Chuck_Swillery
Well-Known Member
Short Story: While it's not technically my first brew, its my first in 10 years. It went well all in all. LME and some specialty grains. I learned my 38k BTU propane burner worked MUCH better than I anticipated for a 5 gallon batch. Making/using a chiller (and pre-chiller) was worth every penny. Finally, I'm planning on another batch, AG however, Saturday. Hope it goes as well! The wait is on for this one...
Fug-it and Shrug it Off Brown Ale
OG: 1.035 (corrected/7 gal) SG: 1.050 (corrected/5.5 gal)
Midwest Specs state SG: 1.044 - 1.048
Recipe: Midwest Brewing Supplys Big River Brown Ale
· 3.3 lbs Amber LME
· 3.3 lbs Dark LME
· 12 oz Caramel 80 L
· 2 oz Special B
· 2 oz Chocolate Malt
· 1 oz Cascade
· 1 oz Fuggle (hence the name fug-it )
· Wyeast London Ale #1028
· 1.5 tsp Irish Moss
· .5 tsp Yeast nutrient
Sanitation via StarSan, all equipment soaked in solution or sprayed/doused with the solution.
Glad to say that my first brew in 10 years went pretty well. Fug-it and Shrug it off is speaks of the attitude I needed to take in place of stressing over every little thing.
I started the session off by bringing 1.5 gallons of water to 160 degrees and steeped my specialty grains for a full 30 min. I took the resulting 1.25 gal (estimated) and put it into the brew kettle then used warm tap and measured out to 6.5 gallons.
My 38k BTU propane burner worked like a champ. 109F (from medium setting on tap) to boil in 20 minutes at full on, not bad all in all. I had intended on boiling 6.5 gallons but forgot to compensate for the 6.6 lbs of LME I was dumping in so ended up right near the top of my 7 gallon kettle. In retrospect it would have been to full anyway. So I drew off 2 gallons into my original 4 gallon brew pot and set it to boil on the stove while I put the spurs to the 7 gallon kettle. I took a gravity reading at 193F and it read 1.002. I started to worry. I know there is a correction but had underestimated how much of a correction there would be at that high a temp. None-the-less, after correction my OG was 1.035, pretty close to being right on. I added the Cascade once I reached boil. However, I didnt anticipate the vigor of the boil from my burner and almost immediately ended up with a boil over and a fair amount of my freshly added Cascade ended on up on the floor of my garage. Started to sweat it again but decided to shrug it off and compensate somehow later.
Now, my lovely wife being home I asked her if shed keep an eye on my 2 gallons of wort boiling on the stove. I received a resounding Sure honey, anything I need to do except stir? Nope! Just watch for boilovers - self fulfilling prophecy there. Right after I ended up with hops all over the place I walked in to the house and see the pot on the stove boiling over. Shrug it off again and bring my wifes attention a little closer to the task at hand (nicely bed downstairs isnt nearly as comfortable).
Finally, the boil settled down and I could pay attention to finishing assembly of my pre-chiller. That seemed to go without a hitch. So, at 30 min I combine the wort that was boiling on the stove with the wort in my brew kettle and I estimated I had a little over 6.25 gallons now. I decided to add .5 oz ounce of my Fuggle hops, heck, whats it going to hurt at this point, right? Dang near had another boilover at that point but managed that one pretty well. 10 minutes left to boil I add the Irish moss and yeast nutrient and put the chiller into the boiling wort. Finally, I add the last .5 oz of Fuggle at 2 min left in boil.
With the homemade pre-chiller and chiller set up I brought the wort down from 212F to 68.9F in 13 minutes, cant argue with that in my book. I removed the chiller and brought the kettle into the house to rack it over into the primary (6.5 gal plastic bucket). Eyeballing it I estimated 5.5 to 5.75 gallons of wort left. I let the kettle set covered for 20 min to let as much junk settle out as possible then racked it into the primary. I recovered about 5.25 gallons of wort before the siphon started sucking the break over and there was maybe .25 gallons of break material and wort left in the kettle. Again, cant argue with that. I then used a drill driven aeration wand and aerated a bunch then pitched the yeast.
Lessons learned, dont panic, this isnt rocket science, WATCH THAT WORT, a chiller is key, and dont panic its all good. Short of infection (Im pretty happy with my cleaning/sanitation but always worry) I think this one will turn out well. The wort has a nice medium-dark brown color to it in the 5 gallon bucket and was a dark gold running through the tubing as it was being racked. I cant wait to see what turns out. Its been far too long!
The last pic is aerated wort, not krausen...
Fug-it and Shrug it Off Brown Ale
OG: 1.035 (corrected/7 gal) SG: 1.050 (corrected/5.5 gal)
Midwest Specs state SG: 1.044 - 1.048
Recipe: Midwest Brewing Supplys Big River Brown Ale
· 3.3 lbs Amber LME
· 3.3 lbs Dark LME
· 12 oz Caramel 80 L
· 2 oz Special B
· 2 oz Chocolate Malt
· 1 oz Cascade
· 1 oz Fuggle (hence the name fug-it )
· Wyeast London Ale #1028
· 1.5 tsp Irish Moss
· .5 tsp Yeast nutrient
Sanitation via StarSan, all equipment soaked in solution or sprayed/doused with the solution.
Glad to say that my first brew in 10 years went pretty well. Fug-it and Shrug it off is speaks of the attitude I needed to take in place of stressing over every little thing.
I started the session off by bringing 1.5 gallons of water to 160 degrees and steeped my specialty grains for a full 30 min. I took the resulting 1.25 gal (estimated) and put it into the brew kettle then used warm tap and measured out to 6.5 gallons.
My 38k BTU propane burner worked like a champ. 109F (from medium setting on tap) to boil in 20 minutes at full on, not bad all in all. I had intended on boiling 6.5 gallons but forgot to compensate for the 6.6 lbs of LME I was dumping in so ended up right near the top of my 7 gallon kettle. In retrospect it would have been to full anyway. So I drew off 2 gallons into my original 4 gallon brew pot and set it to boil on the stove while I put the spurs to the 7 gallon kettle. I took a gravity reading at 193F and it read 1.002. I started to worry. I know there is a correction but had underestimated how much of a correction there would be at that high a temp. None-the-less, after correction my OG was 1.035, pretty close to being right on. I added the Cascade once I reached boil. However, I didnt anticipate the vigor of the boil from my burner and almost immediately ended up with a boil over and a fair amount of my freshly added Cascade ended on up on the floor of my garage. Started to sweat it again but decided to shrug it off and compensate somehow later.
Now, my lovely wife being home I asked her if shed keep an eye on my 2 gallons of wort boiling on the stove. I received a resounding Sure honey, anything I need to do except stir? Nope! Just watch for boilovers - self fulfilling prophecy there. Right after I ended up with hops all over the place I walked in to the house and see the pot on the stove boiling over. Shrug it off again and bring my wifes attention a little closer to the task at hand (nicely bed downstairs isnt nearly as comfortable).
Finally, the boil settled down and I could pay attention to finishing assembly of my pre-chiller. That seemed to go without a hitch. So, at 30 min I combine the wort that was boiling on the stove with the wort in my brew kettle and I estimated I had a little over 6.25 gallons now. I decided to add .5 oz ounce of my Fuggle hops, heck, whats it going to hurt at this point, right? Dang near had another boilover at that point but managed that one pretty well. 10 minutes left to boil I add the Irish moss and yeast nutrient and put the chiller into the boiling wort. Finally, I add the last .5 oz of Fuggle at 2 min left in boil.
With the homemade pre-chiller and chiller set up I brought the wort down from 212F to 68.9F in 13 minutes, cant argue with that in my book. I removed the chiller and brought the kettle into the house to rack it over into the primary (6.5 gal plastic bucket). Eyeballing it I estimated 5.5 to 5.75 gallons of wort left. I let the kettle set covered for 20 min to let as much junk settle out as possible then racked it into the primary. I recovered about 5.25 gallons of wort before the siphon started sucking the break over and there was maybe .25 gallons of break material and wort left in the kettle. Again, cant argue with that. I then used a drill driven aeration wand and aerated a bunch then pitched the yeast.
Lessons learned, dont panic, this isnt rocket science, WATCH THAT WORT, a chiller is key, and dont panic its all good. Short of infection (Im pretty happy with my cleaning/sanitation but always worry) I think this one will turn out well. The wort has a nice medium-dark brown color to it in the 5 gallon bucket and was a dark gold running through the tubing as it was being racked. I cant wait to see what turns out. Its been far too long!
The last pic is aerated wort, not krausen...
