13 May 2006
Rain Rain Go Away
So the rain began here in GR on Thursday and it has not stopped yet. Thursday brought some crazy wind which brought down quite a bit of tree matter and gnereally made a mess of the yard. Thankfully we had no damage, like KzooJason.
But a nice thing to do while it rains and rains and rains is make some more tasty beer. I was able to persuade Digennero to join me again in brewing so I did not have to do it alone or drive out to Muskegon just to make beer.
After the fantastic results of the Hefeweizen IV back in January and the fact that the keg is now nearly empty I decided that 10 gallons of this recipe would be a great way to start the summer. This would be the first time that I would be attempting 10 gallons here at home. The last 10 gallon batch was at Chip's, where he is fully equiped to handle the size of the kegs.
This got off to a fine start. I had cracked the grains the night before and started the yeast. I once again did a step mash to help convert the 6-row malt. I hit all of the temp marks thru the mash and as I was sparging I took a pre-boil gravity measurement. Good news...I was on target to have plenty of alcohol. After the boil and the chilling it was apparent that I had either lost more water during the boil than I had expected or I had not pulled as much wort from the mash tun as I should have. Thankfully, I sitll had the gravity. So while only 8.5 gallons came out of the boil kettel I was able to add 1.5 gallons of cold water to bring the volume up to the expected level and maintain the gravity that is required.
Now, 16 hours later the two fermentors are bubbling away and everything looks like it is going swimmingly.
By the way....sorry for the long delay in posting. ¶ 14:04
But a nice thing to do while it rains and rains and rains is make some more tasty beer. I was able to persuade Digennero to join me again in brewing so I did not have to do it alone or drive out to Muskegon just to make beer.
After the fantastic results of the Hefeweizen IV back in January and the fact that the keg is now nearly empty I decided that 10 gallons of this recipe would be a great way to start the summer. This would be the first time that I would be attempting 10 gallons here at home. The last 10 gallon batch was at Chip's, where he is fully equiped to handle the size of the kegs.
This got off to a fine start. I had cracked the grains the night before and started the yeast. I once again did a step mash to help convert the 6-row malt. I hit all of the temp marks thru the mash and as I was sparging I took a pre-boil gravity measurement. Good news...I was on target to have plenty of alcohol. After the boil and the chilling it was apparent that I had either lost more water during the boil than I had expected or I had not pulled as much wort from the mash tun as I should have. Thankfully, I sitll had the gravity. So while only 8.5 gallons came out of the boil kettel I was able to add 1.5 gallons of cold water to bring the volume up to the expected level and maintain the gravity that is required.
Now, 16 hours later the two fermentors are bubbling away and everything looks like it is going swimmingly.
By the way....sorry for the long delay in posting. ¶ 14:04
Comments:
<< Home
You are forgiven...this time. See that it doesn't happen again. Good job on the beer (although you are making Red Dave jealous). Sounds like you are becoming quite accomplished in your hoppy hobby.
Hoppy hobby... I like it! I'm looking forward to trying this batch. I can certainly attest to the fact that recent brews have been quite tasty. This one sounds like it will indeed be a good way to start summer.
Post a Comment
<< Home
