A day of firsts!

[7 Slot Brewing]

So Sunday I set out to do an IPA/APA for a local club comp. So this would be a long day of "Firsts" for my brewing career. :shock:

This would be my FIRST recipe I built from scratch http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/75041/ipa-comp. My FIRST time using my stir plate to make my FIRST starter. My FIRST time using my home built mash tun to do my FIRST partial mash. Which was brewed as my FIRST full boil and the FIRST time not using a hop sock. All to make my FIRST IPA/APA for my FIRST comp. :lol: :lol:

Using the calculators from the site here I had 9lbs of grains and my strike water should be 169 to get the grains to 155. I missed it I got the grain bed to 150 and it held for the entire 60 minute mash!!! All in all I ended up with 1.042 for my blended runnings. I forgot to write down the measurements but I think it was just below 4 gallons. So after topping off my preboil gravity was 1.030 which was spot on for my 55% predicted efficiency. I was fairly happy with myself for that!

The full boil proceeded to go off without a hitch or a boil over! And once cooled and into the fermenting bucket my gallons were again spot on of 4.92 (rounded to 5) gallons into the fermentor! again I patted myself on the back. The excitement built as I pulled the OG sample....and BAM! OG of 1.060 only 2 points off from my recipe! Once wort hit 70 I pitched the yeast starter and about 3 hours later I was already hearing bubbles from my blowoff tube. By this morning it was just humming away and giving off an awesome aroma. I have probably smelled it 10 times today :lol: :lol:

All in all it was a great day of brewing and fairly successful for so many firsts. After reading the web I have found several good topics to improve my efficiency, and hope to have a better number next time!

yeast starter in action http://youtu.be/9XV0o3aC01o

 

[LarryBrewer]

Great to hear!

Looks like a nice, very drinkable golden IPA.

I predict an all grain batch in your near future!

 

[7 Slot Brewing]

I predict an all grain batch in your near future!

Already looking for a cheaper bigger tun!

 

[LarryBrewer]

I predict an all grain batch in your near future!

Already looking for a cheaper bigger tun!

Cheaper AND bigger? Well, I'm sure you'll get at least one of those two :lol:

 

[7 Slot Brewing]

Well, finally trying this one. I always try a bottle at week 1,2 to see how the beer and carbonation is progressing. I was not a fan of this beer the first 2 bottles. Then yesterday I threw a couple in the fridge, and then popped one open. Served at 40-45 degrees and it was awesome, probably my best to date. Easy drinking, bitterness comes at the end, but does not linger, and then the rest of the malt and hop flavor comes through and stays. Even my wife who is not an ipa drinker at all thought it was really good. The abv came in at 6.5% but drinks really easily. The only thing slightly disappointed in is the nose is not as big as i would like.

I did deviate from the recipe above slightly. I added 1 oz of nugget to the dry hop also for 4 days.

I forgot to take a pic with the head, but remembered before the last couple of swallows.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

great job, now your a real all grain junkie like most of us

 

[Nosybear]

Congrats, man, and the rabbit hole only gets deeper with time....