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:
- If boil-off / mash losses are greater than expected it’s OK to add some water near the end of the boil, gravity isn’t impacted too much by a couple of litres. I wonder if starting with the chiller wet (as per modified HW profile) would have evened things out?
- Don’t forget that pouring in a starter also adds volume. Not sure if Brewfather’s magic takes that into account.
Brew Day Notes
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.