009. CardaMOM Blonde

BIAB Procedure

Brew365 says strike temp should be 164. Based on last time, I might adjust downward to 160 to reach mash temp of 152. Edit: I didn't factor in mash thickness. Last time, I had a mash thickness of 1.9 qts/lb! Way too high, no wonder the temp didnt drop as much. This time, I am shooting for 1.5, so the calculator should be accurate.

Parameters:
Batch size 3.2 g
Trub loss 0.3 g
Mash thickness 1.5qts/lb
Grain temp 70 f
Wort shrinkage 4%
Grain absorption 0.1g/lb
Boil off 15%

1. Start with strike water of 8.5L (2.25G) @ 163F.
   
2. Put in 6 lbs of grains.
   
3. Rest at 152F for 60 mins.
   
4. Assuming grain absorption of 0.1G/lb, should end up with 1.65G in brew kettle.
   
5. Prepare for dunk sparge by adding 10L (2.6G) to secondary brew kettle. Add grain bag for 15 minutes @ 170F. Squeeze.
   
6. Begin partial mash out in primary brew kettle for 15 minutes @ 170F.
   
7. Add sparge water to primary brew kettle. This should result in 4.3G of pre-boil wort.
   
8. Begin boil as usual, adding 1oz of Saaz @ 60 minutes.
   
9. Add spices @ 5 minutes.
   
   I should end up with about 3.6G of post-boil wort. Accounting for trub loss (0.3G) and wort shrinkage (0.14G), I should end up with 3.2G in bottles.
   
   Recipe
   
   Simple blonde ale recipe, actually given to me by OBK. I am a little worried about CaraFoam taking up 16% of the grist, but I don't have time to go out and buy other grains. It might be a little sweet, with really good head retention. We'll see.
   
   Only one hop addition so the spices are the main focus. Same with the yeast - very neutral and clean yeast.
   
   Apparently a little bit of cardamom goes a long way, so I wont use that much in the boil. Coriander and bitter orange peel are for balance and fruitiness, which I think Mom will like. After primary fermentation, I will add more cardamom and other spices if I feel the aroma isn't quite there.
   
   Pitched yeast @ 23C. Swamp Cooler water read 22C. OG of 1.058. Adjusted for temp thats 1.059. Wow. That's a brewhouse efficiency of 85%. Now it should be 5.5%....I'm not complaining.
   
   Brew date: 07/17.
   
   07/24: Gravity read 1.016 - it has finished fermentation! It is a nice straw yellow colour. Notes of cardamom and citrus on the nose. Also rather grassy. Tastes like a sweeter version of blonde ale. Maybe too sweet...hopefully that dies down. Overall, it tastes like this could be a really good beer for Mom. I won't add anything to the bucket for aroma. This will be my first time cold crashing as well.
   
   07/29: Bottling Day
   
   I accidentally froze the bucket. I'm not sure how this will affect the beer/carbonation levels, but for now, I have just let it thaw at room temp. Given the fact that I cold crashed, some of the C02 that was in the headspace may have been re-absorbed into the beer. To make 2.4 Volumes of C02 with 2.7 G of beer @ 68F, the calculator says to add 2.24 oz of corn sugar. I will round this down to an even 2.0 oz to make sure I dont over-carb, which has been a problem in the past.
   
   Oops, not enough corn sugar left. Will use table sugar instead. I think I will actually have 2.8G of beer, so I will boil 2.1 oz of table sugar to make 2.4 Volumes of Co2.
   
   2.6 gallon to bottle - 0.6 gallons of trub loss!?!
   
   First bottle on 08/07 - 7 days conditioning and 2 days in fridge. Obviously not fully carbed yet. It shows with no head, although some bubbles. Aroma is just about where I want it. The taste is a little sweeter than I wanted - probably because of the extra carafoam. Dry would have been preferred. It is quite refreshing when super cold though, great for a summer beer. Note: This is bottle marked "1", which means that it was one of the first 4 to be bottled.