May 3, 2007

Brewing finished. Yeast Pitched

Category: Strong Bitter — Josh @ 3:09 am

The Recipe:
4 lbs American 2 Row malted barley
1 lb 10L crystal malt
3.3 lbs. Briess Golden light liquid malt extract
2 lbs Hawaiian Turbano (sugar in the raw)

1 oz Northern Brewer (Whole) 70 mins
1 oz Styrian Goldings (Whole) 60 mins
1 tsp Irish Moss 15 mins
1 oz Styrian Goldings (Whole) 10 mins
1 oz Kent Goldings (Whole) 5 mins
1 oz Hersbrucker Hallertau (Whole) (Steep for 10 mins after heat off)

I finished brewing this morning. I had to let the grain mash a little longer to get the starch conversion to complete. My digital thermometer worked for a little while after I got it dried out, but it quit working again before I finished mashing. I ended up mashing for almost 2 hours before I got the sparge water heated up enough. I performed the initial mashin with 1.25 gallons of water (thick mash) at 165F. Temp of mash stabilized at 150. The temp after 1 hour had fallen to 147 after an hour and down to 143 after another hour. I stirred it several times which is why I think the temp dropped so much during that time. I ran off that wort and recirculated it until it was clear, then added another gallon of 170F water and let the grains soak for 10 mins. I ran off that wort and added another gallon of 170F sparge water, then ran off the wort a final time.

Batch sparging rocks.

May 2, 2007

Mashing has begun

Category: Strong Bitter — Josh @ 8:30 pm

I have begun mashing 4 lbs of 2 row american malt, and 1 lb of 10l Crystal malt. 1.25 gallons of water at 165F. Temp of mash stabilized at 150. on Another Note I purchased a digital thermometer today. I dropped it into the mash water while I was checking on the temp of the water. It promptly stopped working. I am trying to dry it out with a hair dryer, but I don’t think it will help much.

May 1, 2007

Yeast starter beginning to sediment

Category: Strong Bitter — Josh @ 6:40 pm

The starter is beginning to sediment and clear after only 24 hours. The air made the starter ferment extremely fast.

April 30, 2007

Made the yeast starter

Category: Strong Bitter — Josh @ 6:36 pm

I made my starter wort in the same way that I did all my previous starters. I used 2 quarts of water but with 7 ounces of dried malt extract this time and a little hops. I did have some issues with a boil over, and with spilling some when funneling into my sanitized 2 liter soda bottle. Besides all that, I made my starter with about 1 quart of wort because of all the loss. The big thing that I did differently this time with my starter is to aerate the wort with a stainless steel airstone (2 micron), a hepa filter (to make the air sterile), and an aquarium pump.

April 28, 2007

Yeast activated

Category: Strong Bitter — Josh @ 6:23 pm

I activated the yeast for another attempt at a bitter. Yeast is Wyeast 1028 London ale yeast from March 15.