I used the yeast from a prior batch of beer. I pitched the yeast slurry in from a primary rather than just putting this beer on top of all the trub and old yeast cells.
I brought the temperature up to 154 degrees and then added grain. I mashed it for 55 minutes with the recirculation pump going and stirred it once during the mash. I went 10 minutes long as I had to bring strike water up a little.
I used 2.5 gallons of sparge water. It was 178.0 degrees when I started. This brought it to 6 gallons in the brewer so I lost about 1 gallon of water to the grain.
Reading at the start of boil was 1.042 in refractometer. It jumped up to 1.050 when it cooled in the pipet. According to website, 1.042 at 159 degrees should be 1.060. https://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/
I added some fermcap to the Robobrew. 1st edition of hops was 30 minutes into boil and was a 1.5 packs of Hallertau Blanc Aroma hops. I used my Hop Spider for the hops. I read online to dip it up and down a few times during the boil so I did that.
Second addition of hops was 75 minutes in. I also added a teaspoon of Irish Moss to the hop spider and put in my chiller.
Looks like about 5 gallons in the RoboBrew after boiling. When I added it to the yeast in the fermenter, it was close to 5 gallons and I only added 1 quart of water and shook it up and took a reading.
Initial Gravity is 1.052 @ 72 degrees F. Potential Alcohol is 6.4%.
29 December 2019, 1230 – Temperature is down to 60 degrees and some sign of fermentation going on. A small krausen forming on top.
30 December 2019, 0730 – Temperature is 58 degrees. Rapid fermentation and krausen on top.
23 January 2020 – temperature is 56 degrees. I am putting it in a keg and putting the keg in the refrigerator. I did bleed off the air on top with a little CO2, but pulled the pressure relief valve before putting it in the refrigerator. I will force carbonate it after I wake up to give it a diacetyl rest. I read that carbonating too soon after moving to a keg can give a flavor of buttered popcorn. https://www.brewcabin.com/force-carbonation/
Final Gravity is 1.016 @ 56 degrees F. Potential Alcohol is 2%. Total alcohol is 6.4-2.0=4.4%.
I force carbonated with CO2 at 20 psi for 3 days at a temperature of 38 degrees. The beer is good and has a smokey, bacon flavor to it.