Sorry about the last minute invite. I knew Al was working on contest stuff so it was not
a great time so maybe this update will help (or hinder, or infuriate, or (your
advertisement here).
I always enjoy the start of the brewing season and last evening was a great time.
Everything was ready to rock and roll and all I had to do was heat the water. Started
mashing at 5:30 and knocked off at 10. It was an extremely rapid all grain batch and I
just refused to worry about stuff.
Pickle Barrel Porter had an OG of 1.076 which is a little short of the estimate but
exactly correct by the recipe. Ended up with 7 hop additions including first wort and hop
back. Used pellet and whole hops so the sludge on the kettle bottom was challenging but
the high power pump was able to pull those suckers through the impeller with minimum
delay.
The brown malt has less than average extract but it was anticipated.
Rick O