2 Oct
2003
2 Oct
'03
10:10 a.m.
Better yet, don't bother with the hydrometer reading.
If it's too low there's nothing you can do anyhow. And
if it is too high, that is probably because you don't
have enough wort (which will be obvious when the
fermenter is not up to the desired volume). The
quality of the beer is the same whether you do
readings or not.
What can I say, I guess I'm not a very scientific
brewer ...
Cheers
WH
--- Leo Vitt <leo_vitt(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
A couple of thoughts came to me in this thread.
1) Kolsch fermentation temps - Somebody said ferment
around 60F.
I have done it colder - 55F. It does work well.
2) Andrew mentioned the hydrometer in boiling wort.
I had some hydrometers become inaccurate over time.
Tap water would
measure 0.994. It should be 1.000 or a little
above.
The explanation I came up with was -- I was putting
my hydrometer into
wort that just came out of the sparge. (160-165F)
My thought is the
heat was making the glass expand, and the paper
inside the hydrometer
was moving.
My solution - cool the wort before putting the
hydrometer into. My
cooling method - Have a bucket of ice water ready
(Actually, water with
a couple of the blue ice packs). Put the hydrometer
test jar into the
ice water - cold water bath. When the temp of the
wort sample drops
below 100F, I trust it not to mess up the
hydrometer.
Now a simple solution - Buy a spectormeter!
Question - Has anyone else had trouble with
hydrometers changing on
them?
--- Andrew Ruggles <arruggles(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
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Actually, a 60dF hydrometer is easy to use in the
boil. Just add 40
points to your measurement (doesn't work so
well
for beers under
1.040
OG). You'll need to turn off the heat and wait for
the boil to
subside,
but it's a quick way to determine if you are on
track on your OG
specs.
Of course, you'll have to know your evaporation
rate...
Actually, I like a range of about +/- 0.004. I
don't sweat if it is
within this 8 pt range.
If we're adding "water" sometimes we'll use the
last gallon of
runnings
from the mashtun that wouldn't fit in the boil
kettle (gotta
_maximize_
the system). I like adding to the boil kettle,
rather than the
fermenters for sterilization purposes.
Boil time seems a little low for an all-grain --
we typically are at
90
minutes -- but if you are hitting your extraction
numbers and it
tastes
good, I wouldn't worry about it.
Only adding 2 hours to your brew day seems low. A
typical brewday for
the 2 Wheel is around 8 hours, though I think we
knocked out our last
Vienna at around 6.5 hours. I can do an extract
brew in 2 hours.
Congratulations on what sounds like a fairly
successful all-grain
brew-day!
Andrew
--- Al Boyce <aboyce(a)mn.rr.com> wrote:
> Sounds like a great first batch Marc! If you're
worried about
> hitting the
> numbers exactly on the OG, you can always
dilute. With the
> refractometer,
> it's simple to see what your final gravity is
going to be and add
> appropriate water to the boil to hit your
mark.
With a hydrometer,
> you can
> add water to the primary. It's easier to brew
too strong, then add
a
> little
> water than it is to brew too weak and try to
bring the gravity UP.
> About
> all you can do at that point is add extract.
>
> The other style point with Kolsch is
fermentation temp - it's an
Ale
> that's
> fermented cool. Try to ferment around 60 F. if
possible. If you
> have the
> ability, you may even want to drop the secondary
down to 50 F.
Your
> mash
> and hop bill looks fine.
>
> - Al
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Marc Donnelly" <marc(a)targetadv.com>
> To: <mba(a)thebarn.com>
> Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 12:38 PM
> Subject: My 1st All Grain brew...
>
>
> > This past weekend I decide to finally take the
plunge. From what
> came
> > of it, I'm pretty happy! Yea it added about
two hours onto a
> normal
> > extract/partial mash batch for me but I
believe it was worth it.
> The
> > first batch was a Kolsch.
> > I think I spent more time fussing with the pH
of the water then
> > anything (set at 5.5). About 10.5 lbs
of grain
- 9 lbs of pils,
1
> lbs
> > of wheat, and .5 lbs of carapils. Used Wyeast
Kolsch yeast and
2oz
> of
> > Spalt for hops.
> >
> > For my mash/lauter tun I used Listermanns
setup (I got it some
time
> ago
> > at Lee Kramer's old place). I wrapped the
plastic bucket in the
> > insulated bubble duct wrap and it kept
the
temp very well (149
> degrees
> > for 55 minutes). Spargered for about 30
minutes and got about 6
> gallons
> > out of the 9 I started with.
> >
> > Then boiled for 60 minutes and added hops at
60, 30 and 15 from
end
> of
> > boil. Ended up just shy of 5 gallons of brew.
So hopefully by
the
> end
> > of this month I'll bring it to the club only
judging looking for
> > comments. OG was on the high side at
1.052.
Any suggestions on
> how to
> > get it more in profile with the style? I can
tell you an ATC
> > refractometer is a nice tool to have!
> >
> > I know I have more work to understand the
whole process, but this
> was a
> > good start and "getting the feet wet"
exercise, literally.
> >
> > Now with a new family member (for all that
don't know we had a
baby
> > girl on August 22 named Paige Elizabeth
Donnelly, 21.5 inches
long
> and
> > 7 lbs 14 oz. - and much bigger now) finding
time