BigNastyBrew
Well-Known Member
This was my first AG attempt and It went well although there were a couple "hitches" and notes were taken to try to improve the process. This is a Schwarzbier because I LOVE them. 
First, the recipe:
9lbs Pilsner Malt
1lb Munich Malt
0.75lb Carafa II
2oz Hallertau 2.4% AA at 60
0.5oz Hallertau 2.4%AA at 30
0.5oz Hallertau 2.4%AA at 15
Saflager S-23 Dry yeast
1 Tbsp Buffer 5.2 in strike water
Mash at 154°F for 60 minutes.
Batch Sparge with 168° water for 2 rounds (I let mine rest 15 minutes between sparges)
Boil for 90 minutes for DMS reduction
Pitch yeast below 95°
EST SG: 1.042
EST OG: 1.052
EST FG: 1.013
EST Color: 27 SRM
EST IBU: 22
EST ABV: I think it's 7.5% but I don't have my sheet with me.
First off: I missed the mash temp by 4°. I hit 158°. Hmmm....This will certainly add body and Gravity. Definitely gonna knock the ABV down a little and hopefully will give me that sweeter finish I like in a Schwarz.
Runnings went SUPER smoothly. Look at how black my baby is! Took an SG reading temp adjusted to 1.031 with about 6.3 gallons of wort. This has to be an error due to taking the gravity reading from the top with the "thinner" runnings and the fact that the wort was 140° and I don't think the hydro is accurate up there.
Being that the wort was already 140°, it only took about 10 minutes to bring to boil. I left the burner on high enough to get a BIG boil and the hotbreak actually put my fire out by boiling over.
Added 1oz hops at 60 minutes. Notice the recipe calls for 2oz. DAMN! This was a true brain fart. I had the hops lined up with timers but somehow, only 1oz went in. This screws my IBU's down to about 15 from 22. Ouch (you'll see why).
Added correct amount of hops for the 30 and 15 additions. With all of the hops, I put them straight inot the boil with no hop sack. What a MESS! I will probably never do that again. It also made my boil go friggin' NUTS!
Used the new imersion chiller and got down to 75° in about 20 minutes. I used a sanitized pitcher to transfer most of the wort to the 2 MB kegs. This allowed for good aeration from the transfer.
Got a fair amount of cold break and hops in the fermenters too but I'm racking this brew when fermentation is doneso hopefully, we can leave the sediment and hops behind.
Actual OG: 1.071
This changes my EST FG to 1.018
WHAT!!!! Should have not forgotten the other hops. This is gonna be a very malty brew!
Pitched at 75° and I'm stepping down by 5° per 12 hours to 50°. Not gonna put a time stamp on it. Just gonna make sure she's done fermenting before doing the diacetyl rest. After the rest, racking and crashing to 35° if I'm bottling or 29° if I'm gonna keg. By this point, fermentation is over so I really don't see the need to step it down to 35°.
Overall, this was fun. I feel like I didn't do anything detrimental to the beer so the brewing process went smoothly. Live and learn with the mash temp and forgetting the oz of hops but she's still gonna be good, I think. The hops were a brain fart and could have happened, AG or not.
I brewed an all Briess LME Pilsner directly afterwards (7 hours of brewing) so I would have 2 lagers to ferment instead of just 1.
First, the recipe:
9lbs Pilsner Malt
1lb Munich Malt
0.75lb Carafa II
2oz Hallertau 2.4% AA at 60
0.5oz Hallertau 2.4%AA at 30
0.5oz Hallertau 2.4%AA at 15
Saflager S-23 Dry yeast
1 Tbsp Buffer 5.2 in strike water
Mash at 154°F for 60 minutes.
Batch Sparge with 168° water for 2 rounds (I let mine rest 15 minutes between sparges)
Boil for 90 minutes for DMS reduction
Pitch yeast below 95°
EST SG: 1.042
EST OG: 1.052
EST FG: 1.013
EST Color: 27 SRM
EST IBU: 22
EST ABV: I think it's 7.5% but I don't have my sheet with me.
First off: I missed the mash temp by 4°. I hit 158°. Hmmm....This will certainly add body and Gravity. Definitely gonna knock the ABV down a little and hopefully will give me that sweeter finish I like in a Schwarz.
Runnings went SUPER smoothly. Look at how black my baby is! Took an SG reading temp adjusted to 1.031 with about 6.3 gallons of wort. This has to be an error due to taking the gravity reading from the top with the "thinner" runnings and the fact that the wort was 140° and I don't think the hydro is accurate up there.
Being that the wort was already 140°, it only took about 10 minutes to bring to boil. I left the burner on high enough to get a BIG boil and the hotbreak actually put my fire out by boiling over.
Added 1oz hops at 60 minutes. Notice the recipe calls for 2oz. DAMN! This was a true brain fart. I had the hops lined up with timers but somehow, only 1oz went in. This screws my IBU's down to about 15 from 22. Ouch (you'll see why).
Added correct amount of hops for the 30 and 15 additions. With all of the hops, I put them straight inot the boil with no hop sack. What a MESS! I will probably never do that again. It also made my boil go friggin' NUTS!
Used the new imersion chiller and got down to 75° in about 20 minutes. I used a sanitized pitcher to transfer most of the wort to the 2 MB kegs. This allowed for good aeration from the transfer.
Got a fair amount of cold break and hops in the fermenters too but I'm racking this brew when fermentation is doneso hopefully, we can leave the sediment and hops behind.
Actual OG: 1.071
This changes my EST FG to 1.018
WHAT!!!! Should have not forgotten the other hops. This is gonna be a very malty brew!
Pitched at 75° and I'm stepping down by 5° per 12 hours to 50°. Not gonna put a time stamp on it. Just gonna make sure she's done fermenting before doing the diacetyl rest. After the rest, racking and crashing to 35° if I'm bottling or 29° if I'm gonna keg. By this point, fermentation is over so I really don't see the need to step it down to 35°.
Overall, this was fun. I feel like I didn't do anything detrimental to the beer so the brewing process went smoothly. Live and learn with the mash temp and forgetting the oz of hops but she's still gonna be good, I think. The hops were a brain fart and could have happened, AG or not.
I brewed an all Briess LME Pilsner directly afterwards (7 hours of brewing) so I would have 2 lagers to ferment instead of just 1.
