The_Beer_Gnome
Member
It can only get better from here.
Yesterday I set out to brew an all grain Kolsch style using 9lbs of Kolsch malt from Northern Brewer, and 1lb of wheat. My first infusion was 2.5 gal at 136F to hit a 122F rest for 20 min. Great, that went smoothly. Next I missed my saccharification strike temp of 153F because I lost water temp from boiling outdoors and mashing indoors (carrying strike water in with a bucket like a dummy). I added 1.6 gal of 210F (more like 190F by the time I poured it) and my mash only hit 150F. So, I collected another 2 quarts of hot water and added it, stirred, measured...151F. I then added more hot water to bring it to...151F. Crap!!! I know being two degrees off isn't the end of the world but now my water/grain ratio is 2qts per pound. My first runnings came in at exactly 5 Gallons, with an OG of 1.049. I batch sparged with an additional 2 gallons at 170F for a total boil volume of 7 gallons. With 15 minutes remaining in my boil, the propane tank quits. That's OK I say to myself, I have a freshly filled spare tank. Heh, what do you know, the valve on my spare tank is defective and gas barely makes it out of the cylinder. FECK!!! So I run inside to grab my hydrometer, so I can at least know if I'm close enough. I DROPPED THE HYDROMETER and it shattered. At this point I almost screamed, but I didn't. My LHBS is closed on Mondays, so I still don't know my post-boil OG, but the beer is happily fermenting as I type this.
It'll probably turn out to be my best beer yet knowing my luck. I shall call it Khaos Kolsch.
Thanks for listening.
Yesterday I set out to brew an all grain Kolsch style using 9lbs of Kolsch malt from Northern Brewer, and 1lb of wheat. My first infusion was 2.5 gal at 136F to hit a 122F rest for 20 min. Great, that went smoothly. Next I missed my saccharification strike temp of 153F because I lost water temp from boiling outdoors and mashing indoors (carrying strike water in with a bucket like a dummy). I added 1.6 gal of 210F (more like 190F by the time I poured it) and my mash only hit 150F. So, I collected another 2 quarts of hot water and added it, stirred, measured...151F. I then added more hot water to bring it to...151F. Crap!!! I know being two degrees off isn't the end of the world but now my water/grain ratio is 2qts per pound. My first runnings came in at exactly 5 Gallons, with an OG of 1.049. I batch sparged with an additional 2 gallons at 170F for a total boil volume of 7 gallons. With 15 minutes remaining in my boil, the propane tank quits. That's OK I say to myself, I have a freshly filled spare tank. Heh, what do you know, the valve on my spare tank is defective and gas barely makes it out of the cylinder. FECK!!! So I run inside to grab my hydrometer, so I can at least know if I'm close enough. I DROPPED THE HYDROMETER and it shattered. At this point I almost screamed, but I didn't. My LHBS is closed on Mondays, so I still don't know my post-boil OG, but the beer is happily fermenting as I type this.
It'll probably turn out to be my best beer yet knowing my luck. I shall call it Khaos Kolsch.
Thanks for listening.
