2.5Kg Pale Malt
2.5Kg Lager Malt (the original version of this used all Lager Malt, but my master recipe was for half and half, so I went with that)
245g Caramunch (Original recipe was 200g Light Crystal, but the Caramunch was open so I used that up
150g Wheat Malt
Hops were:
20g Simcoe FWH
10g Simcoe 15 mins
45g Riwaka 15 mins
45g Riwaka Flame Out
For a total of about 42 IBU. Lots of big bold citrus and tropical fruit expected from the Riwaka....with a nice resiny backbone from the Simcoe
It all started out nicely, and here's the photos to prove it....
Grain weighed out
And the hops
Temperature spot on
And the pH
First wort hops and gypsum
First runnings
Sparging
About this time i started on the Imperial Star - a heavily hopped Imperial Pilsner at 8.5% ABV and 90 IBU. It's very nice. That's not a pint - it's a 200ml glass!
Boiling away nicely
Set up to chill. Here's where the fun started. instead of my regular pump/chill direct into FV approach, I had the brainwave to recirculate the chilled wort into the boiler, but this time, let it run at the full pump speed instead of throttled back, then leave it to settle once it's chilled. No point worrying about it settling while it's still chilling, eh? Normally, after the boil I chuck my steep hops in and leave it for 20-30 minutes to settle before chilling direct into the FV.
This started out fine at first. The temperature went from 100C to 60C in a matter of about 2 minutes. Then the needle stopped moving. When I checked, there was no wort coming out of the chiller and back into the boiler. A bit of a look and I figured that the chiller had clogged solid with cold break. I think that the fast flow and super rapid chilling had made the break precipitate out faster than normal and the extra pressure from the pump going at full chat just jammed the whole chiller up.
So I had to try and reverse the flow through the chiller......thank your chosen deity for quick disconnects.....although it was still very messy indeed. And a right pain in the harris. This worked for another minute or two, then it all clogged up again...swap it around again. By this time I was getting really pissed off..... I've never seen so much break material.
Then, a lightbulb moment
take the pump and chiller out, and use the good old immersion chiller instead. By this time the wort is at about 50C. OK - let's go with that idea. The only problem is now that as the wort isn't boiling, it's not going to sterilise the IC. That's OK, I have a sink full of sanitising solution. I can deal with that. 15 minutes later, the IC is in
A good stir round for a few minutes and we're at 25C.
Now to run off. This goes OK for a while.....until the hop filter clags up with about 4L to go. Nothing I can do clears it up - and this is the first time this filter has ever had a problem.There is just a massive amount of break material today. Also, as the level in the boiler is so low, there's no syphon effect left. At this point, I just gave up and called it a bad job.
I ended up with 19L of 1052 wort, that despite everything didn't look too bad. Dry pitched a pack of US05 in disgust and stuck it away at 18C.
Then I went to deal with the chiller. On the backflush, a huge amount of crap came straight out. I've flushed it through a few times in different directions and everything is nice and clear now.....and it's sitting with hot, strong Bruclens in it before a good hour or two at 200C in the over just to make sure.
Anyway. All's well that doesn't end in total diasater, but this wasn't a great brewday....
