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dmercer · 01-28-2011, 01:56 AM

Here's my latest brew, grain to glass. This is my Frozen Yeast beer. It's the base midwest kit, but I wanted to experiment a bit, so I grabbed an extra 2oz of amarillo hops.

10 lbs. US 2-Row
8 oz. Carapils
8 oz. Caramel 60L
1oz Amarillo FWH
1/2 oz. Columbus 60 minutes
1oz Amarillo 20 minutes
1oz Amarillo 5 minutes
1oz Amarillo at flameout

This was the first starter I ever made.

Cold Grain! (came out of the fridge)

Mashed in at 154. Hit my numbers dead on without preheating (first time I haven't preheated) and lost maybe one degree over the course of the 60 minutes.

Delicious first runnings with an ounce of Amarillo hops in the kettle.

I did my second runnings into an Ale Pale since I'd tossed the first runnings on the heat in the garage already. In the summer I mash in the garage on my brewstand, but I doubt mashing in a 10F garage would be a great idea. This way I can read the paper in front of the window while the enzymes do their thing

Coming up on the hot break here. This was my first time not using a hop bag, and I nearly boiled over a 5 gallon batch in a 62 quart kettle. Next time I'll keep a spray bottle of water on hand.

Cleaning out the mash tun. I need to come up with a use for spent grains. I feel bad tossing 'em.

20 minute addition. Another ounce of Amarillos.

dmercer · 01-28-2011, 01:57 AM

Chillin'. Only faucet in the house that will accept a garden hose adapter right now is the downstairs bathroom. You can see my modified 25' immersion chiller peeking out of the brew kettle. I soldered on some extensions so the copper loops up and out of the kettle.

This was the a great moment. Even though I made starter, I had some reservations about the yeast, since they were an ice cube for a few days. I was thoroughly impressed when I checked in on the beer 4 hours after pitching and a small krausen had already formed.

This was the first beer I kegged (awesome xmas gift from SWMBO). I cold crashed, racked the cold beer into the keg and hit it with 30psi while I gently rolled the keg on the floor. I got it close to where I wanted it and dropped it to 12psi and left it in the fridge for a few days.

We had our (rescheduled) New Years this past week, and I was proud to serve what I would call my first awesome homebrew to my friends. Had a few craft brew drinkers that thoroughly enjoyed it, and a few dedicated BMC drinkers that told me I should be selling it, so I must be doing something right

I'm planning to brew this kit again this weekend but drop the FWH addition and mash around 152 to cut back on the sweetness a bit.

**MeatyPortion** · 01-31-2011, 06:25 PM

If you're looking for something to do with the spent grains then try the bread or pizza dough recipes on here.

Great job on the beer.