Batch the Third

So yesterday, Cory came over to help/advise/supply the boiling kettle, and I jumped head-first back into all-grain brewing, with a rather hefty Tripel.  Props to a mishmash of OMF, Doc Brock, and Plutrat for the recipe development, back in, oh, 2002:

  • 15.5 lb. Belgian pilsner malt
  • 1 lb. flaked maize
  • .25 lb. wheat malt
  • .25 lb. Belgian Aromatic malt
  • 1 lb. candi sugar (boil)
  • 1.5 oz. Styrian Golding @ 60^h^h 75min.
  • .5 oz. Tettnanger @15 min.
  • .5 oz. Styrian Golding @ 2 min.
  • Servomyces @ 10
  • WLP 550, 2L *active* starter
  • Target OG = 1.085

This was the first run on my brand-new 10-gallon mash tun, and as the OG came out at 1.088 @ 5.5 gallons ... I think it did pretty well.  I'll also note that we started milling grain at 11AM, and everything was cleaned and done at 5:40PM. Astoundingly short, at least in my dim memories of all-grain brewing back in the 90s! My "high-intensity" burner on the stove actually managed to generate a half-decent rolling boil in 7 gallons of dense wort, which was also astounding. However, I'm ordering the converted keg and burner this week.  It was too nice a day to be in the kitchen brewing!

The ugly, beefy wort chiller on loan from another friend proved to be a monster as well, taking th boiling wort down to pitching temps in about 15-20 minutes, using ~18 gallons or so of water ... 10 of which went into kegs that needed to be cleaned. 

And, only about a pint or so of water spilled on the floor the entire time, and like 7 spent grains.  Great, great brew day. 

Update, 3/14/06

Checked the gravity on 3/11, and it had made it down halfway, to 1.042.   Moved it to the library, between heating vents, and set up the space heater about 2 feet away, set to 75F.  Perfect! Three days of vigorous activity.  Checking gravity again tonight to see the results. The sample tasted fantastic, at least!

Batch the Second

Tonight, I'm making a stab at recreating an old, old favorite, Goose Island's Christmas Ale recipe from 1997.  It was a hoppy porter-like beer, leaning heavily on Crystal hops  in the aroma, which resulted in a cinnamon-like aroma that was just fantastic.  Inspiring stuff back then.  So, here's the recipe:

  • 7.5 lb. LME
  • 1.25 lb. chocolate malt (1lb. of which will be debittered Belgian chocolate malt)
  • 1 lb. Briess caramel-40
  • 1 lb. Briess caramel-60
  • .25 lb. black patent
  • 2-3 oz. Perle, shooting for ~45 IBU, 60 min.
  • 1 oz. Crystal @ 2 min.
  • 1 oz. Crystal @ flameout/whirlpool
  • Wyeast 1056, 1L starter
  • Servomyces
  • Whirlfloc, if I've got any; Irish Moss @ 30 if not
  • Target OG = 1.060 

I'll probably take a stab at the "late extract addition" methodology on this beer (adding the majority of the extract for only the last 15 min. of the boil), mainly to get better hop utilization, and have less hop junk to deal with at the end of the session. 

Tonight will also feature two guest brewers, Dan and Millie. 

Report (see also a few pictures):

Went well overall.  Decided to roll with a 2.5-gallon boil, tossing 2 oz. of Perle into a hop bag to cut down on post-boil crud.  Figured that the low OG of the wort (only 1 lb. or so of LME in the boil, plus whatever was extracted rom the grains) would balance out any lack of utilization in the bag.  Wound up pulling that for the last 10 minutes of the boil, at which point I cut the heat and added the rest of the LME, returned to a boil and added Servomyces and the first addition of Crystal.  

Then the issues started.  Couldn't find the sink conector for the hose, and didn't feel like mucking around with running a hose through the window for the wort chiller, so I wound up running off 5-minutes-cooled wort (say 205F or so) into ~3.5 gallons of cold water (45F).  Resulting mixture was still quite warm, probably around 90, so I sealed the bucket and put it outside for 20-30 minutes while cleaning up other stuff.  Brought it back in, ran in another quart or so of cold water in, aerated, and pitched the yeast.

Still pretty warm.  Oh well, seal it up and toss it in the cabinet.

This morning, it was cranking away at a good clip, after only 6 hours or so.  But the temp guage said 81F!  Down to the basement it went.

Must ... address ... cooling .... 

Managed to get a gravity reading in there, too, for a not-shabby 1.062 in some cooled wort. 

Update, 3/2/06

Soooo, the basement (55F) move was wise, as the blowoff was intense.  Relatively speaking.  Filled the bubbler three times over the next day, although very little escaped thanks to the low temps.  Fermentation was strong and steady, though.  Last night, it was still bubbling regularly, so I decided to do a gravity check.  Roughly 1.032, so there's obviously more fermentation to go.  Kept it upstairs, for the more 62-65F temp range. 

Tasting the gravity sample, I think I was light on the roast malts, but the aroma hops seem pretty much right on. Not as dark as I intended, either, but what the hell ... this is the first porter I've done, ever. 

Update, 3/14/06

On 3/11, I checked the gravity again, and found it to be 1.022.  A touch high.  So, along with the Tripel above, I set it up in the warm room with the 75F space heater.  Slow activity for two days.  Result, as of kegging last night?  1.018.  Just about right, although a touch higher than desired.