And my first parti-gyle is started.

[cjl6]

Woke up at 7:30, got all of the water ready, started heating it, it just got up to temp and I mashed in 6 gallons of 167 degree water to 17.5 pounds of grain...

11 Lbs. Pale 2 row
2 Lbs. Crisp Brown Malt
2 Lb. Dark Munich Malt
1 Lb. Briess Organic Chocolate Malt
1 Lb. Simpsons Extra Dark Crystal Malt (155-160L)
0.5 Lbs Simpsons Medium Crystal Malt (50-60L)
1 lb of honey
2 oz. Centennial Hops
2 oz. East Kent Golding Hops

First beer is going to be Old Man Winter, an imperial porter, hopefully around 1.090. Second one is going to be Jack (Torrance) Frost and I wouldn't know how to describe it, maybe as a British bitter, and should be 1.040.

So far I have mashed in at 155 only to realize that the big spoon I use to stir my mash only goes halfway down the mash tun. I grabbed the broom and used it's handle to stir the mash. Hopefully, I wont be this forgetful the entire brewday.

Quick question: I only have one brew kettle (the one I let someone borrow is "out on loan" so I couldn't get a hold of my other one) so I'm planning on doing these batches separately. I'll do this by extracting the first runnings, getting that boiling and (batch) sparge another 6.5 gallons into a plastic bucket. Once Old Man Winter is done boiling, I will chill it, dump it into another bucket, then boil Jack Torrance. Anyone see any ill effects of leaving 155 degree wort in a (food grade) bucket for that long? I figured if my mash tun was plastic and it's planning on sitting in that for 2 hours, why not a different bucket for another few hours?

Edit: I just realized this is my first post on this forum. I was just booted off Northern Brewer (I have no idea why) so I've been lurking here lately. I'm a senior biology student in Upstate NY. I'm here to represent the thousands of college students who brew.

 

[cjl6]

If there has ever been "one of those days" this was it. Let's make a list.

a. Didn't have two kettles. Had to do it one at a time.
b. Forgot to invest in a big enough mash paddle
c. Thermometer broke. I stuck it in the grain in my mash tun to have it read 250 degrees. Pulled it out to have it tell me it's 160 degrees in the room. It's digital, don't worry. Had to call everyone I knew in town to get another one. Finally found one two hours later. Who knows how accurate it is.
d. Too low of gravity for second beer. I later found my first beer was a little higher than expected, so I just traded a gallon or two and all was well, but still scared me.
e. Forgot I lent my propane burner to a friend so he could "heat something up," started the boil and realized it was pretty much completely empty. Had to run all over town trying to find somewhere to get it filled. Ended up going to walmart and exchanging it for a blue rhino one.
f. I just changed the faucet on my bathroom sink where I chill my beers and forgot to check if the immersion chiller would fit it. It doesn't. I ended up chilling both beers by transferring one to a bucket, shoving it in the snow, then putting the kettle of the smaller beer in the snow. Luckily we have around a foot of snow, 2 feet in the banks. Kettle hit the ground after 2 hours.
g. Couldn't find the grommet for my bucket. Had to keg a batch to open a secondary fermenter, then transfer a cider into that secondary, but it was 6.5 gallons of cider so I had to bottle 12 bottles of it, thus opening a primary fermenter.

Now the second beer is still chilling outside. Sitting at 70 degrees and I'm exhausted. This thing better cool down faster. Good thing I started at 7:30.

 

[virginiawolf]

cjl6, Thats a massive effort!
Next time will be better don't get discouraged. That recipe sounds delicious.

"Now the second beer is still chilling outside. Sitting at 70 degrees and I'm exhausted. This thing better cool down faster. Good thing I started at 7:30."

I can totally relate to this statement
Virginia Wolf

 

[mrk305]

It sounds like, all in all, a pretty fun day! Cheers!

 

[cjl6]

Yeah in all honesty it wasn't that bad, just got a little ridiculous with the number of things that went wrong. But no big deal. I have delicious smelling imperial porter and British bitter (that's what I decided it's most like) with all of their numbers hit and yeast pitched, so it was a successful brewday. I'd rather have a day of hell and good beer in the fermenter than a relaxing day and sub-par beer. I pitched the yeast on the porter last night and there's already some bubbles forming a ring around the top of the carboy.

 

[bannonb]

Who among us hasn't had a storm of unforeseen circumstances when undertaking a new project?

I have been plotting a few new ones and expect the same.
-Been doing ales, have a Bohemian Pilsner planned next
-Would like to do a partigyle, but need to carbo bash before undertaking a 6 hour brew day!

I say great work! Next time it will be old hat for you.

BannonB