02/12/08 - Mild - and the Electrim finally dies...

[Ian]

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 23.00 L
Boil Size: 26.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.038 SG
Estimated Color: 36.1 EBC
Estimated IBU: 24.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 80.21 %
0.32 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC) Grain 8.56 %
0.10 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 2.67 %
0.07 kg Roasted Barley (591.0 EBC) Grain 1.87 %
33.00 gm Fuggles [4.40 %] (90 min) Hops 18.0 IBU
25.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 6.5 IBU
0.25 kg Brown Sugar, Dark (98.5 EBC) Sugar 6.68 %

This uses up some inventory and hopefully should be nice by Xmas.
All was going very smoothly until the dreaded Electrim cutting-out curse returned as I was bringing the wort up to the boil.
Took the socket mechanism apart to see what was going on and found 2 problems. One was the thermo cut-out thing was tripping, but secondly, and more problematic, was that the contacts in the plastic socket thing had sparked and melted - contributing presumably to the overheating. Some fiddly faffing about with soldering iron/screwdriver got nowhere and I had to accept this thing was buggered.
In the end I cut the plug off the power lead and soldered the wires directly to the element. Not exactly ideal but either that or chuck the wort away. I wrapped plenty of insulating tape around so it wasn't THAT horrible!
Anyway that wasted about 90 mins and I didn't pitch the yeast until about 12:30 am...

 

[BrewStew]

sorry to hear mate

it's a pain when something fails.. and it only fails when brewing cos that's the only time it gets used!

 

[Vossy1]

Well done saving the brew Ian :thumb:

 

[Wez]

Well done for saving the brew indeed! :thumb:

That recipe looks like a gooden

 

[Ian]

Thanks, I've read that a mild can be ready fairly swiftly - I have left my other brews in the FV for 11 days or so - would this benefit from that long or would a week be OK (assuming the FG is stable)?

 

[Wez]

Yep, i've had a mild go from grain to glass in 2 weeks with similar SG/IBU - as long as you achieve a stable FG as you said :thumb:

Good on ya

 

[A T]

Well done for sticking in there Ian :thumb: