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I got a bit later start that I had hoped but managed to get through everything in good time and even got done in time to pick up my grandson from school. 
I'd been wanting to get a good double batch of a lager going so I've been working out the recipe and getting things prepped. I spend some time yesterday afternoon prepping the kettles and cleaning and sanitizing my half barrel Unitank. I hadn't used it in quite some time and it was all clean but I wanted to give all the parts and fittings a good PBW soak for good measure. Before I was done for the day, the kettles were set up and ready to heat mash liquor and the fermenter was closed up tight with all new gaskets and a belly full of Star San.
By the time I got everything going this morning it was after 10AM. I had the mash liquor divvied up and flowing at the proper temp for my protein rest. I always dough in by milling directly into the mash tun. I went with a double crush so that process took quite a bit longer than usual. I was finally getting grain wet at around 11 AM. The mash wanted to get a little stuck and I knew that I'd be pushing it in terms of timing, so I started heating for the main conversion rest and pumping more water over to the tun pretty quickly. I was starting my 148F Beta rest by around 11:20. I usually plan on an hour or so before raising temp but I needed to push a little so I raised to 152F at Noon to help get a start on the Alpha conversion and raised to 158F starting at 12:20. I like to hang out in the Alpha rest for a while to make sure I'm leaving nothing on the table but I pushed on pretty quickly and by 12:40 I was raising the temp a final time for mash-out.
I started a sparge at 1:00. I only had a couple of hours before I had to do school pick-up so I knew I couldn't drain at too much of a leisurely pace if I hoped to pull boiling and cooling in time. I was boiling at 1:45 and I made a decision that an hour boil wouldn't be possible. I reset my hop quantities for a 45 minute total boil and proceeded to prep the plate chiller, water hose, fermenter, etc. I always run the last 10 minutes with the boil circulating through the chiller to sanitize it completely so at 1:30 sharp, I pulled the hop bag and kicked on the groundwater to start dropping temp. Continuing to recirculate into the boil pot, the chiller drops fairly quickly. At 1:40 I had the wort at or near 110F so I knew that I could get it to a reasonable temp going into the fermenter. It took less than 10 minutes to transfer and the wort was 76F when it was done. I only had a few minutes to get the fermenter in place and hook up the glycol chiller hoses and set the controller for a 65 degree pitch temp. I knew that it would be at temp long before I was able to get back to it a couple of hours later.
It was a little hectic there at the end but I was able to head out exactly at 3:00 as I'd planned. I had started about 10 AM and got brewing in earnest at 11 AM - a total of 5 hours. Nothing went wrong, maybe with the exception of a trickle of sparge water leaking out of the open ball valve at the top of the tun before I caught it. No major drama...No crossed connections when moving hoses around...No boilovers...No missed additions...No fill tube falling out of the fermenter halfway through the transfer...
Probably one of the most straight-forward, no-fuss brew days I've had. I'll take the win!! I hope I'm not jinxing the fermentation by taking a victory lap on the brew.
I'd been wanting to get a good double batch of a lager going so I've been working out the recipe and getting things prepped. I spend some time yesterday afternoon prepping the kettles and cleaning and sanitizing my half barrel Unitank. I hadn't used it in quite some time and it was all clean but I wanted to give all the parts and fittings a good PBW soak for good measure. Before I was done for the day, the kettles were set up and ready to heat mash liquor and the fermenter was closed up tight with all new gaskets and a belly full of Star San.
By the time I got everything going this morning it was after 10AM. I had the mash liquor divvied up and flowing at the proper temp for my protein rest. I always dough in by milling directly into the mash tun. I went with a double crush so that process took quite a bit longer than usual. I was finally getting grain wet at around 11 AM. The mash wanted to get a little stuck and I knew that I'd be pushing it in terms of timing, so I started heating for the main conversion rest and pumping more water over to the tun pretty quickly. I was starting my 148F Beta rest by around 11:20. I usually plan on an hour or so before raising temp but I needed to push a little so I raised to 152F at Noon to help get a start on the Alpha conversion and raised to 158F starting at 12:20. I like to hang out in the Alpha rest for a while to make sure I'm leaving nothing on the table but I pushed on pretty quickly and by 12:40 I was raising the temp a final time for mash-out.
I started a sparge at 1:00. I only had a couple of hours before I had to do school pick-up so I knew I couldn't drain at too much of a leisurely pace if I hoped to pull boiling and cooling in time. I was boiling at 1:45 and I made a decision that an hour boil wouldn't be possible. I reset my hop quantities for a 45 minute total boil and proceeded to prep the plate chiller, water hose, fermenter, etc. I always run the last 10 minutes with the boil circulating through the chiller to sanitize it completely so at 1:30 sharp, I pulled the hop bag and kicked on the groundwater to start dropping temp. Continuing to recirculate into the boil pot, the chiller drops fairly quickly. At 1:40 I had the wort at or near 110F so I knew that I could get it to a reasonable temp going into the fermenter. It took less than 10 minutes to transfer and the wort was 76F when it was done. I only had a few minutes to get the fermenter in place and hook up the glycol chiller hoses and set the controller for a 65 degree pitch temp. I knew that it would be at temp long before I was able to get back to it a couple of hours later.
It was a little hectic there at the end but I was able to head out exactly at 3:00 as I'd planned. I had started about 10 AM and got brewing in earnest at 11 AM - a total of 5 hours. Nothing went wrong, maybe with the exception of a trickle of sparge water leaking out of the open ball valve at the top of the tun before I caught it. No major drama...No crossed connections when moving hoses around...No boilovers...No missed additions...No fill tube falling out of the fermenter halfway through the transfer...
Probably one of the most straight-forward, no-fuss brew days I've had. I'll take the win!! I hope I'm not jinxing the fermentation by taking a victory lap on the brew.
