NotJoe Fakr's Light Ale

[Chris Craig]

Sorry Richard...my eyes glazed over a bit reading that

fakr: Why did you do a 2.5 hour sparge?  Why sparge 3 times?

[fakr]

for lack of a better excuse, I like experimenting.

The whole point of this experiement was to see what kind of efficiencies I could get above the typical 70% efficienty with fly sparging.  I didn't realize it was going to take so damn long though so don't think I'd do it again.

[Chris Craig]

FWIW, I went from 70% to about 80% by doing a double batch sparge.  

1. Collect 1st runnings.
2. Sparge with half the water to bring the grain bed to 168F and let rest for 10 miutes.
3. Mix 'er up right good there, vorlauf, and drain.
4. Repeat step 2 & 3 with the remaining sparge water.

This added 20 minutes to my brew day, but it was worth it.

[fakr]

cool, that's what I was going for, but did it too many times, and took quite a while to recirculate and clear before draining into the kettle again.

might just try twice next time.

I think next time I'm going to take a conversion reading every 10 minutes after 30 minutes to maybe shave some time off the mash.

[Richard]

Once the worth hits 180 the alpha denatures fast... five minutes should do it... after that you can leave it to sit.

I say again... conversion test is not evidence that things are done changing...

[fakr]

I know what you're saying Richard, there is further conversion past what a simple starch conversion shows.

So a question about conversion then...Does conversion have to fully take place in the grain bed?  
Where I'm going with this:  If I see after 30 minutes that starch conversion has taken place with a simple iodine test, could I not drain the mash tun into the kettle over a 30 minute period and have effectively mashed in for a total of 60 minutes? Or would removing the wort from the grain bed stop some of the remaining conversion?

To add to that, could I not do two 30 minute batch sparges and have mash in to approaching boil in only 2 hours?  Am I thinking wishfully?

[fakr]

WTF, this makes no sense at all....

I'm getting a brix reading of 6 and an FG of 1.010...according to brewheads.com my OG would have been 1.046 not 1.057.  that makes no sense at all....
I checked the temp correction chart for my refractometer, and even if the temp was 10C, I would have had a correction of 0.59 on my original OG of 14, which would have been 13.41, making the OG 1.054.

On top of that, my new efficiency would then be only 65.6%....below my usual efficiency.

me no comprendez...

[Chris Craig]

So many factors.  It makes a difference if only one of them is off even a little.  Combine a couple of them...who knows.  Do you have to calibrate your refractometer?  I know mine has automatic temperature correction, and I need to calibrate it using distilled water.

[fakr]

yeah, I have a calibration screw, but I've always used regular water...

what a pain in the arse...

I'll have to make sure I take an OG reading with a hydro and refrac at pitching to make sure.

[Chris Craig]

You can get distilled water at a drug store, or a grocery store. It's about a buck for a gallon.

[fakr]

So with all the miscalculations on Gravity throughout the brewing process, here is the final word:

Beer comes in at 4%.
Very light in color
Mild, clean hop profile
Unable to type hops used.  I used a similar hop bill x 6 in another beer and it turned out very bitter and citrusy.

This beer tastes quite "commercial", more on the european side, very similar to a Stella.  I've had 2 people mention it tastes like a stella.

Very happy with this creation.  I could see it being on tap throughout the summer.  I'll bring a growler to the next meeting.

[JohnQ]

You making it down for the special meeting tomorrow?
JQ

[fakr]

doesn't look good, too many trips up to fredericton in 1 month = too much $.

Got family coming down tonight for the weekend to help make an environmental chamber and a batch of brew.

I'll be down for the 28th meeting though.

[fakr]

Quick update to this thread.

This beer is going to be this summer's "on tap" beer.  Very drinkable.  4 or 5 non brewers tried this beer and now want to get into brewing their own.

BrianS said if I had have told him this was a Stella clone, he would have agreed.  

I want to lager this recipe for comparison, but the original tastes so much like a lager that I'm not sure it will make much difference.

Very happy with this recipe.

[Richard]

Nice to see that the additional corn didn't hurt things - I had been pondering using a little more...