MaskdBagel
Member
I christened my setup this past weekend with my very first batch. I'd saved for a while and put something together that I think will work well, so it was pretty exciting to get in there with new toys and get started.
There was a good amount of solid, wise, well-informed advice from all over that I went ahead and disregarded. Maybe I'm brave, maybe I'm stupid, maybe I'll end up lucky, and maybe some combination of the three. Start with a kit. Nope. Start with extract. Nope. Start with an easy clone. Debatable, but probably not most people's definition of first-timer level easy. Start with someone else's recipe. Not exactly. Maybe I'll be more careful next time, but I figured there was only once chance to be imprudent with a first batch, so that's what I did.
The setup
240v eBIAB (last available unit of the v1 Unibrau from Brausupply.com)
Duda 12" 30 plate chiller
7G Fermonster
Chest freezer with Inkbird and clear plastic fermentation heater with the black resistance circuit in it
Bottling when it's ready - way too interested in sharing to keg at this point
The recipe
Very first batch, so this one was named Janie Jones after track one side one from the very first Clash record. Here's to great debuts, etc. Drew some influence from the CYBI Little Sumpin' Sumpin' recipe but tweaked heavily to meet my current interests.
Wrote it in grams, so if any of these seem way way off, it's because I have a typo in my unit conversion.
Target OG: 1.071
Target FG: 1.015
Target ABV: 7.5%
IBU: 54
SRM: ???
6.5 pounds 2-row
4 ounces aromatic
6 ounces acid malt
5 pounds white wheat
1.75 pounds torrified wheat
4 ounces caramel wheat
.75 oz Nugget at 60 minutes
.25 oz Willamette at 30 minutes
.25 oz Willamette, 1 oz. Santiam (kept this from CYBI - thought it was an interesting choice), and half Whirlfloc at 15 minutes
Brew day
Not too eventful. A little high on the strike water volume (RO, no additions this time), and I also made the mistake of leaving my element on and my thermometer off circulation and cooling while I mashed in. So I was up to 161 instead of the intended 152 when I started recirculating again. I stirred in ice and got to 152 in about eight minutes, then stayed there for 52 minutes more. That extra liquid also raised the volume, so at the end of a sixty minute boil, I was about a gallon or so high. Pulled the hops out and boiled down to 5.5 gallons, then chilled to 64.5 in a single two or three minute pass through the chiller (amazing!) straight into the fermenter, where it was already admirably chunky. Target OG was 1.071, and I got 1.066, so not too bad at all. Pitched Wyeast 3711 and let it rise on its own. About 32 hours later (last night, before bed), it was up from 64.5 to 72.5 and bubbling handsomely, so things are looking good.
Temperature, dry hop, etc.
Plan is to free rise for four days, set at 77 for a day, then 74 for a day. Then dry hop with .75 oz. each of Citra, Cascade, Tomahawk, Chinook, and Centennial for five more days. Cold crash at 33 for a day, then add gelatin and do one or two more days of cold crash. I'll bottle with 3.5 ounces of table sugar (aiming for 2.7 volumes, if I remember right) and let 'er sit at 70 for three weeks before refrigerating.
Mainly, I'm just excited to do my first brew day, and I want to tell somebody.
But if you have any insights on the recipe, or suggestions for the next couple of weeks, I'd welcome any of that too.
Thanks!
There was a good amount of solid, wise, well-informed advice from all over that I went ahead and disregarded. Maybe I'm brave, maybe I'm stupid, maybe I'll end up lucky, and maybe some combination of the three. Start with a kit. Nope. Start with extract. Nope. Start with an easy clone. Debatable, but probably not most people's definition of first-timer level easy. Start with someone else's recipe. Not exactly. Maybe I'll be more careful next time, but I figured there was only once chance to be imprudent with a first batch, so that's what I did.
The setup
240v eBIAB (last available unit of the v1 Unibrau from Brausupply.com)
Duda 12" 30 plate chiller
7G Fermonster
Chest freezer with Inkbird and clear plastic fermentation heater with the black resistance circuit in it
Bottling when it's ready - way too interested in sharing to keg at this point
The recipe
Very first batch, so this one was named Janie Jones after track one side one from the very first Clash record. Here's to great debuts, etc. Drew some influence from the CYBI Little Sumpin' Sumpin' recipe but tweaked heavily to meet my current interests.
Wrote it in grams, so if any of these seem way way off, it's because I have a typo in my unit conversion.
Target OG: 1.071
Target FG: 1.015
Target ABV: 7.5%
IBU: 54
SRM: ???
6.5 pounds 2-row
4 ounces aromatic
6 ounces acid malt
5 pounds white wheat
1.75 pounds torrified wheat
4 ounces caramel wheat
.75 oz Nugget at 60 minutes
.25 oz Willamette at 30 minutes
.25 oz Willamette, 1 oz. Santiam (kept this from CYBI - thought it was an interesting choice), and half Whirlfloc at 15 minutes
Brew day
Not too eventful. A little high on the strike water volume (RO, no additions this time), and I also made the mistake of leaving my element on and my thermometer off circulation and cooling while I mashed in. So I was up to 161 instead of the intended 152 when I started recirculating again. I stirred in ice and got to 152 in about eight minutes, then stayed there for 52 minutes more. That extra liquid also raised the volume, so at the end of a sixty minute boil, I was about a gallon or so high. Pulled the hops out and boiled down to 5.5 gallons, then chilled to 64.5 in a single two or three minute pass through the chiller (amazing!) straight into the fermenter, where it was already admirably chunky. Target OG was 1.071, and I got 1.066, so not too bad at all. Pitched Wyeast 3711 and let it rise on its own. About 32 hours later (last night, before bed), it was up from 64.5 to 72.5 and bubbling handsomely, so things are looking good.
Temperature, dry hop, etc.
Plan is to free rise for four days, set at 77 for a day, then 74 for a day. Then dry hop with .75 oz. each of Citra, Cascade, Tomahawk, Chinook, and Centennial for five more days. Cold crash at 33 for a day, then add gelatin and do one or two more days of cold crash. I'll bottle with 3.5 ounces of table sugar (aiming for 2.7 volumes, if I remember right) and let 'er sit at 70 for three weeks before refrigerating.
Mainly, I'm just excited to do my first brew day, and I want to tell somebody.
But if you have any insights on the recipe, or suggestions for the next couple of weeks, I'd welcome any of that too.Thanks!
