Ingredients
- 10 pounds 2-row American malt
- 8 oz Carapils malt
- 8 oz Caramel 10L malt
- 1 oz Cascade hops (7.1% alpha acid) - bittering (60")
- 1oz Cascade hops (7.1% alpha acid) - flavor (15")
- 1oz Cascade hops (7.1% alpha acid) - aroma (2")
- 1t Irish moss
- White Labs California ale yeast (WL001)
OG - 1.051
Notes: I mashed the grains at 152-151 F for 60 minutes. I used 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain. My mash tun lost 1 degree of temperature during the mash. I started out at 152 and ended at 151.
This was my first all-grain batch. I heated the mash water to about 170 degrees, but adding the grains did not bring the temperature down to 152F. I added enough ice to bring the temperature down to 152F. I think heating the mash water to 165F will suffice.
At the end of the mash, I drew off 2 gallons of wort (a quart at a time) and poured back into the grains to rinse out grain specks. My goal was to get clear wort running out of the mash tun. I think drawing off 1.5 gallons would have sufficed.
I sparged the grains with 170 F sparge water using 0.5 gallons per pound of grain. I collected a total of 7 gallons of wort into my brew pot.
I brought the wort to a boil and boiled for a total of 60".
I cooled the wort to below 70 degrees, transferred to my plastic fermenter, pitched the yeast, and sealed with a lid and an airlock. I wrapped the fermenter with towels (swaddling clothes) and placed on my dining room table. The temperature in that room is kept at about 70-72 degrees in the summer.
I had vigorous fermentation within 24-36 hours.
I initially used a turkey fryer to try heating the wort to a boil, but the fryer was not powerful enough to do this. So I put the pot on my stove (covering two burners) and was able to heat my wort to a boil. I did not get the rolling boil I had grown accustomed to in my extract brews, but the resulting gravity measurements and fermentation activity seem just fine.
Update: Sp Gr on 7/25/2009 - 1.006 (very low by my experience). But it tasted comparable to Point Brewery's Cascade Pale Ale although the Point Ale was poured from a chilled bottle. So that's a good sign!