Mistakes I made brewing yesterday...effects?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Tophe

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Messages
538
Reaction score
1
Location
Kalamazoo MI
So yesterday I went to brew my PM lawnmower recipe I made up. Things started going wrong when I burned my arm preheating the MLT...

Heres the recipe I was going for. Went for a SI, medium body mash.

3 lbs 12.0 oz Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 45.5 %
3 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 36.4 %
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 12.1 %
8.0 oz Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.1 %
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50%] (60 min) Hops 19.9 IBU
0.50 oz Hallertauer [4.80%] (15 min) Hops 4.3 IBU
0.50 oz Hallertauer [4.80%] (5 min) Hops 1.7 IBU
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs East Coast Ale (White Labs #WLP008) Yeast-Ale


First mistake was I read the wrong temp from my brew sheat and was about 5 degrees high on my strike temp. (169, was suppose to be 164). I got it cooled down after a while by adding cold water. Then with about 12 mins left in the mash, I looked in my box and saw a 1/2 lb bag of grain sitting there, and thought "oh $HI*" I forgot it. It was a .5 lb of dextrine. I quickly added it and mashed for an extra 20 mins.

Heres where I really felt stupid...I realized that half pound was the OTHER half pould of the pound I had already bought. So I used 1 lb of dextrine.

Everything else went pretty well after that..Fermentation took off in 2 hours. The beer looks much darker than was expected....Is this because of the longer mash, higher temp, and extra dextrine?

I plan to make this again soon, but without these mistakes.
 
What was your actual mash temperature?
I think you will have made a good beer. Because of the higher mash temp and the extra Dextrine malt, it will probably be a fuller bodied beer than what you planned for but that could be a good thing.

Edit: When you make this again you can compare the two and maybe see how the extra dextrine and higher mash made this brew different. Good information for future reference when you want to make a fuller bodied beer.:mug:
 
This is what I was shooting for....

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 1.41 gal of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Add 0.79 gal of water at 196.6 F 168.0 F 10 min

I was a little over 160 after I added my water. I misread my sheet and added 169* water instead . added a little cool water that knocked it down to about 158. I ended up mashing for about 80-90 mins, then mashed out for 10.

Yeah, I think it will still be a good beer, just not exactly as light as I was shooting for. My OG came out at 1.055, expected was 1.056 with only .5 lb of the dextrose.

I am mostly just wondering if this is why it came out darker than expected.
 
Tophe said:
I am mostly just wondering if this is why it came out darker than expected.
The higher mash temp and the extra dextrine wouldn't have much effect on the color of your beer. As boo boo stated, the Munich would have the greatest effect on darkening your brew.
 
LOL. "It was the other half of the grain I already used..."

LOL. :cross:

With higher temps and double the dextrine...you're going to have mouth feel and head retention out the @ss.... Stick a spoon in beautiful glass of beer...
 
BierMuncher said:
LOL. "It was the other half of the grain I already used..."

LOL. :cross:

With higher temps and double the dextrine...you're going to have mouth feel and head retention out the @ss.... Stick a spoon in beautiful glass of beer...

Hence the name of the beer now.... F'd Up MawnLower :mug:
Cant wait to taste it finished though. I'll take it as a learning experience.
 
Back
Top