100 Day Pale Ale

Ellie has just come home. She needed to wait 100 days post transplant. Thus the name for the beer.

Recipe:
10 lbs. 2 row
1 lb Vienna
1oz Chinook 60 min
1oz Citra 5 min
1oz Citra 1 min
Whirlfloc 10 min
Servomyces 10 min
WLP060 - American Ale Yeast Blend - Lot number 1060ITH7347331

We bought the good at More Beer in LA area. While there I also bought a pump with the idea of creating a whirlpool for faster chilling. That thing was expensive. The pump is not self priming but will pump boiling things. Also there were out of WLP001 so the shop guy recommended we try something new. It is a blended strain. So there are actually multiple yeasts in there.

The brewing began the night before with a starter. Two cups water and 1/2 cup DME. Boiled for 10 mins and then cooled. Then pitched the yeast. I put it on a stir plate but it didn't stir very well. I think what I need to do is make a controller that will maintain the rate.

The next day I began around 10am. I started cleaning the gear and Kevin arrived with the water. He supplied the water from his place. He also supplied the Citra hops. We got to heating the water right away and mashed in at around 154F.

While mashing we continued to clean more stuff and we thought to try and clean the pump. Ok when they say that thing is not self priming they mean it. I plugged it in without having liquid in it and it sounded horrible. I was scared. But luckily Kevin was there. I don't know what I would do without him.

After mashing for 60min we added two gallons of boiling water and stirred. Vorlouf. And then drain. Then added four gallons of 180F water. Stir. Let it sit for 5 mins. Vorlouf and drain. Nice.

Then we get it to a boil and wait for the hot break to settle. After it did I added the Chinook hops and the whole thing boiled over. What a mess! Well, now I know. The rest of the boil was uneventful.

Now we come to cooling. I attach the tube to the boil kettle and we carry it to the basin. We get the pump going and start running tap water through the chiller. Also, we get ice water in the basin. This works but we are really clumsy about it. It's our first time doing this. I bet we get better. In 10 mins we cooled to 100F. Then I put ice in a bucket and ran ice water through the chiller. In less than 30 mins we were done. But it was an ordeal.

We then transferred to the carboy. Maybe we use the pump for this next time. Pitched the yeast. Cleaned up. OG was 1.056. It tasted great.