SeamusMac
Well-Known Member
Tonight was the night, for Graff that is. This was to be my first experience with specialty grains, which is where I ran into some trouble. I set the grains in a muslin bag and suspended them in a pot of warm water, which I proceeded to heat to 150*F. Even though I was watching them I over-shot my temperature mark and they got steeped as high as 175*F, which was eventually brought back down to 150*F over about 10 minutes off the heat. I finished off my steep at 150*F... I used Northern Brewer for my hops, slightly less than 6% AA at 5.7% AA. I funneled the wort into my better bottle full of cider, which had been hit with campden tablets 24 hrs. prior to adding the wort. I pitched Nottingham straight into the carboy and airlocked it. Some of the sanitizing solution I put in the airlock got sucked into the carboy as I moved it into a cooler room... feck... I doubt it'll have any effect on those robust yeasties though.
Lessons learned include:
- let your steeping water reach the desired temperature before adding the grains, and make sure it's stable at that temperature.
- use tinfoil over the mouth of the carboy for the first couple of days.
Specifics:
- Cider SG 1.046
- Cider + wort SG 1.056
- Hops Northern Brewer
- Estimated FG 1.008
- Estimated 6.3% ABV
DELICIOUS
Lessons learned include:
- let your steeping water reach the desired temperature before adding the grains, and make sure it's stable at that temperature.
- use tinfoil over the mouth of the carboy for the first couple of days.
Specifics:
- Cider SG 1.046
- Cider + wort SG 1.056
- Hops Northern Brewer
- Estimated FG 1.008
- Estimated 6.3% ABV
DELICIOUS