Bash-Shell.Net

Another comedy of errors batch. So much went wrong here. Some day I'll be able to just have everything I need set out, in order, and nearby rather than moving around between 3+ rooms, moving stuff around in the garage, etc. Hopefully then I can get everything right.

For now, just a quick copy and paste from my Brewtarget notes:

• Used grain amounts which should have been for 70% efficiency into BK for 6.5 gallons into the fermenter while targetting 5.5 gallons into the fermenter.
• Forgot that the water + grains was too much for my kettle and so overflowed the water when adding grains
• Somehow did not come anywhere close to intended pre-boil gravity even with too much grain because efficiency was terrible
• Again forgot about water volume issue and spilled wort when lifting the grain basket and then setting it back down in the wort for a moment.
• Somehow ended up with what looked to be the right amount of water for boiling anyway after letting the grain drain.
• Ended with 5.5 gallons in the fermenter but really low OG.

In the end, I think it'll be good, anyway. Maybe a bit thin due to the low gravity.

I do have some suspicions about what happened with the gravity. Only brewing this a few more times will tell for sure. This is the first time I've tried to step mash. The mash schedule for this was

• 113F for 10 minutes
• 131F for 5 minutes
• 149F for 20 minutes (I skipped a decoction here to simplify a bit)
• 158F for 10 minutes
• 168F for 15 minutes

So it's possible that even with a 5500 watt heating element that the wort spent too long at weird temps vs using decocted boiling wort to heat to the next step.

2024-05-12

I had concerns about this one due to how many things went wrong. It's lower ABV than intended, but in some ways that is a nice surprise, since the flavor is fine. This is producing far more foam and a longer lasting head, which is likely related to the step mashing. The clove flavor may be strong than intended for a Dunkelweizen, again likely related to the step mashing, but I like it.