Brew Day

[mgortel]

Well....the very first brew I ever did several years ago I posted my progress live...and it was pretty fun....plus I think some others learned from it...as well as I.

Anyway, been over a year since I brewed....so I figure I am a Brew Virgin again...until today....so going to post my progress live from my garage:

Brewing Bee Cave Hefeweizen.

Just mashed in 14.38 qts of water to my 11 LB grain bill.
Also have 8 oz of rice hulls which I pre-soaked for 20 mins in hot water.

Planned Mash temp = 153F
Actual Mash Temp = 152F

Not bad....but maybe the rice hulls or the time it took me to mash in ate up some of my heat....in any event should be fine I am sure.

Mashing for 90 mins on this recipe....updates to come

P.S. be drinking some cold ones while I wait.....hope I dont pass out before the mash time is up!

 

[mgortel]

OK...update here.

9 minutes left to Mash...checked temperature so I can determine my sparge water addition temperature.

Mash temp now = 150 F

SO that is an average of 151F during mash....was shooting for 153F.

QUESTIONS guys: In future should I plan on a starting mash temp 1 degree hoigher than recipe knowing I will end up at 1 degree below....for an average that will equyal recipe....??? i.e. if I want to mash at 153F......shoot for 154F at start and end with 152F...???

 

[mgortel]

Ahhhh...****

Added sparge water to initial mash to split my total volume between the first drain and mash drain......

Shooting for 168F on mash out....but ended up with 153F.....even though I used Beersmith to calculate it.....

Asfter racking my head....while it drained....I finally realized I left the initial water volume at 1.88 gallons (which is what it will be after I drain .....i.e. my starting water volume for sparge).......in reality my volume should have been the original 3.66 gallons from mash in....doh!!!!!!

Stupid simple mistake....wont happen again.....but I am sure I will still make beer lol!

 

[mgortel]

Ohhhh boy....I did it again.......

I was shooting for 168F temp in mash tun for sparge on my second addition...and ended with only 160F......scratching my head.....what an idiot.....

So here is a lesson for some newbs (and veterans alike)....make sure your measurment units are correct in Beersmith or whatever software you might use for calculating temps of water additions.

I had 1.88 gallons in my tun after first draining (water in deadspace and grain absorption) ....and to calculate my sparge water temp adjustment I used 1.88 QUARTS by accident....should have been 7.52 quarts (i.e. 1.88 gallons)......spo ended with only 160F on sparge....

Oh..and by the way....I DO KNOW BETTER......I am an engineer....scary huh? No I dont work for NASA!

Cheers.....

 

[mgortel]

OK....pretty close on my finals....

Gravity when I pitched my yeat = 1.052 (target = 1.053)

Temp was lower than I wanted....63F.....wanted to pitch at 65F........I employed a new system for my chiller where I pump icewater thru my chiller coil in my brew pot....as opposed to just using hose water....which always took foreveve.......

Pitched starter yeast and bucket in fermenter chamber....

Gonna play with fermentation chamber temp to get my ferm temp up around 68F as planned.....

Cheers all!!!!!!

 

[mgortel]

A 8AM this morning my yeast was happily at work....rigorous fermentation going on.....the starter really got this going fast. This is my first beer with a starter.