5 gal kit from Northern Brewer.
4 gal in the kettle
No steeping grains. Filled up the kettle, and brought to a boil.
3 lb Pils malt LME - 60 mins
1/2 oz Simcoe hops 12.3% AA - 60 mins
3 lb Pils malt LME - 30 mins (trying to keep the coloring lighter)
1/2 oz Simcoe hops 12.3% AA - 15 mins
1 tablet Whirlfloc - 15 mins
1 oz Simcoe hops 12.3% AA - 0 mins
1 oz Simcoe hops 12.3% AA - dry hops
Killed the heat. Whirlpooled and set kettle in metal bucket for ice bath. It was so hot, it melted down all the ice pretty quick and brought the ice water temp up to 85 within 20 mins. Took over 45 mins to bring down to 90.
Poured wort through the double-mesh strainer into a 6.5 gallon Big Mouth glass carboy. Took a gravity reading and topped off with about 1 gal of cold water to bring volume up to 5 gal. It was my first time using the Brewer's Friend app to figure out how much water to add. Never noticed that option, very clever little app. After adding 1 gal of cold water, the gravity was 1.048. Pretty close to the 1.044 I was shooting for.
Pitched Wyeast American Ale II, which I had smacked earlier and allowed to fully swell.
Attached the airlock and let it sit in my father-in-law's basement, where it should stay in the high 60's. Basements in Minnesota are still really cool even in August. As you can see, here's plenty of headspace in the fermenter so we shouldn't need a blowoff tube. I made sure to show him how to install it just in case the airlock is clogged in the morning. Total brewday time ~ 3.5 hrs.
Target OG: 1.044
Actual OG: 1.048
est IBU: 29.22
est FG: 1.011
est SRM: 2.72
est ABV: 4.86%
Bottling Update: 9/13/15
Tasted the sample and it was very promising. Once it's all carbed up, it should be a really good one. The final gravity landed right at 1.011, nailed it! Bottled it up in the in-laws garage. 2 weeks to carbonate, then we'll toast to the coming autumn.
Tasting night: 09/27/15
All carbed up and chilled. Had it along w/ some nice ribs my father-in-law smoked this afternoon. The beer had a dank citrusy hop aroma, white foam head that lingered around the edge of the glass, medium-light body, medium hop presence in the taste and finish. Very clear for such a young beer. Was in the fridge for maybe 4 hours prior to tasting. I took the below photo this evening. It's a really nice one. Best one I'm done in several months. We're really happy about it. As soon as I got home, I made sure to check the next local homebrew contest. I've entered it in Category 10A, American Pale Ale in the Hoppy Halloween Challenge in Fargo, ND at the end of Oct.
No comments:
Post a Comment