The good, the bad, and the ugly of my first High Gravity beer

[BillTheSlink]

Well, it's in the log books. Today I did my Christmas Ale, which is Ol' Yule Loggy, an Old English Ale from Jamil with an OG of 1.090. I wanted it for this Christmas, only to find out it will be ready for next; mistake #1

I had a great starter of White Labs English Ale on the stir plate. I said to my 1/2 blind grandmother, "Too bad you can't see well enough to watch those yeast clumps swirl around in there. It's like a lava lamp; I just can't take my eyes off it".

To wit she replied, "Your lucky the cat didn't knock it off the counter last night. I found that tin foil laying so nice and neat right in front of it, like it just popped off there. I put it back on for you." Mistake #2. I did have a packet of Nottingham so all wasn't lost.

Normally I dump the whole bag of grains into the strike water, but ah I was so smart this time. "20.50lbs of grain in 20.5 quarts of water is going to be a bit stiff; better do it slowly". Well yes indeed it is; far to stiff for my wimpy plastic spoon. It was like taking a stick of warm butter to a fight with Zorro. Mistake #3

Used a little wimpy wire tie to put the toilet supply braid on the ball valve of my Rubbermaid cooler and knock the damned thing off before sparge. Will Use a hose clamp next time and just change them each time. Mistake #4

Made a sloppy mess all over myself and everything around me getting the grain and sparge water out to make the repair. Mistake #5

Now for some good.

Pre-boil gravity was spot on. Hurray #1

Achieved the highly sought after evaporation rate of 12% Hurray #2

Efficiency 70% even with the disaster. Hurray #3

Back to some bad.

Discovered I was missing the faucet to hose adapter for the chiller at the end of the boil and had to run to the grocery store at 8:30 pm praying they would have one. They did. Mistake #6

The 12% evaporation rate had me at too much wort and too low a gravity. I knew it had to boil some more anyway since it could have been contaminated while at the store, so I fired it up and just kept taking gravity readings every 15 min. Danged if I didn't overshoot by .007. Mistake #7

I am so wore out and sore. But this six pack of Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss (Blackberry and Honey) I am getting intimate with is helping me recover.

 

[BillTheSlink]

Rhino farts coming from blow off tube once every 2-3 seconds now less than 24 hours in. Hurray #4! All has been worthwhile.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Brewing's always a learning experience. Glad it seems to be turning out well. Merry Christmas Ale!

 

[JKoravos]

Sounds like par for the course in my brewhouse!

I just did a starter with WLP007 and it had that clumpy, break-like, look to it. I would've though it was weird if the yeast in the vial hadn't looked the same way.

I'm curious to her how the 002 attenuates on that beer (or did you use the Notty?), I went with the 007 over the 002 for my Xmas ale for fear of low attenuation.

 

[BillTheSlink]

Yep, I had to go with the Notty. I just couldn't pitch yeast that might have been contaminated into a beer that will take a year to finish.

Yeah, nothing is ever perfect on brew day. I guess I have such a problem because I have such a bad back and have to sit and rest every ten min.. I can never clean up the same day as an all grain batch, there just isn't enough time in the day. I just throw everything like the spoon and hoses into the sanitizer bucket to keep the wort from setting up and seal up the mash tun-spent grains and all, until the next day. Luckily I brew outside on the patio so I can get away with it.

 

[Revvy]

Betcha can't wait now til Christmas, 2010.

(You won't forget all the advice unca revvy gave you, eh? )

 

[MultumInParvo]

Over coming adversity eh? I wrote about that on my SATs, so, you know, if you take those, you're all set!

I love it when things work out even after they go wrong.

 

[BillTheSlink]

Betcha can't wait now til Christmas, 2010.

(You won't forget all the advice unca revvy gave you, eh? )

No, I promise I won't open it too soon. Maybe just one near Christmas 2010 to make sure I am not planning a bash with them and they're trash. That would be bad.:cross:

Next I am going to do some experimenting. I am taking Bee Cave Brewery's Kolsch recipe and combining it with Biermuncher's use of Sweet Orange in it. I'll split the batch with Mom and she can party with her friends.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

I relate to the back situation. My back isn't super bad, but I also have to take frequent rests and force myself to sit for a good part of the brew day. If I don't, my back is screwed at the end of the day.

 

[Krelja]

I've had good luck using a piece of tubing over a barb inside my cooler MLT. Then slide the braid over that and it hold on like chinese fingercuffs. Never had a problem with it falling off and also don't have to worry about anything rusting. Brewdays can be worse but it always makes beer and most of it very good