So, based on my good experience with lauter decoctions on my Schwarzbiers, I thought I'd try that for the Ofest. In a lauter decoction, you mash-in with at about 1.6 qts/lb, let the mash rest for 15 minutes, then pull off a lot of the liquid (leaving a thick oatmeal in the mash tun). You then boil this pulled fraction for 60 minutes, then add it back to the mash and let is sit for 30 minutes. After that, the process is as usual.
For yeast, I planned to use a portion of the yeast harvested from my Lawnmower Beer, but I used all of it. I know that may be too much yeast, but we'll see. The yeast from this Ofest will be the yeast that I use for my Schwarzbier.
Oktoberfest
6 gal into the primary (5.75 - 6.0 actual)
Brew date: 04 September 2010
Grist
- 9 lb 10 oz Vienna
- 1 lb 2 oz Dark Munich
Hops
- 0.625 oz German Hallertau (6.4% AA) @ 75 min
Yeast
- Saflager 34-70, harvested from the Lawnmower Beer.
Brewing Notes
Day 0
0645 :: 9 gal hot tap H2O into tun to preheat.
0705 :: 4.3 gal mash H2O heating.
0715 :: Grain temp is 72.3F so I want to mash in with 1.6 qts/lb @ 160F.
0716 :: Mash H2O is at 120F; flame was low so I turned it up.
0721 :: Mash H2O @ 150F; will stop @ 165F.
0722 :: Began draining tun preheat H2O.
0728 :: Mash H2O @ 178F ... oops.
0737 :: Mash H2O in tun; temp is 166F.
0746 :: Mash H2O in tun; temp is 161F.
0748 :: Mash in @ 160.3F; 3 minutes to put it all in and get it mixed up.
0751 :: Mash temp is 148F; stirred and @ 0753, temp was 151.5F.
0759 :: Mash temp is 151.5F.
0806 :: Began pulling off 2.08 gal for lauter decoction (the dunnmaische).
0810 :: Had to peek into mash tun to check grain, temp loss here.
0814 :: Mash temp @ 150.5F; lauter portion on to boil.
0820 :: Dunnmaische is boiling.
0820 :: Took a sample of the wort from the mash tun; cooled it; pH was between 5.0 and 5.3 (closer to 5.3) with the pH strips from www.sanitationtools.com.
0850 :: Mash temp is @ 150F.
0850 :: Currently cool and still, 48F.
0910 :: We seem to have boiled off 0.4 gal of the dunnmaische.
0920 :: Poured about 1.5 gal of dunnmaishce into the tun.
0922 :: Mash tun temp is 164F.
0935 :: Mash temp @ 165F.
1000 :: Mashout with 180F H2O.
1010 :: 4 gal first runnings, 4.5 gal second, 0.5 leftover.
1030 :: Currently @ 9 Brix (1.036).
1050 :: Boil.
1130 :: 0.625 oz 6.4% AA Hallertau hops in.
1200 :: Kettle seems to be at 7.25 gal.
1215 :: Whirlfloc and IC into kettle.
1230 :: Boil kettle volume @ 6.75, going another 15 min to get volume down and gravity up; currently 1.046 (11.5 Brix).
1245 :: Flame off.
1310 :: I decided to to a 15 min whirlpool to see if I can minimize trub; gravity going into kettle was 13.5 Brix (1.054).
1310 :: Looks like ~ 5.75-6.00 gal into primary.
Extra Notes:
- I think I need to adjust my grain absorption number (0.136 gal/lb) downwards. Lately I've been seeing less absorption than what I was used to. This time, I had to do a longer boil to end up with 6.00 gal into fermenter.
- Yeast harvesting is difficult. The yeast layer is very thin, so I tried to pull the trub off the bottom and then liquid off the top. Not sure how successful that was, but I got the harvested yeast + trub + beer down from ~1 gallon to ~0.5 gallon.
- Clean sanitizing solution off refractometer before taking gravity reading - it dilutes a few Brix pts.
Day 1
0900 :: Oxygenated at 0.06 lpm and 0.12 lpm for 3 minutes. Normally I do just 0.06 lpm, but the bubbles weren't really evident so I cranked it up a bit.
Day 2
0800 :: Fermentation has taken off! Pitching all the yeast made a big difference in fermentation
lag time, hopefully not in the finished product.
Day 8
1800 :: Fermentation is now down to 1 bubble every 20-25 seconds.
Day 13
1815 :: Hydro sample shows the gravity at 1.014, smack-dab in the middle of the BJCP range (1.012-1.016).
Day ? - 11 December
I kegged the Schwarz today. FG was 1.013, right where I want it.
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