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Taste Notes

At pitching the smell is amazing, hoppy & sweet. The color & consistance looks like orange juice. This is exactly what I was expecting.

Notes

Mashed in at 166F. Stirred until temp dropped to 155F. Rest for 10 min. Started pump to recirculate for 5 min.  15 min 152F  pH 5.47 @ 57.3C adjusted to pH 5.67. The estimated pH was 5.4. I think I needed to test the pH sooner. Think conversion had already completed & the mash pH was rising. The pH was in a good range but higher than my target. 25 min 151F added heat raised temp to 155 pH 5.47 @ 55.4C  pH5.67 Turned pump off & stirred @ 42 min 60 min raise temp to 168F Checked sparge pH it was 3.48 @ 76C adjusted pH 3.78. Very low. Cooling sample to re-test. The re-test was the same. May not need water acid addition next time. Pre-boil gravity measured 1.042. The target was 1.050. However, the FG of 1.049 was very close to the 1.050 FG target. I think the kettle must have not been mixed well or I somehow got a diluted sample from the sample port. pH at the end of running was 5.62. Very good. The gravity at the end of running’s was 1.012. The water additions worked perfectly even though the targets were missed. It looks like I missed the mash pH on the high side & the sparge pH on the low side. It appears they canceled each other out.  The next time I plan to mix the water adjustments in a beaker before adding them to the water. The hop basket is a piece of crap. The thing clogs immediately with 2oz of pellets. Ended up dumping the hops in the kettle. This is the second attempt using this thing with the same results. I will not use is again. I think a coarser mesh may work but the 3-micron mess is NG. I forgot to note the final volume. I think it was close though. I will calculate the final kettle volume based on the keg volume. I had pump problems. the pump clogged with whole hops. Could not cool much below 80F. Put keg in the wine cellar to cool overnight. Pitched 4.25L of 1.037G starter. Forgot to measure OG before starter. Took gravity reading after pitching the starter, 1.053 OG. Calculated dilution 4L of 1.037G starter added to 11gal of wort. Estimated the OG of 1.056. The target OG was 1.059. This combined with an estimated post boil volume makes it difficult to make any adjustments. I think it was close but too many unknowns to make adjustments. I continue to have trouble with whirl pooling & chilling. This time whole hops clogged the pump. The pump stopped with 4 gallons in the kettle. Getting the pump going took 45 minutes or so. This makes utilization estimates impossible. The original plan was to try a stainless-steel basket purchased from Adventures in Home brewing. This is the second attempt to use this thing. It completely clogged with two oz of pellet hops. Ended up dumping the basket & adding the whole hops directly to the kettle. Adding all the hops directly to the kettle was the cause of all the pump problems. This is very frustrating. I have been brewing for ten years and cannot get a reliable chilling process. I have made many attempts to use a plate chiller. I always end up with a problem, clog, pump…. The hot wort ended up in sitting for an extended time. I keep going back to plate chiller because it is efficient and fast. It will chill 12 gallons of boiling wort in just a few minutes. I also get clearer beer when I whirlpool. I have tried to use hop bag several times but I do not think I get the correct utilization. The hops are not fully saturated. They may be saturated but I do not think so. The most reliable way I have found is use a submersion chiller. The issue I have with submersion chiller is it takes a very long time to get the wort to pitching temp. It does a great job of getting the wort from boiling to below 180F. It takes a very long time, an hour or so, to get the wort to 80F when the ground water is 70F. I have to figure out a better way! The next time I will use hop bag & lower the BH efficiency to 65% to account for the unknowns created by process breakdowns in this batch. Dry hopped in FV with 4oz of whole Citra & 4oz whole Mozaic at 60% attenuation. Dry hopped in keg with 1oz Cryo Citra & 1oz Cryo Mozaic Transfer from FV with CO2 to minimize O2 exposure.