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What are you doing with homebrew today?
- Thread starter BOB357
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I got my Christmas Ruby Ale started.
Put my fermenter in the refrigerator to cold crash.
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Brewed Josh's Smithwicks yesterday with a number of changes. First time with the grain crushed at 0.035" (0.89mm), down from 0.040" (1.02mm). My brewhouse efficiency went up by ~10 points! So I added 1.5 gal (5.7L) at the end of the boil. Ending gravity was still high but, I didn't want to dilute the wort too much. That gave me about 9.5 gallons (34L) of wort so I split the batch into two fermenters 8 gal (30L) fermenters. One is temp controlled in the chest freezer and the other is on the basement floor (ambient temp ~66°F (19°C) so that one should stay in the yeast's (Imperial A10 Darkness) happy zone as well. Plus I was trying to darken it up a bit and overshot. Oh well, I still expect good beer out of it.
No such thing as too much darkness.
Am I looking at a perforated pizza pan being used as a dispersion nozzle?
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Well both in their fermenters.
I used 2 kettles one was smaller. I think next time I do back to back I'll just use my large kettle for both and transfer to the small kettle to chill. It's a work around but I'm not buying another kettle. My plan is to go small batch (3gal) at some PT to make my life easier
I used 2 kettles one was smaller. I think next time I do back to back I'll just use my large kettle for both and transfer to the small kettle to chill. It's a work around but I'm not buying another kettle. My plan is to go small batch (3gal) at some PT to make my life easier
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Yes, we rarely use it anymore. I just had to bend one end up to get it to fit nicely in the mash tun and it distributes the wort quite well; i.e. no crater in the grist after draining.
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I pitched Munich Classic and Notty slurry
They both took off like gangbusters
I used to save yeast all the time and build from dregs but after different strains became available in dry I would pitch that. It seems now that the drys are getting pricey and often not in stock
I guess I'll be doing more harvesting again
I always repitch to the cake if the timing works
They both took off like gangbusters
I used to save yeast all the time and build from dregs but after different strains became available in dry I would pitch that. It seems now that the drys are getting pricey and often not in stock
I guess I'll be doing more harvesting again
I always repitch to the cake if the timing works
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Harvesting yeast is the way to go, especially if you brew frequently.
Well, you have just given me an idea. I have one very much like that one that I bought 25+ years ago. I always get the last two words in with the missus (Yes dear or No Dear) so getting one won't be a problem (even if she makes me go buy a new one). Does the mash pH not affect the finish on the pan? Or is it not hot enough at mashing temperature to cause a reaction problem? I quit using an aluminum kettle because I read a few things about some of the alloy metals leaching into the wort, and one batch of stout in that thing blacked the bottom third of the pot during a boil. That sort of confirmed the chemistry I'd read about. I've tried to eliminate all non-stainless hardware from my equipment. Our hard water (high pH and lots of calcium) will black an aluminum pot anyway, so I just learned to avoid aluminum cookware here. Stainless is pricey, but worth it.
How much temperature drop (start to finish temp) do you get with your setup with no heat during the mash? Obviously, that depends on the duration of the mash, but a general idea would be good to know.
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The hot wort didn't darken the pan but, soaking it in hot oxyclean did. But you do bring up an interesting point about aluminum leaching into the wort. Our water is moderately hard and minerals moderately low but, I'll have to do a bit of research on that.
I typically loose about 1-2°F/hour with my cooler mash tun. Double that if I open it up to stir half-way through the mash so, I don't usually stir the mash.
I reckon recirculating is supposed to replace stirring the mash, never mind that it clears the wort so much better rather than launching all the fines from the milling back into the wort. I stir ONCE about half way through the mash to make sure it isn't globbed up and just passing the wort through a small hole rather than keeping the mash loose.
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Just to be clear, the picture is during the vourlauf at the end of the mash. During the mash the lid is closed and normally not opened at all. Occasionally I will do as you do and stir once about half-way through.
Ahhhh, ok, so you're not recirculating through the whole mash, then. Now all I have to do is go back and review (if I can find it) something that told me that recirculating was good for efficiency .... I wanna say it's in one of the printed books I have. The kids all got me brewing books for Christmas a few years ago. They're mostly recipe books, but a couple are good references for process methods, too. It may have just been about regulating temperature of the mash by someone who was overly concerned with temperature drop during mash, and presented some pretty good arguments. I'm pretty sure it was about techniques using 2 and 3 vessel systems and the pros/cons of each. But, if you want five only ways to brew, just ask 5 brewers. Brewers are much like engineers. I'm both, so that presents a whole new set of problems to fix that possibly don't exist. That's what engineers do, fix problems no one knew existed (nor cared about). What I'm really more interested in is using the recirculation to control temperature if I go to BIAB, but get the best efficiency from that with no intermediate rinse of the kettle or handling of the wort until it's time to transfer to the fermenter. Basically a two vessel system from mash to ferment. Too many things I've read say that BIAB is less efficient than loose grain mashing, but loose grain mashing is messy and clumsy, especially with larger batches. If it nets me one more bottle, I'm pretty stoked considering how much craft beer is at the grocery store. That adds up over time.
I got in the hobby just because of the opportunity to learn. Learning is what I do and enjoy the most. Knowing how can be boring sometimes, but doing things different ways and analyzing the impact on the outcome is what I want to do. I.E., I want to do it 6 different ways. The way the other 5 brewers do, and my way.
Plan to fire up my kettle in about an hour
