jaobrien6

Recipes 

First, thanks to everyone on here. I've learned a bunch from all the reading I've done, and probably wouldn't have tried the move to AG without this site.

Made my mash tun, following the bulkhead design here http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/no-leak-mlt-bulkhead-design-87197/ and it worked like a champ.

I started my recipe based on EdWort's Stone clone, but made some modifications. I upped the grain bill 'cause I wasn't sure how my efficiency would do on my first attempt, and upped the hops 'cause I absolutely love hops. Somehow along the way I changed the type of Crystal but I honestly have no recollection as to why.

12# 2 row pale
0.75# Crystal 60
1# Munich

Mashed at 153 for 60 minutes. My efficiency did come out a little low, but I think it's completely because I wasn't able to use enough sparge water (my 6 gal boil kettle isn't big enough for a full boil). If I did my calculations right, I get about 66% based on my OG of 1.063. Pretty happy with that for my first try, with not enough sparge water.

Hop schedule:
60 - 1oz 13.2% Simcoe leaf
30 - 1 oz Simcoe
20 - 1 oz 8.7% Centennial pellet
15 - 1 oz 7.5% Amarillo pellet
10 - 1 oz Simcoe
5 - 1 oz Amarillo
0 - 1 oz Centennial

I went with a lot of late hops to really get that flavor and aroma up there. That was an experiment on my part, as I've never made an IPA before with this much hops.

Yeast was Wyeast 1056, pitched at 79 degrees because I ran out of ice (I use a sump pump in the sink for the immersion chiller) and my chiller wasn't getting the job done with tap water. It was 2am already, 'cause I did this after work, and I wasn't willing to wait anymore.

At 12 days now, fermentation seems done at 1.012, and I tasted it, and it's fantastic right now. I'm moving it over to a secondary now, 'cause there's still a ton of sludge from the quantity of pellet hops I used.

I can't wait to taste it after it's done in the secondary and it's cold and carbonated. This will also be the first batch I keg, so looking forward to that.

Thanks again everyone. For my first AG, it went better than I could have hoped.

Jud

Recipes 

Congrats on your brew! Damn you beat me to secondary!!!! I did a terrapin rye pale ale clone and did some mods as well, mostly with the hops. I am on day 15 and still have kaursen on the surface. Gravity is at 1.020 a couple of days ago, and sample was tasty! Glad it all went well for you on your first AG. I keep finding things I need while brewing.

Oh yeah by the way if nobody has told you, your first brew will be gone very fast so brew another sone really soon!!! Trust me Brown Ale kegged only survived one week!!!