Mar 202309Thu

Started Geronimo IV

SG 1.064 24℃ kveik started voss

Quite a good brew day today. Only one small error (heaters on Auto rather than Auto Mash, no scorching though) and I’m very very close to all my numbers, both in terms of volumes and gravity. The only exception there is the amount of trub loss when using the Trubinator, and going forward I may think about creating a dedicated equipment profile for when I’m using this piece of kit. Unfortunately doing so would effectively fork any subsequent tweaks as I’ll be tuning two profiles, so we’ll have to think about this some more.

Under-Pitched Voss

One thing which did give me slight concern today was my desperate under-pitching of Voss Kveik. If memory serves correctly I used half a sachet of slurry on a previous incarnation of Geronimo and then a quarter on Jackknife Barber, leaving me with one quarter sachet and the hope that my previous doses hadn’t been too greedy.

I warmed the alarmingly light bag during boil using my laptop, weighed it at 51.93g, and pitched it at around 24℃ with the empty bag weighing 10.71g – so 41.22g of yeast for 21 litres of 1.064. Nothing happened in the following hours and nothing continued to happen when I turned in for the night, but at around 05:00 the next day it took off in typical Kveik fashion. The following morning I was relieved to see I’d remembered to fit the spunding valve, but disappointed to find I’d adjusted it too high, because it was hissing merrily at around 17 PSI. Voss is one hard, mad bastard. Reduced pressure gradually to 5 PSI as I don’t want to suppress too many Esthers or release too much hoppy goodness via CO2 when it’s time to dry-hop. All good for now.

Brew Day Notes

Geronimo 6.7%

Brew Day Notes

0650 Start dough-in

0705 Mash rest started. Forgot to put in chemicals, so took a bit longer.

0730 Mash rest done. Looks like about 34 litres total. Start mashing. Very cloying due to the extra oats, will likely need constant stirring today.

0840 Mash timer finished, SG 1.067 (1.052 @ 59℃) against expected 1.057. Can it be that good? I was going to extend the mash because the thickness hasn’t let me push through as much as I had hoped. Let’s give it a little longer, just in case. UPDATE: I haven’t sparged yet, that’s why it’s so high. Idiot.

0930 Ready to sparge. SG 1.069 (1.052 @ 61.1℃) volume 32 litres with malt pipe.

0937 Start sparge

0943 Sparge done. 30 litres against expected 28.86, SG 

1.056 (1.039 @ 62℃) against predicted 1.057. Not bad.

1023 Boil tracker started, 60 minute additions in.

1108 About to drop in chiller and Trubinator. Volume before 28 litres, 27 litres after. Expecting 26.46 post-boil. Pausing tracker while kettle returns to boil.

1119 Resuming boil tracker

1140 Balls – started chilling but forgot about the hop-stand. Heating back to 90℃ from 80℃, chiller back out for now.

1145 Hop-stand started, additions in. Looks very green in there now!

1215 Hop-stand done, start chilling.

1230 Return temperature is 30℃ so I’ll start transfer.

1300 Transfer done, OG 1.064 (expected 1.062), 21 litres (expected 23) – quite a bit of crud in the Trubinator.

1400 Clean-up finished.