What's Brewing Today - AHS Texas Blonde

I haven't brewed in nearly a year, but today I make my triumphant return. I am making an AHS Texas Blonde mini mash recipe, which I have had success with before.

Getting everything organized


Starter, LME, hops (1 oz Brewer's Gold), whirlfloc, yeast nutrient)


After steeping minimash for 45 minutes, sparged grain over colander


Assistant Brewer, Malty Rolo Brown

The boil


Lonely keg in kegerator...only one keg...don't worry, beer is only 4 weeks away

Spent grain drying. I am going to try making the dog biscuits with spent grain.


Cooling the wort. Yeah, I know, I need an immersion chiller. It is on the list, right there with a propane burner.


In the carboy. My OG is 1032...it was supposed to be 1042. I have never missed my OG, let alone by 10! I'm pretty upset, I am not sure how this will turn out. I don't know what I did wrong.


The wort tastes ok at least.


Off to ferment for about 3 weeks.


I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Eric

when i think of Texas Blonde...


Did you use topoff water?
(asuming this is what you made)
Mini Mash: 3 lbs. Liquid Malt Extract, 1 lb. Corn Syrup, 2.75 lbs. Base Grains.

Either you had a poor conversion form the minimash, or you didn't get your wort mixed in with the top off water completley.
Still an impressive color for a recipe with 3# of LME in it.

EDIT:
at second glance, I don't see any corn syrup in your picture, unless it is in the bucket with the LME

Arkador said:

when i think of Texas Blonde...

Did you use topoff water?
(asuming this is what you made)
Mini Mash: 3 lbs. Liquid Malt Extract, 1 lb. Corn Syrup, 2.75 lbs. Base Grains.

Either you had a poor conversion form the minimash, or you didn't get your wort mixed in with the top off water completley.
Still an impressive color for a recipe with 3# of LME in it.

EDIT:
at second glance, I don't see any corn syrup in your picture, unless it is in the bucket with the LME

Click to expand...

Thanks...When I think of a Texas Blonde, it will be her....Cheers.

EricCSU said:

I haven't brewed in nearly a year, but today I make my triumphant return. I am making an AHS Texas Blonde mini mash recipe, which I have had success with before.

Getting everything organized

Starter, LME, hops (1 oz Brewer's Gold), whirlfloc, yeast nutrient)

After steeping minimash for 45 minutes, sparged grain over colander

Assistant Brewer, Malty Rolo Brown

Click to expand...

Lol!! Love the name...

Arkador said:

Did you use topoff water?
(asuming this is what you made)
Mini Mash: 3 lbs. Liquid Malt Extract, 1 lb. Corn Syrup, 2.75 lbs. Base Grains.

Either you had a poor conversion form the minimash, or you didn't get your wort mixed in with the top off water completley.
Still an impressive color for a recipe with 3# of LME in it.

EDIT:
at second glance, I don't see any corn syrup in your picture, unless it is in the bucket with the LME

Click to expand...

The corn syrup is in the bucket, it is mixed in with the LME at AHS.

I did you topoff water. I shook the carboy with cooled wort for a good ten minutes. However, I did notice some "settling" as seen in the picture a few minutes later. I didn't take my hydrometer reading until about 30 minutes after, when I pitched the yeast (but then I shook again). So, I may be getting an erroneous hydrometer reading.

I also may have not gotten a good minimash conversion...but I didn't do that part differently from the last time.

I hope that I have a bad reading, otherwise this will be a disappointing brew.

The carboy is at has been at 63 degrees since last night and I am slowly letting it warm to 65-66, where it will stay for until fermentation is complete. I already have krausen and steady airlock activity.

Love the picture. If I bottled, she would go on the bottle.

Eric

HI EricCSU, Good brew choice. I made the same recipe in January, and everyone seemed to like it. Your temperature may not have been right for you mash.

I had this happen to me when I did a minimash Texas Bock last year. The way I was told to fix it from a friend that had been brewing much longer than I was to wait a couple of days after the beer was in the primary. Boil up a couple pounds of extract with a couple of cups of water. Chill it down and add it in to the primary. Not sure it that is the correct way to do it but my beer came out very good and the alcohol was really up there.

sgould550 said:

HI EricCSU, Good brew choice. I made the same recipe in January, and everyone seemed to like it. Your temperature may not have been right for you mash.

I had this happen to me when I did a minimash Texas Bock last year. The way I was told to fix it from a friend that had been brewing much longer than I was to wait a couple of days after the beer was in the primary. Boil up a couple pounds of extract with a couple of cups of water. Chill it down and add it in to the primary. Not sure it that is the correct way to do it but my beer came out very good and the alcohol was really up there.

Click to expand...

That seems like a good idea. I might not even need two pounds of extract, I think even just one would bridge the gap. If I am going to do it, I'm thinking I should do it today (I am working a 24 hour shift tomorrow).

Eric

your abv may end a little low, but that is a beautiful color. it is hard to get one that light with LME. I am sure it will be great no matter what.

I went back to Austin Homebrew Supply this morning and talked to Edward (nice guy) and he gave me a few possibilities:

1. I was missing some fermentables (It is a simple recipe with few ingredients. I have made the recipe before and I did not notice anything missing. I think this is not the case. He agreed.)

2. My hydrometer is wrong. (possible)

3. The wort did not mix well enough with the topoff water. (Highly probable)

He made a few suggestions. First, measure OG three times to ensure accuracy. Second, measure OG immediately after aeration. Third, the beer will probably be fine.

This left me with two possibilities:

1. The reading was correct. I really had made beer with a lower OG somehow.

2. The reading was incorrect. My wort really was higher than my reading.

With either possibility, adding some fermentables at this stage would do little harm and it could do some good. I mixed one pound extra light DME and 2 cups of water, boiled for five minutes, cooled to 75 degrees, and placed in in the wort in a sanitary fashion.

I am very interested in how this beer turns out.

Eric

Here's an update on the finished product. The beer has been kegged at 12 psi and 36 degrees for about 12 days. It is definitely light, crisp, and refreshing. I can taste a faint burnt flavor in the aftertaste, but it fades. I bet it is from my late DME addition which carmelized a bit too much. My next brew will be All Grain. I can't wait.