Brite vegan finings to the beer for the first time and stirred gently with a sanitised spoon. I'm not able to get my syringe into the bottle so had to guess the dosage based off the shoody measurement strip on the label (it only goes up in 5 gallon increments!). I added enough for about 2.5 gallons of beer, more than needed for 7L of beer. I dunked the raisin bag a little more to ensure the contents are covered with beer. I'm not getting loads of raisin flavour from the beer which is a little disappointing. It tastes like a nice straw-like bitter though, with I think a good bit of yeast character, so it will be a nice beer either way.
12/9/2023 4:13 PM about 1 year ago	+4	Other			12/9/2023 4:13 PM about 1 year ago	Not content with the amount of raisin flavour cooking through on yesterday's sample, I've decided to add more raisins. I've added 200g of UNCHOPPED raisins into a mason jar and covered with the remaining 33.8ml vodka before emptying the bottle. I could have done with more vodka to sanitise this amount of raisins, but it'll have to do. I'll add these to the beer tomorrow. Probably should have done this before adding the finings last night, but hey ho, live and learn.
12/10/2023 12:40 PM about 1 year ago	+5	Other			12/10/2023 8:39 PM about 1 year ago	12pm ------- Added the second batch of (whole) raisins to the beer - same method as before, using a boiled muslin bag and sanitised dental floss. All krausen had dropped from the surface. I decided to gently stir up all sediment from the bottom of the bucket and increase the Inkbird temp from 21.5C to 21.8C to encourage the yeast to get back to work. The 200g of raisins sank straight to the bottom, so I've adjusted the floss to hold the bag in place off the bottom of the fermenter. I purged the FV with a lot of CO2 before snapping the lid shut, opening it again briefly to hoist the raisin bag up a bit. The SG has been hanging around 1.015/1.016 for a number of days. The SG is now showing 1.017 after adding the raisins. 2pm ------- Airlock is back to bubbling again for the first time in a few days. Bubbling every 11-12 seconds after adding the raisins. SG was bumped 1-2 gravity points after adding the raisins. Looking at the ABV addition from the raisins... If I add 325g raisins into the recipe (flameout 25g + 300g total fermenter additions), it bumps the expected OG by 10 points (1.064) and the expected FG by 3 points (1.019). Recipe editor claims +0.97% if they had gone into the mash, so not sure how this affects flameout + dry hop. Also, I didn't hit that OG, I got 1.052. Adding the vodka (56ml + 33.8ml), this is +0.4% ABV, which takes us potentially to as high as +1.37% ABV... a bit crazy. Considering the vodka was pretty much all absorbed into the raisins, I may leave the vodka addition out of the final ABV calc, and round the beer to expected FG (4.73% if we stop at 1.016), and add on 1%, so maybe 5.7% ABV. Maybe 6% ABV tops. See how this second addition of raisins ferments out. 8:30pm ------- Airlock still bubbling every 10-12 seconds. Tilt SG has dropped back down to 1.016.
12/11/2023 9:04 AM about 1 year ago	+6	Other			12/11/2023 11:28 PM about 1 year ago	9am ------- Got worried this morning! The Tilt SG had dropped down to 1.000 gradually overnight. Assuming infection from the raisins, I popped the lid and punched down the raisin bags, moving the Tilt away from the wall of the FV. The gravity has now returned to 1.016/1.017. 10pm ------- The beer is still bubbling, slowly. Upped temp from 21.8C to 22C to encourage further attenuation. Tilt is showing a steady 1.015.
12/12/2023 1:24 PM about 1 year ago	+7	Other			12/12/2023 1:24 PM about 1 year ago	I opened the lid again to punch the raisins down. Several raisins have escaped from a bag and are floating on top of the beer. The Tilt was reporting 1.013 today, but having adjusted the muslin bags and Tilt, it is now showing 1.015. I purged the headspace with CO2 for a second time. The beer no longer smells like beer... It smells more fruity/raisiny, I think? Hard to tell, but it's definitely taken on a new aroma since the krausen dropped and raisins were added.
12/13/2023 12:21 PM about 1 year ago	+8	Sample	1.014		12/13/2023 11:40 PM about 1 year ago	The airlock was still bubbling very slowly this morning. Hydrometer sample shows 1.014-1.015. Tilt was previously reporting 1.015-1.014. (and has now returned to 1.017 after moving it around the FV). The sample tastes good. The additional 200g whole raisins has given more of a grape/tannin flavour from the skins, which while this isn't a bad thing at all, I decided to nip in the bud before it potentially contributes more bitterness. I pulled both bags of raisins out and purged the headspace violently with CO2 (causing airlock to bubble). I then added some finings shortly afterwards, again adding way too much (I've now used enough down to the 5 gallon marker, oops), and re-sealed again. The beer's nowhere near the taste of the original Cains Raisin Beer, but I think this may turn out a good like-for like of their newer recipe.
12/14/2023 6:26 PM about 1 year ago	+9	Other			12/14/2023 6:26 PM about 1 year ago	Turned the Inkbird down a couple of degrees to 22C an hour or two ago. The FV is cooling naturally. Thought it best to give the beer a day or two at normal temps before cold crashing.
12/16/2023 10:34 PM about 1 year ago	+11	Other			12/16/2023 10:34 PM about 1 year ago	The Inkbird has been at 20C for 2 days now. The Tilt reports that SG has dropped to 1.014 today, and has stayed there all day, so I will need to wait for longer before cold crashing. I will assume this is due to residual sugars left behind after the raisins were removed a few days ago.
12/28/2023 11:51 PM about 1 year ago	+23	Other			12/28/2023 11:51 PM about 1 year ago	Turned off the heat belt earlier today as we've gone to Ireland for 5 days. Can't be sure if the beer has finished at 1.010, of even whether the Tilt reading is correct, but it's been in the FV for three weeks now and stable for at least a few days.
1/18/2024 10:39 PM about 1 year ago	+44	Sample	1.008		2/4/2024 5:43 PM about 1 year ago	The FV has been sat in the lean-to for a few weeks, since I had to switch off the heat belt before heading to Ireland at Christmas. The temperature has been cold recently, dropping to -5C the past couple of days. I am concerned that the SG was continuing to drop gradually before switching off the heat belt; maybe it's not finished fermenting, maybe it's infected from the raisins? The sample I've taken today looks to be around 1.008, but it could be as low as 1.006; the hydrometer isn't proving very reliable at 19C. The Tilt is still saying the beer is 1.008 at 5C. There's every chance this is the actual FG and that previous Tilt readings were off. Either way, it's finally getting bottled this week. The sample is clear, to be expected after a 3 week cool crash in the lean-to! It tastes great. It definitely tastes of raisins, however, how much of this is the raisins or Special B malt is difficult to tell. That's not a bad thing. It's a very strong, robust bitter. It's got to be at least 6% at this point, so not one to be sessioned. Edit: I did flush the FV with CO2 after taking the sample.
2/4/2024 9:55 PM about 1 year ago	+61	Packaged	1.008	4.54 Liters	2/4/2024 9:55 PM about 1 year ago	Packaged 9 bottles: 3 x 740ml (PET) 2 x 500ml (PET/glass) 4 x 330ml (glass) Beer was racked into the bottling bucket straight from the FV in the lean-to, so as to not disturb the yeast (it's sat there for 2 months, why move it now?). I used my three-pronged sugar scoop to measure table sugar for each bottle type. Measured 1.008 with a hydrometer. After all the raisin and vodka additions, I'm just going to have to call this one 6% ABV, though I suspect it may be as strong as 6.5%. I'll never know.
2/4/2024 10:01 PM about 1 year ago	+61	Tasting Note	1.008		2/4/2024 10:14 PM about 1 year ago	The beer is a lovely amber colour, and perfectly clear. The beer sat for 5-6 weeks in the fermenter after active fermentation, so I'm hardly surprised that this yeast - which is known to be a poor flocculator - has settled out so well. It tastes great; a lovely robust bitter, very fruity with a hint of raisin. I don't know if you'd know it's a raisin beer without being told, but you can definitely taste them in there. It's difficult to say how much of the fruity/raisin flavour has come from the raisins and Special B malt. There's a grape note to the aroma, almost like a fruity red wine. I'd say the beer actually has a bit of a red wine flavour to it, now that I take a final few sips. I am surprised it went as low as 1.008. I mentioned previously that I had to turn the heat pad off over Xmas while we travelled to Ireland; I can only hope the beer was completely finished at this point. Since Xmas it's sat at near-freezing temps at times due to some silly external minus Celcius weather. Thanks to the low FG, the beer does taste on the thinner side. I am hoping that, once carbed, it will make for a great bitter. The bottles are in a box in the dining room.
2/14/2024 1:11 PM about 1 year ago	+71	Other			2/14/2024 1:11 PM about 1 year ago	PET bottles started to firm up after only a few days. On day 10, they are now very well swollen.
2/18/2024 12:04 AM about 1 year ago	+75	Tasting Note			2/18/2024 12:05 AM about 1 year ago	Fridged the 330ml glass tester bottle yesterday morning and drank tonight, 90 minutes out of the fridge. Good hiss upon opening, fairly well carbed. A lovely dark amber colour, mostly clear. Poured with no head but we're only on day 13 (and 2 of those were in the fridge). It's certainly grapey/raisin-y, but there is a prominent "robust bitter" flavour which is getting in the way. It tastes like Belgian candy sugar, kind of a hard chalky flavour that you might get in an ESB or a Belgian beer. It's too forward and not completely welcome. Hopefully it ages out. It must be the Special B malt as dextrin malt apparently has little to no flavour. Outside of that flavour, it's very, very fruity.
2/25/2024 10:25 PM about 1 year ago	+82	Tasting Note			2/29/2024 10:27 PM about 1 year ago	Went to Nik's with Jay and Gaz last night and took a 740ml bottle with me to share. It went down well, but I drank a lot and can't remember any of the feedback. I think it was positive...
3/1/2024 11:54 PM about 1 year ago	+87	Tasting Note			3/1/2024 11:54 PM about 1 year ago	Drinking a 330ml bottle, left out of the fridge for 45 minutes. It poured with no head into a glass which could have been more beer-clean. It's really good. Smells of grape/raisin. Lots of fruit in the taste, 99% clear, great level of carbonation. The hard 'ESB' flavour has dissipated a fair bit, leading to more of the raisin flavour that I was aiming for.
12/14/2024 10:09 PM 5 months ago	+375	Tasting Note			12/14/2024 10:09 PM 5 months ago	Drank my final 750ml bottle which had been out of the fridge for 2 days following the removal of the fridge during the downstairs house work. It was overcarbed and spewed out. I saved about 600ml. The beer poured with no head as usual. The beer is very much rounded out, with the Belgian-style candy malt flavour coming through nicely.

Date

Days

Event

Gravity

Volume

Temp

Updated

Comment

12/5/2023 1:07 PM
about 1 year ago

Mash Complete

12/5/2023 8:53 PM
about 1 year ago

Strike temp = 70.7C
Target mash temp = 67C

Mash @ 60 mins = 66C
Mash @ 45 mins = 62C (reheated back to 67C)
Mash @ 0 mins = 65.5C

Pot was removed from the stove and wrapped with a blanket taped around it, with tea towels tucked on top. I missed my starting temp by -1C.

12/5/2023 2:55 PM
about 1 year ago

Pre-Boil Gravity

12/5/2023 5:32 PM
about 1 year ago

No pre-boil gravity taken.

Gaz squeezed the grain bag a lot using the veg colander and potato masher. He got a good 200-300ml extra wort out the bag.

12/5/2023 5:12 PM
about 1 year ago

Boil Complete

12/5/2023 5:34 PM
about 1 year ago

A bag of 25g raisins was thrown in to the kettle and submerged by stirring, 1-2 mins before flameout.

The bag was kept in the kettle while chilling, and removed around 40C; no particular reason for this temp, I just thought the raisins probably wouldn't be contributing too much flavour having been in the kettle for 20-30 mins.

The raisins were added whole. I think I will chop the 50g addition going in as a 'dry hop'.

12/5/2023 5:13 PM
about 1 year ago

Brew Day Complete

1.052

7.2 Liters

12/5/2023 5:48 PM
about 1 year ago

Had a good day brewing with Gaz for the first time and listening to Steven Seagal, ha!

The wort is a lovely orange colour. It tastes sweet with some bitterness, as usual. There's no obvious raisin flavour but we'll see how much this develops through fermentation.

The 10L fermenting bucket has been insulated with a blanket taped around it and tea towels on top. The Inkbird probe is taped to the side and set to 19.5C. The FV is sat on top of the heat pad in a lean-to which is currently around 5C temperature.

A full pack of Windsor yeast was pitched dry at 19.5C.

12/5/2023 7:28 PM
about 1 year ago

Other

12/7/2023 1:19 AM
about 1 year ago

7:30pm
---------
Chopped 50g of raisins (original amount decided for this recipe) and added them to a mason jar, ready for adding vodka to sanitise for several days.

I decided that 50g looks too small, so upped it to 100g chopped raisins. Covered with 56ml vodka (37.5% ABV). I'll need to add the vodka and extra raisins into any ABV increase calculations, but the vodka will add 0.26% to 7L of beer. 100g raisins will apparently add 0.32%, so 0.58% ABV increase overall. I'll call it 0.5%.

In the meantime, I checked the airlock, which is now bubbling every 60+ seconds only 2-3 hours after pitching!

The fast yeast activity led me to check the last time I used Windsor yeast... Turns out I've never used it before; I had confused it for Mangrove Jack's Empire Ale Yeast (Black Lung Porter, 2018), which was a pain in the backside for stalling.

I've read that Windsor can ferment within a few days, so I'll be interested to see how fast it goes through the wort and raisins.

10pm
---------
Bubbling every 26 seconds. No apparent change in gravity yet though - maybe one point drop. Holding steady at 19.5C, still.

12/6/2023 10:11 AM
about 1 year ago

Other

12/6/2023 8:31 PM
about 1 year ago

10am
-------
Tilt reporting 1.037 at 20.6C. Inkbird says temp is 19.7C, so a discrepancy there, but an acceptable one.

Airlock bubbling every 1.5-2 seconds.

11:15am
-------
Bubbling even faster.

Inkbird is now reading 20.1C so I have upped the Inkbird from 19.5C to 20.1C to help maintain temp.

The lean-to smells strongly of fermentation. The airlock smells lovely - lots of estery floral character coming out of the FV.

3pm
-------
The Inkbird temp has dropped to 19.8C so I've upped the Inkbird temp from 20.1C to 20.4C. Tilt is still reporting 20.6C temp.

Airlock is still bubbling twice a second but I don't want to risk this yeast stalling. Conflicting information online says the yeast is good up to either 22C or 25C.

4:30pm
-------
I shook the FV earlier to rouse the yeast a little - again, in an attempt to prevent any stalling. Now the Airlock is bubbling faster, about once a second.

12/6/2023 6:31 PM
about 1 year ago

Other

12/6/2023 11:14 PM
about 1 year ago

6:30pm
-------
I decided to add the raisins given that we're at around 60% attenuation at 1.024. I'd usually wait a little longer, but with this yeast, 60% is sometimes all you get out of it.

Opening the lid, there was a healthy krausen. The beer smells AMAZING. I thought I could smell raisin in there, but that's probably more from the Special B malt than the raisins added at flameout.

I gently lowered in a muslin bag which had been boiled and then had the raisins added. The muslin bag has some sanitised dental floss attached so I can pull it out at any time.

I tipped in a few ml of the remaining vodka solution too, which has mostly been absorbed by the raisins. The raisin-vodka tincture tastes incredible. I'm confident the raisins are going to come through in this beer, given that just a tiny taste of the tincture holds so much flavour. Really warming and not too dissimilar from the fig 'liqueur' I made with rum a while back.

After adding the raisins, the Inkbird is reporting 21C and the Tilt 21.7C (EDIT: this later came down to 21.1C). I'll try and keep the temp no higher than this until the krausen has fallen.

The yeast has a good amount of sugars from the raisins to chomp through, so I expect activity will stay high until at least tomorrow. Ideally I'd have waited a bit longer to add the raisins, but given the prep needed and the fact it's now early evening, I'd probably have missed the boat if I were to have waited until morning.

I am really excited for this beer. The smell when opening the FV was just fantastic. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

11pm
-------
Bubbling every 3.5 seconds at 20.6C (Inkbird). Tilt reporting 21.1C, still. Gravity 1.017, so around 4.59% ABV currently.

12/7/2023 8:40 AM
about 1 year ago

Other

12/7/2023 9:46 PM
about 1 year ago

8:30am
-------
Tilt is at 1.016. Airlock bubbling gently maybe every 10 seconds.

I've upped the Inkbird from 20.6C to 20.9C.

10:30am
-------
Cracked the lid to observe that the krausen has fallen.

Raisin bag is floating but contents appear submerged. I wiggled the bag a bit to ensure all is submerged.

Airlock still bubbling, so any oxygen ingress should be scrubbed out.

2pm
-------
Bubbling every 90 seconds. Upped temp by 0.3C to 21.2C.

9:30pm
-------
Still bubbling. Didn't stick around to see how slowly, but it's still bubbling. Tilt reporting 1.016.

12/8/2023 7:45 AM
about 1 year ago

Other

12/8/2023 7:45 AM
about 1 year ago

8am
-------
SG still showing as 1.016 this morning. Upped temp by 0.3C to 21.5C.

12/8/2023 10:58 PM
about 1 year ago

Sample

1.016

12/9/2023 1:05 AM
about 1 year ago

Took a hydrometer sample of 1.016.

I added some Star Brite vegan finings to the beer for the first time and stirred gently with a sanitised spoon. I'm not able to get my syringe into the bottle so had to guess the dosage based off the shoody measurement strip on the label (it only goes up in 5 gallon increments!). I added enough for about 2.5 gallons of beer, more than needed for 7L of beer.

I dunked the raisin bag a little more to ensure the contents are covered with beer.

I'm not getting loads of raisin flavour from the beer which is a little disappointing. It tastes like a nice straw-like bitter though, with I think a good bit of yeast character, so it will be a nice beer either way.

12/9/2023 4:13 PM
about 1 year ago

Other

12/9/2023 4:13 PM
about 1 year ago

Not content with the amount of raisin flavour cooking through on yesterday's sample, I've decided to add more raisins.

I've added 200g of UNCHOPPED raisins into a mason jar and covered with the remaining 33.8ml vodka before emptying the bottle. I could have done with more vodka to sanitise this amount of raisins, but it'll have to do.

I'll add these to the beer tomorrow. Probably should have done this before adding the finings last night, but hey ho, live and learn.

12/10/2023 12:40 PM
about 1 year ago

Other

12/10/2023 8:39 PM
about 1 year ago

12pm
-------
Added the second batch of (whole) raisins to the beer - same method as before, using a boiled muslin bag and sanitised dental floss.

All krausen had dropped from the surface.

I decided to gently stir up all sediment from the bottom of the bucket and increase the Inkbird temp from 21.5C to 21.8C to encourage the yeast to get back to work.

The 200g of raisins sank straight to the bottom, so I've adjusted the floss to hold the bag in place off the bottom of the fermenter. I purged the FV with a lot of CO2 before snapping the lid shut, opening it again briefly to hoist the raisin bag up a bit.

The SG has been hanging around 1.015/1.016 for a number of days. The SG is now showing 1.017 after adding the raisins.

2pm
-------
Airlock is back to bubbling again for the first time in a few days. Bubbling every 11-12 seconds after adding the raisins.

SG was bumped 1-2 gravity points after adding the raisins.

Looking at the ABV addition from the raisins... If I add 325g raisins into the recipe (flameout 25g + 300g total fermenter additions), it bumps the expected OG by 10 points (1.064) and the expected FG by 3 points (1.019). Recipe editor claims +0.97% if they had gone into the mash, so not sure how this affects flameout + dry hop. Also, I didn't hit that OG, I got 1.052.

Adding the vodka (56ml + 33.8ml), this is +0.4% ABV, which takes us potentially to as high as +1.37% ABV... a bit crazy.

Considering the vodka was pretty much all absorbed into the raisins, I may leave the vodka addition out of the final ABV calc, and round the beer to expected FG (4.73% if we stop at 1.016), and add on 1%, so maybe 5.7% ABV. Maybe 6% ABV tops. See how this second addition of raisins ferments out.

8:30pm
-------
Airlock still bubbling every 10-12 seconds. Tilt SG has dropped back down to 1.016.

12/11/2023 9:04 AM
about 1 year ago

Other

12/11/2023 11:28 PM
about 1 year ago

9am
-------
Got worried this morning! The Tilt SG had dropped down to 1.000 gradually overnight.

Assuming infection from the raisins, I popped the lid and punched down the raisin bags, moving the Tilt away from the wall of the FV. The gravity has now returned to 1.016/1.017.

10pm
-------
The beer is still bubbling, slowly.

Upped temp from 21.8C to 22C to encourage further attenuation. Tilt is showing a steady 1.015.

12/12/2023 1:24 PM
about 1 year ago

Other

12/12/2023 1:24 PM
about 1 year ago

I opened the lid again to punch the raisins down.

Several raisins have escaped from a bag and are floating on top of the beer.

The Tilt was reporting 1.013 today, but having adjusted the muslin bags and Tilt, it is now showing 1.015.

I purged the headspace with CO2 for a second time.

The beer no longer smells like beer... It smells more fruity/raisiny, I think? Hard to tell, but it's definitely taken on a new aroma since the krausen dropped and raisins were added.

12/13/2023 12:21 PM
about 1 year ago

Sample

1.014

12/13/2023 11:40 PM
about 1 year ago

The airlock was still bubbling very slowly this morning.

Hydrometer sample shows 1.014-1.015. Tilt was previously reporting 1.015-1.014. (and has now returned to 1.017 after moving it around the FV).

The sample tastes good. The additional 200g whole raisins has given more of a grape/tannin flavour from the skins, which while this isn't a bad thing at all, I decided to nip in the bud before it potentially contributes more bitterness.

I pulled both bags of raisins out and purged the headspace violently with CO2 (causing airlock to bubble). I then added some finings shortly afterwards, again adding way too much (I've now used enough down to the 5 gallon marker, oops), and re-sealed again.

The beer's nowhere near the taste of the original Cains Raisin Beer, but I think this may turn out a good like-for like of their newer recipe.

12/14/2023 6:26 PM
about 1 year ago

Other

12/14/2023 6:26 PM
about 1 year ago

Turned the Inkbird down a couple of degrees to 22C an hour or two ago. The FV is cooling naturally. Thought it best to give the beer a day or two at normal temps before cold crashing.

12/16/2023 10:34 PM
about 1 year ago

+11

Other

12/16/2023 10:34 PM
about 1 year ago

The Inkbird has been at 20C for 2 days now.

The Tilt reports that SG has dropped to 1.014 today, and has stayed there all day, so I will need to wait for longer before cold crashing. I will assume this is due to residual sugars left behind after the raisins were removed a few days ago.

12/28/2023 11:51 PM
about 1 year ago

+23

Other

12/28/2023 11:51 PM
about 1 year ago

Turned off the heat belt earlier today as we've gone to Ireland for 5 days. Can't be sure if the beer has finished at 1.010, of even whether the Tilt reading is correct, but it's been in the FV for three weeks now and stable for at least a few days.

1/18/2024 10:39 PM
about 1 year ago

+44

Sample

1.008

2/4/2024 5:43 PM
about 1 year ago

The FV has been sat in the lean-to for a few weeks, since I had to switch off the heat belt before heading to Ireland at Christmas.

The temperature has been cold recently, dropping to -5C the past couple of days.

I am concerned that the SG was continuing to drop gradually before switching off the heat belt; maybe it's not finished fermenting, maybe it's infected from the raisins? The sample I've taken today looks to be around 1.008, but it could be as low as 1.006; the hydrometer isn't proving very reliable at 19C.

The Tilt is still saying the beer is 1.008 at 5C. There's every chance this is the actual FG and that previous Tilt readings were off. Either way, it's finally getting bottled this week.

The sample is clear, to be expected after a 3 week cool crash in the lean-to!

It tastes great. It definitely tastes of raisins, however, how much of this is the raisins or Special B malt is difficult to tell. That's not a bad thing.

It's a very strong, robust bitter. It's got to be at least 6% at this point, so not one to be sessioned.

Edit: I did flush the FV with CO2 after taking the sample.

2/4/2024 9:55 PM
about 1 year ago

+61

Packaged

1.008

4.54 Liters

2/4/2024 9:55 PM
about 1 year ago

Packaged 9 bottles:

3 x 740ml (PET)
2 x 500ml (PET/glass)
4 x 330ml (glass)

Beer was racked into the bottling bucket straight from the FV in the lean-to, so as to not disturb the yeast (it's sat there for 2 months, why move it now?).

I used my three-pronged sugar scoop to measure table sugar for each bottle type.

Measured 1.008 with a hydrometer. After all the raisin and vodka additions, I'm just going to have to call this one 6% ABV, though I suspect it may be as strong as 6.5%. I'll never know.

2/4/2024 10:01 PM
about 1 year ago

+61

Tasting Note

1.008

2/4/2024 10:14 PM
about 1 year ago

The beer is a lovely amber colour, and perfectly clear. The beer sat for 5-6 weeks in the fermenter after active fermentation, so I'm hardly surprised that this yeast - which is known to be a poor flocculator - has settled out so well.

It tastes great; a lovely robust bitter, very fruity with a hint of raisin. I don't know if you'd know it's a raisin beer without being told, but you can definitely taste them in there. It's difficult to say how much of the fruity/raisin flavour has come from the raisins and Special B malt.

There's a grape note to the aroma, almost like a fruity red wine. I'd say the beer actually has a bit of a red wine flavour to it, now that I take a final few sips.

I am surprised it went as low as 1.008. I mentioned previously that I had to turn the heat pad off over Xmas while we travelled to Ireland; I can only hope the beer was completely finished at this point. Since Xmas it's sat at near-freezing temps at times due to some silly external minus Celcius weather.

Thanks to the low FG, the beer does taste on the thinner side. I am hoping that, once carbed, it will make for a great bitter.

The bottles are in a box in the dining room.

2/14/2024 1:11 PM
about 1 year ago

+71

Other

2/14/2024 1:11 PM
about 1 year ago

PET bottles started to firm up after only a few days. On day 10, they are now very well swollen.

2/18/2024 12:04 AM
about 1 year ago

+75

Tasting Note

2/18/2024 12:05 AM
about 1 year ago

Fridged the 330ml glass tester bottle yesterday morning and drank tonight, 90 minutes out of the fridge.

Good hiss upon opening, fairly well carbed. A lovely dark amber colour, mostly clear. Poured with no head but we're only on day 13 (and 2 of those were in the fridge).

It's certainly grapey/raisin-y, but there is a prominent "robust bitter" flavour which is getting in the way. It tastes like Belgian candy sugar, kind of a hard chalky flavour that you might get in an ESB or a Belgian beer. It's too forward and not completely welcome. Hopefully it ages out. It must be the Special B malt as dextrin malt apparently has little to no flavour.

Outside of that flavour, it's very, very fruity.

2/25/2024 10:25 PM
about 1 year ago

+82

Tasting Note

2/29/2024 10:27 PM
about 1 year ago

Went to Nik's with Jay and Gaz last night and took a 740ml bottle with me to share. It went down well, but I drank a lot and can't remember any of the feedback. I think it was positive...

3/1/2024 11:54 PM
about 1 year ago

+87

Tasting Note

3/1/2024 11:54 PM
about 1 year ago

Drinking a 330ml bottle, left out of the fridge for 45 minutes.

It poured with no head into a glass which could have been more beer-clean.

It's really good. Smells of grape/raisin. Lots of fruit in the taste, 99% clear, great level of carbonation.

The hard 'ESB' flavour has dissipated a fair bit, leading to more of the raisin flavour that I was aiming for.

12/14/2024 10:09 PM
5 months ago

+375

Tasting Note

12/14/2024 10:09 PM
5 months ago

Drank my final 750ml bottle which had been out of the fridge for 2 days following the removal of the fridge during the downstairs house work.

It was overcarbed and spewed out. I saved about 600ml.

The beer poured with no head as usual.

The beer is very much rounded out, with the Belgian-style candy malt flavour coming through nicely.

Brewer's Friend

GHBG Raisin Beer (7L)