Thare She Blows!!

So, I taught a friend to homebrew this past saturday. Actually, I think that I taught making beer is easy and full of comedic errors. Man, I screwed up so many parts of the process, it was horrible. First, my barley crusher stopped grinding grain. After a little internet research I think I can fix it but still, that isn't a good demonstration for the new learner. I was suppossed to have about half pound more roasted malt in the grist, but I threw it out because the damn mill wouldn't grind it.

Then, I missed my strike temperature and mashed in LOW. I added boiling water to the mash tun and got the temp up somewhat, but overally it was still to low (about 145 degrees). The beer will be thin, oh well. Then when brew day was over, my troubles are over right, wrong.

I mistakenly filled the fermenter up to the 6 gallon mark instead of the 5.5 gallon mark I was shooting for, no problems, just a little more beer. But, when you pitch a pile of healthy top cropped yeast, the airlock gets clogged by krausen. I put a blow off tube in, but it wasn't working and got clogged. I popped the top on the bucket and just let the lid rest on. Hence the name of the brew, thare she blows! I have had krausen overflowing from the bucket for 24 hours now. Thankfully, I let my fermenter sit in a big round tub.

Tonight, I will top crop from the fermenter and hopefully the fermentation would have subsided just enough that I can seal the bucket and add the airlock back.

Hopshead, signing out.

thare she blows

13-E American Stout

Date: 11/6/10

Size: 6.25 gal

Efficiency: 75.27%

Attenuation: 75.0%

Calories: 200.06 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.060 (1.050 - 1.075)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.010 - 1.022)

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Color: 25.78 (30.0 - 40.0)

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Alcohol: 5.91% (5.0% - 7.0%)

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Bitterness: 77.1 (35.0 - 75.0)

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Ingredients:

11.0 lb Pale Ale Malt

0.5 lb Caramel Malt 60L

1.0 lb Amber

0.5 lb Black Malt

0.5 lb Chocolate Malt

1.0 lb Oat Flakes

1.0 oz Nugget (11.8%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min

1.0 oz Amarillo (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min

1.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min

1.0 oz Willamette (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min

1.0 oz Willamette (5.0%)

1.0 ea WYeast 1318 London Ale III

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 70.0 °F

Source Water: 68.0 °F

Elevation: 500.0 ft

00:03:00 Mash In - Liquor: 5.44 gal; Strike: 161.86 °F; Target: 152.0 °F

01:03:00 Saccharification Rest - Rest: 60.0 min; Final: 151.2 °F

01:15:00 Sparge - First runnings: 0.0 gal sparge @ 170.0 °F, 4.0 gal collected, 5 min; Second Runings: 5.33 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 5.5 gal collected, 7 min; Total Runoff: 9.7 gal

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.5