Fly sparged for only the second time ever and ran into some issues. Before I collected the full volume, I noticed the wort was running pretty light, so I took a gravity reading. At first, it was OK at 10° Brix, but I kept checking and finally cut it off at 10.5 gallons when the gravity of the runnings fell below 5° Brix. The actual gravity of the collected wort was 15.4° Brix (1.061), which was right on target based on the following calculations:
10.25 gal X 61 GP = 625.25 Total Gravity Points.
625.25 GP / 12 gallons (total end volume) = 52 --> 1.052 OG
The target OG for this was 1.051, so close enough. I added enough water to get a good 90 minute boil, to bring the boil volume up to 14.5 gallons. Gravity of the wort should be 1.043 (625.25/14.5 = 43.10 --> 1.043). Actual measured gravity was 10.8° Brix (1.042). Perfect.
What happened next wasn't so perfect. About 40 minutes from the end of the boil, I decided to start heating water in the HLT for running PBW through the pump and chiller before sanitizing them. Plenty of time to heat, clean and sanitize. So, I hooked up the hose and started running water into the HLT which is the top burner of the Top Tier. Then, I noticed my DHCP and DNS servers weren't running properly since I rebooted the main server earlier that morning. This is the main server which runs virtualized hosts for the website, mail, Windows desktops, etc. Went down in the basement to figure out what's what, and discovered that I hadn't set the services to start automatically. After fixing that, I got distracted by some other performance issues with one of the virtual machines.
About 15-20 minutes later, Jack comes running inside to say there's a big leak in the garage! I had totally forgotten about the HLT being filed and it was now overflowing and cascading water all over the garage and into the boil kettle below. I have no idea how much water actually got into the kettle, but the waterfall was causing the burners all sorts of problems and the boil had stopped. The flames hadn't gone out, but they (both the HLT and BK) were burning weird. After adjusting the flames and getting them back to somewhat normal, I figured I needed to boil another hour or so before I'd be at the proper volume for the remaining hop additions.
When all was said and done, the final measured gravity was 13.4° Brix (1.052) with a final volume of 12 gallons. Split it evenly between two glass carboys, pitched the yeast and the next morning there was vigorous fermentation. I think it's still beer. Relax don't worry and all that shit.
20110402 - Fermentation completed and there's very little activity in the airlock. Racked to secondary to clear it up for kegging.
20110407 - Transferred to kegs. Ended up with slightly more than 5 gallons in each carboy so the cornies were filled completely to the brim. I wasn't prepared for the first one, so I had to fill several glasses by removing some w/ a testing thief. Had to drink those uncarbonated, but that's the price you pay. For the second carboy, I sanitized a couple bombers and used Coopers Carbonation Drops (2 in each 22 oz bottle) for carbonation purposes. Gotta love extra beer.
| Amount | Malt/Grain | % |
|---|---|---|
| 18.00 pounds | American Pale Malt (2-Row) | 79.1% |
| 2.00 pounds | German Light Munich Malt | 8.8% |
| 1.50 pounds | Crystal Malt 40L | 6.6% |
| 1.00 pounds | American Victory Malt | 4.4% |
| 0.25 pounds | British Chocolate Malt | 1.1% |
| 22.75 pounds | Total Grain Weight | 100% |
| Amount | Non-Fermentable | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Whirlfloc | 15 minutes |
| 0.05 | Yeast Nutrient | 15 minutes |
| Amount | Hop | Time | AA | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.00 ounces | Northern Brewer | 60 min | 10.0% | |||
| 2.00 ounces | Northern Brewer | 15 min | 8.5% | |||
| 2.00 ounces | Northern Brewer | 1 min | 8.5% | |||
| 7.00 ounces | Total Hop Weight | |||||
| Name | Lab/Manufacturer | Product ID | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| California Lager | Wyeast | 2112 | 1500 ml |
Mash with a direct heat source to maintain temperature.
| # | Name | Time | Temp. | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saccharification | 60 min. | 154°F | Add 100% of mash water at 166° F / 74° C |
| 2 | Mash Out | 10 min. | 168°F | Heat to 168° F / 75° C for at least 10 minutes |
| Date Brewed: | |
|---|---|
| Brewer/Assistant: |
| Target | Actual | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strike Water Amount: | 7.6 | ||
| Strike Water Temperature: | |||
| Mash Temperature(s): | |||
| Mash Time: | |||
| Sparge Water Amount: | 10.4 | ||
| Sparge Water Temperature: | |||
| Pre-Boil Gravity: | |||
| Pre-Boil Amount: | 13.2 | ||
| Post-Boil Amount: | 12 | ||
| Boil Time: | 129 | ||
| OG: | 1.052 / 12.9° P | ||
| Mash PH: | |||
| Boil PH: | |||
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