thelastleroy
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2015
- Messages
- 71
- Reaction score
- 7
Hello everyone!
I've been lurking on here for quite a while, and finally did an AG batch this weekend. I built a counterflow chiller setup and used a cheap home-depot aluminum turkey fryer kit to boil. Cooler mash-tun and coopers beer kit fermenter/bottling bucket.
The beer I made was a guess at an IPA.
4 lbs canadian 2-row
4 lbs pale malt (not sure origin)
1 lb munich
90 min boil total
1oz nugget hops in at 60mins boil time
.5oz citra 15 mins after that
.5oz citra at flameout.
counter-flow cooled (instantly... can't imagine waiting longer!) to pitch temp, and a healthy, all grain starter added immediately. safale 05 yeast I believe.
A ton of hot break garbage and hops ended up in my fermenter, but boy oh boy did the yeast like it! I pitched at 11:45pm Saturday night, and by morning it was a frothing, churning mess inside that bucket. The coopers fermenter is neat, because it's clear/translucent and you can actually SEE the fermentation!
My sparge didn't go as well as it could have, and I ended up with less total volume than I had wanted. I mashed with 11L and batch sparged another 11L. I had "channeling" in the mashtun and I'm quite sure I lautered too fast. I have a feeling that much water was left behind in the grain and mashtun. Next brew I will try to work this out. After boiling, I was left with only 12L of 1.085 wort! I topped up the batch to 19L (approx 5gal) which left it at a pretty weak gravity (1.040). I just couldn't bring myself to do a 4-hour brew session for only 3 gallons of wort!
The primary is already slowing down, and I'm starting to think about messing with the batch.... even though I know I should just let it finish and call it a learning experience. Here's what I had in mind, hoping you guys had some opinions on what to do!
Option 1: Let it be. It will be beer, but kind of weak very hoppy session beer.
Option 2: hit it with a dose of strong DME/water to bump up the ABV, maybe 1 Gallon more in a fairly strong solution?
Option 3: do another small, strong AG brew (1 gallon) and "krausen" the batch, and let it finish for the next two weeks. Could probably do the mash in a pot/grainbag.
I'd basically like to add more volume, because I only have 1 fermenter and will be waiting a month or more for the beer. Next batch I'm going to start with more grain (probably 12 lbs) until I get the efficiency figured out on my mashes. this fermenter could easily handle a 6 gallon batch at full krausen.
The SG has already dropped to 1.008, at about 47hours fermentation. Making the starter really accelerated the process!
What to do?
I've been lurking on here for quite a while, and finally did an AG batch this weekend. I built a counterflow chiller setup and used a cheap home-depot aluminum turkey fryer kit to boil. Cooler mash-tun and coopers beer kit fermenter/bottling bucket.
The beer I made was a guess at an IPA.
4 lbs canadian 2-row
4 lbs pale malt (not sure origin)
1 lb munich
90 min boil total
1oz nugget hops in at 60mins boil time
.5oz citra 15 mins after that
.5oz citra at flameout.
counter-flow cooled (instantly... can't imagine waiting longer!) to pitch temp, and a healthy, all grain starter added immediately. safale 05 yeast I believe.
A ton of hot break garbage and hops ended up in my fermenter, but boy oh boy did the yeast like it! I pitched at 11:45pm Saturday night, and by morning it was a frothing, churning mess inside that bucket. The coopers fermenter is neat, because it's clear/translucent and you can actually SEE the fermentation!
My sparge didn't go as well as it could have, and I ended up with less total volume than I had wanted. I mashed with 11L and batch sparged another 11L. I had "channeling" in the mashtun and I'm quite sure I lautered too fast. I have a feeling that much water was left behind in the grain and mashtun. Next brew I will try to work this out. After boiling, I was left with only 12L of 1.085 wort! I topped up the batch to 19L (approx 5gal) which left it at a pretty weak gravity (1.040). I just couldn't bring myself to do a 4-hour brew session for only 3 gallons of wort!
The primary is already slowing down, and I'm starting to think about messing with the batch.... even though I know I should just let it finish and call it a learning experience. Here's what I had in mind, hoping you guys had some opinions on what to do!
Option 1: Let it be. It will be beer, but kind of weak very hoppy session beer.
Option 2: hit it with a dose of strong DME/water to bump up the ABV, maybe 1 Gallon more in a fairly strong solution?
Option 3: do another small, strong AG brew (1 gallon) and "krausen" the batch, and let it finish for the next two weeks. Could probably do the mash in a pot/grainbag.
I'd basically like to add more volume, because I only have 1 fermenter and will be waiting a month or more for the beer. Next batch I'm going to start with more grain (probably 12 lbs) until I get the efficiency figured out on my mashes. this fermenter could easily handle a 6 gallon batch at full krausen.
The SG has already dropped to 1.008, at about 47hours fermentation. Making the starter really accelerated the process!
What to do?