Bash-Shell.Net

Even though I just brewed this I am doing it again immediately. I want to brew it again with the intended Munich Classic yeast so that I can have both versions on tap for comparison with each other as well as with the original Dunkelweizen recipe this is based on, Rechtschreibfehler.

Preboil SG: 1.031

Original gravity: 1.048

Final gravity: 1.015

Volume in Fermenter: 2.6 Gallons

I think I just suck at gravity readings. My pre-boil gravity was spot on what Brewtarget calculated but my original gravity is a bit low even though my volume is correct if not a tad low, which should have resulted in a higher gravity. I did take some pictures this time, including my hydrometer in distilled water as proof that it is wonky. I always just subtract 3 from whatever my hydrometer appears to read and call it good.

I boiled for 1.5 hours, mashed right around 152F for 70 minutes, and pitched about 8 grams of Munich Classic yeast at 61F. I will be fermenting at 63F-64F for the next roughly two weeks at which point this should be ready to go into a keg and replace the current keg of Too Brown Ale.

Mash and Boil Process

As usual I did a full volume BIAB mash. I added grains when the water was about 157F and stirred for about 5 minutes. I then did a 75 minute mash, stirring again and checking temperatures at 20 minutes and 45 minutes. At 70 minutes I took a sample to get a pre-boil gravity reading and cooled it as much as I had patience for (and of course did not record what temperature I cooled it to) while bringing the mash up to around 170F. At that point I lifted the bag and squeezed as much wort as I could and then let the grain bag sit in a collander resting in a bowl to see if any more wort drained naturally before the boil was done.

I boiled for 90 minutes, adding my hops after 30 minutes to give them a 60 minute boil. Afterwards I used my immersion chiller to get the wort down to about 85F and then transferred to a fermenter. The fermenter was then put into a fridge and cooled down to 60F. After the wort was cooled I pitched about 8 grams of Munich Classic yeast and got everything in the fermentation chamber.

2020-10-04

Fermentation has already started. Roughly 12 hours after pitching the yeast I've got foam/krausen starting to form and the beginnings of airlock action.

2020-10-10

Since it has been cooling off outside I have been keeping the fermentation chamber out in the garage where it stays in the mid 60s fahrenheit this time of the year. My wort has been staying right where I want it at 63-64F without any need to swap the ice. Yesterday was a bit warmer, but temperatures were in check when I went to bed around midnight. It did not cool off much overnight, though, and this morning around 7:30am when I checked on temperatures the wort was up to about 67F. I opened the chamber to have a look and there's a new layer of krausen starting to form at the top after it had all completely faded away as of Thursday the 8th. I did not see any signs of airlock activity so this may just be foaming up a bit from temperature and air pressure changes as a rain/storm system moves in rather than actual fermentation. If it is fermentation then I'm not worried about effects on flavor, the temps were right where I wanted them for the bulk of primary fermentation. I am curious as to what the gravity currently is and will have to check it at some point today to see if it is complete or if maybe I really am getting a second round going here due to the wort warming up for a few hours overnight.

2020-10-17 - Into The Keg

As usual, I suspect issues with my hydrometer. It definitely seems to always be bumping the side of my cylinder and always reads higher than I feel like it should. My target FG was 1.014, which I hit according to my refractometer after applying correction for alcohol according to 3 different online tools. My hydrometer measured 1.018 to 1.020 - and I know it reads .003 to .004 high at all times. If I subtract .003 from that then I am at 1.015 to 1.017... close at the low end but significantly off at the high end. I'm going to say I hit my target FG or close enough for any difference to be due to mash temperature related.

I did try to take a couple pictures of the refractometer reading which I will add to the image gallery at the bottom and have one from a few days ago of the hydrometer. The refractometer images have a bit of a blurry line where you take the reading. To get a very clear line everything needs to be just right once there's anything other than water on the refractometer, even unfermented wort, and it turns out holding the refractometer in good light, holding my phone to the refractometer eye piece, and getting a clear line requires a level of hand and finger dexterity that I just do not have.

I tossed the fermenter with beer into the refrigerator this morning and now have it in the keg sitting in the kegerator with 25-30 psi of co2 on it to get it carbonated asap. I'm very interested in the flavor. My pre-carbontion sampling had more tang than I expected. The flavor I attributed to the WB-06 yeast is strong in this batch so it seems that's the rye which makes WB-06 even more curious of a yeast than I thought it was.

I've got about 0.5 gallons of yeast and junk left in the bottom of the fermenter which seems like a lot. I'm going to pour it into another container to measure and make sure my 0.5 gallon line is accurate because I think I've got more than 2 gallons in the keg and all other calculations left me at about 2.5 gallons going into the keg.