Today I’m gonna try a 80# Scotch Ale recipe from Northern Brewer. I’ve done a bunch of extracts and partial mash brews (belgian wit, pilsner, altbier) in the past with reasonable success (except for lagers). I’ve done a few all grains too (mild, stout, amber). Going all grain has been a challenge. In general the beers have been drinkable, but not as good as I’d like.
Today I’m going to try to focus on two things: getting my strike temps correct and having a smooth mash-out. These are areas where I’ve struggled in the past. I’ll be trusting fate to ensure that my pH stays in the right range.
I still need to sort out “where” this is going to take place — normally I do the mash and boil outside — but it’s about 32F so may try to usurp the kitchen for a few hours!.
This beer will be my first foray into the world of kegging too. I look forward to the time savings!
So here’s the timeline for brewing the Scotch Ale. I think it generally went well, although the mashout never quite crossed the finish line. I suppose that there could be additional tannins from not properly terminating the mashing phase. We shall see.
Timeline
12:40pm 5 gals heating for sparge water tank (hot water — already at 116 F — didn’t put lid on for about 5 minutes)
12:50pm smacked wyeast liquid yeast pack (scottish ale)
12:55pm 6 gals @ 180F into thermos
12:55pm 6 gals @ 127F onto burner (from tap) (didn’t put lid on until 13:00pm)
13:00pm Relaxed, decided not to worry and had a home brew (all grain stout)
13:10pm added heating water to thermos
13:15pm added 10 lbs * 1.3 qts / lb = 13 quarts = 3.25 gals water @ 125 to burner (heat to 175)
13:15pm measured temp in sparge water tank (175)
13:20pm measured temp in lautertun (183)
13:20pm added 1/2 gal cold water (48) to lautertun (pre-heat temp too high) resulting temp 171
13:23pm checked heating water (180+F) too hot turned off. (remembered lid this time)
13:30pm added water to lautertun — checked temp — 176
13:30pm added grain to lautertun — stirred — checked temp — 160
13:35pm added 1/2 quart cold water (50F) to lautertun — checked temp — 159F (more stirring in small circles).
13:40pm added 1/2 quart cold water (50F) to lautertun — checked temp. — 152F (stirred in 1 big circle this time — think I got much better mixing.
13:50pm checked sparge water tank. T = 172F
13:50pm put an extra gallon or so of water on to boil (planning to heat mash by about 3-4 degrees by adding quart of 200F water)
13:55pm added 3/4 gallon of 195F water to mash. Stirred. Resulting temp 154F
14:00pm put 6 3/4 gallon of water on to boil. This will be used to raise temp to 170
14:10pm checked temp of mash. 152F
14:30pm added boiling water to sparge water to get it to 175
14:35pm added no longer boiling water to mash to get it to 170. Discovered that the “boiling” water had cooled a lot. Put back on burner.
14:45pm added more boiling water. Got temperature up to around 165, but had to add a lot of boiling water. Probably somewhere between 1.5 and 3 gallons. Hoping that mashout can occur at 165F.
14:50pm checked mashout temp — 163F (argh)
14:55pm started run-off into 1 gal pitcher (vorlauf)
14:57pm (did I mention that I’d further relaxed, decided not to worry, and had a beer? (new belgium amber ale — not bad)
14:57pm gonna relax, not worry and have another…
15:30pm sparging done. Put mash on the cooker to boil.
15:50pm boil started
16:20pm Checked end of run-off from mash. Specific gravity (@ 70F) was 1.013 or so. This means probably should have run off more.
16:20pm Boil progressing aggressively. Trying to boil down to around 6 gals. Think original volume was between 8 and 9 gal.
16:40pm Put wort chiller in boil.
16:50pm Stopped boil and started chiller.
17:30pm Wort chilled.
17:30pm Yeast pitched and wort added to carboy.
17:30pm Carboy sealed with blow-off tube.
Racked Scotch Ale to secondary fermenter this morning. SG was about 1.019. The color has darkened — it was pretty light-colored initially (almost like peach skin or a light honey — to a color, perhaps a shade darker than fresh cider. Tasted it — mildly carbonated, very light hop flavor. It was malty, but not aggressively so.
I look forward to checking SG and taste in about a week.
Kegging
OK, so checked SG about two weeks ago — stuck at 1.018. Agitated the carboy a bit to see if I could “wake up” some yeast. Checked the SG just a few minutes ago — still around 1.018. Argh, sounds like incomplete fermentation.
Tonight was my “first time” kegging. Got things done in the end, but wouldn’t quite call the experience “efficient” this time around. I am certain it will go much more quickly next time.
Some notes:
1. They do *not* tightly fasten the quick disconnects to the tubing when they send them from northern brewer! First, this results in gas leakage when you try to pressurize your keg. Second it results in leakage when you attach your faucet to actually pour a beer or drain water, or whatever you’re planning. Check to make sure the “pre-fab” plumbing you get from NB is tightly fastened!
2. You really need to crank down the plugs on your keg. I had taken everything apart to thoroughly clean it all. Took the plugs off, took the poppets out, took the bleed valve off, took the dip tubes out, took the o-rings off the lid, etc. everything was soaked in a pbw solution, then sanitized using BTF Iodophor. You really need to put the o-rings on the dip tubes if you want the plugs to fit correctly when you reassemble things!
I tried the scotch ale. it was OK. If anything it was perhaps a bit flat-tasting — probably because it had yet to be kegged and carbonated. I’m pressurizing it at 15 psi currently.
Will post again in a few days lettering everyone know how it turns out.