Brewer’s Cache

Its is brew day and batch number five is under way. I decided to try a 90 minute boil this time around–the longer boil will reduce the amount of DMS that ends up in my beer.

I bagged up the 1 lb of flaked oats and the crystal 6o malt into a grain bag and placed the bag in 3.5 gallons of tap water at 70 degrees F. Over medium heat, I slowly raised the temperature to 153 degrees F. At this point, to practice some temperature control, I tried to hold the temp at 153 for 15 minutes. I managed to keep it within a degree or two–with more practive like this, I might just be ready to give all-grain brewing a try.

After about 40 minutes of steeping and the water was up to 170 degrees F, I removed the grain bag and set it aside, and then proceeded to bring the water up to a boil. To maintain the balance of the beer, I added my bittering hops at 20 minutes and my finnishing ups at 85 minutes. About an hour into the boil, I realized that I had forgotten to “sparge” my grain bag, so I slowly poured 4 cups of tap water over the grain bag, suspended with a metal strainer, into my boiling wort. I had underestimated the amount of protein and sugar that would be extracted during this progess and nearly had a boil over.

After 90 minutes of boiling, I moved my boil vessel into an ice bath that I had prepared shortly before. I agitated the ice water a bit to improve the heat transfer; the wort was cool enough for yeast pitching in about 20 minutes or so. I transfered the wort to my primary fermeter through a strainer–I was surprized how little residue accumulated in the strainer.

At that point, I took a gravity reading. The only problem was, I had followed Charlie Papazian’s “DWHAHB” suggestion too closely and don’t think (and hope) that I took a correct gravity reading. I read either 5 on the bailing scale or potential alcholol scale–one indicates a good initial gravity, the other a terrible initial gravity. [The beer has since gone through its primary fermentation, which lasted a solid 36 hours, so I am fairly certain that I am in the clear. ]

The processing of topping off the fermenter provided sufficient aeration for the wort, so I pitched the yeast after taking my gravity reading and sealed up the fermenter with an airlock.

I am tempted to start another brew, maybe some Apfelwein, just in case my beer turns out like water.

This was the first time that I have brewed with Crystal malt. I don’t think that this malted version needs to be mashed, but if I am wrong, please let me know.

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