Mash Tun Upgrade Part One: New Valve

So I have been fighting with lower than desired efficiency for a while on my mash, and have decided that part of the problem may be in the way the false bottom I have is connected to my valve.  I bought the entire cooler pre-set up as a kit, and it has a few things that I don't particularly like.

First, almost all of the fittings are brass.  I wanted to upgrade as part of this effort and convert everything to stainless steel.  I know brass can be used, but it isn't as SHINY.  In addition, the false bottom was connected to the valve via a piece of pipe that I felt was potentially too short, and a bunch of compression fittings that I could never get tight enough.  So, I feared that part of the problem might be some leakage at the compression fittings, generating somewhat of a spiral.

Finally, the whole thing leaked.  Twice.  It leaked liquid slowly out the front bottom underneath the valve, and it leaked air into my tube as I was draining.

All of this needs to be fixed.  So, while I am not sure this will fix any of these issues, I have decided to replace the hardware in there and give it a little change.  I'll have to brew once I get it all set up to determine if there is any actual change.  And there are some additional upgrades I want as well (sparge arm or other sparging device, valve on my HLT, etc.) that may help.

As for this part, I bought a stainless bulkhead weldless keg kit from BargainFittings.com and installed it (more to come in a subsequent post).

1. Remove all of the hardware from the cooler and wipe it down.
   

2. Wash all the new parts in PBW.

3. Rinse the parts thoroughly, and let them air dry.
   

4. Wrap both sides of the nipple with teflon plumbers tape.  Add an O-ring to the nipple and screw on the lock nut

5. Thread the nipple through the cooler wall and attach a washer and then the valve on the front, hand tighten, then tighten with a locking set of pliers (vise grips) on the inside.  I just used my hand to hold the valve on the outside.

6. Screw on the coupling on the inside.

7. Add teflon tape to barb and screw it into the valve on the outside.

8. Fill with water to a level above the coupling.

9. Check outside for leaks (YAY no leaks!!!)

So now that that is done, I'll be replacing the inside with a silicone tube kit and barbs and hose clamps...  Should be exciting.  Until next time.

Bottled the Cherry Beer

Tastes like (shocking) tart cherries.  Bottled today and should be ready in a couple of weeks.  Need to bottle the IPA soon and then get back go brewing.

Couple of things I've been thinking about lately on brewing are to create a set of "standards" that I would like to have "in stock" pretty much all the time, and then intersperse the experimentals in there as needed.

Thoughts on the standards:
American Brown Ale
Blonde Ale
IPA
Stout
and possible an APA or one of these "Dark IPAs or Dark India Ales or Cascadian Dark Ales" if I can find a good recipe

Then 4 seasonals:
Scottish Strong Ale - Wee Beastye (Spring)

Jalapeno Pale Ale (Summer/Fall)
Annual Rotator (Summer/Fall) - Brew something different as a special brew
Christmas Ale (Winter)

Of course, I will probably brew whatever I want, but this is just something I was thinking about in terms of if I were to ever "upscale" the production (aka buy/build a brewery).

The other things I have been thinking about is getting a little more precise with my equipment.  I intend to add some temperature gauges to my cooler and possibly the HLT and then also potentially come up with some other efficiency gaining equipment improvements.  In addition, I am going to try to calibrate all of my stuff (this really means boiling lots of water most likely and wasting propane).  I might can work some of it into a really long brew day, but otherwise, it will be a less-than-exciting effort that I'll still document here.

Enjoy.

Limbo Competition

So I don't know how many people actually cruise this blog much as it is generally a repository of my recipes and whatever I am up to from a brewing perspective.  However, I do want to throw in a quick pitch about my club and their competition (the last day for entries of which is Friday).

I'm a member of North Texas Homebrewers' Association.  This club has been around for 25 years now, and supports homebrewers across the greater Dallas area.  I joined initially to get a discount at Homebrew Headquarters, but have found it to be a fun set of people that are all interested in making great beer.

That said, 8/6 is the deadline for the annual competition, the Limbo.  The rules are simple.  Come up with a beer with low alcohol (starting gravities at 1.050 and below) and enter it.

So, there's my pitch!  Hopefully you have a beer sitting around to enter, and if not, then get planning one for next year.

Batch 8 (c) - IPA IPA IPA IPA IPA over and over again.

OK another round at an Imperial IPA.  Missed the OG again so added 2 lb. of DME.  Then it over-evaporated down to about 3.5 gallons.  So I left it there.  That's one way to hit your target gravity.

Batch 8(c) - IPA IPA

Recipe Specifications

Brew Date: 7/17/2010
Recipe Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Recipe Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated Pre-boil OG: 1.072
Estimated OG: 1.088 SG
Estimated Color: 12.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 81.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.092 SG
Actual FG: 1.014 SG
Actual ABV: 10.23 %

Ingredients

Water Additions

Prepare 9.77 gal Water for Brewing

Amount	Item	Type
0.77 gm	Salt (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
1.98 gm	Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
3.08 gm	Chalk (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
11.55 gm	Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
15.84 gm	Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
27.72 gm	Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
5.50 gal	Burton On Trent, UK	Water

Grain Bill

Ingredients for Mashing

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
14.00 lb	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)	Grain	66.67 %
5.00 lb	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)	Grain	23.81 %
2.00 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)	Grain	9.52 %

Hop Schedule/Boil Additions

Boil Ingredients

Boil	Amount	Item	Type
60 min	1.00 oz	Warrior [15.80 %] (60 min)	Hops
60 min	1.00 oz	Yakima Magnum [14.40 %] (60 min)	Hops
5 min	1.00 oz	Cascade [7.50 %] (5 min)	Hops

Yeast/Other

Ingredients for Fermentation

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
3 Pkgs	Safale US (LeSaffre #05)	Yeast-Ale

Mash

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 21.00 lb

Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out

Step Time	Name	Description	Step Temp
60 min	Mash In	Add 26.25 qt of water at 165.9 F	154.0 F

Notes

Generated with a custom BeerSmith template created by Cameron Mathews

Hardware

Brewing sometimes pays off with recognition. I entered quite a few beers in the Celtic Brew-Off as previously mentioned, and was pleasantly surprised to win a pair of ribbons this year (last year I won one ribbon in the Celtic). 

My "Stupid Shamrock Irish Stout" won third place in overall stouts, despite having a slightly "too-roasty" flavor.  Luckily there's still a little bit of that to go around and I may have to have a couple just to remind myself of what that one tastes like.  Might have to bust one or two of those out this weekend.

My "Shillelagh Whack Irish Red" did a bit better, picking up second overall place in Scottish and Irish Ales.  Special thanks to everyone that hung out the day that got brewed... Meredith, Dave, Melissa, Megan, and Cory, in no particular order (except Meredith who always gets first billing).  I have a feeling that most of this is now gone, but I may poke around and see if I can find a straggling bottle or two.  I think there are definitely some improvements that could be made on this one but I am glad to see that it was good enough to score some pretty high merit at a focused competition.

Finally, though it wasn't a medal-winner, I was quite pleased with the remarks I got on my mead.  Phrases like "well aged" and "spicy honey notes" were thrown around in the review sheets as well as some decent marks.  Obviously it didn't score well enough to beat out those focused mead recipes, but I was glad to see it have some positive feedback.

Batch 28 - Naughty Tart - Tart Cherry Beer

OK, so this one, I'll post the brew sheet, but be sure to read the notes because basically I drained a ton of cherries and then loaded into the primary...  Since they are CANNED, they are already pasteurized, so just keep sanitation good.

Batch 28 Naughty Tart - Tart Cherry Beer

Recipe Specifications

Brew Date: 5/15/2010
Recipe Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Recipe Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated Pre-boil OG: 1.038
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 4.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.041
Actual FG:  1.011
Actual ABV:  3.9 %

Ingredients

Water Additions

Prepare 8.45 gal Water for Brewing

Amount	Item	Type
0.44 gm	Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
0.44 gm	Salt (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
1.98 gm	Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
4.29 gm	Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
5.50 gal	Boston, MA	Water

Grain Bill

Ingredients for Mashing

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
9.00 lb	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)	Grain	90.00 %
1.00 lb	Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)	Grain	10.00 %

Hop Schedule/Boil Additions

Boil Ingredients

Boil	Amount	Item	Type
60 min	1.00 oz	Tettnang [4.50 %] (60 min)	Hops
15 min	0.50 oz	Tettnang [4.50 %] (15 min)	Hops

Yeast/Other

Ingredients for Fermentation

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
2 Pkgs	Safale US (LeSaffre #05)	Yeast-Ale

11.00 items

Fruit - Montmorency Sour Cherries (can) (Primary 7.0 days)

Misc

Mash

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 10.00 lb

Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge

Step Time	Name	Description	Step Temp
75 min	Mash In	Add 12.50 qt of water at 161.4 F	150.0 F

Notes

Drain cherries in sanitized equipment and add to primary fermenter. Rack off after 5 days into secondary.

Generated with a custom BeerSmith template created by Cameron Mathews

Celtic Entries

Readying the entries for the Knights of the Brown Bottle Celtic Brew-Off.  This year, I've got 4 entries going in:

• Doh Ray Mead
• Wee Beastye Wee Heavye (December batch - rebranded Wee Beastye Wee-est Heavye in the Strong Scot 90/ category they have, since it came out a tad light)
• Shillelagh Whack Irish Red
• Stupid Shamrock Irish Stout

Since the 2009 Celtic won me a ribbon in the Strong Scottish category, I am hoping that I have at least one beer good enough to place here this year.  We'll see.

Batch 27 - Pale Faced American

Double brew day!!! Yup.I managed (somehow) to brew two batches in a single day... We'll see how they turn out.

Recipe Specifications

Brew Date: 3/13/2010
Recipe Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Recipe Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated Pre-boil OG: 1.047
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 7.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.039 SG
Actual FG: 1.008 SG
Actual ABV: 4.03 %

Ingredients

Water Additions

Prepare 8.75 gal Water for Brewing

Amount	Item	Type
1.10 gm	Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
1.40 gm	Chalk (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
1.80 gm	Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
2.10 gm	Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
2.50 gm	Salt (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
3.50 gm	Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
5.50 gal	Los Angeles, CA (West)	Water

Grain Bill

Ingredients for Mashing

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
10.50 lb	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)	Grain	84.00 %
1.00 lb	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (Briess) (2.0 SRM)	Grain	8.00 %
1.00 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)	Grain	8.00 %

Hop Schedule/Boil Additions

Boil Ingredients

Boil	Amount	Item	Type
60 min	0.60 oz	Magnum [14.40 %] (60 min)	Hops
15 min	1.00 oz	Challenger [7.00 %] (15 min)	Hops

Yeast/Other

Ingredients for Fermentation

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
2 Pkgs	American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)	Yeast-Ale

Mash

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 12.50 lb

Single Infusion, Medium Body

Step Time	Name	Description	Step Temp
60 min	Mash In	Add 15.63 qt of water at 165.9 F	154.0 F
10 min	Mash Out	Add 8.75 qt of water at 196.6 F	168.0 F

Notes

Generated with a custom BeerSmith template created by Cameron Mathews

Batch 26 - Strong, Dark, and Less than Handsome

Recipe Specifications

Brew Date: 3/13/2010
Recipe Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Recipe Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated Pre-boil OG: 1.071
Estimated OG: 1.086 SG
Estimated Color: 18.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.085 SG
Actual FG: 1.016 SG
Actual ABV: 9.04 %

Ingredients

Water Additions

Prepare 7.00 gal Water for Brewing

Amount	Item	Type
0.70 gm	Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
1.80 gm	Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
2.10 gm	Salt (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
2.80 gm	Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
4.90 gm	Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
5.30 gm	Chalk (Mash 60.0 min)	Misc
5.50 gal	Antwerp, Belgium	Water

Grain Bill

Steep Grains at 165.0 F

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
1.00 lb	Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM)	Grain	6.90 %
0.50 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)	Grain	3.45 %

Hop Schedule/Boil Additions

Boil Ingredients

Boil	Amount	Item	Type
60 min	10.00 lb	Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM)	Extract
60 min	2.00 oz	Hallertauer [3.80 %] (60 min)	Hops
60 min	1.00 lb	Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM)	Sugar
60 min	2.00 lb	Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM)	Sugar

Yeast/Other

Ingredients for Fermentation

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
2 Pkgs	Belgian Golden Ale (White Labs #WLP570)	Yeast-Ale

Mash

Mash Schedule: None
Total Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
Steep grains as desired (30-60 minutes)

Notes

Generated with a custom BeerSmith template created by Cameron Mathews

Batch 25 - American Brown Ale

Recipe Specifications

Brew Date: 2/15/2010
Recipe Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Recipe Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated Pre-boil OG: 1.045
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 24.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 31.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Actual OG: 1.048 SG
Actual FG: 1.012 SG
Actual ABV: 4.69 %

Ingredients

Water Additions

Prepare 8.75 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, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12.50 lb

Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge

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