Brew day 3: Going for 2 batches. =D

[Jekster]

Well, the GF is outta town, it's hot as fire itself, and I'm going to try and hit 2 batches today.

To boot, it's my third time brewing and it's really time to see how my efficiencies turn out on my partial mashes today. If I get these two batches outta the way I'll be done with all my current ingredients and I'm going to go all grain after these two batches are done.

BTW, I'm doing Ed's Haus Pale and my own special Pumpkin Ale Recipe. Pale is up first. =D

Wish me luck!

Cheers!

 

[Jekster]

Mashing as we speak. Things are going well, and I hit my temp perfectly. I learned to do some pre-heating on my mash tun and it seems to have helped a ton. Just about a half gallon of my tap water at as hot as it can go. Capped and let sit in the sun for about 10 mins and it made a world of difference!

I've also learned how to keep things better organized than my first two brew sessions. I feel much more Zen with this brew process and I don't feel like I'm scrambling to get anything or forgetting anything. Yay for calm and relaxed brewing. =D

*EDIT*

Bleh, first stuck mash. I did the unthinkable and added a few pints of water to thing the mash and blew back into the mash tun to move anything that was stuck in there. This was after just stirring and trying to let the mash re-settle. Going to give it 10 mins to settle out and then hopefully I'll be along my way...

*EDIT 2*

This day will have to be to be continued. After my stuck mash I had a stuck sparge so bad that I could barely blow through it! I don't know what the heck happened because on my last batch, with a much larger grain load, I didn't have this problem at all. Sparge and mash went off without a hitch. The only difference this time is I used grains from morebeer.com instead of AHS. It could be possible that morebeer over milled my grain or somthing, but I don't know. Just seems very odd. Anyway, I am going to pick up with my pumpkin ale tomorrow incase I run into another stuck sparge. All the ingredients are from AHS for my pumpkin ale so if it goes fine I'll know it was the morebeer.com grain. We shall see! Anyway, doing my boil having a Pilsner Urquell, all is good.

 

[tst4echo]

BTW, I'm doing Ed's Haus Pale and my own special Pumpkin Ale Recipe. Pale is up first. =D

What is your pumpkin ale recipe?

 

[Jekster]

BTW, I'm doing Ed's Haus Pale and my own special Pumpkin Ale Recipe. Pale is up first. =D
QUOTE]

What is your pumpkin ale recipe?

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 37.5 %

2.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 25.0 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 12.5 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 12.5 %
1.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 12.5 %

0.75 oz Northern Brewer [6.60%] (50 min) Hops 17.7 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.00%] (30 min) Hops 5.8 IBU

0.15 oz Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc

0.25 oz Pumpkin Pie Spice (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.00 lb Pumpkin Chunks (Mash 60.0 min) Misc

1 Pkgs US-05 Dry Ale Yeast (Formerly US-56) (Safale) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.048 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.5 %
Bitterness: 23.4 IBU
Est Color: 10.0 SRM

 

[Jekster]

Back at it again today!

I also figured out a flaw in my system. I had to make some adjustments to my false bottom because it was creating suction on the bottom of my cooler. I know this because when I assembled today I tried to drain just water and it was stuck! After closer examination of the cooler, there is a small raised bump in the exact center of the cooler! I figure that even though the false bottom is raise, this bump was clogging the intake and assisting in sticking the mash. I didn't even think of this as an option at first because I reasoned that the bottom of the cooler was flat. I guess this is what people call "learning your system."

Mashing in on my Pumpkin Ale. Wish me luck everyone!

*EDIT* Done! Didn't have a stuck mash or sparge at all, was a great time. That was my last batch with an ice bath and my last batch using extract. From here on out, it's all grain and an immersion chiller! I think though that I need to get into beer drinking mode. I've got 4 batches fermenting as we speak. =D