9.27.2010

Brew Day Notes using Hippity Hops Farms 2010 Cascade Hops!

Just wanted to write up an update on how the brew day went for my personal notes and obviously to share.

I have some great pics of all the fresh hops floating in the brew kettle that I'll update later on! I'm starting to think that using whole hops is a lot easier then using the pellets. Yeah, you have to use more water to compensate for the water absorption, but man it's nice to see the real deal boiling away!

Mashed in at 155
Took a PH reading of the mash after stirring and it read 4.8
Took another PH reading after 60 minutes and it read 5.0
Sparged at 170
Took a PH reading and it was at 4.6
(I THINK THESE PH STRIPS DON'T GIVE A PROPER READING..UGGH)
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According to Desirable pH’s

Brewing liquor – pH 6.2-6.6
Pre- boiled wort - ~pH 5.5
Post-boil wort – ~pH 5.2
Finished product – pH 3.9-4.2

Looks like I need to test my brewing liquor, and then the pre-biol wort on my next brew, and then hopefully it will all fall in line from there. I definitely need to figure this out because I should be getting better efficiency!
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I mashed high to have a nice big mouthfeel for this beer. I sparged right on 170 degrees and was hoping this would help my efficiency, but it was still extremely low. Somewhere in the 60-65% sugar extraction range. I'm assuming some of that has to do with my high mash temp, but would love advice from anyone about how to increase my efficiency.

I ended up collecting almost 6 gallons but that will come down to around 5.5 gallons of finished beer when I subtracted wort loss due to my dry hop absorbtion, yeast cake, and trub.

Currently fermenting at 66 degrees ambient temp in my basement.  Chuggin away nicely!

Can't wait to see how these Hippity Hops taste!

first wort hop













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2 comments:

  1. My vote is the crush. You have been hitting your temps with consistency for a while now, the water in NE is not all that bad for brewing and I don't think that the pH is going to effect the Mash and sparge that much. Crush till your scared!

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  2. I may try that. Maybe I'll run it through the mill twice. I cranked it all the way down at Midwest though on this one. I think that it definitely had to do with the high mash temp which is what I was going for. I guess I just have to brew more.

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