Boiling Wort
I changed the recipe of the original Backspin Belgian Pale Ale and used Wyeast 5112 Brettanomyces bruxellensis for this brew day. I brewed the beer only because I had this planned and the yeast starter (more to come) started the week before as I had a bad cold. I am hoping that I didn’t contaminate the beer with my disease ridden breath.
For the first time since I started brewing all grain I had my grain crushed by a different grain mill. The crush was much finer than I am used to. The mash tun manifold had no problem with my original gravity benefiting to the tune of almost 80% efficiency. I will continue using the same grain mill for the next few batches to determine if this will be the typical efficiency to expect from the mill.
The yeast starter I made the Sunday before I brewed. The starter was ready by Thursday, three days ahead of time, so I sat on it. Surprisingly it took off quickly, percolating quite nicely the next morning, 12 hours after pitching the starter.
Fermenting Away
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 5112
Yeast Starter: 2 Liter
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.50
Original Gravity: 1.051
Final Gravity: 1.011 (estimate)
IBU: 25.3
Color: 7.0 SRM
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Primary Fermentation: 30 – 60 days @70*F
Grain Bill:
9.50# Pilsner
1.00# Munich
0.25# Aromatic
0.25# Caramunich
Mash 154*F for 60 minutes.
Hop Bill:
1.50oz Fuggles (4.5%) @ 60 min
0.50oz Fuggles (4.5%) @ 20 min
Outside of being sick, as I mentioned above, the brew day went well. I was very satisfied with the efficiency gained from the new mill crush (I usually double milled the grain with the other mill I was using). Now the hard part will be the wait until I hit my final gravity. Enjoy!
Useless Fact: The bumblebee does not die when it stings—it can sting again and again. In bumblebee hives, the entire colony, except for the queen, dies at the end of each summer. Each year an entirely new colony of bees must be produced.
