JMUBrew
08-04-2008, 08:36 AM
The inaugural brew at the new house is complete! This marks my re-entry into brewing after an ~7-8 month hiatus. Simple brew, nothing complicated, let me test the setup I had on my back patio and see how things would work space wise (got a little tight when I had all the hoses running everywhere for the chilling). This is based from the Northern Brewer American Wheat recipe kit.
Grains:
4# Pale 2-Row
4# Wheat
Hops:
1 oz Cluster (~6% AA) @ 60 min left
1 oz Cascade (~5.7%AA) @ 5 min left
Yeast:
1 Satchet of SafBrew WB-06 (Wheat Beer Yeast)
Mashed @ ~158 for 75 minutes (2 gal. water @ 170 F)(slight deviation from original plan...Xbox 360 and brewing sometimes don't work!).
Mash Out @ ~ 190 for 10 minutes (1 gal water at ~200 F)
Sparge with 4 gal of water (Around 180 F)
Preboil SG: 9.2 Brix
Postboil SG: Not a friggin clue. I had too much going on with a transfer hose that wanted to pop off to be able to pull a sample.
Hiccups:
-Hose blew off of pump head because of a crappy zip-tie I used originally to hold it on the Disconnect. Result: Replacing all of the zip-ties with hose clamps...previously the zip ties hadn't been a problem unless they were on the pump output end where pressure can build. (They were this way for at least a year, if not almost 2) One hose already has a hose clamp from the time it popped off at Greer's.
-Slowed down my cooling water's flow rate, last half of the batch did not get cooled enough as it was transferred. Went to pickup the carboy and it was really warm! Got lucky no problems with the glass cracking/shattering. Next time will use better flow rate and larger catch container for the water. (Didn't want the hot water to go all over the lawn and kill what grass that is doing well)
Other than that a smooth brew. Was able to play a good bit of Xbox 360 during the mash and boil (found the sweet spot on the regulator again).
Next Step:
I have a couple pounds of strawberries from the farm, they've been cleaned and cut and frozen. Plan on pasteurizing them, pureeing them and then adding in a hop bag to secondary to get some strawberry flavor/aroma.
WB-06 had a good 2" head on it this AM after pitching yeast about 10:30PM yesterday.
Grains:
4# Pale 2-Row
4# Wheat
Hops:
1 oz Cluster (~6% AA) @ 60 min left
1 oz Cascade (~5.7%AA) @ 5 min left
Yeast:
1 Satchet of SafBrew WB-06 (Wheat Beer Yeast)
Mashed @ ~158 for 75 minutes (2 gal. water @ 170 F)(slight deviation from original plan...Xbox 360 and brewing sometimes don't work!).
Mash Out @ ~ 190 for 10 minutes (1 gal water at ~200 F)
Sparge with 4 gal of water (Around 180 F)
Preboil SG: 9.2 Brix
Postboil SG: Not a friggin clue. I had too much going on with a transfer hose that wanted to pop off to be able to pull a sample.
Hiccups:
-Hose blew off of pump head because of a crappy zip-tie I used originally to hold it on the Disconnect. Result: Replacing all of the zip-ties with hose clamps...previously the zip ties hadn't been a problem unless they were on the pump output end where pressure can build. (They were this way for at least a year, if not almost 2) One hose already has a hose clamp from the time it popped off at Greer's.
-Slowed down my cooling water's flow rate, last half of the batch did not get cooled enough as it was transferred. Went to pickup the carboy and it was really warm! Got lucky no problems with the glass cracking/shattering. Next time will use better flow rate and larger catch container for the water. (Didn't want the hot water to go all over the lawn and kill what grass that is doing well)
Other than that a smooth brew. Was able to play a good bit of Xbox 360 during the mash and boil (found the sweet spot on the regulator again).
Next Step:
I have a couple pounds of strawberries from the farm, they've been cleaned and cut and frozen. Plan on pasteurizing them, pureeing them and then adding in a hop bag to secondary to get some strawberry flavor/aroma.
WB-06 had a good 2" head on it this AM after pitching yeast about 10:30PM yesterday.