While I know we’re still a ways away from the end of winter, I can’t wait to get some sun action and spring weather. Initially I was thinking I would brew a pils, but elected instead to brew a cream ale. A good lawnmower beer. I’ve done a few of these, but I have tweaked them over the years. This is what I came up with this time:
- 10 gallon
- 8lb 2oz US 2row
- 8lb 2oz US 6 row
- 3lb flaked maize
- 14oz 11L US caramel
- 2oz Amarillo 60min
- 1oz Cascade 30min
- 1oz Amarillo 5min
This brew had an OG of 1.057 with an 85.3% mash efficiency! The grain mill has a great grind and is worth every penny. The IBU is 24, SRM 3.6 and should end in the 5.5-5.7ABV. It’s a little higher thanks to my mash effeciency being so much greater, but I’ll live.
I struck the mash with 6gal of water at 169 (probably closer to 171) to hit a 155 starting temp for the mash. I held that temp for an hour, added a few gallons of boiling water to try and raise the mash to 171, but it didn’t fly and then did two equal batch sparges of the remaining water. The total water used was 14.3 gallons. I also used my ph meter and added some gypsum to the mash. It started out at 5.8 and after the gypsum it lowered to 5.2, pretty cool.
I fermented at ~60f for a week and now its spending the secondary in the cold of my garage, more like 40f. From there, I will keg the brew (probably some time next week) and be on my way! More to come…
