brewlog_2012-01-29.txt

== Process ==

=== Brew day ===

I followed the original recipe quite closely, but scaled down to 11
liters linearly. Created a detailed checklist (checklist.txt) for this
brew, which was very handy.

Crushed the chocolate malt in a plastic bag with a rolling pin (the
crystal was already crushed). I ignored the part about sparging the
grain bags after steeping.

Couldn't find enough light malt extract at PGW, so I added 1.8kg light
Muntons LME after steeping and then roughly 0.9 _medium_ LME at flame
out.

My cascade hops turned out to be waaaay too old; the bag was opened in
August 2011. The hops had a smell that reminded me of old orienteering
training clothes. Not good. I threw it in anyway at flame out.

Another deviation from the original recipe's process is that I cooled
the wort in the brew pot (ice bath, ~45 minutes) instead of in the
fermenter. I also used ~1/4 ml of protafloc instead of Irish
moss. Added it around 15 minutes before flame out.

The preboiled and cooled water I added at the end came up about 2
liters short so I used water straight from the tap to compensate.

I used Safale US-05 dry yeast instead of liquid California Ale
yeast. My rehydration was possibly a bit rushed but primary
fermentation seemed to be strong so I'm guessing that's ok.

OG: 1.060

Weird. I measured at 24 C, so scaled to 15 C it should be about 1.080
as the recipe states (scaling based on Palmer's How To Brew). I
suspect that the recipe is at 20C though, as that seems to be the case
for most US recipes.

Reading the OG was kinda tricky with all the Star San foam. I've since
bought a 100ml measuring glass to fix that.

=== Dry hopping (7 days) ===

Racked to a secondary bucket when bubbling had mostly subsided. Threw
in 30 grams of new and fresh Cascade hops in a hop bag.

Racking was a bit of a bitch, since the stupid PVC hose is completely
stuck to both the auto siphon and to the bottle filler. I made do the
best I could and managed to transfer it all.


== Bottling (25 days) ==

Rikard came over to help out. It took quite a while to clean and
sanitize everything so it was good to have a helper.

Bubbling had essentially subsided, so I decided to bottle. I knew I
should've taken hydrometer readings to verify that fermentation was
done, but I was so eager to free up room in the cellar for fermenting
another batch that I just decided to go for it.

FG: 1.018

Given how weird my OG reading was, I can't really say what FG I should
expect. Recipe said 1.012, so perhaps I'm ok. This reading was at room
temperature (~20C). Adjusting the OG to 20C would put it at 1.069 and
ABV 6.7%. Then again, the original OG reading was probably messed up a
fair bit by Star San foam and me not really knowing how to use the
hydrometer.

I disolved 6g sugar per liter beer (54g in total) in about the same
volume of water. Put the syrup in a bucket and siphoned over the beer
from the secondary fermenter. Racked ~5l into a party keg and the rest
into bottles. This time around I had a brand new silicone hose for the
siphon. Much better than PVC!

The beer tasted pretty green at this point, but I did not detect the
same off flavours that I did in my first batch (Örjan Pale Ale -
August 2011). Distinct bitterness, but not as much as I had
expected. There's still a very distinct flavour of "something" that I
also had in the ÖPA.

== Insights ==

* Mega fail forgetting to buy new and fresh hops. Be more careful in
  the future.

* Siphoning is annoying. I've since bought spigots for my buckets
  that'll hopefully simplify things.

* Measuring OG with all that Star San foam in the Thief was
  tricky. I've since bought a measuring glass to fix this.

* Cooling 5 liters of wort took ages. I've since built an immersion
  wort chiller that works wonders.

* An early conclusion when dry hopping was to never again rack to
  secondary. Not so sure now that I've installed spigots on some of
  the buckets.

* I should have more boiled and cooled water available. Tap water is
  almost certainly fine as well, but it just feels wrong to put all
  that effort into sanitation and then use plain tap water.


== Finished beer ==

Sampled a few bottles over the next two weeks. Very dark colour. A
slightly yeasty smell, but not much hop aroma. Some sourness in the
taste, similar to that of Örjan Pale Ale. I picked up some chocolate
in there and a lot of bitterness. The high FG is pretty obvious, and
the flavour is way too sweet tbh.

Thinking I dry hopped too early. Most of the aroma probably just
evaporated with the CO2 during secondary fermentation. Also, the lack
of aeration was a big fail and it didn't ferment out the sugars as it
should've.

The scariest part is the sourness. It should not be there. The only
explanation I have is unfortunately that my fermentation bucket may be
scratched and have some nasty stuff growing there. I took care to PBW
the shit out of all buckets after that.


== Conclusion ==

=== 2012-03-17 ===

This is not a very nice beer. The sourness ruins it completely. The
high FG also ruins the experience. To the list of good things I have
to add the malt character. The chocolate malt brings some nice aromas.

I've dumped the last 2 litres on bottle to make room for a ginger
IPA. The 5 litre on keg remains. Will probably try drinking it with
friends/coworkers in a couple of weeks, but not expecting it to be any
good then either.

The high FG is almost certainly a consequence of me failing to aerate
properly. So where did the sourness come from? Candidates:

* topping off with tap water?
* sanitizing dry hopping bag with star san instead of boiling?
* a strange consequence of the high FG?
* an infection lingering in my buckets from Örjan Pale Ale?

I really don't know. The first three have however been (mostly)
eliminated in later brews. I've tried to counter the last by PBWing
all buckets very thoroughly.