Brew Day - Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013

NEEDLERS MILL

                         
                                                 

My last 2 pale ales have had pernament haze to them. I am not sure why this has suddenly started to happen. I have had trouble with my older digital thermometer and my floating thermometer seems to be okay, but very slow. My mash may of been not high enough, say 145 F or something like that. My PH may of been too high which seems to be the most common answer from my beer forum. I bought some PH strips to sort of get me in the ball park of where I am. They are not very accurate though. I also have been having a big problem with my copper immersion chiller. It has a very dank, brass like colour to it  before it goes in the wort and even after. I tried to clean it with vinegar and it sort of came clean. It came right back to its original brass colour right before my eyes. I soaked it star san and scrubbed it with a green pad and it was much better. However, it started to get those brown stains or streaks in it right away. I had to scrub, stop and wipe it with a rag and continue on. Took a long time but this was the only way to do it. After I was done it mostly stayed shiney. It doesn't have to be shiney all the time though. I read Palmers chapter on metals and he said oxidation is normal and protects the copper chiller with this oxidation film. Mine was way beyond oxidation in my opinion. I have had this chiller for 10 years now and I think it is time to get a 50 foot SS chiller. It may not be as efficient as copper, but cleaning with be easier. One final note: I used BKF to clean the chiller a final time and that seemed to do the trick. They have a copper cleaner out on the net and I may buy it if it works better on copper than their regular BKF. I got a Thermopen digital thermometer for my birthday and it is real slick. Accurate and fast. This is a must for checking mash temp. Great for the BBQ too.

                                                         NEEDLERS MILL

15 Gallons

25 lbs. GWM
1 lb. honey malt
90 grams Tettnang - 60 min.
Nottingham - 11.5 g in each carboy


O.G. - 1.050
F.G. - 1.008
% - 5.53
BU - 22.4
SRM - 6
50/50 RO/WELL
Brewhouse Efficiency - 81%
Fermentation Temp - 19 C.

I checked the mash with those cheap PH strips and it was lower than 6. That is all I can tell at this point. The wort had a good bitterness to it which kind of surprised me considering it was only 22 BU. It had a nice golden colour to it and was very clear after the hop shit settled to the bottom of the carboy. I acclamated the dry yeast with wort from my mason jar and it was crystal clear. Now that hasn't happened in 2 months or so. It did take over 12 hours to get going though. I have always had slow starts with this yeast.

FTBS

THIS BEER HAD PERNAMENT HAZE AGAIN. TASTED FUNNY TOO. TOSSED IT.