Altbiier - Monday, January 16, 2017

12 Gallons - ( post boil )

20 lbs. NSGWM
2 lbs. Munich I
8 ozs. Caramunich III
8 ozs. Chocolate
5 ozs. Carafa Special III
13.5 grams Magnum - 13.20% AA @ 60 min.
13 grams Magnum @ 11.8% AA @ 60 min.
56.70 grams Hallertauer - 2.5% AA @ 30 min.
WLP036 Dusseldorf Alt - Yeast pitched @ 12:30 pm.
50/50 in mash - 7.20 gallons - 1.25 qts./lb
8 gallons well in sparge
4 gallons RO in sparge

O.G. - 1.046
F.G. -  1.016 ( carboy 1 )
% -     4% ( carboy 1 )
SRM - 16
BU - 26.5

I think I am done with Pilsners, Helles style beers etc. for awhile. I am getting nowhere with these styles of beers, and am kind of sick of them. These at least have lots of flavour and mostly I seem to have much better luck brewing darker styles of beers. ESB and bitters are up soon also. Wort tasted good, not cloying at all. Kind of light or bland because of all of the dark malts, and of course using 50/50 water in the mash may be the reason. I need to go with 1.50 qts/lb grain/water ratio for now on. If not, I am just a little short of wort in the kettle. It is hard to add 2-3 L of water to all this grain in the mash a second time. Still going good on day 7. Seems to of slowed down on day 8. Still going though, but I may toss them on the bench @ 66 F to finish. This brew can take forever to finish as it was fermented cool - 62 F. Moved to the brew bench on Jan. 22 and set the wall heater at 68 F. Give it 10 days more and keg/bottle it. The fermentation is acting normal for a change. Still a little activity, but will wait forever if needed before kegging. I need to know if my water profile works for these brews as I am going to brew these styles for all of 2017. No light beer, Pilsners or Kolsch beers. Sick of the lot of them. Still active fermentation, but slow. I have to wait until this is fully fermented as this is a pilot brew and I really want to make sure I want to brew it again. If this sucks, I don't know what to do next. Light beer? Hit and miss. This has to at least taste fine and no odd tastes due to my water profile. Found my wort thief. Gravity is 1.016. Little high, but I didn't make starters to 1.0 million, I went with .75 million. Will go back to 1 million. Sample was very clean. Only thing is I don't want it to taste like a watered down Porter. Other than the water profile did work and that is the only thing that matters. Yes, too much roasted grains for my liking, but this was just a test. Now to brew lighter brews to see what will happen.

                               KEGGED ON FEB 6