I have not brewed for the last 12 years and today I cooked up a Belgian Schelde from an AHS LME/Grain kit using a full boil technique. As I was opening the cane sugar plastic pouch with scissors and managed to cut all the way through the plastic which of course then fell into the wort. Took about 8-10 minutes of stirring before I could finally trap the plastic with the mixing paddle. The boil and the hop additions went well. The new DIY IC worked very well. It was a Bobby M special. OG was 1.060 (supposed to be 1.065). I used a Wyeast smack pack and pitched around 78 degrees and gave it a good agitation. Attached a blowoff and put it in a cool part of the basement. Started thinking about the temp and decided to check and before any visible fermentation had started, the temp was actually about 85 degrees. Had a handle tub lying around and rigged up a swamp cooler. Temp is now in the mid 60s. Hopefully the fermentation will be off any running by morning.
The wealth of information located here is fantastic and the willingness of this community to share that information is incredible. Thanks to all the forum participants for helping to revive a hobby I used to love.
One additional note, as I was digging out the old bottles, I came across a ten year old Irish Stout. Seemed fitting to open one up today and give it a go. Decent carbonation, bubbles rising the whole time. The stout taste was there and it was drinkable. Not something I would want to serve others, but it was drinkable.
Again, thanks for all the help.
Opus
