My test batch setup is nearly complete (please also appreciate the "beautiful" tiles) and I tested it with a wet hop beer. As you can see, those were clearly at the upper end of their ripeness scale, but it was the only time I could manage to pick some at all due family & kids.
In they went in for a ~20 minutes 80 ˚C hop stand, during which my kitchen smelled a troubling lot of garlic and onions. By removing the bag with the hops, I stirred up the already settled trub, so I had to pour all hop debris & hot break into the minikeg along with the wort. Let's see what that does to the beer. I've overshot my OG quite a bit with the setup in the pictures, with a lot higher efficiency than predicted, only by stirring every now and then, so we're looking at an OG of 1.051 instead of 1.046.
Yesterday, after a week of fermentation under rising pressure, it was time for a gravity sample. It's fully attenuated already, and except a hint of some sharpness, I'm happy to report that we're apparently free of off-flavours. :) It came down do 1.008 (vs 1.010 predicted) , which leaves me with a 5.6 % ABV beer instead of 4.2 % with a lot less residual sweetness (US-05, you monster). Next time, I'll certainly mash hotter, and check the temperature with an external thermometer as well. I also wonder what a Kveik yeast would do to the result.
Here is the base recipe I intend to use for ongoing experiments with malts, yeasts & hops.
