Mack Spirits: August 2012

This is by far the darkest beer we've brewed. And it had better be delicious. I'm excited.

Grains
11lb 2-Row
2.5lb Munich Malt
1.5lb Brown Malt
1.0lb Crystal-120L
0.5lb Crystal-40L
0.5lb Chocolate Malt

Hops
0.8oz Magnum (14.6% AA) at 60 min
0.5oz Syrian Golding (4.75% AA) at 10 min

Yeast
Wyeast 1056 American Ale - Started 5 days before in 1Q water with 1 cup DME.

Brewing
Mashed at 154° for 60 minutes.
Fly Spage at 185° to collect 6.5 gallons
60 Minute Boil.

Post-Boil Additions
When racked to secondary on July 23, 4 chopped Madagascar Vanilla Beans, soaking in about 1/4 cup vanilla vodka were added.
When bottle, 400ml Maker's Mark Bourbon was added.

The Numbers
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.092 (1.069 @ 75%)
Actual Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.064
Efficiency: 69.5%

Expected Post-Boil Gravity: 1.100 (1.075 @ 75%)
Actual Post-Boil Gravity:1.072

Expected Final Gravity:1.027 @ 75% Attenuation
Actual Final Gravity: 1.018
% ABV: 7.2
Attenuation: 96%

This time we tried to be a little more precise with the mash temperature. We were shooting for 154°. We started with 4.5 gallons at 168° which brought us to 149°. Then we added a gallon at 100° then a gallon at 168° and were still only at 147°. We added one more gallon at boiling to bring us to 155°. That didn't last long and it was at 154° within 10 minutes of mashing. After an hour mash, it was at 152°. The big problem with this batch was that it was much thinner than we planned because we had to add so much boiling water. Next time, I'll find a calculator that does temperature change so we'll be better prepared.

Otherwise, this was a pretty standard brew. All-Grain really isn't all that hard. It just takes a long time. The upside to that, though is that it doesn't require a whole lot of babysitting so you can get other stuff done while you're waiting for the next step.

The Verdict

Excellent Porter. I don't remember what it was like in the keg, but bottled its excellent. I think the balance of vanilla and bourbon is perfect but L thinks there is way too much vanilla. Maybe next time we shouldn't use 4 whole beans. That was twice what Denny's recipe called for. Oops :)

Collecting Water - the black thing is the cup holder from our 5-gallon water cooler.

Madagascar Vanilla Beans

Soaking in Vodka for sanitization

Beans in the Carboy

It's so DARK!

Wow! We've been so busy and I've gotten SO behind on updating this blog. We brewed our first All Grain batch on July 14! And then did it again on July 15! It was a busy weekend, to say the least.

So, initially, we were planning on doing a Vanilla Bourbon Porter for our first all grain. We actually got the yeast early and made a starter the Tuesday before brewing and everything. Doing a darker beer, supposedly, is one way to off-set the potential off flavors that occur from bad processes and bad water. Then, we got ambitious. I really wanted to do a summer beer, and we were getting low on our stored beer so we decided to do a Saison instead. I found this recipe on Home Brew Talk and it had so many good reviews, I couldn't pass it up. We decided to do the Saison first because we wanted the yeast for the porter to start for an extra day and the Saison yeast is apparently super-freakin-awesome.

Grains
8.5lb 2-Row
1.5lb White Wheat
0.5lb CaraMunich II
0.5lb Flaked Oats
1.0lb Honey (added at 5 min)

Hops
0.5oz Sorachi Ace (12.1% AA) at First Wort Hop
0.5oz Fuggles (4.2% AA) at First Wort Hop
0.5oz Fuggles (4.2% AA) at 30 min
1.0oz Fuggles (4.2% AA) at 15 min

Yeast
Wyeast 3711 French Saison

Brewing
Mashed at 147° for 60 minutes. (supposed to be 148°, but whatevs)
Fly Sparge to collect 6.5 Gallons.
60 minute Boil.

So, because I am a scientist by training, we collected a decent amount of data throughout the process. I figured out how to calculated all of our expected gravities throughout the process and did some temperature calculations too. I think that doing this type of thing is by no means necessary for brewing (because, really, you're going to end up with beer no matter what) but if you want to get a better sense of what's going on then looking at the numbers really helps.

The Numbers
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.061 (1.046 @ 75%)
Actual Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.037*
Efficiency: 60.6%

Expected Post-Boil Gravity: 1.088 (1.066 @ 75%)
Actual Post-Boil Gravity: 1.060

Expected Final Gravity: 1.013
Acual Final Gravity: 1.004
% ABV: 7.336 %
Attenuation: 95%!!!!!

*I'm about 90% sure this isn't the actual measurement. I think this is the one I took right after we finished sparging but before the sample came to room temperature. I think the numbers were more like 1.41 and 70% efficiency.

One of the processes we used that I think really helped was adding the mash water in two parts to a pre-heated cooler. First, we added about a gallon of water at something like 170°, then poured it out. Then, we added about 3/4 of the water at the temperature appropriate for that volume (calculated using brewer's friend). For this recipe that was 3 gallons at 163°. Then, we stirred in the grains and checked the temperature. It was 149°. So we added a gallon at 142° then another quart at 163°. The final temperature stabilized at 147° and fell to 145° during the mash.

Our sparge water was 174°. I think this was a little bit low and we'll use warmer water next time. We did not mash out either, and I think we'll try that too.

We kegged this beer on August 2 with 30lb of CO2 and will be drinking it when we get back from the beach this weekend!!

**This beer is DELICIOUS! You can only drink like 2 though. It's so sweet, it's bad about causing headaches.