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Eternal Evidence 002 Brewday and Results ... and an altbier on my ceiling

 Toward the beginning of January, I brewed an altbier and a pale ale. These were my first "successful" brewdays that resulted in fermented wort ... I think.


Eternal Evidence 002, my 'house' pale ale, yielded the most results. 


OG - unknown ... I got caught up in various other small fires. BeerSmith estimated 1.051

FG - 1.010 

ABV = (1.051 (?) - 1.010) x 131.25 = 5.4% ABV


Water

.5 gallons of distilled water

5.5 gallons of tap water

~100 ppm chloride, ~60 ppm sulfate, ~159 ppm calcium, ~100 ppm bicarbonate 


Malt

6 lbs. German Pale Ale 

1 lbs. Weyermann Barke Munich 10L

1 lbs. Flaked Oats


Mash in at 166, mashed at 156 for 60 minutes, mashed out at 166 for 5 minutes

mash pH strip indicated ~5.1 ... BeerSmith estimated ~5.5


Hops

1 oz. Magnum (10.6% AA) at Mash In

1 mL (10 IBUs) of Cascade HopShot (38.8% AA) at 60 minutes

0.50 oz. Loral (10.6% AA) at 30 minutes

1 mL Cascade HopShot at 10 minutes

0.20 oz of Chinook Cryo (21.9% AA) at flameout

1 oz. Loral at hopstand

0.60 oz. Cascade Cryo (11.6% AA) at hopstand

4 oz. Loral at dip hop ... 1 quart of water around 180 degrees


Yeast

WLP001 - Chico


There are many things I would change regarding process. First, I'd remember to take a gravity reading. Next, I'd change my water. This water profile is high in bicarbonate and calcium, and I did not use a campden tablet to remove any chlorine. Greg Noonan warns about using high bicarbonate water as it can create harsh flavors in the final beer. Next, I'd narrow down the hops. This brewday was a spur-of-the-moment choice, and I hadn't inventoried my fridge before the grain was steeping. Furthermore, I'd change the mash hops to something rich in 3MH (Cascade perhaps?), and would ease up on hops throughout the boil. Also, I'd skip the dip hop and would lightly dry hop instead. And finally, I'd use my hop spider. Though it's not ideal for full hop utilization, loose hops clogged my ball valve which prevented me from chilling the wort. Speaking of moving wort around, I'd also use rice hulls because I had a stuck mash. The oats sucked up so much wort, shooting my efficiency in the foot and preventing me from lautering.


Sensory results corroborated what I wrote above. The hops were astringent and herbal, most likely coming from the heavy usage of Loral. The beer also tasted slightly acidic, which doesn't surprise me based on the 5.1 mash pH. On a positive note, the body was drinkable yet firmly round. Though there was haze, which for as long as this lagered (3 weeks in a near-freezing cellar) is surprising, I intend to create a clear beer by using finings next time.


The Altbier was a near-success until my liquid out post jammed while carbonating ... it's a lovely thing that I appreciate Pollock and Kusama. Lesson learned, look out for a jammed poppet.

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