Today I am making another batch of my 2011 Holiday Ale. There are four things I am going to do differently with this batch then before.
- I am going to get the mash salts into the mash tun correctly.
- I am going to reduce the vigor of the boil. I have been tracking my brewhouse numbers and I find that my boil off rate is 21% ± 2%. Boil off itself is not bad, but it is a secondary indicator of thermal loading. That has an impact on the reactions that occur in the kettle. Below some level, there is not enough energy to drive off DMS precursors. Above some level, The Maillard reactions start to cause off flavors that can be mistaken for fermentation problems. There is some debate as to what the ideal evaporation rate is, but the suggestions range from 10–15%. Since DMS in Ales does not appear to be as much of a problem, I’m not going to worry about shooting too low.
- I am going to repitch my yeast from the slurry in the last batch. Mr Malty suggests a bit more than half a cup.
- I need to do a better job with the fermentation temperature. This is not so much a plan at this point, as an observation.
8:28 Flame on.
8:47 Mash salts weighed out.
9:01 Transferring strike water to mash tun.
9:08 Strike water stabilized at 167 °F.
9:13 Mashing.
9:19 Boil salts are in the kettle.
9:23 Mash stabilized at 153 °F.
9:34 Carboy sanitized.
10:13 Mash finished at 152 °F. Volume is about 6-1/2 gallons.
10:29 Collected 3-3/8 gallons from the first runnings. Gravity is 1.078 SG (1.070 at 111 °F). Sparge water temperature is 174 °F. Sparge stabilized at 159 °F.
10:41 Sparging.
10:53 Second runnings added to the kettle. Collected 6-1/4 gallons. Second runnings gravity is 1.038 (1.030 at 110 °F).
10:56 Heating kettle to boil. Boil gravity is 1.056 SG (1.050 at 102 °F). Target was 1.054 SG. Added a quart of water. This should bring the boil gravity to 1.054 SG and the boil volume to 6-1/2 gallons. Remeasuring gives 1.054 SG (1.052 SG at 74 °F).
11:37 Boiling.
11:39 hot break subsided. Reducing heat to just maintain rolling boil.
11:42 Adding bittering hops.
11:58 Cleaned mash tun. Medium seems to sustain the boil. Low does not.
12:13 Adding flavoring hops.
12:18 Hydrating 1 teaspoon of Irish moss.
12:28 Adding aroma hops, Irish moss, yeast nutrient, and immersion chiller.
12:43 Taking original gravity sample, flame out, lifting hop bag, and chilling.
1:07 Chilled. Whirlpool.
1:33 Original gravity is 1.064 SG (1.062 SG at 74 °F). Target was 1.068 SG. I clearly did not evaporate as much as before. Original gravity volume is 5-1/2 gallons. My calculations say that is 15% (as opposed to 21% last time).
The rest of the afternoon was a blur. I had lunch. It was fantastic, though Gretchen guessed it was just because I was so hungry. I drained the wort from the kettle to the carboy and aerated. I kegged and keg hopped the last batch of beer and, with Gretchen’s help, I harvested ⅔ cup of yeast slurry and pitched it in this one. Then I cleaned everything up. At the moment (5:10), I’m drinking a glass of wine and there is a nice flock of yeast forming on the top of the nascent beer. The ambient temperature in the cellar is 54 °F. I have the fermwrap thermostat set for 66 °F.
Sunday Morning (11/13) The beer is fermenting comfortably at 66 °F.
Sunday Evening (11/13) There are many happy yeast flocs, swimming spritely around my carboy at 65 °F. 🙂
Monday Morning (11/14) Still perking along at 64 °F.
Monday Evening (11/14) Still at 64 °F.
Tuesday Morning (11/15) Still chugging along at 64 °F. Respiration is starting to slow. There is 4” of kräusen.
Tuesday Evening (11/15) Still at 64 °F. The kräusen is filling the gallon-and-a-half of head space in the carboy. Respiration is very slow now.
Wednesday Evening (11/16) It has definitely slowed, but still yeast is swirling in the beer, still at 64 °F.
Thursday Morning (11/17) Still at 64 °F. Very little yeast activity, though some is still visible. Kräsen is falling.
Thursday Evening (11/17) Almost no visible yeast activity. I am starting to raise the temperature 1 °F per day. Currently at 65 °F.
Friday Evening (11/18) Currently at 66 °F. No visible yeast activity, though there is clearly a tun still in suspension. The kräusen is starting to fall.
Monday Evening (11/21) Yeast and beer are resting comfortably at 70 °F. I will leave it like this until I brew closer to this weekend when I will cold crash and keg. I am planning to reuse the yeast cake again for a batch of Dry Stout.
Wednesday Evening (11/23) The kräsen has fallen. I put the carboy in the beer fridge to crash the yeast. I plan to keg the beer and harvest the yeast Saturday afternoon.
Wednesday Noon (2/1) I made the observation two evenings ago that this beer had finally dropped clean. The flavors are nice, though there is a slight bicarbonate character to it. I guess my point is that this beer seems to want to mature for a good 11 weeks after packaging — or 13 weeks total from brew to best served.