brewing an ESB today

[GoldenShowerGladiator]

recipe looks like this:

5 lbs Light DME

1 lb Munich
1 lb Crystal 60L
.25 lb Biscuit
.25 lb Victory
.25 lb White Wheat

.5 oz Magnum (60)
.5 oz Challenger (45)
1 oz Challenger (30)
.5 oz Glacier (15)

2 packs of Wyeast 1968 (didn't have time to make a starter so i grabbed 2)

 

[GoldenShowerGladiator]

only thing i'm doing differently today is a full boil. i bought a Brewers Best 30 qt stainless steel pot so i'm hoping this puts an end to the last few years of partial boils. any tips? i was going to steep with 2 gallons for 30 minutes @ 155 degrees. i take it i then add water to get up to 6.5 gallons? or should i go less?

 

[Calder]

If you want to get anything out of the Munich, Biscuit, Victory, and Wheat, you should 'steep' the grains in 3.5 quarts (7 pints) of 155 F water for 30 minutes.

These grains need to be mashed. Reducing the amount of water keeps the concentration of enzymes in the 'mash' high enough to find and convert the starches.

 

[GoldenShowerGladiator]

using the 1 gallon of water per pound of grain formula that gets tossed around here means i should steep in 2.75 gallons of water, no?

 

[llamabox]

Not 1 gallon but 1 quart. Or more like 1.5qt per pound of grains.

 

[Calder]

using the 1 gallon of water per pound of grain formula that gets tossed around here means i should steep in 2.75 gallons of water, no?

I use 1.3 quarts per lb. Once you have mashed, if you rinse the grains in 170 F water, you will get more sugars out. You can do it by putting a gallon of water in a pot and heating to 170 F. Once you have mashed the grains, drain them and then place in this next gallon of water. Leave it for 10 minutes and then remove the grains.

 

[GoldenShowerGladiator]

damn. i don't see any way i can use that little water without just dumping the grains straight in. i'm going to use a gallon of water and a paint strainer and see how that goes

 

[Bob]

You're going to be making a thick porridge. That's the mash. Stir it well so there are no clumps, cover it and leave it alone for at least 30 minutes. I use a paint-strainer bag for this in an old - and I mean OLD - enameled cooler, like an Igloo cooler from the 1950s (it's called an Artic Boy and I got it for free from my dad, stop laughing). You can do it in another, smaller stockpot (by "smaller" I mean 10-15 quart) using the paint strainer bag.

Check out Deathbrewer's stovetop partial mash tutorial here. It's easy!

Cheers!

Bob

 

[GoldenShowerGladiator]

having a carb problem with this beer. i ended up bottling 4.5 gallons of this and i carbed with 2 ounces of priming sugar. i popped one open today and it didn't have too much carbonation to it. it hissed as i popped the top but there was no head at all within seconds. i tried to keep the carbonation level low due to style. is there a simple solution to fix this. i was thinking maybe i could pop the tops off and add one of those tablets for carbonating i've seen at my LHBS?

 

[GoldenShowerGladiator]

i should note that they've been carbing for 15 days now.

 

[Calder]

2 ozs sugar for 4.5 gallons is very low. What type of sugar, and why such a low amount.

 

[GoldenShowerGladiator]

i went low because ESB's are typically served with little carbonation. i guess i just went too low. i used your standard corn sugar

 

[LTownLiquorPig]

Sort of related, but I bottled a Cooper's IPA with a little over 2ozs of dextrose and it carbed nicely for what I wanted in about 2 weeks. Kept them on the cool side too. I was going for a lightly carbed "casked" feel I thought, although I've never had one. I'd say just wait another week, then stick one in the fridge for a couple days before you try anything drastic.

 

[GoldenShowerGladiator]

i opened one at room temperature (68 degrees) last night and it had minimal head. it was actually really good. reminded me of the one i love at my favorite local brewpub which they serve on cask (Broad Ripple Brewpub if you're in the area)