Inaugural brew day with the new "system"...

Dude · Mar 23, 2006

All is going well so far. I am mashed in @ 122°, doing a protein rest for the wheat. In a little bit I'll add some near boiling water to get it up to about 154° and that will sit for about 60 minutes. ]

System is working great so far minus my leaky HLT. Spent 50 bucks on that fitting from my LHBS and it leaks. I'm pissed. They are testing my patience big time.

Pics to come.

Truble · Mar 23, 2006

congrats! from paper to driveway. You are encouraging me to get my @ss in gear and build up my equipment. Have not had much time lately.

Chairman Cheyco · Mar 23, 2006

Cool, I can't wait to do the same! Instead of dancing banana:

Dude · Mar 23, 2006

Wes' side!!!!!! Yo.

Dude · Mar 23, 2006

Anyone ever done a step mash?

I'm hoping I did it right, but to get my temp up to 154°, I have a really thin mash right now. You keep it that way, right?

So right now the status is I'm at exactly 154°, now it sits in saccharification rest for 60 more minutes.

So far so good with the new digs. I did burn the piss out of my hand/arm with some boiling water, but I deserve it when I do stupid ****. I definitely deserved it.

I'm off to buy propane. Then it is beer time and sparge time.

MrSaLTy · Mar 23, 2006

I think in general if you are doing infusion and are doing a protein rest ya start with less water in the rest so when you add boiling water to get to 150ish water it is about right volume wise. Or close anyways. At least I think I read that recently.

Dude · Mar 23, 2006

UGH. 55% of teh grist being wheat, = multiple stuck sparges. 2 hours of sparging folks. It sucked, but that is what I get!

It is finally almost up to a boil. Efficiency was pretty good despite the horrible sparge (65%).

First hop addition, t minus 30 minutes. :ban:

I just now poured my first brew. A Breckenridge Hefe Proper. Not too shabby.

Dude · Mar 23, 2006

Pics:

Mash rest

Clear runnings!

Sparging, getting ready to recirculate:

Kaiser · Mar 23, 2006

Dude said:
Anyone ever done a step mash?

I'm hoping I did it right, but to get my temp up to 154°, I have a really thin mash right now. You keep it that way, right?

That's why I decoct to step up. If you want to gain significant rises with infusions, you end up with a pretty thin mash

.

I'm off to buy propane. Then it is beer time and sparge time.

I was always afraid of this. Once I had to sit the tank in warm water to get the last bit of propane out of it. Luckily it lasted through the boil with about 1 or 2 min to spare.

Now I keep a spare cylinder around.

Kai

Dude · Mar 23, 2006

Kaiser said:
That's why I decoct to step up. If you want to gain significant rises with infusions, you end up with a pretty thin mash .

I was always afraid of this. Once I had to sit the tank in warm water to get the last bit of propane out of it. Luckily it lasted through the boil with about 1 or 2 min to spare.

Now I keep a spare cylinder around.

Kai

I have a spare for the grill, but I didn't have anythign better to do during the mash, so I went over and got propane. Needed lettuce anyway.

And burn ointment. :rockin:

Beer Snob · Mar 23, 2006

Dude said:
UGH. 55% of teh grist being wheat, = multiple stuck sparges. 2 hours of sparging folks. It sucked, but that is what I get!

Is this a standard problem with wheat? Thinking this could be my first PG. Working on the bill now.

Dude · Mar 23, 2006

GOD said:
Is this a standard problem with wheat? Thinking this could be my first PG. Working on the bill now.

Yeah, because wheat has no husks. You have to use rice hulls to help filter, but I didn't. I'm a rebel without a clue.....

Anyway, this batch is DUN. And it was a huge success. Target gravity was 1.045, I got 1.046. I have to work out the efficiency numbers later. At any rate, it is damn close to what I wanted.

I'm a happy camper. :rockin:

Dude · Mar 23, 2006

A few more pics before the brewery is closed for the night....

Chilling...

Side view (you can kind of see the home made wort wizard on the CFC)

Next time I brew hopefully I will have a hook or something to hang the CFC on...today was just a test run for everything....ghetto style but slightly upgraded.

Already getting a few bubbles in the old airlock....life is good, and hopefully this honey wheat will be a winner for my wife. :ban:

Lounge Lizard · Mar 23, 2006

Dude said:
I'm hoping I did it right, but to get my temp up to 154°, I have a really thin mash right now. You keep it that way, right?

Don't know, boss... but another keg with a small burner under it for a mash tun sounds cool. Add a little water (or not) and turn up the heat. You could even set the keg on some plate steel to keep from scorhing the mash. That's the plans for my three tier once I get all the parts...

Ize · Mar 23, 2006

Thanks for sharing your brew day with us Dude. For me, who isn't even remotely close to that stage, it was very very cool. :rockin:

I know bandwith can be a precious thing, but I wish more people would document their adventures... and I hope SWMBO enjoys the honey wheat. Keep us posted!

Thanks again!

:mug:

Ize

RichBrewer · Mar 23, 2006

Ize said:
Thanks for sharing your brew day with us Dude. For me, who isn't even remotely close to that stage, it was very very cool. :rockin:

I know bandwith can be a precious thing, but I wish more people would document their adventures... and I hope SWMBO enjoys the honey wheat. Keep us posted!

Thanks again!

Ize

I second that! Thanks

Lounge Lizard · Mar 23, 2006

Ize said:
Thanks for sharing your brew day with us Dude. For me, who isn't even remotely close to that stage, it was very very cool. :rockin:

I know bandwith can be a precious thing, but I wish more people would document their adventures... and I hope SWMBO enjoys the honey wheat. Keep us posted!

Thanks again!

Ize

I third dat!

Now I need to finish reading El Pistolero's brew thread...

Dude · Mar 24, 2006

Yowsa! This WLP320 STINKS!!!!!!

It has a sulphury, methane gas thing going. I'm usually an airlock sniffer, but not this one. Yechh.

Anyone ever used this yeast before (FYI-it is the american wheat strain)?

Baron von BeeGee · Mar 24, 2006

Haven't used that strain...however, I don't mind sniffing the hefe strains. Mmmmm, banana bubblegum.

El Pistolero · Mar 24, 2006

Dude said:
Anyone ever used this yeast before (FYI-it is the american wheat strain)?

I just used it a week ago...I did notice that it has more smell to it than most, but it wasn't unpleasant. I thought it smelled kind of sweet actually.

Chairman Cheyco · Mar 24, 2006

That sounds more like a lager yeast stench.

Beer Snob · Mar 24, 2006

Dude said:
Yowsa! This WLP320 STINKS!!!!!!

It has a sulphury, methane gas thing going. I'm usually an airlock sniffer, but not this one. Yechh.

Anyone ever used this yeast before (FYI-it is the american wheat strain)?

Not that one. The wheat I made used WLP300.

Beer Snob · Mar 24, 2006

Ize said:
Thanks for sharing your brew day with us Dude. For me, who isn't even remotely close to that stage, it was very very cool. :rockin:

/quote]

Thanks from me too. My next batch I'll try to have the camera on hand as well. That was a GREAT IDEA DUDE!

Inaugural brew day with the new "system"...

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