May 202216Mon

Started Primary

SG 1.049 24.0℃ started

Nothing special to report apart from a couple of process variations on this brew day, where I was assisted by Dad since my family were visiting from across. Maybe worth noting:

  • Measurements entered into Brewfather were not corrected for temperature, since I’m now assuming that Brewfather is smart enough to know when the wort will be hot and when it’ll be cool. Mash efficiency now down to a horrid 61% though, presumably because of usual high volume losses and possibly due to ageing malts.
  • Topped up the fermenter with 2 litres of cold mineral water post FV transfer, because the ABV was creeping up due to volume losses. Now looking at predicted 5.3% versus planned 4.1% ABV.
  • First use of calibrated Tilt Pro. The OG still looks off and it’s levelling out before the planned FG, so I may need to revisit that at some point.

Brew Day Notes

0605 Dough-in start
0615 Start mash-rest
0645 First stir, start mashing 26.5 litres
0700 Second stir, good consistency
0710 Third stir. Not thin enough to fan out, will keep stirring frequently instead
0730 Fourth stir
0750 Mashing complete, 25.75 litres
0755 Malt pipe out, 22.5 litres. Start sparge.
0806 Sparge complete. Gravity 1.030 @ 59℃, 27.0 litres.
0845 Boil started, 60 minute additions
0916 30 minute additions
0932 26 litres approx, 15 minute additions, pause boil tracker
0942 10 minute additions
1000 Post boil 1.031 @ 68.2℃, 23.5 litres with chiller coil in (add 1.5 litres for tracking)
1015 Start chilling
1048 Transfer finished, 21 litres 1.049 @ 24℃. Topping up 2 litres
1150 Clean-up finished