My Memorial Day Brew Day

So today was my first day brewing on my new system. There were a couple major snafus that happened but everything worked out well in the end. I hadn't had a chance to take the system through a full dry run so the kinks were to be worked out during the brew. First problem was with my mash temps. I'd never used a keggle for a mash tun before. Nailed my mash temp of 153 to start but after about 20 minutes I had lost a few degrees. With my new direct fired mash tun thats a simple fix. WRONG! Added just a little heat and gave a stir and 165!? Ahh crap! So after getting the temp back down things went well for the rest of the mash. After pumping the wort over to the boil kettle I realized I under calculated my sparge water by about a gallon. All in all the boil went fine cept I ran out of propane in one of my tanks with 20 minutes left. Hooked up another and finished up. Bought a new plate chiller and wasn't sure of its capabilities so I just pumped it through into the fermenters. It did a nice job but still left me with 100+ degree wort in my ferementers. Will probably recirc the wort for a few minutes next time to bring down the temp a little first. All in all things went smooth. Scored a 74% efficiency. The real pisser was I tried using a bazooka tube in my mash tun. Not a good thing with a direct fired mash tun. Ended up with some carmelization at the bottom and what a Bit@# that was to clean up. So here's the recipe and some pics.

Honey Ale
23-A Specialty Beer

Size: 10.57 gal
Efficiency: 74.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 177.39 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.053 (1.026 - 1.120)
Terminal Gravity: 1.013 (0.995 - 1.035)
Color: 8.7 (1.0 - 50.0)
Alcohol: 5.24% (2.5% - 14.5%)
Bitterness: 16.76 (0.0 - 100.0)

Ingredients:
15.0 lbs 2-Row Brewers Malt
1.0 lbs Honey Malt
1.0 lbs Crystal Malt 40°L
1.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
1.0 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
4.0 lbs Honey
1.0 ea WYeast 1056 American Ale

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 80 °F
Source Water: 65 °F
Elevation: 890 ft


Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.29

hey looks good. I couldn't help bur notice...at least I think... are you using weldless fittings? Just asking cause I was thinking of how I don't know anyone who can weld stainless. Wasn't sure if the weldless would work very well.

Does that really belong in 21A? I don't see any ingredients that are a spice, herb, or vegetable.

Coastarine said:

Does that really belong in 21A? I don't see any ingredients that are a spice, herb, or vegetable.

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Good point. I don't see anything in this recipe that would fore it to be placed in Style 21A either. Perhaps it just didn't get changed in Beer Tools Pro?

Coastarine said:

Does that really belong in 21A? I don't see any ingredients that are a spice, herb, or vegetable.

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I was in a hurry and just picked the first thing that looked good. I'll change it to a 23A - Specialty beer. It really doesn't fit any other category well. Oh the things you get your balls busted for on here :cross:

stale said:

hey looks good. I couldn't help bur notice...at least I think... are you using weldless fittings? Just asking cause I was thinking of how I don't know anyone who can weld stainless. Wasn't sure if the weldless would work very well.

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I am using weldless fittings at the moment. Eventually everything will get welded up. I'm still adding pieces here and there and would like to have everything welded at once. I've had no problems at all with weldless fittings. In fact I really like being able to take everything apart a couple times a year for a good cleaning.

dblvsn said:

Oh the things you get your balls busted for on here :cross:

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BTW - I like that sparge arm. I think it is a great design...






... for a 21A beer

I use weldless fittings on my keggle and it works great, I don't get any drips and it feels secure.

Man im sojealous, i feel like everyone had a memorial day brew day but me I was gonna try out my new pump setup but it rained all day. Edworts House Ale will have to wait until this weekend.

wedge421 said:

Man im sojealous, i feel like everyone had a memorial day brew day but me I was gonna try out my new pump setup but it rained all day. Edworts House Ale will have to wait until this weekend.

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Don't feel bad. I had to work and just the thought of everyone brewing and drinking made me cry. I won't be able to brew till next weekend, cuz I have to build yet another PC.