So I will brew two beers tomorrow 5/10/2013.   For my first beer I’m going to do an IPA.  The second beer will the the Weizenbock further down the blog.

How it went on 5/11/2013

After getting rained out on Friday I finally got to brew on the new system on Saturday.   It was a lot of fun but I’ve got to admit I really didn’t know what the Hell I was doing and was basically flying off how I thought it should work.   I did have a few issues.

1.  My efficiency ended up being pretty bad on both batches.   I’m not used to working with a pump nor am I used to sparging with a auto-sparge which was a little clumsy for me.    I think I ran off the wort a too fast and I think I mashed with too much water per pound at 1.5 quarts per pound.    Additionally I think I need to adjust the mill and try a finer crush.   My crush suspicion is due to efficiency dropping on the old system as well.

2.  I’m going to bail out on the Blichmann therminator and go with the whirlpool chiller.   On the first batch it cooled fairly quickly but I had to use a hop bag for my hops to prevent clogging.   I don’t like having to use hop bags as it’s another variable.   I already own a pretty good immersion chiller and I can buy a $30 addition for whirl-pooling which I think I’ll prefer.    I got pushed over the edge when I forgot to use the hop bag on the second batch and ended up clogging the chiller some as it’s speed slowed.    After I test and confirm whirl-pooling tool someone will end up with a plate chiller at a deal and i can re-invest on a second pump.

Why a second pump?   Well I’ve figured out with two pumps, the hoses I have and the whirl-pooling tool I can boil/chill/recirculate/mash a second batch all in circuit without a whole boat load of hose switching or waiting for other processes to finish.

Despite very low gravities(1.05 for the IPA and 1.06 for the weizenbock) the wort was spectacularly clear, clean and fermentation took off quickly.    They’ll be unbalanced but they’ll be very hoppy which most of my beer friends love so it’ll drink for certain.   Next time I’ll do better on the system.

Update 5/16/2013

Dry hopping ended up being .9 ounces of Amarillo as I’m now out.   I also didn’t have enough Mosaic to hang on to so there is about 1.4 ounce of Mosaic in this dry hop.   I guess we’ll see how this little botch beer turns out!