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Linux and Beer Brews

Just checked on this. Fermentation has really exploded, foam from the blow off tube.. etc.

I finished brewing late. The carboy is happily sitting in the freezer. Here is the final recipe

4 lbs. Maris Otter Pale Malt
8 ounce CaraPils
6 ounces flaked wheat
2 ounces cooked oatmeal
6.6 lbs. Briess Pilsen light liquid malt extract
1 lb Hawaiian Turbinado Sugar (sugar in the raw)

1 oz Chinook Hops 60 mins
.5 oz Kent Goldings (whole) 20 mins
.5 oz Kent Goldings (whole) 15 mins
1 tsp irish moss 15 mins
1 tsp Wyeast nutrient 15 mins
1 oz Cascade (whole) 10 mins
Add Turbinado Sugar @ 10 mins
.5 oz Kent Goldings (whole) 5 mins
.5 oz Kent Goldings (whole) 1 min

The final SG was 1.050 @ 76.5F in 6.5 gallons (1.052 corrected)

The oatmeal was prepared by cooking it in 2 cups of water on the stove for 8 minutes then adding another cup of water to thin it out.

The mashing went ok. I had a problem getting the wort to flow. I found that the knot in the hop sock used in my improvised manifold had clogged up the spigot. I ended up dumping the mash into a pot, fixing the manifold, and dumping everything back into the mash tun. I tried to minimize the amount of spashing, but we will see how it goes once fermentation has finished. I collected 13 quarts of wort from the mash. SG was 1.040 @ 87.4 F(1.043 corrected).

The boil was uneventful save a small boilover. I found that wort has a tendency to boil over a min or two after hop additions. I used the airstone for about 40 mins once the wort was in the fermenter to introduce oxygen.

I was going to make an attempt to let the hot and cold break settle once I sparged the wort into the fermenter, but My second carboy that I was going to syphon into had some crud on the inside that I was not able to scrub out. so I left that carboy soaking overnight to see if the crud will come out. I am going to look for something to clean the insides of carboys that is better than a carboy brush. They just don’t seem to be able to get this crud off.

I sparged into the carboy as normal, but this time I only put in 1.5 gallons of water then sparged into the carboy. I rinsed the hops a little to extract the remaining sugars, and topped off with another 1 gallon of spring water and the remainder distilled and RO water.

The only thing to note is that I should have added the yeast starter, then topped up with water to 6 gallon mark, then aerated. This would have worked the best.

The next time I need to remember to chill the water. Also make sure I have a fermenter cleaned so I can let things settle and syphon off the hot and cold break.

I always loved the videos that they make over at rathergood.com. Check this one out.
Beer Beer Beer

4 lbs. Maris Otter Pale Malt
2 cups cara-Pils (will figure weight tomorrow)
6 ounces flaked wheat
6.6 lbs. Briess Pilsen light liquid malt extract
1 lb Hawaiian Turbinado Sugar (sugar in the raw)

1 oz Chinook Hops 60 mins
.5 oz Kent Goldings (whole) 20 mins
.5 oz Kent Goldings (whole) 15 mins
1 tsp irish moss 15 mins
1/2 tsp Wyeast nutrient 15 mins (per nutirent directions)
1 oz Cascade (whole) 10 mins
Add Turbinado Sugar @ 10 mins
.5 oz Kent Goldings (whole) 5 mins
.5 oz Kent Goldings (whole) 1 min

Target SG should be 1.065 assuming 53% mash Efficiency
I am planning to use half distilled water and half spring water

This has got to be one of the best beers that I have ever brewed. It is really good.

This beer picked up a lacto infection. Maybe it was how I cleaned the bottles, or sanitized. The few that I have had are drinkable, but do not taste the best.

Finished the yeast starter. I have almost 2L after the boiling 7.5 ounces malt sugar and a few whole cascade hops flowers for 15 mins. I used half spring water and half distilled water for the starter. I added 1 tsp of Wyeast yeast nutrient, to the boil as well.

I dialed in the air pump with hepa filter and 2 micron airstone to supply oxygen to the yeast. I also boiled the airstone in a small pot of water for 5 mins and sanitized the air hose in idophor solution. All items that touched the starter were sanitized or boiled (Funnel, strainer, etc.)

I activated yeast for my next batch of ale. Wyeast 1098 British Ale Yeast (0802398) MFG 06 NOV 07. I guess that is about as fresh as it gets.

I updated the networking options in the /etc/sysctl.conf file to optimize network communications on my linux server.

I added the following options. A reboot was necessary for them to take effect

net.ipv4.tcp_timestamps = 0
net.ipv4.tcp_sack = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_fack = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_window_scaling = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_synack_retries = 2
net.ipv4.tcp_syn_retries = 3

net.core.rmem_default = 65535
net.core.rmem_max = 8388608
net.ipv4.tcp_rmem = 4096 87380 8388608
net.core.wmem_default = 65535
net.core.wmem_max = 8388608
net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 4096 65535 8388608
net.ipv4.tcp_mem = 8388608 8388608 8388608
net.core.optmem_max = 40960

I renamed this one an ESB.. it fits this style better.