No News is Good Brews
I know how to make beer now!
Today's stout went off PERFECTLY. Or goddam near enough for me. Remembered everything, including the Gypsum and Irish Moss. Kept all of my mash temps within 5 degrees of perfect, even got the saccharification rest up to 158 for a bit (going for a bit of sweetness in the final product) and completed conversion after 30 minutes. Sparging went smoothly - kept the hot liquor temp up to 170+ almost the whole time, spent just a little over 30 mins on it without adjusting the flow too much, and got a decently clear wort for my trouble. No boil-over. Dropped the whole thing to 75F in about 20 mins, only had to add a little bit of water to bring it up to five gallons, and it came out blacker than I like my Costa Rican coffee with an OG of 1.053.
I increased the recipe by 1.25 lbs of grain (9.5 lbs instead of 8.25 lbs) and it claimed an OG of 1.040. If I did the math right, that means I increased the grain bill by 15% and increased the yield by 32%. I'm more efficient than the assumed efficiency in my book!
Go me!
Today's stout went off PERFECTLY. Or goddam near enough for me. Remembered everything, including the Gypsum and Irish Moss. Kept all of my mash temps within 5 degrees of perfect, even got the saccharification rest up to 158 for a bit (going for a bit of sweetness in the final product) and completed conversion after 30 minutes. Sparging went smoothly - kept the hot liquor temp up to 170+ almost the whole time, spent just a little over 30 mins on it without adjusting the flow too much, and got a decently clear wort for my trouble. No boil-over. Dropped the whole thing to 75F in about 20 mins, only had to add a little bit of water to bring it up to five gallons, and it came out blacker than I like my Costa Rican coffee with an OG of 1.053.
I increased the recipe by 1.25 lbs of grain (9.5 lbs instead of 8.25 lbs) and it claimed an OG of 1.040. If I did the math right, that means I increased the grain bill by 15% and increased the yield by 32%. I'm more efficient than the assumed efficiency in my book!
Go me!