Batch 25.2 - American Brown Ale and Mash Tun Inauguration and Calibrating Stuffs

So, I finished the mash tun upgrades (put barbs and high temp tubing on the inside) and am testing it out with my American Brown Ale.  I'm also using this brew to calibrate and figure out the variances on some of my equipment.

So here's the hose barb and high temp tubing:

And then here's the barb and elbow for the other end where the false bottom is:

Here's the finished mash tun inside:

One problem I found early - the thermometer in my HLT is off by several degrees.  This was verified with my new lab thermometer, and could be the reason my sparges are not getting hot enough and perhaps I'm not mashing at a high enough temp either.  So, with the help of some more precision measurements, I successfully got my mash in at EXACTLY 154, which is what I was going for.

Also good to know - I put about half of my strike water in at 10 degrees high (181) to pre-heat the mash tun.  While it pre-heated it, I let it go 8 minutes and it had dropped 20 degrees.  Need to adjust to hotter water or shorter time in the mash tun.  Regardless, I cleared it up this time by just heating additional strike water.

And I had to pour myself one of these for any brew day (this is the tart cherry beer from back in May):

Here's the Recipe:

Batch 25.2 - American Brown Ale

Recipe Specifications

Brew Date: 10/17/2010
Recipe Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Recipe Boil Size: 10.38 gal
Estimated Pre-boil OG: 1.024
Estimated OG: 1.042 SG
Estimated Color: 24.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 38.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 49.70 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.042 SG
Actual FG: 1.012 SG
Actual ABV: 3.90 %

Ingredients

Water Additions

Prepare 12.13 gal Water for Brewing

Amount	Item	Type
0.40 gm	Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
0.40 gm	Salt (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
2.50 gm	Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
5.30 gm	Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
8.10 gm	Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
9.50 gm	Chalk (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
5.50 gal	RO Modified - Brown Ale (Malty)	Water

Grain Bill

Ingredients for Mashing

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
9.00 lb	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)	Grain	70.59 %
2.00 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)	Grain	15.69 %
1.00 lb	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)	Grain	7.84 %
0.50 lb	Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)	Grain	3.92 %

Hop Schedule/Boil Additions

Boil Ingredients

Boil	Amount	Item	Type
60 min	1.00 oz	Centennial [9.70 %] (60 min)	Hops
60 min	0.25 lb	Brown Sugar, Light (8.0 SRM)	Sugar

Steep Aroma Hops

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
1.00 oz	Liberty [4.50 %] (5 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep)	Hops	-

Yeast/Other

Ingredients for Fermentation

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
1 Pkgs	American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272)	Yeast-Ale

Mash

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 12.50 lb

Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out

Step Time	Name	Description	Step Temp
60 min	Mash In	Add 15.63 qt of water at 170.1 F	154.0 F

Notes

Generated with a custom BeerSmith template created by Cameron Mathews