1 Barrel Brew Challenge

Ok, so the PLAN was to be getting strike water up to temp by 6am this morning. Like all good plans, things happen. Our hockey team finally won a game last night, so we were celebrating a little later than I had originally planned. That said, I've finally doughed in on the first of 5 brews. The plan as of now is to brew 5 beers, for a total of 30 gallons of beer on the day. I'll try to remember to take pics and chronicle the whole process as the day progresses, and others show up. That said:

1st Beer: Cream Ale (Anderson Valley Summer Solstice Clone)

So here's most of the specialty grains I'll be using today, plus a few more I'll be pulling out shortly.



My specialty grains mixed with 2-row pale.



The Brew Rig awaiting it's first batch.



Ok, Doughed in at 9am, will be back at 10 on this guy. On to other beer related items!

5 brews in one day, that my friend is the new definition of ambitious! That is a great stand you have by the way. I will be following you through out the day while I still here at my desk with nothing better to do but dreaming about brewing. Cheers!

Ok, just transferred our Brett'd IPA. Still sitting at 1.050, so I'm not to happy about that, but not much I can do.



Back story, this beer was my wife's first solo brew on the rig. I left her detailed instructions (am a tech writer by trade). They were fine, except for the fact that she didn't cut the heat to the MLT while doughing in. By the time she realized it, the temp hit 170*. So we just mashed for two hours after bringing down the temp. Was a 1.080 beer, and the initial yeast (forget at the moment) brought it to 1.050. We pitched Brett in hopes of it knocking down the complex sugars. Doesn't seem to have worked after 2 weeks (still same reading). Maybe now that it's racked off the cake it'll help? Who knows. Ok, time to start sparging!

Ok, doughed in Beer #2: Stone 15th Anniversary Clone, at 11:30. Second time making this one, first went WAY too quickly.



Carboy is sanitized for Beer#1.



Chiller is all set up for Beer #1, just about to chill now.

Well, first casualty. I had a bit of flame going on the MLT, as the temp was dropping. And walked away. &#^#* !!! So, onto batch #3. I have enough specialty grains to circle back to this one, but base malt might be tight. We'll see. Time to relax and have.... water. Beer is for later today.

Ok, back on track now. Have enough grain to set this brew back up. First one is put to bed in the ferm chamber. Stone brew #2 part 2 is going in the mash now.

This is fun!

(to watch... from work...)


post more pics!

Brew dog is on the job!

Here's the hops schedule for the Stone Beer. Mash is going well.

Starting the fly sparge on the Stone Beer:



And started collecting here:

Ok, Stone Beer at Boil:



And food ready to go on the smoker! Waiting for her to get up to temp!

Olde English Ale is mashing:

Ok, I admit it. I failed miserably. I have a half barrel brewed. I am going to call it at that point, though I haven't even gotten the English Ale boiled yet. It's going to be a while, because, well, I started drinking. Sparged ohhh 6 gallon's extra. So need to boil that off. We'll see. Ribs will be done in about an hour. It's been fun. Had I not screwed up the 2nd beer, and actually started when I wanted, I think this would have gone differently. That said, if I had 3 batches that were 10 gallon brews, this would have been no problem.

Still sounds like a fun day. I would love to come by and see that rig in action.

You are more than welcome to stop by and check it out.

It was indeed a fun day. Weather was gorgeous. Next time, I'd definitly be a hell of a lot more prepared. I mean, i had my recipe sheets all printed, but that was about it. I shouldn't have been running in the house trying to clean out carboys/rack off other beers. Have that stuff all done ahead of time. Have the grain all setup ahead of time as well.

lastly, I should have stuck with my "No beers" policy. That really screwed me over, and the reason I was still brewing/cleaning up at 2:30 in the morning. Whether this last beer even comes out "drinkable" will be surprising. Way over sparged it, so i boiled the crap out of it. Brought it down to a 1.120 beer, but my wife said the hydro sample tasted pretty bad. We'll see.

Moral of the story: Next time, get carboys all cleaned and ready to go the night/day before. Stay next to the rig when giving flame to the MLT (since I don't have any automation). Do not attempt to do this on my own (employ second helper). Get started when you are supposed to!

I think all those combined, it would have gone a hell of a lot differently. Maybe next time I attempt this, it'll just be 3 10 gallon batches instead. I will try this again in the future...

dfess1 said:

Maybe next time I attempt this, it'll just be 3 10 gallon batches instead. I will try this again in the future...

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That probably would have been easier... not nearly as much FUN though

agreed!

dfess1 said:

lastly, I should have stuck with my "No beers" policy.

Click to expand...

This the golden rule if I ever am doing more than 1 batch in a day. The one time I didn't stick to this policy, I woke up the next morning to this almost disaster.

hmmm, I think I may try to brew 25 gal tomorrow, still haven't decided. 10 gal of house pale, 10 gal of an irish red, and 5 gal of a Belgian strong. Just short of a barrel. I did brew 5 gal of: Scotch ale, winter warmer, and same stone double black IPA (damn tasty beer) this past weekend.

Ok, I only did 15 gal. 10 of the house pale ale, 5 of a Belgian Golden Strong. Good thing too. I have no more room left in my fermenting closet.