Brewing my Imperial Stout today. A couple of you posted interest in how it goes, so I will do that here. I will do 1st Mash Brix, 2nd Mash Brix, and OG to the fermentor. Heating strike now…
Edge of my seat, got the snacks, ready for live coverage of the big event!
150f mash temp, hit it right on (verified by digital)
14.5 lbs in 12 gallons. That was fun doughing-in! Pretty much max capacity. After 10 min and two stirs I pulled a sample for pH which read 5.4 but the flash blanked it in the photo… It said 5.3 right after the photo. Close enough, my meter probe is old and my calibration fluids are too.
After 40 min I stired and started recirc-vorlauf. Pull a sample and got 10 brix. According to Kai’s chart it should be 9.9 brix for 3.3qts per lb.
So far so good (two separate samples both read 10. I don’t trust refractometers…)
After runoff the first mash, then back to mash tun, according to my stick I lost one gallon. Temp dropped to 142 in the transfer. Bringing it back up to strike temp for the remaining 14 lbs.
By the way it didn’t occur to me until just now to remeasure and recalculate strike… Probably important step or you’ll undershoot.
Second mash temp nailed! Don’t forget second mash acid addition… I almost did. I would also suggest stirring or recirculation when heating the first runnings to strike temp.
45 min into second mash, 5.4ph and 20 brix! It’s magic… tempted to do a third mash and go for 30 brix lol
Eyeballing starting boil volume, I didn’t need 12 gallons. Looks like I only list two gallons to absorption. Guess I’ll do a two hour boil and see what I get
Starting boil at what Brix?
20… so it’s looking like I’ll end up with 6.5 gallons of 1.120ish
If I boil that long.
Wow, that double mash really works! Was that better brewhouse yield than your guesstimate?
Way better. I get about 65% brewhouse in my normal 1.060ish no sparge beers. This one looks to be more like 70%. I was figuring on getting 60%
Who’d a’ thunk.
Ya, so I’m adding some hops lol. Need more IBUs I think. And it looks to be out of style. 12abv is all they allow, but this one looks to be more like 12.8
Screw the style police. Yours is just too good for 'em!
It was 40g Magnum FWH then 30g EKG and 30g Fuggles at 10. I just added 30g Challenger with 60 min to go. So around 120/66 GU/BU
Final results, 6.25 gallons of 1.110
With what I had left in hoses and kettle dead space, about 65% brewhouse
[Applause] Good show!
So I read crazy stuff in London and Country Brewer
or whatever and think, yeah, they had no hydrometer, no way of knowing what they were really doing, that probably doesn’t really work so well. I love being wrong!
I’d say it’s pretty darn effective. I see a crazy Barleywine in my future with a triple mash, just to see where the sound barrier is lol. It’s got to bebout there somewhere. 1.110 is as high as i have gone. I thought the hydrometer was going to shoot back out of the sample.
Pretty darned effective, and that reminds me the difference between “effective” and “efficient” and you don’t always want the latter! I did a quick estimate that you could have got the same result from 16 lbs of malt at my normal efficiency, but you’d need a 1 bbl system and like a 6 hour boil! (Or something like that.) I’ll keep this in mind for a Doppelbock maybe…