Prince of Fatness
Sweet. How you gonna add the spigot?
Not at it at all.
And I decided to mash in my 5 gallon pot. I'll lose less heat if it is filled to capacity plus it allows for the oven option. I would think that just having the oven on warm would alleviate heat loss.
Then I will sparge right into the kettle and boil away.
Good Bad & The Monkey
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
Sweet! Just be careful about the boil over at the protein break.
I am going to purchase another large kettle. I can get a 9 gallon SS kettle for $75 and free shipping. I'll shop around a little more. I figure that this pot will outlive me so why not spend and get it now.
MTA: And you said that boilovers are fun anyway.
Found it. I now possess: 5 lbs 2 row American Malt 5 lbs Maris Otter Pale Malt 1 lb Chocolate Malt 1 lb Roasted Barley 1 lb 60l Crystal Malt 2-3 lbs unmalted wheat a bunch of steel cut oats 2 oz Hallertau 2 oz Golden 2 oz Cascade Wyeast British Ale II yeast
Tomorrow is brew day. Got the equipment out of storage and have cleaned it. Thunder suggested that I try a tweak to the oatmeal stout that was planned: breakfast stout. AKA Oatmeal and molasses stout. I have done some research and it appears that molasses complements a dark beer incredibly well. Sooo...
I will mash together the American malt, the MO and the oats in my mash pot (4.5 gallons, I measured it) with about 2-3 gallons if possible, and I will steep the chocolate, roasted and crystal malts in another gallon or so of water in a second pot. I will then sparge all this with enough water to get to about 5.5 gallons, again if possible. Hop and then add the molasses and drop into the primary fermenter bucket (7 gallon size) and add yeast once cool...
That oatmeal stout sounds good. I think that the first stout I brew will have coffee. I love coffee stouts.
I have my buckets, but they are two different sizes (~5 and 3 gal). My son can get another bigger one but I'll have to wait. I'm not brewing for several weeks so that's OK. In the meantime I can clean up what I have and drill the holes for the lauter tun.
Thinking about this more my biggest problem will be patience. I need to let most of the first couple of batches age some and let the beer get a couple of months ahead of me. Then I can brew what I know I will want to drink several months down the road. Holding that thought, I may brew that pilsner next January and ferment it in my garage. I could put the bucket in a tub of water to avoid drastic temp changes.
Former runner
Love the pics.
I was talking with a friend recently and we're thinking of doing a coffee stout project. We plan on brewing the same base beer but use different coffees in the secondary. We have a local roaster that has a good selection of beans.
Ross
I just dumped it in and DID disturb the bed. There was so much spent grain in the sparge bed, I had to disturb it to get the water through. I knew it was working because the sparge runoff SG kept dropping and the grain bed lost all its sweetness.
Just pitched the yeast. The stuff smells good. I took a taste last night before bed. Yummy, rich, scruptious tasting. I hope it remains once the sugar is all gone...
Damn. It took me an hour to drill all of the holes in the bucket, but it got done. There were a few hanging chads in there, but it should be OK. I don't think that any will fall off an make it to the final product. Once the kid gets me the second bucket, I'll install the spigot, done.
These buckets definitely had a creamy smell to them (they came from the bakery dept.). I soaked them in a cooler with a little oxyclean. The label came right off the outside and it cleaned right out. I've been using the oxyclean on the bottles as well. In most cases the labels come right off. Rinse, and they are clean. I have neighbors that drink so bottles are not an expense with me.