A collaborative brew between myself and Rooster's own master of the stock, brother priest of the yeast Jamie; Operation Black Phoenix Thunder required the use of the 100 litre trial kit for a project that was both fun and challenging in equal measure.
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Recirculating wort in the mash tun prior to runoff. |
Brewing on a very small scale, from my experience has always been way more fickle compared to brewing on a full scale commercial brew kit. So Operation Black Phoenix Thunder from the start was more about getting the basics right.
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Wort runoff from mash tun to kettle. |
After I designed and assembled the grist for the export Porter Jamie's skills and experience on the small brew kit ensured the brew day went fluently. Jamie has used the trial kit many times and frequently brews on the Roosters 10 barrel kit, showcasing his impressive ability to get inside and clean out the smaller sized vessels despite being the fattest member of the production team.
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Whole leaf WGV hops enter the boil. |
After various back and fourth estimations on what the extract efficiency might be, and whether or not extended boil times or sugars would be needed; the wort produced on the day fermented out very nicely to a whopping 7.8% abv.
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Transferring to cask. |
The resultant Porter was very smooth, chocolatey and impressively refined for it's big abv, with plenty of weight of body behind it (much like Jamie). I will be looking forward to hopefully trying this one at the Heritage beer festival this weekend.