An interesting brew day!

[Budgie]

7:30 start all was fine till I doughed in. The mash temp was way higher than normal. So I added some cold water, then some more, then some more... I eventually decided to check with a different thermometer and turns out my mash tun was reading about 15°C hot! So I ended up with a watery mash at 52°C!

I decided the only way to rescue it was to do some sort of decoction so I took a few litres out, heated it and added it back. I did this twice and finally got upto 67°C.

The recipe OG was 1.063, but I've bee hitting a bit short lately so I was ecpecting somewhere nearer 1.058. Turns out I've hit 1.068!

I also used Minch pale malt for the first time so I don't know if that's made any difference, but I'm pretty happy with what I thought was going to be a disaster.

Right, I need a pint! :drink:

 

[Norfolk79]

I've been using Minch pale malt for my last few brews and, except for the one brew where the grain wasn't crushed properly, I've ended up with a slightly higher OG than planned.

 

[chthon]

Yes, with decoction you can have a much better yield.

 

[Budgie]

So with a combination of the two I'm into a winner! It was a bit of a faff like, not sure I'll do it again in a hurry.

 

[Dutto]

Don't be surprised if the FG is higher than normal.

IF you heated part of the mash at a higher than normal temperature you MAY have produced some non-fermentable sugars.

The hard bit will be trying to replicate it if it turns out to be the best brew ever! :lol: