Oceantendency
Well-Known Member
So I replaced the old deformed SS braid setup to a straight SS piece connecting to a SS braid ring. Well it freakin' works great ! Last night I crushed my first batch of grains with my new Barley Crusher, WOW, big upgrade from my Phil Mill or having to run up the street to the LBHS and get crushed. Had everything prepped last night, got up at 4am and lit the burner, mashing in by 5:15, finished cleanly before 11am, and jumped from 68% efficiency to 81.5% efficiency ! Major improvement on the Mash/Lauter/Batch Sparge/Lauter. The new SS circular braid plus extension, made everything from stirring to allowing the bed to settle more evenly to even drains twice faster with super clean runnings. Clearest first and second runnings I've had ever. The bad news (not really, but aiming for a Saison with a honey and fall season tweak to it, I majorly overshot my OG of 1.066 and got 1.073 instead, which even my target was expecting an increase in efficiency).
Short of it:
8lbs8oz- Belgian 2*L Pilsner
2lbs8.2oz- Honey Malt
1lb8.2oz- Vienna
8.2oz- Caravienne
1.1oz-Choc
4.2oz- White Wheat
1oz- Kent Goldings UK @40min
0.5oz- Germ Hallertau @ 9min
11.6oz- Honey @ 9min
Nutmeg, Ground Ginger, Cloves, 3 whole cinnamon sticks, Irish moss- @ 9min
commercial Saison Yeast from Iron Fist Saison (Hired Hand) + starter
Decoction attempt: 5 gal strike @ 145* for 15 min then 156* for 55 min
2.5 gallons sparge water, dump, stir veraciously for a 20 seconds and a few times throughout plus shaking the cooler side to side a few times for 20 minutes.
70 min boil, cooled to 70* in under 25 min, pitched some Yeast propagated and grown from cultured Saison yeast, started starter on Halloween.
3hrs- fermentation slowly taking off but already bubbling.
Short of it:
8lbs8oz- Belgian 2*L Pilsner
2lbs8.2oz- Honey Malt
1lb8.2oz- Vienna
8.2oz- Caravienne
1.1oz-Choc
4.2oz- White Wheat
1oz- Kent Goldings UK @40min
0.5oz- Germ Hallertau @ 9min
11.6oz- Honey @ 9min
Nutmeg, Ground Ginger, Cloves, 3 whole cinnamon sticks, Irish moss- @ 9min
commercial Saison Yeast from Iron Fist Saison (Hired Hand) + starter
Decoction attempt: 5 gal strike @ 145* for 15 min then 156* for 55 min
2.5 gallons sparge water, dump, stir veraciously for a 20 seconds and a few times throughout plus shaking the cooler side to side a few times for 20 minutes.
70 min boil, cooled to 70* in under 25 min, pitched some Yeast propagated and grown from cultured Saison yeast, started starter on Halloween.
3hrs- fermentation slowly taking off but already bubbling.