West Coast IPA

[Jackson]

So after a few water only test runs and waiting on the delivery of a fermentation freezer Im finally giving by BM its first official run. Already learnt a few things and Im only 30 mins into the mash.

More pictures to follow

[Jackson]

Hops are ready to go

[Jackson]

Boils going well. Not invested in the termo jacket or hood yet so decided (after doing a water only boil off test) to cover the boil with the lid but just leave an inch or two open (boil off was about 4litres an hour)

[Jackson]

Also fell a bit short on my Pre boil gravity, was 1.047 (temp corrected) rather than the calculated target of 1.05. Think a) a stopped sparging to quickly (excitement got to me) and b) grain absorption with 6kg of grain was closer to 5.5 litres than 6. Not too far off for a first go on a new system though I don't think

[Jackson]

Just about to start my hop schedule. I think of my future sanity my next purchase will be the hop filter or the Arbor BM hop cage (sure theres a proper name for it but its slipped my mind). Using hop bags is going to be a real pain I think especially for the later additions

[Jackson]

Just waiting for the wort to get down to a pitchable temp. Currently in the ferm freezer. Slightly disappointed with my OG in the end, aimed for a 1.073 and ended up closer to 1.053. Boil off was less than I expected so ends up with about 3.5 litres more than I intended (only time will tell if I've managed to doil off enough of the DMS pre cursors), my efficiency was also only about 70% (still happy with that) rather than the 79% I was told to expect with my crush and sparging method (wish it was easier to take a sample of sparge runnings).

All things I could really have only been 100% after my first brew so I'm reasonably happy. I think I'll revisit this recipe my next brewday and try and nail it.

[Dicko]

I would leave the lid off completely as you may never get the correct boil off figure as it will depend on how much of the kettle you have covered as to how much boil off you will get.
If you are concerned about boil vigour a dome may help you.
My grain absorption is a lot less than 1 litre per kilo on my BM so accurate measuring is important to determine your figures.
The crush of the grain is also important with the BM, generally a coarser crush gives best results.

[Jackson]

Yeah I had a litre per kilo in my original figures but ended up closer to 0.9.

Think Ill get a dome and hop filter as my next purchases

[Dicko]

I have my grain absorption figure set at .66 from memory which is a lot less than what I was getting on my 3v system.
I made a dome from a caterers dish and it has improved my boil but only changed the boil off figure by a small amount. I am happy with the results I get from using the dome.

[dinnerstick]

i'd be nervous about getting DMS dripping back into the wort if leaving the lid mostly on, but if it comes out ok then it comes out ok.

[Mr O]

The crush of the grain is also important with the BM, generally a coarser crush gives best results.

The grain I used the other day was pre milled. I'm yet to use my Barley Crusher. Do you recommend a setting of 1.5mm or a bit more? Is this as easy as just using feeler gauges?

Mr O

[paulg]

mr o
the common opinion seems to be 1.2mm and yes feeler guages,good to see your giving it another go .You will get there and find its worth the effort.