T’wasn’t perfect, but we got there.

[zippy84]

Hello all, first off, thank you all for the huge collective resource that has accumulated on this forum! Some awesome info and pretty much every question I have has been googled and answered by you guys!

I’ve done about a dozen extract beers so far. I got my doctorate the other day (not in home brewing) and decided I was going to do a partial mash celebratory brew… any apt name ideas would be welcomed btw. The whole brew took about 3 and a half to 4 hours! Didn’t expect it to take so long.

Good fun but it wasn’t plain sailing. I hit a mash temp of 152f and it stayed there. But during the mash I checked the thermometer and it read 195f ?!? I couldn’t understand what was going on. Took the lid off to try and cool it (I was mashing in a pot under a duvet), thought maybe it had absorbed heat from the pot or something, hey I don’t know, first time mashing. Turns out the thermometer packed in, what a time to do so! Had a spare, not as accurate though, but all good.

I had a tough time trying to get the temps down quickly after the boil! Got it down close in about 10 mins using frozen sterile bottles submerged/ice bath, but got it tough getting it down the rest of the way. Took about 30 mins total from flameout to pitch and at that it was a 74f pitch which isn't ideal, but herself needed the kitchen and was getting impatient!

Next problem was that I only hit an og of 1.037 which is far too light for my liking so I dumped in about 200-300g of brown and white sugar (boiled in water) and got it up to 1.040… it’s all I had lol.

It’s a Pale Ale. 2 kg Marris Otter, 1.5kg LME, 200g crystal, 3 hop additions over the hour boil.. magnum and cascade and I’m thinking of dry hopping with some more cascade.

Can’t wait to taste it, wort tasted great! Fermenting away happily after about 15 hours. Will the sugar have much impact on the balance? I’m guessing there’s a chance of fruity esters after the high temp pitch, but I’ll just give it a bit more time to clean itself up, hopefully that does the trick. Also, is it ok to prime this with plane table sugar?

 

[1977Brewer]

Call it Dr. Beer.

74 is high, but not crazy high. If you got it lower pretty quick you should be golden. It'll clean up easy. That's not a crazy amount of sugar, you're fine there. Looks like you made yourself a fine APA for an Irishman. I'd dry hop it for sure, but I'm thinking about dryhopping the cup of coffee in front of me right now.

 

[zippy84]

Call it Dr. Beer.

74 is high, but not crazy high. If you got it lower pretty quick you should be golden. It'll clean up easy. That's not a crazy amount of sugar, you're fine there. Looks like you made yourself a fine APA for an Irishman. I'd dry hop it for sure, but I'm thinking about dryhopping the cup of coffee in front of me right now.

Haha brilliant, someone needs to add that as a quote in their sig! Cheers, sounds good.

Edit: Done

 

[cannman]

Congrats!

Don't worry about the 4 hours... I do BIAB and all grain and sometimes, I'm outside for 7 hours!!! WTF right?? I don't know where the time goes. It just does.

With all grain, make sure you mix up your wort before taking that OG. Also if you're measuring with any temp outside of 70f, you have to temp correct (calculators available online).

Now that you've earned your doctorate, you should continue your celebration and purchase a wort immersion chiller or plate chiller!

The amount of sugar you added isn't much relatively speaking. But what yeast did you pitch?

 

[unionrdr]

It'll start to clean itself up of fermentation by-products after FG is reached. About 3-7 days for that to happen. & priming with table sugar is fine. Here's one of the priming calculators I use; http://www.northernbrewer.com/learn/resources/priming-sugar-calculator/

 

[zippy84]

Congrats!

Don't worry about the 4 hours... I do BIAB and all grain and sometimes, I'm outside for 7 hours!!! WTF right?? I don't know where the time goes. It just does.

With all grain, make sure you mix up your wort before taking that OG. Also if you're measuring with any temp outside of 70f, you have to temp correct (calculators available online).

Now that you've earned your doctorate, you should continue your celebration and purchase a wort immersion chiller or plate chiller!

The amount of sugar you added isn't much relatively speaking. But what yeast did you pitch?

Yeah it was well mixed up from aeration, forgot to do a temperature correction alright, cheers. Not really a fan of those immersion chillers, they waste a serious amount of good water. I think I'll just invest in more ice next time! I nearly had enough.

The yeast was a SAFALE US-05.

It'll start to clean itself up of fermentation by-products after FG is reached. About 3-7 days for that to happen. & priming with table sugar is fine. Here's one of the priming calculators I use; http://www.northernbrewer.com/learn/resources/priming-sugar-calculator/

Good stuff, yeah I've also used that one, handy to have all these calculators. The temp. correction brings my gravity to about 1.041.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Congratulations, Doctor. You can call it Dissertation Ale. Someone already beat me to asking about SG temp correction and mixing. Sounds like you're in good shape. As for immersion chillers, you don't have to waste a lot of water. I put my BK in the sink in an ice water bath and submerge a pump in the sink to circulate ice water through the chiller and back into the sink. I just top up the ice as it melts. Boiling to 65F in 15-20 min using a total of about 5 gal of water.

BTW, Doc, I have this pain in my side ....

 

[zippy84]

Congratulations, Doctor. You can call it Dissertation Ale. Someone already beat me to asking about SG temp correction and mixing. Sounds like you're in good shape. As for immersion chillers, you don't have to waste a lot of water. I put my BK in the sink in an ice water bath and submerge a pump in the sink to circulate ice water through the chiller and back into the sink. I just top up the ice as it melts. Boiling to 65F in 15-20 min using a total of about 5 gal of water.

BTW, Doc, I have this pain in my side ....

Thank you! Haha yeah I keep getting these visions.. I'm on a plane or something, 'Help, is anyone a doctor?' I shout yes, walk up and just stand there looking blankly

Isn't what you're doing effectively just an ice bath then? Or at least an ice bath inside your beer. I think by freezing glass bottles of water and sanitizing before the cold break is just as, if not more effective. I just need more of them next time!

How about.. The Doctor's Prescription.. or What the Doctor Ordered?

 

[unionrdr]

Think of his rig as an ice bath pre-chiller for the main wort chiller. He's chilling the incoming water before it actually goes through the wort chiller. I like that idea myself.

 

[zippy84]

Think of his rig as an ice bath pre-chiller for the main wort chiller. He's chilling the incoming water before it actually goes through the wort chiller. I like that idea myself.

Yeah sounds efficient! The beer was fairly clumpy, even in the test jar for measuring (which I'm not worried about btw). Am I right in saying this is cold break? Is this the haze proteins that have precipitated out? I've not seen it before as I've not chilled this quick. But I'm guessing it's a good sign for a clear beer?

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah man, it's cold break proteins. I got quite a bit of that last Saturday when, after chilling my PM irish red wort, straining it into the fermenter, then topping off with ice cold local spring water. I took my hydrometer sample, & all this brown, flaky/clumpy stuff was slowly settling out in the hydrometer tube. But, since only things like sugars dissolved in the wort are measured, Bob's still your uncle...

 

[RM-MN]

Hello all, first off, thank you all for the huge collective resource that has accumulated on this forum! Some awesome info and pretty much every question I have has been googled and answered by you guys!

I’ve done about a dozen extract beers so far. I got my doctorate the other day (not in home brewing) and decided I was going to do a partial mash celebratory brew… any apt name ideas would be welcomed btw. The whole brew took about 3 and a half to 4 hours! Didn’t expect it to take so long.

Good fun but it wasn’t plain sailing. I hit a mash temp of 152f and it stayed there. But during the mash I checked the thermometer and it read 195f ?!? I couldn’t understand what was going on. Took the lid off to try and cool it (I was mashing in a pot under a duvet), thought maybe it had absorbed heat from the pot or something, hey I don’t know, first time mashing. Turns out the thermometer packed in, what a time to do so! Had a spare, not as accurate though, but all good.

I had a tough time trying to get the temps down quickly after the boil! Got it down close in about 10 mins using frozen sterile bottles submerged/ice bath, but got it tough getting it down the rest of the way. Took about 30 mins total from flameout to pitch and at that it was a 74f pitch which isn't ideal, but herself needed the kitchen and was getting impatient!

Next problem was that I only hit an og of 1.037 which is far too light for my liking so I dumped in about 200-300g of brown and white sugar (boiled in water) and got it up to 1.040… it’s all I had lol.

It’s a Pale Ale. 2 kg Marris Otter, 1.5kg LME, 200g crystal, 3 hop additions over the hour boil.. magnum and cascade and I’m thinking of dry hopping with some more cascade.

Can’t wait to taste it, wort tasted great! Fermenting away happily after about 15 hours. Will the sugar have much impact on the balance? I’m guessing there’s a chance of fruity esters after the high temp pitch, but I’ll just give it a bit more time to clean itself up, hopefully that does the trick. Also, is it ok to prime this with plane table sugar?

Congratulations on becoming a Doctor, uh, not that kind of doctor, the PHd kind.

With getting your doctorate, you must be quite familiar with research so I'd suggest you research "no-chill brewing" as a way to save on water and ice. I've had a batch take up to 36 hours to reach pitching temperature with no problems of infection in the beer. You just have to take the proper procedures to make sure that it doesn't have the opportunity.

I understand about thermometers and the problems they can cause. I bought a digital that is spot on at room temp but off by more than 10 degrees at boiling and who knows where it might be at mashing temp. I also had a moment of panic when I used my glass themometer to measure the mash temp and read the Celcius scale when I intended to read the Fahrenheit scale.

Being that this was a partial mash and that you added extract to it, did you have to add top-off water to it when you put it into the fermenter? Improper mixing of the wort and top-off water is a common problem with OG readings. You might have been pretty close to where you wanted to be for OG before you added sugar. If so, you'll just have to choke down beer that is higher in alcohol than you intended.

Dry hopping with Cascade will get you more of a grapefruit aroma, dry hopping with Citra and Cascade will make it more intense. I loved that batch. Be aware that the aroma from dry hopping will fade with time. I noticed it at about 3 months. The beer tasted good for quite some time after that (until it was gone) but the aroma continued to lessen.

 

[zippy84]

Congratulations on becoming a Doctor, uh, not that kind of doctor, the PHd kind.

Thanks!!

I'd suggest you research "no-chill brewing" as a way to save on water and ice. I've had a batch take up to 36 hours to reach pitching temperature with no problems of infection in the beer. You just have to take the proper procedures to make sure that it doesn't have the opportunity.

Hmm yeah I've read into this already, not sure I fancy it, although I commend the advantages! I would rather a cold break and less chance for infection, although as you say precautions can help prevent this, there's still a greater risk.

I understand about thermometers and the problems they can cause. I bought a digital that is spot on at room temp but off by more than 10 degrees at boiling and who knows where it might be at mashing temp. I also had a moment of panic when I used my glass themometer to measure the mash temp and read the Celcius scale when I intended to read the Fahrenheit scale.

I keep buying these $10 thermometers off of Ebay.. think I'll have to invest in a decent one!

Being that this was a partial mash and that you added extract to it, did you have to add top-off water to it when you put it into the fermenter?

Yes, 2 gallon boil topped off with bottled water, next time it will be refrigerated. I reckon with chilled top-off water and a little more ice I'll have no prob at all getting it down to pitching temps.

Improper mixing of the wort and top-off water is a common problem with OG readings.

Really? Don't people aerate? Would have assumed that was an obligatory step, that would consequently ensure proper mixing.

 

[RM-MN]

You do get cold break with no chill but it isn't as obvious.

Mixing the concentrated wort with top off water is more difficult than it would seem. Even with good aeration you still may not get really good mixing.

You might need a better thermometer than the $10 one from Ebay. Try a $12 one from Walmart.

I've actually had pretty good accuracy with the thermometer that I got from Walmart. The one I got from Ebay seems to be linear but on a slightly different scale than I would like.:cross:

 

[unionrdr]

Since I brew with local spring water, I chill a couple gallons a day or two before brewday for topping off. Chilling the wort in an ice bath till it's down to 75F or so. Then strain into fermenter. The fine mesh strainer helps aerate as well as getting the gunk out. Then the chilled spring water, not having been boiled, contains more o2. Boiling drives off dissolved o2. Topping off to recipe volume with it puts some back. Splashing, rough stirring, etc helps put it back. I also use floating thermometers from Midwest & Northern Brewer.

 

[zippy84]

I strained from pot to fermenter, and splashed like crazy topping off. Then stirring for a further 5-`10 mins. Well aerated! Crazy fermentation going on at the moment.. even through the opaque bucket I can see lumps flying around.
Must get me a carboy, think that will be her graduation present for me

Floating thermometer looks good, but I like the idea of being able to monitor my mash without interfering... using a probe on a wire kind of thing.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah, I thought about it myself, as they have that thermowell thing that goes in the bucket, whatever. Then the probe goes down into the well to monitor temps. But some mentioned needing to use silicone gel to get accurate temp readings with that one? For mashing, it'd have to be able to withstand steam & temps.

 

[zippy84]

Another question: I have some pellet hops for dry hopping. I'm still undecided as to whether I should add these or not. Already plenty in there, 3 additions; at 60 mins; 15 mins; 0 mins. I think I've a good shot at getting a really clear beer (this is the first time I've used whirlfloc and had such a rapid cold break with evident clumps of protein).. Will dry hopping with pellets compromise my chances of clarity any?

I plan to cold crash after conditioning, in a newly acquired home brew dedicated fridge. :rockin: So maybe pellets in the primary will be insignificant? Or maybe they'll contribute a haze? It's not a must, as most of my beers have had a degree of chill haze, but it'd be nice for a change to show off a nice, shiny, crystal clear beer.

 

[AndytheBeave]

the dry pellets will contribute a bit more gunk when they break down but they'll drop out when you cold crash.
I prefer pellets for dry hopping actually.
Sounds like you had a fun brew day!

 

[MadHomebrewer]

My last brew was my first time dry hoping. I used pellets and all the hops stayed up top. Once I cold crashed it for 24 hours all the hop gunk fell to the bottom. It came out pretty clear. Just racked to secondary and dry hopping a citra pale ale this weekend.



After cold crash:
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1431305127.569745.jpg

 

[zippy84]

Sounds like you had a fun brew day!

Sure was!

they'll drop out when you cold crash.

Once I cold crashed it for 24 hours all the hop gunk fell to the bottom.

I wasn't planning on cold crashing in the primary, I was going to do this after bottling and conditioning. Figured it would take an extra week or 2 to carb up with the extra yeast dropped out if I cold crashed before bottling... I don't have a kegging setup. If I was going to be dry hopping it would be in a bag, not sure how effective this would be with pellets.

 

[zippy84]

Update: 8 days in. The ferment is all but finished, beer is @ about 1.007 and approx 4.4% abv. It smells and tastes delicious, lovely hop aroma and taste; which I hope hangs around. I was a little bit worried about the strength of hop smell and taste on day 1 and thought, 'hmm this will mellow relax, it's my first partial with hops'. I've done extracts, but mainly just pre-hopped kits, not added fresh hops.

I was also a bit worried about DMS, having left the lid on somewhat throughout the boil... not having heard/learned a thing about this, even after extensive reading and watching videos. When I think back though, there was plenty of evaporation in the pot, marked by a trail of hop residue on the pot walls, so if water got out - so did sulphur, the lid isn't a very tight fit anyway. But I am glad to report no off flavours in that dept. Also, no metallic flavours that most of my brews have had to date having always used my tap water.. I'm slightly sorry I haven't tried bottled water before now.. or maybe it's just the transition to partial mash, probably both.

Edit: Dry-hopped it with cascade, wasn't pellets, wasn't leaves, not sure what it was, in some sort of vacuum pack, a hop-bag (not muslin, like teabag material) full of stuff.. to be added to a cup of boiling water for 10 mins and then water and hop bag to be dumped into fermenter, which I did. Think I'm going to let it sit for another 6 days approx (total of 2 weeks ferment) then cold crash for a week before bottling.. after which I'll prob give it another 2-3 weeks.

Any thoughts?

I also came up with a label based on what I talked about before and a congratulatory toy Doctor set from my sister:

 

[zippy84]

Update: One week cold crashed, another week in the bottle, only 24 hrs in the fridge and already tasting amazing and almost crystal clear!

Lovely round balance of flavour, hop aroma and taste is perfect at this stage. Little under carbonated but it probably needs another week or 2 conditioning. My extracts in the past have generally tasted quite dry. This has a nice full, complex mouth feel... sweet and bitter.

My first partial mash and easily best beer to date!

 

[zippy84]

Just to update on the above beer one last time... as of last night it's gone! It was so good! I could not find fault with it. I'm not a seasoned apa drinker but I'm sold now! This is one of the best beers I have tasted never mind brewed, chuffed I was able to brew something so good! I miss it already.. so much so I'm brewing almost the exact same beer again, as of last night.

Few mods from last batch even though the recipe is the same:
-Rehydrated yeast this time.
-It's a Gervin ale yeast as opposed to Saf 05, should be interesting to see the difference.
-Used 2kg of Irish Pale Malt as opposed to Maris Otter.
-Used an extra 300g of lme and used an additional 500g dme
-Got the wort from flameout to 64 f in about 10 mins.
- OG worked out at 1.043

This is only my second partial mash and I felt I nailed it, no mistakes (that I know of).. few the first time round. Mash temps spot on, didn't lose a single degree in an hour. Shaved a good hour off my last brew time too.