Month: October 2013

Winter project

Instead of washing yeast, I think this [1] is totally the way to go. Better control up front and gets one step closer to “real” brewery operations. Spreading the $10.99 (retail) cost of a yeast strain across half a dozen brews gets it down into the realm of negligible.

I need to find me a Walter White character to hook me up with all of the lab goodies.

[1] http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/slanting-yeast-133103/

It isn’t there

I can probably count the number of times I’ve meant to hit the ‘=’ key and actually hit the ‘=’ on the first try on a single hand. This really sucks in my line of work since variable assignment and the subtraction operand are not equivalent. Neither is an equality test the same as a decrement operand.

So the ol’ backspace key gets quite a workout at work is what I’m saying.

Brew report

And here’s today’s brew report:

Brewing Steps: 2013B05 Council Tucky 8
Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Type: All Grain Date: 10/27/2013
Batch Size
(fermenter): 5.00 gal		 Brewer: Nick Hansen
Boil Size: 6.52 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Pot and Cooler ( 5 Gal/19 L) – All Grain
Final Bottling Volume: 4.60 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:

Prepare for Brewing
 

Create a yeast starter with 3.30 qt of wort
  Clean and Prepare Brewing Equipment
  Total Water Needed: 8.69 gal
 

Mash or Steep Grains
 
Mash Ingredients


Amt
Name
Type
#
%/IBU
13 lbs 12.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 79.6 %
1 lbs Caramunich I (Weyermann) (51.0 SRM) Grain 2 5.8 %
10.3 oz Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 3 3.7 %
4.0 oz Carafa Special I (Weyermann) (320.0 SRM) Grain 4 1.4 %
4.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 5 1.4 %
2.0 oz Munich Light 10L (Gambrinus) (11.0 SRM) Grain 6 0.7 %
 
Mash Steps


Name
Description
Step Temperature
Step Time
Mash In Add 20.02 qt of water at 170.0 F 156.0 F 45 min
  Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.30gal, 3.39gal) of 168.0 F water

Boil Wort
  Add water to achieve boil volume of 6.52 gal
  Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.082 SG
 
Boil Ingredients


Amt
Name
Type
#
%/IBU
1 lbs 4.0 oz Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM) Sugar 7 7.2 %
1.00 oz Saaz [3.83 %] – Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 9.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] – Boil 60.0 min Hop 9 6.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.30 %] – Boil 30.0 min Hop 10 4.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.30 %] – Boil 5.0 min Hop 11 1.1 IBUs
0.38 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 12 –
 
  Estimated Post Boil Vol: 5.98 gal and Est Post Boil Gravity: 1.093 SG

Cool and Prepare Fermentation
  Cool wort to fermentation temperature
  Transfer wort to fermenter
  Add water to achieve final volume of 5.00 gal
 
Fermentation Ingredients


Amt
Name
Type
#
%/IBU
1.0 pkg Belgian Dark Ale (Wyeast Labs #3822) Yeast 13 –
  Measure Actual Original Gravity 1.085      (Target: 1.093 SG)
  Measure Actual Batch Volume 5.75      (Target: 5.00 gal)
Fermentation
  10/27/2013 – Primary Fermentation (14.00 days at 67.0 F ending at 67.0 F)
 
 
  Measure Final Gravity: _________  (Estimate: 1.019 SG)
  Date Bottled/Kegged: 11/10/2013 – Carbonation: Bottle with 5.56 oz Dry Malt Extract
  Age beer for 30.00 days at 65.0 F
  12/10/2013 – Drink and enjoy!
Notes