trub quaffer
Well-Known Member
I brewed a Dogfish head 90-min IPA clone on Saturday and saying it did not go smoothly would be an understatement.
I did a 3.5 L yeast starter last Sunday. My thermometer with wired sensor had acted up a little the batch before so I was afraid it was probably going to go TU on me and it did. Fortunately I had a back-up sensor. Guess what? It wouldn't work with the back-up sensor either. Oh well- at least I had a pen-style digital laying around. Kind of a pain to read the temp of 3.5 L of wort in a 5L ehrlenmeyer, but I managed.
I live in Spokane WA and we've had fairly moderate temperatures this winter. Temps in the mid 40's lately. So what was the high on brew day? Freakin' 17!!
First thing in the morning I measure out my brewing salts. Then I went to the store to get ice and distilled water. I've got pretty hard water so I use a 50:50 mix of tap water and distilled. We've got a water softener so the only place I can get hard water is out of the hose bib outside. Ever try to get water out of a hose bib in 15 degree temperatures when the overnight low was -3? Good luck!! Back to the store for spring water. No flipping idea what the mineral content, hardness, etc of Albertson's spring water is. Toss the water salts in the trash.
Got the mash started, checked the pH- huh-albertson's spring water is pretty hard too. Fortunately I had some 5.2 laying around to adjust the pH. I noticed that the readout on my pen thermometer was fading out as I took the temperature at the end of the mash. No problem- I think ahead. I've got a spare battery. All I've got to do is pry the top off of the thermometer and RIP ONE OF THE FU#%ING WIRES OUT IN THE PROCESS???!!!
You've got to be kidding me!! Now I'm down to my very last thermometer. The old trusty floating thermometer I've had since day one. Slower then hell to get a reading but still accurate.
Well, time to collect the runnings. Collected about 1 gallon before I get a stuck sparge. I guess the stock 0.037" setting on my new Barley Crusher is a little tight. Unstuck the sparge and collected another 2 gallons. Added my sparge water, collected another gallon of wort, unstuck the sparge again and collected the rest of my runnings. Pretty pissed and buzzed at this point.
The rest of the day actually went pretty smoothly. I boil in my garage and managed to keep enough airflow going through the garage to keep from killing myself by CO poisoning and yet kept it warm enough in there to keep the frostbite away. One conclusion I came to is that as long as there was not ice forming in my beer, I was drinking fast enough. Another conclusion I came to was that adding hops to the boil every 7.5 minutes makes a 105 minute boil go pretty damn fast. A third conclusion I came to is that if you are going to drink more than your fair share of Ninkasi Total Domination IPA and Dogfish Head 90-min IPA, you had better keep good written records on said hops additions every 7.5 minutes or it's easy to lose track.
Well, the yeast have been pissing alcohol like crazy for the last 48 hours and seem really happy about it (who thought I'd need a blow-off tube for a 5 gallon batch in a 6.5 gallon carboy)? I'm glad I put it on. Things seem to be under control. I just hope I don't drop the carboy when moving it from my fermentation chamber to where I rack.
By the way, anyone know where I can get a good water resistant thermocouple and wire probe for a moderate price? I'm done with thermometers! :cross:
I did a 3.5 L yeast starter last Sunday. My thermometer with wired sensor had acted up a little the batch before so I was afraid it was probably going to go TU on me and it did. Fortunately I had a back-up sensor. Guess what? It wouldn't work with the back-up sensor either. Oh well- at least I had a pen-style digital laying around. Kind of a pain to read the temp of 3.5 L of wort in a 5L ehrlenmeyer, but I managed.
I live in Spokane WA and we've had fairly moderate temperatures this winter. Temps in the mid 40's lately. So what was the high on brew day? Freakin' 17!!
First thing in the morning I measure out my brewing salts. Then I went to the store to get ice and distilled water. I've got pretty hard water so I use a 50:50 mix of tap water and distilled. We've got a water softener so the only place I can get hard water is out of the hose bib outside. Ever try to get water out of a hose bib in 15 degree temperatures when the overnight low was -3? Good luck!! Back to the store for spring water. No flipping idea what the mineral content, hardness, etc of Albertson's spring water is. Toss the water salts in the trash.
Got the mash started, checked the pH- huh-albertson's spring water is pretty hard too. Fortunately I had some 5.2 laying around to adjust the pH. I noticed that the readout on my pen thermometer was fading out as I took the temperature at the end of the mash. No problem- I think ahead. I've got a spare battery. All I've got to do is pry the top off of the thermometer and RIP ONE OF THE FU#%ING WIRES OUT IN THE PROCESS???!!!
You've got to be kidding me!! Now I'm down to my very last thermometer. The old trusty floating thermometer I've had since day one. Slower then hell to get a reading but still accurate. Well, time to collect the runnings. Collected about 1 gallon before I get a stuck sparge. I guess the stock 0.037" setting on my new Barley Crusher is a little tight. Unstuck the sparge and collected another 2 gallons. Added my sparge water, collected another gallon of wort, unstuck the sparge again and collected the rest of my runnings. Pretty pissed and buzzed at this point.
The rest of the day actually went pretty smoothly. I boil in my garage and managed to keep enough airflow going through the garage to keep from killing myself by CO poisoning and yet kept it warm enough in there to keep the frostbite away. One conclusion I came to is that as long as there was not ice forming in my beer, I was drinking fast enough. Another conclusion I came to was that adding hops to the boil every 7.5 minutes makes a 105 minute boil go pretty damn fast. A third conclusion I came to is that if you are going to drink more than your fair share of Ninkasi Total Domination IPA and Dogfish Head 90-min IPA, you had better keep good written records on said hops additions every 7.5 minutes or it's easy to lose track.
Well, the yeast have been pissing alcohol like crazy for the last 48 hours and seem really happy about it (who thought I'd need a blow-off tube for a 5 gallon batch in a 6.5 gallon carboy)? I'm glad I put it on. Things seem to be under control. I just hope I don't drop the carboy when moving it from my fermentation chamber to where I rack.
By the way, anyone know where I can get a good water resistant thermocouple and wire probe for a moderate price? I'm done with thermometers! :cross:
