Good Bad & The Monkey
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
Get off my porch
This time I'm trying to see how clear I can get the brew. Racked to secondary yesterday, from the pail to the carboy. Going to let it sit another week and then cold crash before I bottle.
It is tempting to throw some of those hops in though.
This is just my 3rd batch, 1st all grain. Plenty of time for experimenting.
Prince of Fatness
Not at it at all.
Updated list of things I need: 1 5 gallon glass carboy 1 8 - 9 gallon SS stock pot (cheapest price I found is $75) 2 1 5 gallon food grade buckets for zapap (still need my son to get one) 1 spigot 1 floating thermometer extra tubing grain bags
Updated list of things I need:
1 5 gallon glass carboy
1 8 - 9 gallon SS stock pot (cheapest price I found is $75)
2 1 5 gallon food grade buckets for zapap (still need my son to get one)
1 spigot
1 floating thermometer
extra tubing
grain bags
Stock pot was delivered early this week. Jeebus, it's big. I should be able to handle any 5 gallon batch with that sucker. The kid brought home the bucket. Everything else I will get from the LBHS Friday, so it's a go for my first all grain batch Saturday.
I am using this recipe.
Beer is in the fermenting bucket bubbling away. First all grain brew went OK.
Mash was uneventful I did one quart per pound and it did not quite fill the 21 quart pot. I used the oven to keep it warm.
I had a little problem with the sparge. I read that you put some water in first and I should not have done it. When I put the mash in it went up over the level of the lower bucket and started spilling out. Luckily I had a helper and he lifted the inner bucket and I drained the excess, which was recirculated back in later. I also may have had some of the sparge water too hot.. We'll see what affect this has on the flavor, if any. Good thing that I was in the garage by the way.
Lesson learned here. I do not believe that I need prime the sparge. I should not have to worry about a stuck sparge because I bought a large grain back which keeps pretty much any grains from escaping, so I can gently stir the grains. This was not a big deal and I'll know what to do next time.
Somehow amid the confusion I ended up will too much volume in the brew kettle. I had to boil off some wort first, which took at least a half hour. I got it down to around 6 gallons, added my hops, and started the boil. The rest was uneventful since I have done it before. The outdoor burner kicks ass by the way. Obviously because of the higher volume it took longer to chill the wort,
The whole process took under 6 hours. I cleaned as I went along so there is no mess to deal with this morning. Mrs PH is happy about that. I have my glass carboy and will rack to it next weekend.
Thanks to all that helped me get started in home brewing.
Cool work!
I never prime the sparge.
Here is the Belgian Blonde in the carboy.
Former runner
I decided to make a 2L starter so that I could increase my yeast pitching rate without buying a bunch of vials of yeast. This was day 2 of the starter on the DIY stirplate.
23 lbs of American 2-row barley and 1 lb of Crystal 10. Crushed at the LHBS.
This is where I realized that technology can help but only if you pay attention to the details. The software gave a warning that the mash tun volume was going to be exceeded but for some dumb reason I ignored it. I was supposed to mash out at 168° but the temp only got to 160°. Close enough.
Approximately 12.5 gals ready to start fermenting. These were bubbling within a few hours. I barely got my half home before the krausen started escaping.
Day 2 of fermentation. This is why I prefer fermenting in my basement and use blow-off tubes.
Ross