3rd AG Brew

I brewed my third all grain batch yesterday, AHS' Ginger Ale kit.

I'm still trying to dial in my processes, but hit my mash temps and gravity correctly. My WLP001 yeast starter (also my third) went crazy my half gallon growler just wasn't big enough to contain it. It's a good thing I placed it in a bucket the previous night.

The one thing I've really struggled with is measuring boil off % in BeerSmith. Yesterday wasn't particularly cold (for December in Utah), but it was windy and I had a hard time maintaining a boil on my propane burner. Ultimately I ended up boiling off more than I expected and only ended up with 4.5 gallons in the fermenter. I lost two gallons to boil off and cold break.

Oh well...RDWHAHB.

This brew session I was finally able to enjoy a bottle of my second brew... a mild. I've never had one before, so didn't quite know what to expect. Not sure if it's the style or just the kit I used, but definitely not my favorite beer. It's good, don't get me wrong, and it's spot on the style description, but I guess I just like beers with more hop presence. Going to have to brew an pale ale or IPA soon...

If you boil off too much, you can always top off with water like you would during an extract (partial boil) brew. The targe OG should be based off whatever final batch size you put into BeerSmith, so 'diluting' with water is just bringing you back to where you were supposed to be, and giving you more beer to put into the bottle / keg.

Just went down to check on my fermenting ginger ale. First time using WLP001 and should have taken the overflowing starter as a sign of things to come. This is my 7th batch overall and have never needed a blow off tube. Fortunately, I caught it early as it had just started to overflow from my airlock.

Forgot to mention that I'm fermenting this down in my basement. Ambient air temp is just a shade over 60 F.