n00b kitchen notes, 08-08-08 RIS

***I worked from the steep/ extract recipe, post #65 in the big thread, brewed before the handy kit was availabel from Austin. YMMV.


Standing by to pitch, screwed the pooch a couple times but I think I'll end up with "beer". This "can" be done with a starter kit of hardware. Long day, but it can be done.

1. My current contract is up 01-22-08, I don't see getting a beer this big through 2° into bottles if I wait until 01-01-08 to brew and my contract doesn't renew; so I did it on T-giving weekend during the 2007 holidays. Expecting roughly 15 days in primary and 30 in secondary I am still cutting it fine.

2. Flame on to chilling wort for us PM guys was 7 hours, I ran two boils at 2.5 gal each. My stove can handle 3 gal but not 5.

3. I bumped the "0.33#" grains up to 6 ozs each, my total grains were 4.25# instead of 4.07. My efficiency is ~lousy~ I got 4.75gal of 1.022 out of my "lauter tun".

4. The hops specified in BrewPastor's recipe are pellets. I of course bought leaf and missed the 10% conversion factor, so I pulled 2 HBUs of Amarillo out of my freezer for the (60), and 1.4HBU of Hallertau for the (10) and (5). I don't think 2.0HBUs of Amarillo is going to kill me, but it kinda sucks since it was preventable.

5. I used 9# of LME and 1# of liquid wheat malt extract, added at flameout with a ten minute steep.

6. My wort came in at 5.25 gal and 1.081 right before pitching. From tasting the wort in my hydrometer vial I think it is going to be darn good, but I started the fire at 0700 and got to the chiller at 1300. Long day.

7. I am pitching White labs WPL-001 with a 36 hour start in 1qt H2O + 1/2 cup DME. Looking at the 5gal of motor oil and the one quart of yeast I am thinking a longer bigger yeast would have been a good idea.

Have fun with this one folks, I sure did.

EDIT: I stuck this in extract instead of PM for the encouragement of the n00bs. PM recipes are like making tea with a tea bag (PG tips or Lipton's, doesn't matter) and boiling water. The only thing is for PM beer you need a thermometer and a timer and a hydrometer. As PM beers go this was a SOB, but not impossible. Also, I am not sure if this wasn't just a big steep rather than a Pm or mini-mash.

EDIT II: I pitched at 1400, was up at 0200 for more cough syrup (you don't this thing going around), found my RIS was bubbling merrily 12 hours after pitching. This morning, after 17 hours the temp is at 78°F on the side of the fermenter bucket. I am absolutely torn on whether I should or should not have made a bigger starter. I guess not since I pitched WPL001 as instructed and it is running hot...

EDIT III: I don't have a way to regulate my ferment temp, but I can record it. Lesse, 0224 on 11-26-07 it was bubbling merrily, 0630 T= 78F. 11-27-07 0630 T= 76-78°F. 11-28-07 0630 T= 74°F. 11-29-07 0630, T= 74°F, 11-30-07 72-74°F, I think I am glad I didn't pitch any more yeast than I did, this is running hot enough. FWIW my house thermostat is at 74. I am going to let it go in primary another week.

Damn dude that's just way to much work for beer. I did a 12 gallon AG brew in less time.. I hope your next one goes better.

I've found that my AG batches take right at that amount too. I usually flame on at 8a and finish spraying down and packing at 2p.

Looking forward to this motor oil RIS! I've not gone over 1.060 yet, so this'll be new territory for me....

I had originally budgeted two weeks in primary with 4 weeks for bulk aging.

But it isn't done fermenting I think, so I am giving mine another week in primary.

I have been reading frantically. Seems like us beginners fermenting in plastic can go six weeks without having to worry about oxidation, that was a relief to find.

But I don't have a spare grommet and my fermenter pail doesn't have a spigot, so I can't really check the current gravity without taking a risk.

I am leaving the bucket sealed for another week for two reasons:

1. local temp got to 63°F today, I had the windows open because I was baking. The RIS bucket stayed at 72-74, same as it has been for 10 or eleven days now, today it felt warm to the touch.

2. I have been lightly drumming the lid with one finger tip at the same 630AM and 630 PM daily for a while now; the same tap is rewarded with the same bubble on day 14 as it was on day 5, so even allowing for temp fluctuation there is something still going on inside the bucket.

So next time I do a big beer I am going to primary in either a 6.5 gal glass carboy or a bottling bucket so I can get gravity samples instead of guessing.

You had me at "screwed the pooch a couple times"

Well....actually you lost me with that one. Is there a socially acceptable definition of that turn of phrase?

cowgo said:

You had me at "screwed the pooch a couple times"

Is there a socially acceptable definition of that turn of phrase?

Click to expand...

I don't know. Not even sure where I learned it. Missing the pellet + 10% = leaf hops conversion was one example.

I still don't know if I should have made a bigger yeast starter. Only time will tell.

All in all it was one of those brew days where nothing went as planned.



EDIT:I guess I was premature, as the wort was tasty and the ferment is progressing. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/screw_the_pooch

Poindexter said:

I don't know. Not even sure where I learned it. Missing the pellet + 10% = leaf hops conversion was one example.

Click to expand...

thought that was pellet=leaf +10%?

eriktlupus said:

thought that was pellet=leaf +10%?

Click to expand...

Ack!! Must search. I am really, really trying to not obsess about this. No matter what I find, this was the best tasting wort I ever pitched. No matter what I find, this was the best tasting wort I have ever pitched. BRB.

BrewPastor said:

Hop IBU Formula Used: Rager
Additional Utilization Used For Plug Hops: 2 %
Additional Utilization Used For Pellet Hops: 10 %

Hops:

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time

1.50 oz. Horizon Pellet 12.69 78.9 60 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 4.75 3.9 10 min.
1.50 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 4.75 0.0 0 min.

Click to expand...

I see 19.035 HBU pellet of (60)hops. I bought 19.1 HBU of 13.7% Magnum leaf hops, and then added 2 HBU of 9.8% Amarillo leaf from my freezer to get 21.1HBU of leaf hops.

Close enough. I am going to RDWHAHB.

Racked to glass secondary after 20 days in plastic primary.

The only reason I am bumping this thread is because this tates so good. I got two more Tchaikovski CDs lined up for tonight.

I would have like to see 1.020 or 1.022 or so on my 1.081 yeast pitch, but if I didn't rack right now I was looking at five weeks in plastic. I found 1.030, and I drank the sample. So I checked it again. And I checked it (uurrrpp) a third time, it sure is 1.030 right now.

Thank you BrewPastor. I have told myself at least 12 times in the last four minutes 'this isn't even green beer yet, this just came out of primary.'

Right now this is a little hoppier and less chewy than Old Rasputin, haven't found a Shakespeare in the three weeks I have been looking.

I don't ordinarily look forward to August...

Man, you are making me so wicked anxious to brew this bad boy! It's gonna be so delicious!

Thanks for keeping us posted, can't wait to see how all the brews come out!!!

chriso said:

Man, you are making me so wicked anxious to brew this bad boy! It's gonna be so delicious!

Thanks for keeping us posted, can't wait to see how all the brews come out!!!

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It is crazy! I racked my SMaSH brew this morning on day 7 as required and I thought it was darn good, you know, good enough to ship to other homebrewers. I mean I hope I don't have to ship to Kaiser and Dude and Yooper; I don't think I am that good, but I think I am in the game.

Then I racked the steep/extract version of BrewPastors RIS.

If :quoties:you:quoties: are a n00b with 3-4 brews under your belt and a five gallon pot, you might be able to handle the steep/ extract version of this recipe. I only had nine when I did it.

Update: The steep extract version of this brew is amazingly good beer.

After 3 weeks on yeast in plastic primary I racked to glass. Then I decided to ditch all my plastic and all my glass, this was one of the brews that had to be siphoned, again, this time to steel.

I racked to gflass on 12-15-07, my notes say "1.030, very tasty."

Today I happened to think of it so I pushed a wee sample out. After two weeks in secondary I found 1.028 this morning. Lemme put it this way, I sipped the hydro sample becuase it is 930AM here. I put the rest of the sample in the fridge so I can drink it cold later, maybe lunch time, it is the weekend after all. I think for New Year's Eve I'll pull a pint or two of this out of the keg - it is that tasty, flat and green.

I am planning to bottle when the gravity has been stable for at least two weeks running, maybe three.