Maximum Lubricity

Step by Step

Mill the grains and dough-in targeting a mash temperature of 152°F. Hold the mash at around 152°F for 90 minutes. Collect first runnings into boil kettle and begin heating. Sparge with 21 qt of 166°F water, collecting wort and adding to kettle until the pre-boil kettle volume is around 6.5 gallons. Take hydrometer reading.

The total wort boil time is 60 minutes. Add 3 lbs of Belgian Candi and the bittering hops with 25 minutes remaining in the boil. Add Irish moss and Maltodextrine with 15 minutes left in the boil. Add wort-chiller to the boil with 10 minutes left. Add aroma hops with 5 minutes left in the boil. Chill the wort to 70°F and aerate thoroughly. Pitch one package of Safale-05 into 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket and add airlock.

Ferment at 67°F until the yeast drops clear. At this temperature and with healthy yeast, fermentation should be complete in 10-14 days. Rack to a bottling bucket, add 5 oz. of priming sugar, and bottle. Target a carbonation level of 2.5 volumes.

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In Brew Like A Monk, one of the brewers recommended mashing out and sparging no higher than 163. That way you purposely don't denature the enzymes and conversion continues until the boil starts. If you're mashing at 146, you're going for a highly fermentable, dry beer. "In that situation, 163 makes sense. I did it on my last batch. I achieved my best efficiency to date and fermentation went like gangbusters. This wasn't a huge beer (1.046 SG) and I nearly had a blowout with 5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon Ale Pail (the kreusen crept up the airlock but didn't quite go out the top)."