So I punched some recipe ideas into Beersmith and came out with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale recipe. I scaled it to suit my half batch pot of 20L for a rough batch size of 12L.
The recipe called for:
2.6kg Pale Malt
0.23kg Crystal 60
7g Nugget @ 90min
9g Perle @ 15min
14g Cascade @ 2min
7g Cascade dry hop @ 7 days
So away I went and ordered my gear online and it arrived safely. It should be noted that the minimum purchase on malts was 500g. So 2.6kg Pale malt and 500g was ordered of Crystal 60.
Sunday came around and I get stuck in at about 1:30pm.
I have so much on my mind trying to remember some youtube video's I had watched and trying to remember bits and pieces I had read.
My water hits temp and I chuck in my bag and all the grain and start mixing well, I throw the lid on and keep a keen eye on my temp throughout the hour. So far I'm pretty happy.
After the hour is up I start to wonder how I am going to tackle the next phase and wonder if I should do another mini 10 min sparge to extract whatever is left. I realise after wort and shit is going everywhere that my second pot I was going to sparge with isn't big enough and I decide to sparge over my existing wort.
Once I have cleaned up the sticky mess I raise the temp on my delicious sugary wort and I am pretty chuffed with myself thus far.
Finally the wort comes to a rolling boil and and I get all flustered as somehow my beersmith app timer f*cks up and I lose my position. Now I'm 2 MINS IN add my 2min 14g cascade edition.... 15mins passes and so I add my perle edition.... At this point I was thinking hmmm, what did I buy the nugget for then? And I assumed it was for the dry hop.
Now the boil has finished I also am trying the no chill method for the first time. So I rack the boiling hot wort into my cube and dang that shit is hot. Try getting air out of the cube when the walls are damn hot is near impossible. I try my best and screw the lid on. The thing blows up like a balloon so I think to myself, "shit I'm getting out of here!". A few hours pass and it has shrunk and sucked in the sides like it should. Winning.
I'm sitting watching TV and I think to myself... shit, I just cut open both malt bags and threw them in. So instead of following the recipe (which I thought I was) I have added:
2.6kg Pale Malt
0.5kg Crystal 60
So after this I check my recipe again and I realise I completely stuffed up my recipe with the hop additions also.
This is how the recipe reads now:
2.6kg Pale Malt
0.5kg Crystal 60
14g Cascade @ 58min
9g Perle @ 45min
7g Cascade dry hop @ 7 days.
Not to mention I had read that when using the No chill method, its best to amend the hop additions by 20mins. So this thing is probably going to Uber bitter and nothing like a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
Anyway I had fun doing it. I'm pitching the yeast tonight. See how it turns out.
Cheers!
The recipe called for:
2.6kg Pale Malt
0.23kg Crystal 60
7g Nugget @ 90min
9g Perle @ 15min
14g Cascade @ 2min
7g Cascade dry hop @ 7 days
So away I went and ordered my gear online and it arrived safely. It should be noted that the minimum purchase on malts was 500g. So 2.6kg Pale malt and 500g was ordered of Crystal 60.
Sunday came around and I get stuck in at about 1:30pm.
I have so much on my mind trying to remember some youtube video's I had watched and trying to remember bits and pieces I had read.
My water hits temp and I chuck in my bag and all the grain and start mixing well, I throw the lid on and keep a keen eye on my temp throughout the hour. So far I'm pretty happy.
After the hour is up I start to wonder how I am going to tackle the next phase and wonder if I should do another mini 10 min sparge to extract whatever is left. I realise after wort and shit is going everywhere that my second pot I was going to sparge with isn't big enough and I decide to sparge over my existing wort.
Once I have cleaned up the sticky mess I raise the temp on my delicious sugary wort and I am pretty chuffed with myself thus far.
Finally the wort comes to a rolling boil and and I get all flustered as somehow my beersmith app timer f*cks up and I lose my position. Now I'm 2 MINS IN add my 2min 14g cascade edition.... 15mins passes and so I add my perle edition.... At this point I was thinking hmmm, what did I buy the nugget for then? And I assumed it was for the dry hop.
Now the boil has finished I also am trying the no chill method for the first time. So I rack the boiling hot wort into my cube and dang that shit is hot. Try getting air out of the cube when the walls are damn hot is near impossible. I try my best and screw the lid on. The thing blows up like a balloon so I think to myself, "shit I'm getting out of here!". A few hours pass and it has shrunk and sucked in the sides like it should. Winning.
I'm sitting watching TV and I think to myself... shit, I just cut open both malt bags and threw them in. So instead of following the recipe (which I thought I was) I have added:
2.6kg Pale Malt
0.5kg Crystal 60
So after this I check my recipe again and I realise I completely stuffed up my recipe with the hop additions also.
This is how the recipe reads now:
2.6kg Pale Malt
0.5kg Crystal 60
14g Cascade @ 58min
9g Perle @ 45min
7g Cascade dry hop @ 7 days.
Not to mention I had read that when using the No chill method, its best to amend the hop additions by 20mins. So this thing is probably going to Uber bitter and nothing like a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
Anyway I had fun doing it. I'm pitching the yeast tonight. See how it turns out.
Cheers!
