"Home Wrecker" Rauchbier - With triple decoction

[Wez]

Good luck with the rest of the Brew-Stew :grin:

 

[Vossy1]

I hope all's going well BS :thumb:

 

[BrewStew]

had 3 stuck sparges and it's refusing to clear after 20L of recirculating

have given up recirculating and am collecting now :thumb:

 

[BrewStew]

32L gone into the boiler. stopped when the runnings were 1.014 from the tun so still had some more to collect... at least the extraction was good!!! :thumb:

my target collections were 28L, but this boiler is 1KW stronger than my 5 gal on just one element, let alone running both elements, so i overshot my collections deliberately to allow for extra boil off and loss to the bigger deadspace.

hopefully all will be well when it lands in the fermenter.

because i'm using my bigger boiler at low volumes, my immersion chiller will be useless, so i'll have to leave the fermenter overnight to cool down and will sprinkle the yeast tomorrow morning.

i'll mix my Videne super strong... i dont want an infection after all this effort :!:

 

[BrewStew]

on second thought, i've added another two litres to the kettle... just to be safe... the deadspace is massive on this boiler

 

[BrewStew]

that's got to be a record... 10 mins to get 32L to a rolling boil!

ok now that i can put my feet up for a bit, here's some pics as promised



all set up and ready to go

mash before the decoctions

first decoction in my 5 gal boiler before it packed up on me

decanted it into 3 saucepans to continue the decoction process

the boils were too aggressive and went everywhere

cleaned the hobs inbetween decoctions and here we are with the 3rd one... i'd got the hang of the hob power this time :)

still a bit of a mess though even when i'd got the hang of controlling the boils

the mash darkened with every decoction :)

i gave up recirculating after 20L... it just refused to run clear, even after 3 stuck sparges

collecting the runnings, 5gal boiler ditched and put back in the garage

28L collected, and was taking some more for good measure

the elements in my 100L boiler are just covered... but i've got to keep an eye on it to make sure the level doesn't drop, exposing the elements.

several pints of Winter Sunrise later and i'm relaxed and less stressed about this whole nightmare of a brew

i hope this was all worth it!

 

[Wez]

Stew, any way you can tilt the boiler back to make sure the elements stay covered?

I thought the absolute min boil volume in those was 32L :shock:

 

[BrewStew]

that's exactly what i was thinking if i start seeing the elements through the wort :thumb:

i'm checking it regularly... hopefully it'll be ok :pray:

 

[Wez]

I'll nip down the abbey and say one for ya :thumb:

 

[BrewStew]

just dunked my spoon in till i hit the top of the element.... i've got about 100mm from the surface to the top of the element :thumb:

 

[BrewStew]

I'll nip down the abbey and say one for ya :thumb:

cheers mate.


ugh i'm almost put off of decoctions now... but i know it would've been a whole lot easier if my 5 gal boiler were working... nevermind.. i just hope it tastes good as i was planning on putting this one in for the Matchless competition

 

[Wez]

Cool, like you say, one to keep an eye on

It'll turn out fine i'm sure :grin:

 

[BrewStew]

boil done.

will leave it for an hour or so while i eat my dinner for the break material to settle out, then send to the fermenter :thumb:

 

[Smod]

Well done on how you've handled the problems today. You deserved several beers!!!1 :drink:

Make sure Kim and Aggie don't see the state of that hob though!!! :lol:

 

[Wez]

You do NOT want these two paying attention to, and then scrubbing furiously at your 'hob'

 

[Smod]

Nice pic!!! :lol: :lol: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[BrewStew]

:lol:

i got 23L into the fermenter, gravity 1.050... a measily 68.63% efficiency

it was an experience though! but one i dont fancy going through again unless i've got a working 5 gallon boiler.

 

[Jonnyv]

Still loving the ghostly, almost haunting, photos :thumb: (especially the first).

It all went ok - you got good wort which equals good beer :drink:

 

[BrewStew]

yeah i guess :thumb:

was at 28'c this morning... i know that's a but high but didn't want to leave it without yeast in for the day, so sprinkled it in.

all the break material is floating around.. i think i'm gunna need finings for this which means i wont be able to bottle it

 

[ni9e]

looks like you had one hell of a brewday still i'm sure the beer will taste better for all the extra blood and sweat :thumb: