2nd Batch under the belt!

[jbsayers]

So I just finished up my second brew day. Some improvements made on my process but also a couple problems I did not have my first go-round.

I started to worry I was going to get horrible efficiency because for some reason I just could not keep my mash temp where I wanted it. I wanted to mash in the mid 150s and initially hit the temp spot on. Then when I went to give her a stir I noticed it dropped 5 degrees in about 15 minutes. First time I only lost 1 degree the entire hour. Must have been the blanket I used to insulate the kettle. The sparge was the same problem. Hoping for around 170°F but ended up in the high 150s.

I did another full boil but this time I used my larger diameter and thicker SS pot. Wow did that take a while to get to temp! When it did though I had a volcano of a hot break, lol. Some quick stirring and blowing on the foam kept almost all of it in the pot but the stirring lead to violent ejections of molten wort which warmed my shoulder a bit.

Rest of the boil went well and the homemade immersion chiller I made this afternoon combined with a tub of ice water to set my kettle into cooled her down after the boil in about 20 minutes! I am going for a banana bread ale so I only pitched one vial without a starter to stress the yeast a little and I pitched at 75°F.

Here is a snapshot of the report from BeerSmith.

Mostly American Banana Bread Ale
Weizen/Weissbier
Type: All Grain Date: 9/23/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal Brewer: Joshua Sayers
Boil Size: 6.52 gal
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Pot and Cooler ( 5 Gal/19 L) - All Grain
End of Boil Volume 5.00 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency 82.8 %

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6 lbs Wheat Malt, American (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 51.1 %
4 lbs Munich Malt, American - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2 34.0 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 3 8.5 %
4.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.1 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.1 %
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.1 %
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 9.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP300) [35.49 ml] Yeast 8 -

Beer Profile

Measured Original Gravity: 1.053 SG

Thanks for looking!
JB

 

[Sublimis]

Sounds good, Let us know how it turned out!

 

[jbsayers]

So I meant to update this a while back but I got a little busy.

In case you missed it, this brew was based off of DeathBrewer's recipe and process for a banana bread ale. Unfortunately I did not get any banana notes at all. I made sure to RDWHAHB and let it clear for a while and then bottled it and patiently waited for it to carb expecting that while I didn't get what I was aiming for, I would surely get at least a drinkable dunkel out of it.

I tried a couple the other day and I gotta say, I don't like it, lol. I am not familiar with the style. I read the guidelines and read about off flavors but I am still a new brewer and I can't really pin down the overpowering flavor and aftertaste of this brew. SWMBO said she might call it a bitter green apple flavor but I am not sure what it is. There were no signs of infection so I don't think that is the prob. I had a good uncovered boil and cooled the wort in about 20 mins so I don't think DMS is an issue.

I looked for a commercial example of a dunkel to compare it to see if maybe its a decent batch and I just don't care for the style but I have not been successful.

I purposely fermented in the 70 degree range per the directions laid out to get the banana notes. Anybody with more experience have any ideas what I might be tasting? Can anybody recommend a commercial example I should look for?

Luckily my first brew, an oatmeal stout, and my 3rd brew, a holiday ale, were both delicious!

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
JB