Recipe:
10 lbs pilsner
1 lb munich
1.5 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh
WLP940 - Mexican Lager x2 with starter - Lot Number CHI887-88-89-90 - Date June 20, 2013
Whirlfloc
Servomyces
50% ridgecrest water
50% distilled
3 grams gypsum
3 gram calcium chloride
1 gram epsom salt
3 gram canning salt
Water break down:
It is Sunday. I made a starter Friday night. This is the longest I've let a starter go. We'll see if it makes a difference. I hope to mash at 150F. I hope to get a gravity of 1.050.
Also got a new fun thing to try today. FermCapS. It should keep the wort from foaming over. 3 drops per gallon. So if I have 6 gallons of wort that it is 18 or so drops. I measured this to be about what the eye dropper holds.
11:04 - I've measured out the brewing salts.
11:59 - We have doughed int. Did I mention Ellie was with me today? She helped clean the hopper from the mill and stir up the mash. Doughed in high on purpose. Enough of this undershoot crap. We were about 10F higher than I wanted. So I just got some cool water and poured it in a little at a time as she stirred. We got it to about 151F. I'll call that a victory.
Also did I mention we got great news on Friday. Ellie had her 1 year CT scan. It was actually day 422 since the procedure and it came up clean. We are so happy it hurts!
1:04 - All is going well. I just finished sparging. Final running OG was 1.032. I batch sparged. Preboil gravity is 1.042. I heated up water to about 190F and added one and a half gallons, stirred it up and ran it off. Then I added 4 gallons of 175F water stirred it up, left it for 5 mins, and ran it off. I vorloufed each of those runnings.
1:15 - All the wort in the kettle and we are heating it up. I added 18 drops of FermCap. Let's see if it works.
2:28 - Everything is really ho-hum right now. All is going well. No issues. Got about 30 mins left in the boil. I thought I'd boil for 90mins today to drive off as much sulfur from the pilsner as possible. The FermCap worked really well. There was still a little hot break but not enough to create a boil over. Will use it every time now.
I added the hops 60min from flameout and gave Ellie a sample. She is not a hop fan but I thought she might like to try one of the noble hops. It is not as bitter and mean as the ones we typically use. It's very pleasant and as I type this it is filling the air with the wonderful aroma. She found it agreeable. So that was cool. I've found lots of time to clean stuff. Cleaned two kegs, the chest fridge, and the mash tun.
I think Rachel will be by after work to pick up the spent grain for Nat's family.
3:55 - Again a boring day so far. Ellie just helped me cool the wort to 65F. I will let it set for 10 min for the cold break to settle to the bottom. Probably only get 2F more in cooling. I've put the yeast in the chest freezer which is now set to 50F to cool it a little from 75F or so room temp that the starter was at to something closer to the 50F I plan to ferment at. The idea is that I get the wort to 63F and the starter is about that as well when I pitch. Then into the chest freezer which is at 50F and hopefully the thermal mass of the wort/beer will be such that it cools slowly.
4:05 - I just sampled the wort. The hydrometer says 1.060. Way higher than the 1.050 I was after. It will be a little sweet and boozy. I guess that's good if you want to get laid. The sample tasted REALLY good. I can't wait to drink this beer. I'm sad I have to wait 6+ weeks to do it.
5:30 - All done. The only hiccup was that the rubber stopper doesn't fit into the glass carboy. Need a smaller stopper. No problem. Just used the top I use for a blow off and set myself up as though I was expecting a blow off. Going to kiss the wife!!!
