First AG brew day - IPA. Could have been worse.

I started with a recipe I found on here for Pliny the Middle Child and shrunk it down to fit in my 5g Igloo. Here's the recipe:

10# Pale Malt UK (Golden Promise)
1# Victory Malt
0.5# Caramel 60L
0.5# Rye Malt

60 minutes:
0.5oz Cascade
1oz Chinook

5 minutes:
1.5oz Cascade

Dry hop:
1oz Cascade
1.25oz Centennial

Used my Monster Mill and it was awesome. Got the 15 1/2qt water up to temp in the MLT then tried to cram the 12# of grain in a bag in there. It really didn't look like it'd fit - getting it in there was actually pretty hilarious

It did all fit and I stirred it very thoroughly. Strike temp was right on at 154F.

An hour later I sparged with 4 1/4 gallons in two batches. Pre-boil gravity was 1.041 (temp corrected) for a 62% efficiency into the kettle.

I used FermcapS for the first time, since the wort was 3/4" from the top of the kettle. It was amazing, but I found out if the boil is too vigorous it will still boil over. The wort splashed over the side and fouled my burner, causing a yellow, sooty flame for the rest of the boil At least I remembered the Irish moss this time

I boiled for a total of 75 minutes instead of 60, because I hadn't boiled off enough to get down to the 5.2 gallons I wanted.

Cooling with the IC was uneventful. Gravity into the fermenter was 1.052 for 62% efficiency.

So not too bad, but I would like to get my efficiency up. I wonder if the fact that the mash barely fit in the tun had anything to do with it. The crush looked really good; in fact I think it may have been too fine.

Any suggestions are very welcome. Pictures to follow when they come off my friend's camera.

-Joe

Looks like a pretty tasty recipe if I do say so myself.

What temp water did you sparge with? You want to get the grain bed temp as close to 168F as possible to extract the most sugars, but not any higher or you'll extract unwanted flavors. I found I can use 190-195F water to sparge with, without issue.

Hey thanks. The wort sure was tasty

I sparged with 170F water. I'll try a higher temp next time.

-Joe

Fermenter is right at 63F, US-05 is bubbling away this morning. Good stuff

-Joe

Have AG kit, will travel. This is what followed me to my friend's house to brew.



-Joe

An on the seventh day, he checked the gravity. And yea, it was 1.018, as predicted by Beersmith.

Clear, clean, hoppy and delicious I just dumped 1oz each of Centennial and Cascade into the primary to give it another week of dry hoppin' goodness.

-Joe

Sounds like a good brew day to me. I brewed yesterday and did have a boil over. Left the pot alone for most of the boil and then it boiled over in the last 10 minutes with me standing next to it. So it could have been worse

All in all it was a good day. I took the burner apart to clean it today, and took the opportunity to short circuit the stupid 20-minute timer on there so I don't have to remember to keep turning the dial.

I'm also quite pleased at the quality of the beer. I can't wait to get this baby out of the fermenter and into mah belly!

-Joe

Sounds good, let us know the end result, Im sure it will be tasty.

All in all it was a good day. I took the burner apart to clean it today, and took the opportunity to short circuit the stupid 20-minute timer on there so I don't have to remember to keep turning the dial.

Click to expand...

Can you give me details on this? I have a burner with the stupid dial and couldn't figure out exactly how to short it.

Sure, it's really easy.

• Pull the timer knob straight off.
• Remove two screws on the sides of the timer box.
• Pull the faceplate down a bit so you have access to the two screws holding the timer in.
• Remove the two screws and pull out the timer with the stupid bell.
• Pull the two wires off the bottom of the timer.
• Now you just have to connect those two wires. I made a small jumper wire by crimping two male blade connectors to a short length of wire.
• Insulate the connections if necessary and put it back together.

Viola.

-Joe

Thanks, I was having issues with the wires running from the thermocouple confusing me, I couldn't figure out exactly what needed to be shorted to what.

FYI on the timer. I just got one and used electric tape. Just tape the dial so it won't move...no more resetting.