Ingredients
After much success with our Oatmeal Stout, we decided on all grain. The ingredients are as follows:
| Requested | Used |
| 1/2lb Crystal 40oL | 1 lb. |
| ---------- | 1/4 lb. Crystal 60oL |
| 4.5lbs. Pale Malt | 5 lbs. |
| 2.25oz Chinook (13% AA) | 2 oz Chinook(14.3% AA) |
| 1oz Cascade (5% AA) | 1 oz Cascade(5.9% AA) |
| Any American ale yeast | East Coast ale yeast |
Mash Method
December 15, 2007
Heated 3.125 Gal to 165F, Also added our Grain bill to lauter tun (didn't heat lauter by accident)
Inital strike @ 1:05PM; finished striking at 1:09PM.
Strike temp 162F initial mash temp 149F
T=54
Added 1.5qt 172F water, mash temp 148.5F; Every 15 minutes open and stir
Added 1.5qt 172F water, mash temp 148.5F; Every 15 minutes open and stir
T=45
Added 1qt 212F water, mash temp 152F
Added 1qt 212F water, mash temp 152F
T=30
Added 1.5 qt boiling water mash temp 155F (checking every 15min)
Added 1.5 qt boiling water mash temp 155F (checking every 15min)
T=15
Added 1.5 qt 212F water, mash temp 155.5F
Added 1.5 qt 212F water, mash temp 155.5F
Lautered mash twice with a colander as a filter, might want to look at a spigot next time to avoid possible oxidation.
Sparged with 3G of boiled and cooled water bringing total wort volume to ~7Gal
Sparged with 3G of boiled and cooled water bringing total wort volume to ~7Gal
Brew Method
December 15, 2007
Measured wort at 15 minutes into boil, ~6.5G; boiled and completed hot break.
T=60
Added 1oz (14.3%AA) Chinook
Added 1oz (14.3%AA) Chinook
T=30
Added 1oz (14.3%AA) Chinook
Started ice bath a lot of snow and some water to get it melting
Added 1oz (14.3%AA) Chinook
Started ice bath a lot of snow and some water to get it melting
T=15
Added 1tsp irish moss
Inserted wort chiller for sanitization
Checked ice bath; 34.5F
Added 1tsp irish moss
Inserted wort chiller for sanitization
Checked ice bath; 34.5F
T=05
(Almost) Boiling at 208.5F
Our methods of lautering the wort were terrible. As a result, we got a shitload of grist in our wort. In transferring to the fermenter, we tried a number of things. Took the wort chiller out, and whirlpooled the wort to get all sediment to settle into a cone in the center of the pot, and we tried racking from the side. However, the brandy-new autosiphon got clogged with hops, and in an effort to unclog it, it broke. Yay.
We tried implementing a two-stage filter between the pot and the fermenter. A funnel sat in the mouth of the carboy, with a screen filter in it (didn't sit well there, pretty much everything got by it) and a large metal strainer seated in the funnel as well. Unfortunately, after the siphon broke, we were forced to pour... and everything but the hops got in. SO, there's about an inch to an inch and a half of sediment at the bottom of the fermenter. Leaving us with about four gallons of beer total.
Because of this gross fuckup, we were never able to get a gravity reading. With all the shit suspended in it, no reading would be accurate anyway. But with everything we used, it should be around 1.045.Should. Pitched the yeast and stored in the basement.
Fermentation
(Almost) Boiling at 208.5F
Our methods of lautering the wort were terrible. As a result, we got a shitload of grist in our wort. In transferring to the fermenter, we tried a number of things. Took the wort chiller out, and whirlpooled the wort to get all sediment to settle into a cone in the center of the pot, and we tried racking from the side. However, the brandy-new autosiphon got clogged with hops, and in an effort to unclog it, it broke. Yay.
We tried implementing a two-stage filter between the pot and the fermenter. A funnel sat in the mouth of the carboy, with a screen filter in it (didn't sit well there, pretty much everything got by it) and a large metal strainer seated in the funnel as well. Unfortunately, after the siphon broke, we were forced to pour... and everything but the hops got in. SO, there's about an inch to an inch and a half of sediment at the bottom of the fermenter. Leaving us with about four gallons of beer total.
Because of this gross fuckup, we were never able to get a gravity reading. With all the shit suspended in it, no reading would be accurate anyway. But with everything we used, it should be around 1.045.Should. Pitched the yeast and stored in the basement.
Fermentation
December 16, 2007
As of 6:30am, the blowoff hose is slowly emitting bubbles. That tells us a) successful starch conversion in the mash, and b) well, it's fermenting. Hooray!
December 22, 2007
Got a LOT of yeast in the bottom of the fermenter, and a creamy white krausen on top of the beer. What yeast has fallen has certainly settled very nicely. The blowoff hose is still emitting a bubble every minute or so. BUT it's actually cleared up really nicely. Not cloudy at all. Here's a picture of it at this point. It's a nice dark color, and the picture doesn't do it much justice, but it's actually very clear. I bet it's gonna taste great.
December 29, 2007
Racked to secondary fermenter (so so clear). The yeast cake was literally painted to the bottom of the primary, even at an inch and a half thick. We were able to tilt the primary in order to rack as much beer as possible, and the yeast cake didn't even move.
Added the ounce of Cascade in a nylon hop bag. Mmmmmm.
Bottling
January 12, 2008
Bottling day! Brought up the fermenter from the basement, had the hop bag sitting in it. Took the airlock out, took a whiff, mmmmmm cascade. Vera nice.
We primed with 8oz DME in 3 cups of water. Boiled, cooled to room temperature. Added to the bottling bucket.
Before racking the beer to the bucket, we racked some into the hydrometer tube. 1.008 is our final gravity reading. We thought that with everything we had in the mash we should get an OG of 1.045 (but we don't know since we forgot to take it). However, as with the second IPA attempt and the choco peebee porter, trends show we get about 2/3 of our intended OG. So figure maybe we had 1.03 instead. That would give us 2.84% alcohol by volume. Woop dee doo.
We had a taste of some (to be noted in below section) and were able to bottle one growler and 10 bottles for Eric, and 11 bottles for Mike. Pretty good yield. We'll see if the taste improves in two weeks.
Tasting
January 12, 2008
So we tasted some of this when we bottled. We racked some straight into a cup (minus the priming DME) and had some sips. The aroma is nice, but light. Everything about this beer is light. Particularly the taste. It's supposed to be an IPA, but it's more like an IPW - India Pale Water. I guess that's what you get when you screw up the recipe and end up with a little more than half the required grain bill. Here's hoping the DME will add some substance to it, and that two weeks of conditioning will improve the flavor.
January 19, 2008
It's only been a week in the bottle, but I'm impatient so I cracked one. The color is actually nice. And the flavor isn't as empty as I remembered. Sure there isn't much maltiness, but it's actually pretty yummy. I am satisfied!
Notes
- Try to install a spigot on the cooler, so we can control the rate of lautering.
- Install a screen on said spigot.
- Get a new autosiphon. That thing worked awesomely until I broke it.
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