I brewed today!

Working on a Nautical Star.... I've reached the sparge stage, 15 minute batch sparge, constant recirculation, using RIMS to hold temp at 170 degrees. My basement-brewery smells like coffee and chocolate, kind of like a Salzburg cafe.... Forgot to mention: All the grains came from the bankruptcy sale I mentioned a while back. Jiggered the grain bill a bit but still, it's jet black and lots of coffee/chocolate....
 
To honor Mike "Tasty" Mcdole and his wife Janet, I Brewed Janet's Brown Ale today. Other than being a little windy it was a perfect day (74F/23C & sunny). I don't normally brew hoppy beers and forgot to account for the absorption of all the hops and ended up a 1/2 gallon short. Plus it was a pretty windy so that probably contributed to extra boil off as well.

Note: I started this post last night....and apparently did not hit the Post button hard enough! :oops:
 
First crack at hazy IPA
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Here is a little more than a gallon and a half of Herm’s West Coast IPA, pitched with slurry from my Amber Ale (3rd generation, originally US-05). I’ll be dry hopping with Cascade, Centennial and Chinook at high krausen. I need to buy some more Cascade for this purpose.
 
Nice experiment! Be real interested in the differences. That yeast, I have read, is good in the mid 60’s.
 
Brewed a variant of Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde by swapping out the Centennial and Cascade for Tettnanger and Saaz. I managed to over shoot the OG by 10 but I'm going to blame my lack of experience with the recipe builder!

A trip to the cellar this morning was greeted with that joyous "gluck gluck gluck" sound we love so bad! Houston, we have cleared the tower!

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This post almost ended up in the “You know you did it wrong...” thread.

Brewed a Stout today and after 10 minutes into the Mash I saw the Flaked Barley sitting in a bag on the counter. I forgot to mix them in with the crushed grains and nearly left them out completely. After giving myself a severe dressing down, I added them in, added 10 more minutes back to the mash and away I went. Thankfully everything went fine after that. Hoping to tap this on New Years Eve.
 
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Herm’s Amber Ale in the new fermenter. Hit my numbers, but mash temperature got much lower than planned. I started at 160*F, but as soon as grains were in the bag and stirred, mash temperature had dropped to ~152*F. By the end of the 60 minute mash, temperature was down to ~146*F. Going forward with my new kettle, I probably need to either heat strike water several degrees warmer, or install a riser to elevate grain bag so that direct heat could be applied.
 
Herm_brews said:
View attachment 13245 Herm’s Amber Ale in the new fermenter. Hit my numbers, but mash temperature got much lower than planned. I started at 160*F, but as soon as grains were in the bag and stirred, mash temperature had dropped to ~152*F. By the end of the 60 minute mash, temperature was down to ~146*F. Going forward with my new kettle, I probably need to either heat strike water several degrees warmer, or install a riser to elevate grain bag so that direct heat could be applied.
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Sounds like you need an oven stretcher. When your kettle won't fir in the oven, it's a whole new ball game, especially with smaller batches. Thermal mass is your friend, and a lack thereof is the enemy.
 
I wonder if preheating my grains in my oven on a “warm”setting, while the strike water is heating, would that help reduce the temperature drop at dough in? It seems a good warm sleeping bag or blanket would definitely help in maintaining a steady mash temp. Are there drawbacks to applying any warming heat to the grains just prior to doughing in?
 
Herm_brews said:
I wonder if preheating my grains in my oven on a “warm”setting, while the strike water is heating, would that help reduce the temperature drop at dough in? It seems a good warm sleeping bag or blanket would definitely help in maintaining a steady mash temp. Are there drawbacks to applying any warming heat to the grains just prior to doughing in?
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This may make some people cringe, but here goes.

The cast iron grates on your stove are a lot like mine. Depending on how Low your lowest burner setting is, the grates will probably hold the pot way up over the flame. During the mash I stir and check temp every 5-10 minutes or so. If the temp starts to drop out of my comfort zone, I regularly turn my burner on its absolute lowest setting so that the flame is not touching the kettle and slowly raise temp that way. Yep, my brew bag is on the bottom of the kettle. I’ve never had any problems probably because the flame is so low and I stir regularly. My mash temp never fluctuates beyond +/- one degree of target.
 
Herm_brews said:
I wonder if preheating my grains in my oven on a “warm”setting, while the strike water is heating, would that help reduce the temperature drop at dough in? It seems a good warm sleeping bag or blanket would definitely help in maintaining a steady mash temp. Are there drawbacks to applying any warming heat to the grains just prior to doughing in?
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Just increasing the strike water temperature will do the same thing without the extra hassle. Maintaining mash temperature is where things can be more complicated. You'll need either good insulation or a way to apply heat as needed during the mash.

A heat diffuser under your kettle will allow you to run a burner on low as needed without danger of scorching or burning the bag. You'll need to practice with just water to determine the best way to control over shooting temperature.
 
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When I do a small batch on the stove, I use 3 heavy towels to wrap my 5 gal kettle and it keeps the temp within +/- 1 degree. But as everyone has said you have to find what works best in your lab.:)
 
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