Buck Light (10.5 gallon)

Nov. 4 brew day notes:

• used hop bag and tied tightly.
  
• added hops 20 min into boil (45 min left - 65 min boil). Supposedly helps clarity by not adding immediately at boil.
  
• set Inkbird to 96f (range: 93-100f). Increased to 98f 5 hrs later (range: 95-102f).
  
• mashed at 146f (strike 153f). Dropped to as low as 142f, had to give it a bit of heat 3-4 times to bring up temp during mash. Mixed mash while adding heat to prevent burning.
  
• sparged after mash (0.5l), squeezed bag.
  
• Pre-boil volume/gravity: 12.5/1.030.
  
• cranked propane on full. Took about 38 minutes to boil/hit hot break (ambient temp about 62f in garage). Relatively mild hot break. Lots of head space. Boil improved tho.
  
• @30 min, volume was about 11.5g. Final post-boil volume : 10.2g (recipe updated to account for losses). Evap rate with my kettle at full boil: 17%.
  
• took about 3 minutes to re-boil after adding wort chiller (added that and Kick carageenan at about 15 min). About 62-64f ambient temp in the garage with the garage door open. Was about 70f before I opened the door.
  
• OG:1.043 (expecting 1.039!).
  
• split into 5g and 6.5g fermentors (food-grade buckets).
  
• Cooled to 98f (in less than 15min for 10.2g batch!) and placed in ferm chamber (Inkbird set to 96f - temp range 93-100f). Increased temp setting in Inkbird to 98f about 5 hours after racking (new temp range 95-102f).
  
• one package of Lalbrew Kveik Voss yeast per fermentor.
  
  
  Fermenting notes:
  
• very healthy fermentation at 5 hours after adding to fermentor. Nice clear white krausen.
  
  
  Nov. 5:
  
• top-harvested yeast 24 hours into fermentation. 6.5g bucket was fermenting like mad, 5g bucket was doing ok, but not as well as 6.5g fermentor (less head space the reason?). Skimmed approx half from each, filled one mason jar. Didn’t check gravity (should have!). Prob should have harvested less top-skim from 5g bucket, it was doing pretty good, but not doing as well as the 6.5g bucket. Will prob need to wait longer on 5g bucket to hit final gravity.
  
• I read that skimming krausen actually “allows for a smooth bitterness!). https://alchemyoverlord.wordpress.com/2019/06/09/the-impact-of-krausen-loss-on-ibus/#:~:text=It is often recommended to,fall back into the beer..
  
  “”According to John Palmer, “these compounds [in krausen] are very bitter and if stirred back into the wort, would result in harsh aftertastes.””
  
  
  Nov. 6 notes:
  
• checked gravity of both fermentors 40 hrs after start of ferment. 5g fermentor read 1.009 and 6.5g read 1.010! Smaller fermentor had maybe 4g in it, while 6.5g has closer to 6g. 5g fermentor beer tasted a little sour (almost lemony?), while 6.5g fermentor seemed smoother. Will keg 6.5g Nov. 7. Final ABV 4.5-4.6%.
  
  
  Nov 11 brew day:
  
• 30 minute mash and 35 minute boil. Thought of increasing boiling hops but decided to do a straight compare of top vs bottom harvested yeast and shorter mash/brew times.
  
• Started with 13.5g in kettle, assuming 1.5g grain absorption and 1.5g boil off. Heated 2g strike water to 175f just in case.
  
• Mashed at 153f, maintained at 146f.
  
• Misread the post-mash volume, was shooting for 11.8g and ended up sparging to 12.5g. No biggie, just means longer boil. Turned out to be perfect! Lucky mistake!
  
• Pre-boil gravity: 1.030.
  
• Ran out of propane, had to run for emergency refill. Wort sat unheated for 20 minutes.
  
• Wort chilled to 100f in about 10 min.
  
• OG:1.040.
  
• Made 40l, split between 2 fermentors. One was pitched with KVEIK 1-1 top harvest from Nov. 5 batch (harvested Nov.6), the other with KVEIK 1-2 bottom harvest from same batch (harvested Nov.8).
  
• Brew day lasted 3 hrs 45min. Lost 30 min to propane refill.
  
• bottom-harvested batch was fermenting like mad after 3 hrs - could hear it through chamber. Top-harvest wasn’t going yet (at least not to the ear!)
  
• opened top-harvest fermentor after about 5 hours. Wasn’t bubbling, but it was a good active fermentation. Will top-harvest both tmrw.
  
  Nov 17 brew day:
  
• prepped what I could the night before.
  
• let bag drain and squeezed. No sparge. Pre-boil volume: 13g. Post-mash temp: 144f. Pre-boil gravity: 1.027.
  
• racked 41l to fermentors (10.8g). Total left behind / throw-away approx 43l (11.3g).
  
• brew day S->F approx 4 hrs.
  
• orig gravity:
  
  Nov 21 brew notes:
  
• 1.042 gravity (71% eff.)
  
• 13/12/11g mash/pre-boil/final volumes. No sparge, but squeezed.
  
• nice tasting and clear wort.
  
• 3 hr brew day
  
• transferred to keg Nov 26. Final gravity: 1.009 (abv:
  
  *** 13 gallons is exactly 5” from top of kettle.
  
  Nov 27 brew notes:
  
• sg: 1.042
  
• 30 min mash, 35 min boil.
  
• used 3.6 lbs of corn instead of 3
  
  
  
  
  
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