My first Harvest Ale!!!!

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Grimsawyer

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Location
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HELLO ALL!!! I am VERY excited about this one!!! Today I brewed a beer with hops that I grew in my backyard. 100% of them were picked and dried less than a month ago by me, myself, and I! Recepie goes as follows:

11lbs pale ale 2-row(american)
4lbs munich(light)
1lb crystal 60
.5lb crystal 80
.5lb crystal 40
.5lb melanoidin
.5lb carafoam
(single infusion mash @159F, oh yeah baby... one sweet beer!!!) Should have a malt backbone, shoulders and biceps!!!)

1 oz Nugget 60min
1oz cascade 15min
1.5oz cascade 5min
.75oz goldings 5min
.75oz mystery hop(got a rhyzome from a hop field that was worked in mid 1930's)
(maybe cluster? could be golding too, not quite sure! WHEEE!!!)

Adding 2oz French roasted oak chips to the secondary, the medium + variety

3522 belg ardens................. LOVE that yeast!

OG: 1.077 (efficency is kinda low, 64%..... grr!)



I can't believe I only got 64% efficiency. I mashed out at 180, had my back turned, was going to stop at 170. I ran the temp of the water in my hlt up to 185 and batch sparged 4 times (untill I was sucking air) and ended up with 8 gallons of wort. I boiled for 100 min and went down to 4 gallons, which read 1.100 @ 70 degrees which would be 1.102, topped up to 5.25 gallons in my primary(rinsing the hops of their sugars, lol) and adding my quart starter, the whole thing. I still have my barley crusher adjusted to where It was set when I got it in the mail. I think I'm going to close that gap just a bit. Get a finer crush, batch sparge 5 times and collect 9.5 gallons of wort and boil for 100 min for my next batch of beer. mabye then I'll get more than 64% brewhouse efficiency.:( I was expecting this OG almost on the nose. It is what I had planned for. I was planning on 1.076 but got 1.077! YAY!! I sure was hoping for 1.080 though! I am very excited for this Old Ale to be finished!
 
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