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2/25/2021
brew day
1.065 OG without lactose and beet juice
1.074 OG with lactose and beet juice
this calculator i dont think includes lactose in the OG calculation...? but the beets it appears it does.
adjusting my efficiency from 70 to 63 to match calculated vs measured OG without the adjunct sugars. not making adjustments to the beet juice input, appears it matches the measured.
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2/24/2021
brew day tomorrow
reducing the beet weight from 6lbs to 3lb. it was kinda a lot of beets, i juiced them yesterday, it amounted to about 3 cups juice. gonna just add that to last 5 minutes of the boil (to sanitize), maybe along with the lactose. would be nice to take a gravity reading before adding this stuff to get a data point on my grain efficiency.
reducing cocoa nibs from 5 to 4 bc the bag came with 4 unless i can find another oz in my stash somewhere.
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initial recipe formulation notes
getting some of my amounts (beets -> PPG and Lovibond, amount, etc) from https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/208903/beet-stout
unsure how much beet to use. clawhammer used 1lb. this BF recipe used 12lb, juiced. im putting 6lb because that is my lucky milkshake number but will have to call it on the fly. i think i will juice them - take a gravity reading on cooled wort, then mix in the beet juice, and take gravity reading again to check the difference. this way we might get some data on how much sugar is in that lovely juice.
(this method chosen over mash or BK because "If you plan to mash or boil beets you most likely will lose that amazing color! The pigment betanin is temperature sensitive and will drop out in a semi-reversable reaction; meaning you may see some pigment recovery after the wort cools, but not much." https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/96hpla/fact_beers_eat_beets/)
CHOOSING CRYSTAL not sure what to do for hops. is all we want is bittering? are there any faint flavors from hops that will add to this beer? maybe steal something from stouts, but stouts have all that roast so the play is different. maybe whatever might be in a fruited blonde ale. not sure comparing to sours or saisons either is a good idea.
- clawhammer uses nelson sauvin - i think too funky and fruity
- some of my previous stouts i use northern brewer - described as slightly minty which i never got but may be more evident in this kind of beer
- hallertau blanc, hersbrucker
- cluster is mild, blackcurrant aroma. used in NB chocolate milk stout
- liberty - mild spice and floral. basically any noble hop might do the job here
- crystal - strongest of these noble style hops, cinnamon nutmeg black pepper
- mt hood - also noble. slight honey like, mild herbal floral , lemoney
for hop schedule. im choosing warrior to do some bittering work and crystal for some noble flavor balance. this compared to purple drank blueberry blonde is the exact same OG and FG on paper and that one was 27IBU and came out way too sweet (and thin...i suspect it mightve been lower FG than that and i just didnt measure it and adjust the recipe). So for this I'm pumping up into the 50s.
using 5 oz. saw a "chocolate blonde" on BF that used this much. some websites say start with 3 or 4oz as a starting point.
Cupig Shuffle! Use cupig as inspiration for the label and he can be featured in the photo shoot.
