Today is the first brew of my new recipe for Anonymous American Ale.
9:20 Wow. Just, wow. I am getting a really late start today. It is going to be a long brew day.
10:32 I told you it was going to be a long brew day. I have the grains weighed and ground, as well as the mash and sparge salt additions, and the hop additions. I’m going to go get dressed, then go out and set up the brewery.
10:54 Brewery set up. Collecting mash and sparge water.
11:10 Mash and sparge water collected. Mash and sparge salts added. Heating mash and sparge liquor. Shooting for 174 °F on the mash.
11:35 I was not paying attention and overshot my temperature. Now I have to wait for it to lose a few degrees.
11:40 Transferring (172 °F).
11:47 Transfer complete (159.6 °F, wanted 163 °F). Removing and heating some of the mash liquor.
12:06 Strike water is 163.4 °F. Adding grist.
12:12 Doughed in (152.7 °F).
1:13 Mash complete (152.5 °F). Time to vorloff and lauter.
1:28 Lauter complete. First runnings are 1.074 SG (1.067 SG at 106 °F). Collected just shy of 3.5 gallons.
1:37 Sparging (142 °F?).
1:50 Sparge complete. Collected just shy of 7 gallons. Second runnings are 1.032 SG (1.026 SG at 102 °F). Boil gravity is 1.053 SG (1.043 SG at 120 °F). Target was 1.057 SG. Heading for the boil.
2:07 The new tube screen seems to have worked very well. There was considerably fewer chunks in the wort and those that were there were much smaller. I could tell from the hydrometer samples.
2:16 Boiling. Waiting for cold break.
2:18 Broke. Bittering hops are in. Reducing heat to medium.
3:06 Flavor hops are in.
3:13 Aroma hops are in. I missed adding the Irish moss and yeast nutrient at 15 minutes, but added them at 5. I am hoping that hot steeping will be almost as effective. 😳
3:18 Flame out and chilling.
3:54 Down to 79 °F. I have used 10 gallons of chilling water — the mash tun is full — and I am going to stop. I am guessing — this is a test — that when I whirlpool and allow the cold break to settle for 30 minutes, the temperature will be down to pitching temperature by the time I am ready to transfer. The original gravity volume is a little more shy of 6 gallons than I was of 7 to start. I lost a little more than a gallon. Original gravity is 1.062 SG (1.061 SG at 72 °F). Target was 1.057 SG. The hydrometer sample is wonderful.
4:19 Just remembered to smack my yeast. 😳
4:32 Wort is at 77 °F. Not as expected. Transferring to the carboy anyway.
4:55 Transfer complete. Aerating.
5:00 Aerated. Transferring to the fermentation chamber. Full cool. Set for 67 °F (66±1 °F).
6:51 Pitched at 67 °F.
Tuesday Morning (2/28) Gently rolling fermentation at 65 °F. Low kräusen — maybe a half inch. Slow CO₂ evolution.
Tuesday Evening (2/28) Vigorous rolling fermentation at 66 °F. Kräusen is filling the head space. Rapid CO₂ evolution. Switched to blow off tube.
Wednesday Evening (2/29) Slow fermentation at 65 °F. Kräusen has fallen. Slow CO₂ evolution. Started raising temperature 1 °F per day.
Sunday (3/11) I cold crashed a few days ago. Today I transferred to the keg, dry hopped, flushed with CO₂, and chilled under serving pressure. The final gravity was 1.011 SG (1.012 SG at 51 °F). The hydrometer sample was very nice.
Friday (3/23) I packaged a dozen 12-ounce bottles today and shipped one off to the NHC 2012 competition.
