First off, thanks for all the tips I’ve picked up from JBK contributors over the past week. This encouraged me to go ahead with my first multi-step mash (Hochkurz stylee) and I’m glad to say it wasn’t as complicated as I first thought!
Of course, I encountered the customary problems along the way. The first of which being that in order to brew I was going to have to get a new tap set-up for my boiler to stop it spewing out water when it reaches 80C. On Friday night I paid a visit to my local plumb store, which had all the right bits and pieces. Thinking it best to go home and make some check measurements, I vowed to go back the following day. What I didn’t do however was account for extreme precipitation. Saturday it was closed. So I went to Wickes. Which didn’t have any of the bits I needed. By this stage I had full-on man-flu and was getting increasingly desperate, knowing now that the only way I could brew was to borrow a large stockpot from some friends. Luckily I knew just the people and they had just the thing.... So I could brew in two 10l pots on the gas.
I prepared my water the night before with Campden tablets and CRS, opting for 39l of liquor for a 25l brew length to account for 20% evaporation (I’ve had evaporation problems...). Also made up my grist in a bucket to 70% efficiency (recent efficiencies have not been high...) using GW’s Beer Engine. Mixed approx 1.24g DLS in with the grist. Aimed for OG of 1.051.
Grain Bill
2700 MOP
1600 Vienna
1300 Munich
325 Caramalt
215 Torrefied Wheat
The kit (note the boiler in the background keeps cutting out at 85C so I just use it as HLT)
Using an initial ratio of around 2l/kg I doughed-in at 61C and held for one hour for the maltose rest. I then used the KOTMF calculator to work out the correct volume boiling liquor for my next step which was at 71C. I hit this spot on and held again for one hour. Then I attempted a mash-out at 75C. For some reason the maths didn’t work and I failed to achieved rest temp so I decocted from the tap 2l, boiled and tried again. Failed again. So, this time I decocted 4l, boiled and.... whoops. Mashout at 85C!!.
Spargin'
Not a lot I could do about that so I left it top off for ten mins and then began to sparge (sparge water at 80C), using my adopted jugging-onto-perforated-foil method. One of the first things I noticed was the beautiful clear golden amber colour of the wort – it made me very excited!! After collecting about 12l I experienced my first stuck sparge. So I removed the foil and noticed the grey sludge - denatured protein on top of the mash – something I’m sure I’d not seen with single-step infusions. So, I added more 80C water and gave the whole lot a good stir. Repeated a couple of times until I had collected about 18l and the wort was getting on for tasting like water.
Hmmmm sweet golden amber nectar. I just wanted to drink this down.
I split all the runnings evenly between two the vessels and boiled away for 75mins. Irish moss was added for the last 10 mins of the boil.
Hop Schedule
Aurora 7.8% AA 35g @ 75
Halletau 2.2% AA 20g @ 10
Halletau 2.2% AA 20g @ FO
Saaz 2.8% AA 10g @ FO
Finished boiling and dumped both pans, ignoring all warnings about HSA, into a sanitised FV. Added the flameout hops, which were basically whatever I had left of my European aroma hops. Surprisingly I found I had only lost about 3l to evaporation so even after topping up to 25l there was still about 5l brewing liquor left over.
Boilin' in two 10l stockpots
The next problem I encountered was when I came to flash chill and found the hosepipe to be frozen solid. I did the only thing I could in the circumstance which was to leave the FV with my 25l volume outside in the snow and hope for a quickish chill. In the event it still took about 4 hours to reach 17C as I was reluctant to remove the lid.
Chillin'
When I brought the FV I had one task left to do before pitching the yeast starter – siphon off into another sanitised FV, leaving the cold break behind. This was such a frustrating task as the hops kept blocking up the siphon, so I inevitably resorted in exasperation to pouring the whole lot in through a sieve, cold break and all. I just hope that not too many off flavours develop as a result. Aerated and pitched my WLP800 (Czech Pilsner) yeast starter at 16C, put on lid and went to bed. Ended up with 23l at 1.064 (only 13 points higher than I was aiming!) making my efficiency 75.7% which was not what I had planned for at the beginning.
Somehow, ending up with a stronger wort is not as frustrating as ending up with a weaker one is it! The previous two brews I’ve had to up the ABV by adding other fermentables – not this time. Anyhow, I’ll be looking forward to getting a new larger boiler and mash tun sorted after Xmas, making this end-of-boil malarkey a thing of the past.
Oh, and none of this would have been possible if it weren't for exceptional service from Rob at The Malt Miller who sent a new yeast order free of charge in time for the brew after hearing that the first order had gone missing in the post. Cheers!
in order to get a good strong (clean) ferment