Today is the third iteration of my Night Horse Dry Stout with the changes I described earlier.

Original Volume: 6 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.038 SG
Mash: Protein rest for 15 minutes at 120 °F then saccharification rest for 60 minutes at 150 °F.
Boil: 60 minutes
Fermentation: Ferment at 65 °F then do a diacetyl rest.
Serving: Serve at 52–55 °F with 1–1.5 volumes of CO₂.

Ingredient	Amount
Crisp Maris Otter	78%
Flaked Barley	11%
Crisp Roasted Barley	11%
Kent Goldings (6.1% AA) 60 min.	38 IBU
Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale	149B Cells

For the Mash

Heat 3 gallons of water to 138 °F. Transfer to the mash tun. The strike temperature should stabilize at 129 °F. Add the crushed grains to the mash. The mash temperature should stabilize at 120 °F. Allow the mash to rest for 15 minutes. Heat 2 gallons of water to boiling. Transfer to the mash tun. The mash should stabilize at 150 °F. Allow the mash to rest for 60 minutes. Batch sparge with 3.5 gallons of 170 °F water.

9:05 Flame on.

9:28 Strike water is at 140 °F in the hot liquor tank. It should be 138 °F, but this was my second attempt at hitting that temperature, so I’m going to go ahead and transfer it and see if I can get the temperature down in the mash tun.

9:33 Strike water is at 131.5 °F in the mash tun. I’ll check, but I think it is supposed to be lower than that.

9:34 My calculations say that the strike water should be 129 °F in the mash tun. So, I’m going to let it sit and cool a little bit while I think about water treatment.

9:37 I decided to go with a water treatment that just gives me over 100 ppm of Calcium and a balanced chloride to sulfate ratio. That turns out to be 2 grams of Gypsum and 2 grams of Calcium Chloride in the mash and 1.3 grams of each in the boil.

9:39 The strike water is at 127.8 °F. I’m going to go ahead and dough in.

9:41 Doughed in. Mash salts are in. Mash temperature is stabilized at 121.3 °F.

9:54 The boil salts are in the boil kettle.

9:58 The protein rest should be done. The mash is at 121.3 °F. The infusion water is at 209.5 °F. Into the hole she goes. Stirring. The temperature is 155.3 154.8 155.1 155.9 °F. I’m going to stir it a little more with the metal spoon to see if I can drop the temperature a bit, but a slightly higher saccarification temperature would be fine. It would give the alpha amylase a chance to make a few more dextrines and increase the body. However, it looks like the temperature is stabilizing to 150.7 °F. It looks like it has settled right into the proper range.

11:03 Mash should be done. Temperature is 144.4 147.3 143.7 146.6 144.5 °F. We lost a lot of heat. I am going to guess this batch will be a little thin. I am going on to vorlauf and lauter.

11:15 Sparge water is at 170 °F in the hot liquor tank.

11:17 Sparge water is in the mash tun. Temperature is 158.3 158.6 158.7 158.7 158.6 °F.

11:19 The specific gravity of the first runnings is 1.059 SG (1.055 SG at 87 °F).

11:21 First runnings volume is 3⅞ gallons. I am going on to vorlauf and latter again.

11:32 Collected 7¼ gallons total. The flame is on and heading for the boil

11:34 The specific gravity of the second runnings is 1.018 SG (1.014 SG at 89.4 °F).

11:52 My propane was running out so I replaced it. The boil gravity is 1.035 SG (1.033 SG at 78.8 °F). The target was 1.033 SG.

12:11 Mash tun is clean.

12:16 I’m going to say we’re boiling. Reducing heat to just below medium. It looks like we’ve got some good hot break. I’m going to wait for that to subside before adding my bittering hops.

12:20 The bittering hops are in and I’ve set a 45 minute timer to remind me to add the immersion chiller, the Irish moss, and the yeast nutrient.

12.35 The yeast are smacked and swelling nicely. They both have a 1/3/2012 manufacture date, which should give them a 79% viability, or 158B cells. Target was 161B.

1:10 The chiller, Irish moss, and yeast nutrient are in.

1:26 Flame out and chilling.

2:01 Chilled. Removed the chiller. Stirred up a whirlpool and covered.

2:05 The original gravity is 1.042 SG (1.041 SG at 69 °F). Target was 1.038 SG. Original volume was 6¼ gallons.

2:30 Draining.

2:41 It’s snowing.

3:15 Drained. Aerated. Moved to the cellar. Cleaning up.

3:36 Pitched. Thermostat set for 65 °F.

Sunday Morning (1/29) Fermentation has started. Changed thermostat to 66 °F. The unit is in heating mode, set point is currently the “cut out” temperature, and the differential is set to 2 °F. This means that — since the cellar is cold — the temperature of the beer falls until it is below 64 °F (2 °F below the set point). Then the thermostat turns the heater on until it reaches 66 °F (the set point). That means that the beer will ferment at 65 ± 1 °F for this configuration.

Sunday Afternoon (1/29) Switched to a blow off tube. Since I had to remove the thermowell to insert the blow off tube, I have the thermostat probe taped to the side of the carboy under some bubble wrap.

Monday Morning (1/30) High kräusen has passed. There is still perhaps a half-inch left, but the blow off tube is no longer required. Gas is still evolving.

Tuesday Evening (1/31) Have started raising the temperature 1 °F per day to do a diacytl rest.

Wednesday Evening (2/8) Turned off heater. Allowing yeast to crash.

Saturday Afternoon (2/18) Kegged. Final gravity is 1.008 SG (1.009 SG at 53 °F). Target was 1.010 SG.

Saturday (3/17) I packaged a dozen 12-ounce bottles today.

Saturday (3/24) I shipped one off to the NHC 2012 competition today.

Monday (4/9) Peaking. 🙂