The Destroyer of Worlds IIPA: Brewed!

Evan! · 12-07-2007, 12:26 PM

Well, last night went off without a hitch. Was mashed in by 4:30. Cleaned up and pitched before 10. Started out with one of my two bottles of year-old Stone 10th Anniversary IIPA (fitting). It was good, but alot of the hop flavor and aroma had faded with age---though it had also dried out from its original heavy-handedness.

Mashed in. My first time mash-hopping, and it smelled so good...

Drained and sparging...

Evan! · 12-07-2007, 12:29 PM

The boil. Yikes, 12.5oz of hops is a LOT!

The boil went off without a hitch, and chilling took no time at all because it's so freakin' cold here.

And finally, we're done. OG of 1.088. Can't wait to try this one...the sample was delicious! Pitched 2 rehydrated packets of US-05, just to be sure.

PseudoChef · 12-07-2007, 02:04 PM

Looks awesome!

I've always wanted to ask this about your set up, and I don't care if the picture forum is the wrong place, but how many times during your brew day do you transfer wort/grains/etc from one vessel to another? How do you transfer? It seems like you're not worried about he HSA myths.

I'm confused...I know you're direct-firing your mash, but then I see it in the orange cooler. Then I know you use the SS MLT to strain your hops/debris, but why don't you mash in that?

Seems like you have a lot to clean up afterward.

Evan! · 12-07-2007, 03:02 PM

hehe, you are so very correct, PC. I have a lot of cleanup. But it's not afterward. Doing single batches rather than two side-by-side seems almost too easy by comparison. With a 90 minute mash, I have tons of time to clean anything that needs cleaning. And then, with the new 60qt kettle, I don't really have to worry about boilovers once I reach hot break, so I just cleaned the rest of it up during the 90 minute boil.

To answer your other question: my setup is a trademarked proprietary hodgepodge. I direct-heat mash in my 8-gal aluminum kettle. Then I transfer that to the cooler for draining and sparging---I use the cooler rather than the SS MLT because it's got a nipple on the spigot that I can attach a vinyl tube to. I drain, sparge, the clean the cooler out. After flameout, I dump the wort into the SS MLT because the false bottom catches the hop leaves and then that hop bed acts as a filter for solids, which means less clogging of my funnel strainer (I've never whirlpooled before...might try it some day). I could use the same orange cooler for this, but the diameter of the stainless tun is much larger and thus there's less chance of the hops clogging up the false bottom.

No, not worried about HSA. It's just one quick motion...and my beers have never shown any signs of being affected by it.

Oh, and I tried direct-fired mashing in the SS MLT one time, and ended up with burnt spots on the inside floor of the vessel---mainly because when you stir the mash, the false bottom prevents much movement below that point. So I don't do that anymore.