Doubling Down for Brew Day

[Fatherof4]

I had a good time brewing two BIAB batches today. I got two kits from a friend who did not want to brew anymore. Something something..store bought is just as good...I admit I nodded and didn't make him change his mind about giving me the kits. I still feel like a good person because I will share some with him when it's ready and THEN tell him why store bought isn't as good as homebrew.
So the kits are from Midwest Supplies. A Red Hood ESB and the other a Rocky Pale Ale. They are partial mash kits.
Both have a SG target of 1.050-1.055. I got a spot on 1.052 for the PA and a 1.051 for the ESB, which was very satisfying.
The yeast that came with it, Safale US-04 and 05 expired so I used two 05's that I had on hand.
I ground the grains at the LHBS the day before and was good to go for brew day.
I kept the grains at 155-159 for about 35-40 each and then did a rinse of the bag of grain into a separate pot which then went back into the wort. All went very well.
I used the immersion cooler to crash the temps of the wort, taking about 15min for each batch. That was surprising that it went so fast when I got almost 4.75 gallons in each pail and I brought it down from about 180 to 90, but it was a high flow rate and here in MN the water is always cold.
So here's some pics. Hope all will go well with the 1st stage fermentations. I'll update when it's ready.
Cheers! m


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Fatherof4

 

[W0GWT]

Looks good.

Depending on how old the kits are and how your friend stored them, you may have expiration issues beyond the yeast. The hops and extract can get oxidized and make a batch turn out a little rough.

Never know until you try!

 

[Chadwick]

eh, looks good to me. Go for it. Don't worry too much about it.

This is coming from a guy that actually brewed beer from 15 year old cans of liquid malt extract and used the yeast that came with those cans.

Don't worry, you are doing it right. (And way better right than the fiasco I mentioned above too)

 

[Fatherof4]

Both batches were good after a few weeks beyond the conditioning when the maltiness and hops decided to balance out with each other, making for a beer that was easy to drink up.


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Fatherof4