Maine Homebrewer
Grandmaster Brewer
Making a beer with a ton of flavor is easy. This balanced adjunct pilsner thing ain't easy. Now that my basement is cold enough, it's time to try again.
Saturday's batch consisted of 4# each 6-row and flaked maize, 2# pils, 12oz wheat berries and 1oz rice hulls.
Mashed low. Left it a 145F to do some errands. Three hours later it was 140F and passed an iodine test.
Did the usual decoction mash out and sparge.
Hopped with three doses, each of .25oz Saaz at 60, 45 and 30. Plan to add another .25 oz to the secondary.
Gravity was 1.058 @ 5.5g. More than expected*.
Tasted the contents of the hydrometer jar and it was good. The wheat was more pronounced than expected. Hops were there without being assertive.
Racked the primary (only got one) to make room for the new batch, and saved some of the Saflager S-23 laden sludge. Pitched into the aerated wort and it took off immediately.
Last I checked it was fermenting vigorously at 50 degrees while the batch I racked sits next to it at 47.
This one is going to be good.
*(I've been fiddling with my Corona mill. Those things do the job, but they suck. Finding the happy spot where you get good efficiency without a stuck sparge isn't easy. Last batch stuck. This one overshot but didn't stick. Barely. If you're thinking of getting something to grind your grain, get something with rollers.)
Saturday's batch consisted of 4# each 6-row and flaked maize, 2# pils, 12oz wheat berries and 1oz rice hulls.
Mashed low. Left it a 145F to do some errands. Three hours later it was 140F and passed an iodine test.
Did the usual decoction mash out and sparge.
Hopped with three doses, each of .25oz Saaz at 60, 45 and 30. Plan to add another .25 oz to the secondary.
Gravity was 1.058 @ 5.5g. More than expected*.
Tasted the contents of the hydrometer jar and it was good. The wheat was more pronounced than expected. Hops were there without being assertive.
Racked the primary (only got one) to make room for the new batch, and saved some of the Saflager S-23 laden sludge. Pitched into the aerated wort and it took off immediately.
Last I checked it was fermenting vigorously at 50 degrees while the batch I racked sits next to it at 47.
This one is going to be good.
*(I've been fiddling with my Corona mill. Those things do the job, but they suck. Finding the happy spot where you get good efficiency without a stuck sparge isn't easy. Last batch stuck. This one overshot but didn't stick. Barely. If you're thinking of getting something to grind your grain, get something with rollers.)