Brew Log : Son of Hank - December 28, 2009

Brewlog: Son of Hank - December 28, 2009

Brewday Brewday Print

Brewed:	December 28, 2009	Bottled/Kegged:	January 6, 2010	Status:	Ready

Values:

Volume to fermenter[ltr (gal)]:	20.00	Alcohol by volume:	6.70%	Apparent Attenuation:	78.13%

Original Gravity[SG]:	1.064	Final Gravity[SG]:	1.014	Colour [SRM(EBC)]:

BU/GU ratio:	0.57	Balance:	1.28

Recipe Values:

Expected Mash Efficiency:	70.00%	Expected Bitterness[IBU]:	36.70
Actual Mash Efficiency:	71.49%

Expected Values >>

		Alcohol by volume:	6.30%

Original Gravity[SG]:	1.063	Final Gravity[SG]:	1.016	Colour [SRM]:	31.47

BU/GU ratio:	0.586	Balance:	1.217	Apparent Attenuation:	75.00%

Comments:

Added 2gms CaCl to mash water. Mash ph 5.2-5.5

2nd water addition a bit cool and did not quite reach 67C (approx 65C)

Heated up to 69C and transferred to mash tun, after 30 mins 66C

Remeasured ph and was up around 5.8, added another 0.7gms Citric Acid to compensate.
After 60 mins SG only 1.055 :( yet again really really poor conversion.

Temp is dropping so fast that I will add more water (5 litres ) to get it back up to right temp and leave it another 30 mins

I am starting to suspect this base malt (BB Pils) at it seems to be the common factor in all the last 3 brews with poor conversion.

Final conclusion was just under 70% which is better than it was looking, but still pretty ordinary.

Other parts of brewday went as planned. I tried to remove the break from the bottom of the new better bottle fermenter by pointing the tap down. Got about 2/3rds of it, but hard to get much more. Would not try this method if you wanted to remove all the break.

Log tasting entries:

Sun February 28, 2010 12:17	Rating: 35 Age at tasting: about 1 month	Tasting better now. Green hop flavour has cleaned up and a bit of the brown malt starting to show through. Still not quite up to the last one.
Sun January 10, 2010 23:45	Rating: 30 Age at tasting: 4 days	Tried it today, not as impressed as I was with the last rendition. Maybe needs some more hops. Absolutely no chocolate to be found.

Thu January 07, 2010 01:09	Gravity reading[SG]: 1.014, Temp[C (F)]: 18.50 (65.30), Atten: 78.13%, ABV: 6.70%	Kegged last night, but only ended up with 17ltrs into the keg.
Wed January 06, 2010 03:57	Gravity reading[SG]: 1.014, Temp[C (F)]: 18.50 (65.30), Atten: 78.13%, ABV: 6.70%	Measured with a hydrometer this time. Still a bit cloudy, but might keg it and start cold conditioning to help speed it on a bit.
Sun January 03, 2010 18:55		Added 15gms of Amarilo and 5gms of casscade in an additional 800ml of liquid using french press (hop tea) method.
Sun January 03, 2010 07:52	Gravity reading[SG]: 1.017, Temp[C (F)]: 18.50 (65.30), Atten: 73.76%, ABV: 6.33%	Yeast has dropped down significantly. Will leave it to condition for another week and add french press hops.
Fri January 01, 2010 15:40	Gravity reading[SG]: 1.021, Temp[C (F)]: 18.50 (65.30), Atten: 66.78%, ABV: 5.73%	Seems to be fermenting well now. Not sure that much of the malt flavour is coming through though.
Wed December 30, 2009 09:10	Gravity reading[SG]: 1.058, Temp[C (F)]: 18.50 (65.30), Atten: 10.08%, ABV: 0.86%	Still fermenting very slowly, think I need a plan B here. On the plus side it tastes pretty damn good.
Tue December 29, 2009 12:10	Gravity reading[SG]: 1.064, Temp[C (F)]: 18.00 (64.40), Atten: 0.00%, ABV: 0.00%	Starting off very slowly given how it reacted after the yeast was pitched.