My first brewday in 18 months. All grain, almost all success!

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Aedan382

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Jan 26, 2011
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Well, after taking an involuntary leave of absence from brewing (having a first born son... WORTH IT) this past Saturday, I had my first brew day.
First yay me moment: putting together a functioning keggle!
Second yay me moment: using a piece of PVC to mark the volume of liquid in said keggle, from the level of the ball valve, so I can get the correct amount of wort during the sparge.
Third yay me moment: Measuring the dead space in the keggle to just a hair over 1 gallon.
So the third yay me moment is actually my first whoops. I marked the PVC stick from the valve level, and not the actual volume... It's came to bite me in the ass, as my post boil of was 1.074, which surprised me a lot. I was shooting for 1.090 for a big malty IIPA. It was after the wort was chilled and I was about to overflow my 6 gallon fermenter that I realized that I had gather closer to 7.5 gallons....

You know, I thought the final runnings from my sparge MIT have looked a tad on the clear side...

These last two are key
 
Just a 1" PVC pipe used as a dip stick to measure volume in the keggle by depth. I poured in water 1gallon at a time, then marked the PVC for each gallon. I THOUGHT I was being smart, starting the measurements with the dead-space below the valve covered, but when I was filling the carboy, I tipped the kettle to get as much wort out as possible, it was then I noticed I was over by almost 1.5 gallons. Got an OG Of 1.074, so it won't be too bad as long as I get her down to 1.012 or 1.014. I made a 2L starter with WLP001 should be fine. Either way, it'll still be beer!!
 
Congrats on the birth of your son. I too had to take a little hiatus once my son was born, and still not quite at the amount of brewing I would like. But wouldn't change a thing
 
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