| Ref | 2021-10 Sarka | Brewer | Pain & Patience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Style | Czech Lager | Type | Beer, all-grain |
| Started | Fri 22nd Oct 21 | Status | Archived |
| Packaged | Fri 26th Nov 21 | Fermenter | Fermzilla |
| Handle | 2021-10 Sarka |
|---|---|
| Brewer | Pain & Patience |
| Style | Czech Lager |
| Type | Beer, all-grain |
| Fermenter | Fermzilla |
| Status | Archived |
| Started | Fri 22nd Oct 21 |
| Packaged | Fri 26th Nov 21 |
Well, to be honest I’ve already finished the 5 litre mini keg, but now that I’ve had a couple of glasses from the main keg I thought I’d best make a note to say that 3 weeks of conditioning still hasn’t cleared it. Although it does taste fairly nice.
We just filled a 19 litre Cornelius keg until foam started coming from the airlock, but it was mostly sanitiser. Reckon there’s about 18 litres in the 19 litre keg, give or take. The rest went into a 5 litre MJ Mini, stopping again at the foam-in-PRV stage. Maybe 1 litre left in the Fermzilla that went to the fishees.
Forgot to take FG reading so we’ll try to remember when it’s done conditioning in a couple of weeks’ time.
This summary is being added 16 November, and we’ve already been conditioning the main keg for 10 days while the 5 litre mini keg is almost empty. Not much to add really, but because I don’t want to slip into bad habits and record just the rough notes I’m going to pull two interesting points out for focus:
0737 – started dough-in. 22.25 litres of mash water heated to 68℃ with chiller dry this time, using original Brewtools B40 Pro equipment profile adjusted for 1.7 litres HLT deadspace.
0747 – Dough-in complete, starting 20 minute mash rest
0807 – Mash rest complete, starting to circulate through mash.
0931 – Should have finished mashing by now but forgot to heat my sparge water (no reminder set in default BT profile) so I’m trying out the new sparge attachment while heating HLT. Seems to flow OK but holes block up quite quickly. When they do they can be unblocked by removing the end caps, and I now see why the revised end caps are tethered to the spokes – can be dropped easily.
0945 – Starting sparge after 5 minutes of vorlauf
0949 – Bugger, forgot to measure levels and gravity before sparging. Oh well.
0953 – Sparging complete. Pre-boil volume is 28 litres, 2.5 litres short of 30.58 target. Pre-boil gravity is 1.045 (1.030 @ 58.1℃) against target of 1.041. Plugging those values into Brewfather’s Gravity Correction / Boil Off calculator tells me I should add 2.73 litres of water, which is pretty much the observed difference in pre-boil volume. I’m going to add this now rather than to the fermenter so that it will be sanitised by boiling.
1007 – Water added, as is the Trubinator. Volume now shows 31 litres, revised pre-boil gravity still 1.045 (1.028 @ 63.1℃). Eh? How can adding 2.7 litres of water not affect gravity? Anyway, heating to boil now while I clean the malt pipe.
1046 – Boil tracker started, 60 minute additions in.
1131 – 15 minute additions in, as is the chiller coil for sanitising. Timer paused while kettle re-heats to boiling temperature.
1145 – 10 minute additions in, polyclar and yeast nutrient.
1155 – I’m going to ignore the 98℃ hopstand for 300 minutes and instead do 20 minutes at 90℃. Additions in.
1226 – Post boil readings taken while chilling: 27 litres (with chiller – I forgot to measure before cutting in) and 1.047 (1.030 @ 62℃) against target of 1.046. Looks good!
1331 – Transferred, Tilt deployed, fermentation fridge set for 13℃. Volume before starter was 23 exactly, adding the slightly iffy looking starter made it 25 litres. Spunding valve added and set for 12 PSI, if it doesn’t register anything I can always sprinkle some dry yeast in a couple of days.
1440 – Cleanup finished.