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6/9/2019 - Well, the brew started off with a low mash in temperature, despite the strike water being 168ºF-170ºF. I came in around 147ºF. Upon beginning a recirculation, the pump wouldn’t prime and I didn’t get a good recirculation going until about 10 minutes into the mash. By 40 minutes, I was able to bring the temperature over 150ºF. I ran the recirculation most of the time after the MT had achieved ~153ºF-155ºF. I ran the mash for about 80 minutes, which also subsequently contributed to my higher than expected Mash Efficiency, which ended up being in the 76-77% range -Take aways: Mash Efficiency (ME) is higher when I double grind some of the grains (2/3 of the grains (need to pay attention to any polyphenol character that comes through from doing this)), run a longer mash with recirculation. If My mash temperature is intentionally low for the beer style/wort production, I might need to intentionally run a 90 minute mash with recirculation to achieve this same ME. In general, a good target ME is 76%, assuming the mash temperature is about about 152ºF and goes for about 75 minutes, or runs for 90 minutes is under 150ºF. Both conditions require nearly constant recirculation to achieve these MEs. Because ME was higher than expected, I hit kettle full @ 14.8 gallons (1.040 SG; 592 GU (Target was 581)). I subsequently added 1/3 gallon of a water, which allowed me to hit flame out at 13 gallons @ 1.048 (12.5 gallons @ 1.050). I should have added 0.7 gallons of water according to the math, which would have brought the OG exactly in specification @ 1.048 after cooling shrinkage. Admittedly, I was trying to rush with the math and didn’t calculate correctly, which led me to having too high an OG. To accomodate for the higher OG and volume (12 gallons were in the FV after the yeast slurry pitch), I added a bit more hops: -My 45 minute Magnum addition was 0.65oz rather than 0.6 -My 20 minute Saaz addition was 3.15oz rather than 3 oz -I tossed a few Magnum pellets in at whirlpool to bump up IBU just a touch. All told it was a great brew, but moving forward, I want to start using my refractometer to measure gravities as well. I want to ensure it is calibrated and will hopefully achieve more consistent readings during brews. I need to double mill about 1/2-2/3 of my grains, mash 75-90 minutes depending on mash temperature, and recirculate nearly constantly to achieve 76% ME during future brews. Water adjustments were perfect, as all pH readings were in the 5.45-5.5 range @ MT (5.15-5.2 RT) OG=1.050 12 gallons in FV Pitched 1.5mil/ml/ºP with O2 for 2 minutes at a slow steady rate into the wort. 6/10/2019 - I pulled about 1qt (2x 16oz cups) of trub 24 hours into the fermentation. I anticipate that the early trub pull will lend itself to a better tasting beer, per recent research at Dogfish Head. This amount equates to approximately 2% of the total FV volume. I allowed the trub to run until it cleared up a bit and was simply filled with less solid material. I will pull another similar amount at 48 hours into fermentation. -Temperature was low at about 47ºF, so not much has happened. Bumping it to 50ºF to commence fermentation. It’s a wonderful tasting wort though! 12.6 Brix (1.050 SG); 5.03 pH. 6/11/2019 - pH=4.8; SG = 1.042 (11.4 Brix; 1.04% ABV). Tastes like good, sweet wort. Coming along well. I pulled more trub today. I didn’t get a ton but the tank also started releasing a ton of built up pressure when I opened the trub dump valve and threw all of the sediment up into suspension. All is going well. 6/12/2019 - pH=4.71; SG=1.036 (10.5 Brix); Coming along well. Defnitely getting the sulfur oxide on the nose! 6/13/2019 - pH=4.65; SG=1.033; Clean, hint of sulfur, but coming along well. 6/14/2019 - pH=4.63; SG=1.027 (9.1 Brix); Sulfur there, but it is mid-fermentation. All is good. 6/15/2019 - pH=4.61; SG=1.022 (8.4 Brix); Still sulfur, but I expect this will subside after full attenuation. 6/16/2019 - pH=4.59; SG=1.020 (8 Brix); I’ll increase the temperature this evening heading into the Diacetyl Rest. 6/16/2019 (PM) - pH=4.6; SG=1.016 (7.4 Brix); Went ahead and ramped into the Diacetyl Rest since I am in the last 25% or so of fermentation. I was planning an FG of 1.010, though I won’t be surprised if it attenuates a bit more than that given my initial pump issue during the brew day. Mash Temp was low. It’s coming along well. 6/17/2019 - pH=4.6; SG=1.013 (6.9 Brix); Sulfur smell is slowly dissipating. All signs are great. 6/18/2019 - pH=4.62; SG=1.012 (6.75 Brix); It’s cleaning up well and almost finished! 6/19/2019 - pH=4.42; 1.012 (6.75 Brix); I believe she is about done. Gonna give it another day before reducing to lagering, but it tastes great! 6/20/2019 - pH=4.65; 1.011 (6.5 Brix); The gravity dropped by 0.25ºP overnight, so I want to wait longer before cooling. The beer tastes great, though I want to be certain that there is no additional diacetyl or diacetyl precursors present in the wort before beginning my coolling phase. 6/21/2019-6/24/2019 (AM) - Cooled 10ºF per day from 65 down to 40ºF. 6/24/2019 (AM)-6/26/2019 (PM) - Held at 41ºF for 60 hours 6/26/2019 (PM) - Present - Dropped down to 33ºF-34ºF and fined with SiO2 on 6/27 AM. Looking good! Thoughts for future brew: 1. It’s damn good as-is. Don’t kid yourself, Travis... 2. I want to see a slightly lighter color and body. To accomplish this, consider decreasing 6 row by 5% and increasing corn by the same 5%. Keep the Munich as-is. 3. Move the 20 minutes Saaz addition to 10 minutes and increase the amount. This is aimed at increasing bitterness a bit, but more importantly, bringing through more the Saaz spicy character into the final beer. 4. Everything else is great!!