Sunday was spent setting up a new batch of homebrew. Hopefully #2 will be done in time for more nice weather and the delayed inaugural deck party at the house. The recipe is for a Belgian Witbier and was my first attempt at an all grain batch. The main fermentable ingredients included 5 lbs 9 oz of 6-row barley, 2 lbs 60z of unmalted flaked wheat, and 7oz of honey. I cheated a little bit and added 1 lb of dried malt extract to the boil to compensate for a lack of mash efficiency since this was my first attempt and some of the mash conditions have to be spot on for a good yield of fermentable sugars. Also included in the recipe are orange peels, corriander, and cumin. I bittered with an oz of East Kent Golding hops. Two types of yeast were used, an American ale yeast and a Belgian ale yeast to add some fruity esters.
This time around wasn't nearly as dramatic as the first attempt. My gas did run out right as I was starting the main boil, so I'm glad I had a backup. Like I thought, my efficiency was a bit low. After the boil I had about 3 gallons of ~1.060 gravity wort. After adding water to bring the total wort up to 4 gallons, gravity was at 1.045 which was the target for a 5 gallon batch. I figured I'd rather have 4 gallons of more potent beer so I left the it at that. Monday morning the bucket was already fermenting like crazy so off to a good start. At the end of the week I'll rack this into a glass carboy for a secondary fermentation to improve clarity and to add some more spices. Should be ready to drink sometime mid April.
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