tedski
Well-Known Member
So, I brewed my first batch today after receiving my gear from San Francisco Brewcraft. I had brewed a batch with friends before, so I had a basic idea of what was to happen. In the end, I missed the target gravity by .002. I'm not sure if that's a huge miss. I guess my partial mash sparging wasn't thorough enough. Here's the recipe and what I did.
First, I boiled a full pot of water for 30 minutes in my aluminum kettle to oxidize it. I had a good oxidation layer there, so I filled it back up with a rough 3 gallons of water and brought it to 155 F.
1.5 lbs 2-row
.5 lbs Victory
.25 lbs barley flakes
Put my grains in the grain bag and dropped that in my water for 45 minutes. I insulated the pot with a bunch of heavy towels and it only had dropped to 150 when I opened it up. Instructions said to just dip the bag of grains in and out of the water to sparge. I didn't squeeze it out, just let it drain off and then tossed the grains on the compost pile.
Brought everything to boil again, turned off the heat and stirred in my 6 lbs of malt extract. Brought it back to a nice heavy rolling boil for 60 minutes. Added hops according to schedule.
60 min. 1 oz. Cascade (6.3% AA)
30 min. 1 oz. Cascade (6.3% AA)
10 min. .5 oz. Cascade (4.4% AA)
end of boil .5 oz. Cascade (4.4% AA)
30 min. 1 tab whirlfloc
I rehydrated my Windsor yeast according to instructions and started to cool my wort in the ice bath. I got the wort down to 80 F and put 2.5 gallons of filtered water in the primary fermenter (bucket fermenter). Dumped 1/3 of the wort in the primary and it was about 75 degrees. Pitched the yeast and poured in the rest of the wort. Took my plastic spoon and created some aeration in the bucket. Took samples and recorded OG.
Target OG: 1.056
Target FG: 1.012
My OG: 1.054
I popped the lid on the fermenter, put it in my basement where it stays nearly 68-70 all day long. I filled up my airlock and put it in the stopper and there it sits. Labeled it, recorded notes regarding process.
So, critique me, please. How's my process? Is the OG really that off or is it not that big of a deal. That OG is corrected for temperature. The one thing I made sure I did was sanitize EVERYTHING. I kept my sink full of 6 gallons of OneStep solution with a sanitized drying rack on the counter. Everything that went in my wort would go into that bath for 5 minutes then air dry. I'll post some pictures of my makeshift setup later when I get a chance.
For now, I'm just super stoked to have SOMETHING in primary!! I love this hobby. I need some Better Bottles so I can have a few things going!!
Thanks for any help!
First, I boiled a full pot of water for 30 minutes in my aluminum kettle to oxidize it. I had a good oxidation layer there, so I filled it back up with a rough 3 gallons of water and brought it to 155 F.
1.5 lbs 2-row
.5 lbs Victory
.25 lbs barley flakes
Put my grains in the grain bag and dropped that in my water for 45 minutes. I insulated the pot with a bunch of heavy towels and it only had dropped to 150 when I opened it up. Instructions said to just dip the bag of grains in and out of the water to sparge. I didn't squeeze it out, just let it drain off and then tossed the grains on the compost pile.
Brought everything to boil again, turned off the heat and stirred in my 6 lbs of malt extract. Brought it back to a nice heavy rolling boil for 60 minutes. Added hops according to schedule.
60 min. 1 oz. Cascade (6.3% AA)
30 min. 1 oz. Cascade (6.3% AA)
10 min. .5 oz. Cascade (4.4% AA)
end of boil .5 oz. Cascade (4.4% AA)
30 min. 1 tab whirlfloc
I rehydrated my Windsor yeast according to instructions and started to cool my wort in the ice bath. I got the wort down to 80 F and put 2.5 gallons of filtered water in the primary fermenter (bucket fermenter). Dumped 1/3 of the wort in the primary and it was about 75 degrees. Pitched the yeast and poured in the rest of the wort. Took my plastic spoon and created some aeration in the bucket. Took samples and recorded OG.
Target OG: 1.056
Target FG: 1.012
My OG: 1.054
I popped the lid on the fermenter, put it in my basement where it stays nearly 68-70 all day long. I filled up my airlock and put it in the stopper and there it sits. Labeled it, recorded notes regarding process.
So, critique me, please. How's my process? Is the OG really that off or is it not that big of a deal. That OG is corrected for temperature. The one thing I made sure I did was sanitize EVERYTHING. I kept my sink full of 6 gallons of OneStep solution with a sanitized drying rack on the counter. Everything that went in my wort would go into that bath for 5 minutes then air dry. I'll post some pictures of my makeshift setup later when I get a chance.
For now, I'm just super stoked to have SOMETHING in primary!! I love this hobby. I need some Better Bottles so I can have a few things going!!
Thanks for any help!