American Blonde Ale tonight

[dpalme]

Brewed an American Blonde Ale this evening, pretty easy

Steep the Crystal 10 for 20 minutes at 150 F. agitated it every five or so. Added in 6 lbs of Pilsen DME and brought to a boil, it took a little while to get it to a boil (20 minutes or so) and had a slight boil over but caught it quick and kept the boiling at a good solid boil just under where it would start to foam.

Right after got it boiling added 1 oz of Chech Saaz and boiled it for 60 minutes.

I then was able to use my brand new wort chiller and got it down to just around 90 degrees before putting it in an ice bath and got it down to around 74 at which point I transferred it to the fermentation bucket and pitched OS05 Yeast.

My OG on this one is reading just above 1.06 which seems a little high....but I started out with approx 6 gallons and did a full boil, but when I transferred it I was at 4 1/2 gallons, so I topped it off to 5 and stirred it up really good.....but 1.06 just doesn't seem right.

Oh well, its going to sit for about 10 days before I rack it to the carboy and then cold crash it three days after that.

Thoughts? Suggestions on improving the process?

 

[dpalme]

Oh a couple of points, I got it down to around 90 in fifteen minutes with the wort chiller (it was still in the mid to upper 80's outside) and I'm thinking I need to invest in a recirculating pump and a bucket and some jugs of ice and I think I can get it all the way down into the 60's.....

It seemed to take longer with the ice bath than it did with the wort chiller.

Ground water temp is around 86 or so....

 

[a6ladd]

Extract has a tendency to give slightly inaccurate readings if it isn't completely mixed into your wort. It looks like 6# of DME would give you a gravity of about 1.045. Next time try giving it a REALLY good stir after you've chilled it and take your reading then. Or buy a refractometer