jbsayers
Well-Known Member
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
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