Brewing (2) recipes today

[madman960]

Making 5 gallons of Ed Wort's Haus Pale Ale and 5 gallons of charlie Papazian's Good Life Pale Ale. Both sound delicious.

So far everything is going great. Both mashed in. Hitting all numbers so far. Just mashing today. Will boil and cool and pitch tomorrow. I get off at 4 am so nothing better to do than brew. Next up is Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde. Hopefully I don't forget to take them off the yeast cakes this time. Will also be brewing Yooper's Oatmeal Stout if I can get to the LHBS today or tomorrow. Otherwise, I won't get there til Friday or Saturday.

Thanks to everyone for their info.

Bill

 

[madman960]

Forgot to mention I had to substitute 3 pounds of German Pale Malt (3L) for American 2 Row (1.8L) And I forgot to write down which Crystal so the LHBS gave me 60 L and I only needed 20L. My mistake as I was rushing as to not be to late for work. LHBS was more important than being on time.

Bill

 

[RM-MN]

Forgot to mention I had to substitute 3 pounds of German Pale Malt (3L) for American 2 Row (1.8L) And I forgot to write down which Crystal so the LHBS gave me 60 L and I only needed 20L. My mistake as I was rushing as to not be to late for work. LHBS was more important than being on time.

Bill

You might want to bring the wort to a higher temperature before you quit for the day. Some people have mentioned a souring from letting the wort set overnight.

 

[madman960]

Thanks, RM. I must have missed that. I work 6 pm til 4 am. So a bit late reading this. Wish me luck.

Bill

 

[madman960]

Left work to remove grains and sparge. Started with 3.5 gallons of water for Ed's Ale and 4 gallons of water for the Good Life. After squeezing I ended up with 3 gallons for Ed's Ale and 3.5 gallons for the Good Life. Took gravity readings prior to sparging. 1.70 Ed's Ale and 1.74 Good Life. Heating sparge water now. Will report pre boil gravities. Temperatures at readings were 95 Ed's Ale and 105 Good Life. Not sure what corrected gravities are. Working 10 pm til 4 pm, so I will read up on adjusting for temps when I get home. The temperature conversion sheet was in the hydrometer storage tube. However, It only goes to 72 degrees F. Sparged both. Have samples of both cooling in the fridge to get readings after work.

I thought these would be more similar. It is likely my substitutions that caused the differences. The Good Life is much darker and tastes like it has more body and less sweet. Ed's Ale is more thin and sweet tasting. I actually believe my dad will enjoy both. The substitutions were not purposely done except the 3 pounds of German Pale malt cause I bought the last of the 2 row with the other 2 recipes. The Good Life is getting S-04 and Ed's Ale is getting US-05. My first time using S-04.

Thanks,

Bill

 

[madman960]

Ed's Ale after sparging and at 60 degrees F was spot on at 1.051. Will update when the Good Life raises a few degrees. Checking to see what the OG should be in the meantime. The good life is 1.060. Charlie says 1.052-1.056. I assume that may have been from my substitutions. Both readings at 60 degrees this time per the hydrometer instructions.

Bill

 

[madman960]

So, I had to dump the 13 gallons of wort. They were rancid after work. (the other day not today) So I went and bought both grain bills again. I remade the Good Life Pale Ale. Its -sitting in the primary at 76 degrees. Cam't keep it lower. Recipe says 70-72. I have two questions. The recipe says to transfer after 4-6 days to a secondary and dry hop with .5 oz American crystal hop pellets. Do I need to strain after the 7 day secondary? Also it says to dry hop at 50 degrees if possible to drop yeast out of suspension. My beer fridge is at 35 degrees. Do I secondary at 35 or 76 degrees?

Thanks,

Bill

 

[RM-MN]

So, I had to dump the 13 gallons of wort. They were rancid after work. (the other day not today) So I went and bought both grain bills again. I remade the Good Life Pale Ale. Its -sitting in the primary at 76 degrees. Cam't keep it lower. Recipe says 70-72. I have two questions. The recipe says to transfer after 4-6 days to a secondary and dry hop with .5 oz American crystal hop pellets. Do I need to strain after the 7 day secondary? Also it says to dry hop at 50 degrees if possible to drop yeast out of suspension. My beer fridge is at 35 degrees. Do I secondary at 35 or 76 degrees?

Thanks,

Bill

My condolences on having to dump the wort.

There isn't a need to secondary just for dry hopping. It works just fine in the primary and that doesn't add the risk of oxidation or infection that transferring to secondary does. I like the aroma that dry hopping adds so I would up the quantity from half and ounce to a full ounce or even more.

 

[TexasWine]

So, I had to dump the 13 gallons of wort. They were rancid after work. (the other day not today) So I went and bought both grain bills again. I remade the Good Life Pale Ale. Its -sitting in the primary at 76 degrees. Cam't keep it lower. Recipe says 70-72. I have two questions. The recipe says to transfer after 4-6 days to a secondary and dry hop with .5 oz American crystal hop pellets. Do I need to strain after the 7 day secondary? Also it says to dry hop at 50 degrees if possible to drop yeast out of suspension. My beer fridge is at 35 degrees. Do I secondary at 35 or 76 degrees?

Thanks,

Bill

Agreed, no secondary needed. But let's see if we can come up with an idea to get your fermentation temps down! How are you currently trying to control temp, if at all?

Going to do some spit balling.

It sounds like you have room in your beer fridge for your primary. Do you have a temp controller? If so, you could wrap a heating pad or electric blanket around your primary, then on top of that insulate with a sleeping bag, put it in your beer fridge and plug the temp controller into the heating pad so that it controls your primary's temp. Temp sensor would obviously need to be taped to the side of the fermenter.

Or, can you completely dedicate your beer fridge to fermenting? If so, use a temp controller on it.

What about a swamp cooler? Or a tub of water with frozen bottles of ice? Heck, even a homemade insulated cardboard box combined with frozen water bottles will get you something.

 

[madman960]

Thanks RM. I was sad too. It started out so well.

Dry hopping in the secondary is part of the instructions from the Complete Joy Of Homebrewing 3rd edition. The half an oz is also. I already changed a couple things.

I could currently fit my primary in the beer fridge. However, I was trying to use ice bottles. The primary is in a tub of water. I have a couple ice packs in with it but I work 10-12 hours per day and currently working 7 days per week. But going back to 8 hour shifts tomorrow. Hopefully my next attempt will be better.

Thanks,

Bill

 

[madman960]

So for the dry hop, keep it room temperature or put in the beer fridge?

 

[TexasWine]

So for the dry hop, keep it room temperature or put in the beer fridge?

Room temp.

 

[madman960]

Thanks. Just got home from work. Will add the 1 oz of crystal hops now.

Thanks again.

Bill

 

[madman960]

What is the correct way to use gelatin? Dry hopped on Sunday. Would like to cold crash Friday and Saturday. And hopefully drink Sunday or Monday.

OG 1.068
FG 1.014

Bill

 

[TexasWine]

What is the correct way to use gelatin?

Like so....

http://brulosophy.com/2015/01/05/the-gelatin-effect-exbeeriment-results/

 

[madman960]

Thanks, Texas. It was a great read and very helpful.

Bill

 

[madman960]

I have a carba cap. Thinking about using it for a couple liters of this beer. I have not used it yet. Any reason not to try it?

 

[madman960]

So, I tried the carba cap. I can't wait for the keg to be ready. This is a good beer. Amazing mouthfeel and taste.

Bill