BeerSmith™ Recipe Cloud

Notes

4-15-15 brew day. mashed with 3 gal (1.2 qt/lb) at 148 for 60 min. strike water at 159 and hit 148 perfectly. mash PH at 4.5 which is too low. guess i should have added acid malt as i went along. quickly heating another half gal of water to add and hopefully raise it up some. will not acidify the sparge water either. that should raise while lautering and will do so very slow so conversion can still take place. not worried about some starches and tannins as it is potential food for the lacto. the PH lesson continues. adding the half gal did nothing. oh well gonna rock with it. sparged with 7.8 gal at 180 to collect 8.5 gal. no need for 8.75-9 since doing 60 min boil. all indications is that i never hit 1.01 of a PH of 5.9 while sparging. kettle gravity at 1.035 and PH at 4.7. too low PH across the board, but i got my sugars and i'd bet any artingencies will be covered by the salinity and acidity of the beer. i also went ahead and pitched the blend of abbey and ardennes along with the starter. It had a slight vinegar smell but just thought it would be better to add all at once and leave it be for 2 months. the yeast slurry does make me nervous but it always seems to work itself out. this is a fairly low gravity beer. got about 5.75 into fermenter so went ahead and topped up with a half gal of boiled water. pre-boil gravity was a little high so figured it would get me in the vicinity and i was spot on at 1.040. PH at 4.7. will be interesting to see how this low PH effects the outcome. i was also nervous of the bush berries as the aroma was very strong. but it tastes perfect. salty with a touch of spice. see ya in 2 months... 4-13-15 L. Brevis starter going. will brew and pitch this ahead of Sacc strain. use some of brew day wort for a starter for the Sacc and add that 2-3 days into ferm.