Stupid mistake, but I think I saved it.

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Ó Flannagáin

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Doing my rochefort 10 type Belgian Dark Strong Ale today. Mashing right now, but I made an idiot's mistake right at the beginning. I have put more time and effort into this beer than any other I've brewed, I have a 4 day, big-ass starter going, I got a new fermenter just for it, I've been working on the recipe for a couple weeks, it has 15lbs of grain and I've maxed out my MLT for the first time ever. I'm gonna sparge with more water than I need and do a 90+ minute boil. And, here's how I screwed up very early on.

....


I forgot to put my manifold in before dumping the grains and water in. Yep, I did that. I realized immediately though! so I dumped from my rectangular cooler back into the kettle, put in th emanifold, poured grain and water back in. I lost about 1/4 to 1/2lb of grain + 5 degrees. Dropped from 157 to 152. I boiled up about 3/4-1 gal more of water and poured in. It brought it back up to 157. I want this beer to have a VERY full body, so I hope the 10 minutes it was at 152 didn't ruin it :(. Well, feels good to write it down. Hopefully it turns out ok. If efficiency is bad I have some turbinado in the cubbard, I'll add a pound or two. Here's my recipe BTW:


Style: Belgian Dark Strong Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Estimated OG: 1.097 SG
Estimated Color: 43.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 16.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 45.71 %
2.00 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 11.43 %
1.80 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 10.29 %
1.50 lb Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 8.57 %
1.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 8.57 %
0.50 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 2.86 %
0.20 lb Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Grain 1.14 %
0.75 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] (60 min) Hops 10.4 IBU
0.50 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] (25 min) Hops 4.8 IBU
0.25 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] (15 min) Hops 1.7 IBU
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) Sugar 5.71 %
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Dark (275.0 SRM) Sugar 5.71 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Abbey II (Wyeast Labs #1762) [StarYeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 15.50 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 20.62 qt of water at 167.5 F 156.0 F
 
seefresh said:
I lost about 1/4 to 1/2lb of grain + 5 degrees. Dropped from 157 to 152. I boiled up about 3/4-1 gal more of water and poured in. It brought it back up to 157. I want this beer to have a VERY full body, so I hope the 10 minutes it was at 152 didn't ruin it :(.

Seefresh, you have become a BREWING MACHINE! I haven't experienced what you described here, but I would think that as long as you brought it back up to temp and that you should be just fine.
 
ohiobrewtus said:
Seefresh, you have become a BREWING MACHINE! I haven't experienced what you described here, but I would think that as long as you brought it back up to temp and that you should be just fine.

Dude, I took a break for 4 months and now I'm just over indulging for a few weeks.
 
Good looking recipe! With all those grains and 2 pounds of candy I doubt your SG will be low.. looks great!
 
WOw now that beer gots some balls to it! With all that sugar look out hangover (at least for me, the lite weight I am!!)

Sounds like a great Holiday Brew! Enjoy!

- WW
 
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Estimated OG: 1.097 SG
Estimated Color: 43.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 16.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

i got one about that heavy seefresh, that's still in the secondary from 12/06...

we're bottling it this weekend :)

edit: looking back, it's not quite that heavy...

o ye of little faith ale

named after a rare cleveland browns win last season....

12/3/06

10 lbs pilsner malt
1 lbs belgian biscuit malt
1 lbs caramunich malt
.5 lbs special B malt

2lbs belgian candy sugar

1 oz n. brewer kettle hops
.5 oz saaz kettle hops
.5 oz saaz 30 minute

whitelabes trappest ale yeast

1.080 og... but admittedly, i cannot really read the hydro :)

cheers!
 
Well, all is done and well. I think I might have hit 80% efficiency even with my problem. I had a 2 hour 45 minutesish boil because I gathered almost 10 gallons of wort. I ended up with just under 6 gallons of wort at 1.090, I hit almost 85% efficiency now that I'm doing the math in beersmith. This beer is gonna rock, the color is beautiful, deep, deep brown, but not dark as a stout or porter. This beer is gonna be sooooooooooo goood.

I wound up adding .25 oz coriander and .25oz black peppercorns at flameout.

FYI, brewsmith and promash SRM sample is wayyyy off for darker ales. Told me this one would be dark black.
 
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