Change of plans

Well doe to an unfortunate situation, Nick was not available this weekend to brew. With that said, I still need to get 'my brew on' so I am going to do a solo batch for my brain.

For this brew I am going to do a Belgium Tripel I am calling Tripel Nipple. When I went to get my supplies for the brew day at my LHBS, a kid Ed has working there mistakenly started to ground 2-row pale malt for me instead of pilsener. Ed offered to give me to two row for free and start it all over again, but I told him it was all good and made this with 9.8lbs european 2 row and 5.2lbs pilsener. No need to waste. I am not sure if that takes in out of the "Tripel" category or not though. Oh well, not like I care...

Recipe Specifications
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Batch Size: 6.50 gal
Boil Size: 8.98 gal
Estimated OG: 1.070 SG
Estimated Color: 7.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 28.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 61.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.80 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 48.40 %
5.20 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 25.68 %
2.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 9.88 %
2.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 9.88 %
0.25 lb Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 1.23 %
1.00 oz Cluster [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 20.9 IBU
1.00 oz Mt. Hood [6.00 %] (15 min) Hops 7.3 IBU
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) Sugar 4.94 %
5.50 gal Syracuse, New York Water
1 Pkgs Trappist High Gravity (Wyeast Labs #3787) Yeast-Wheat


Mash Schedule: Double Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 19.25 lb
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Double Infusion, Full Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
30 min Protein Rest Add 4.33 gal of water at 134.5 F 122.0 F
30 min Saccrification Add 3.85 gal of water at 206.7 F 158.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 2.89 gal of water at 199.4 F 168.0 F

I got started this morning at about 6:30am (thanks Meatball for making sure I was up early on a Saturday) and finished at 11:30am. Pretty smooth brew day for the most part. I hit all of my temps and made some pH adjustments to the mash to get a 5.5pH. Everything went VERY smoothly up until the end.

I discovered that Beer Smith was giving me about 4 gallons more than I needed for the volume I was looking for. I am not exactally sure how it happened, but I can only assume that the quart of water to pound of grain volume is set too high. I am trying to figure out how to fix this for the future.

All was not lost though. I wound up with an extra gallon of brew and it still came in at a hefty 1.070 OG. I can live with that. I was dead on balls accurate with everything else so I am pleased with the day as a whole. Plus at a sunny 40f it was like brewing in Georgia only without being married to my cousin.

In other news...

First off, Ted from Ted's Homebrew Journal and I exchanged some brews over the holidays. Last night I tasted his Simcoe 100 and here are my notes:

Aroma - It's like opening a bag of hops and taking a whiff. There is a little malt tucked away in the background, but the hops are really the star of the show and you can get a complete hops aroma on this.

Appearance - Dark copper with a light brown finish. Depending on what light you hold it in, it can be very dark. The head was a cream color reminiscent of French vanilla. The head build up quickly and stuck around for a long time.

Flavor - Leads in with a hint of bitterness before you are hit with a strong grapefruit flavor. Its not an overly tart grapefruit, but just the citrus tang. Just like the nose, the hops is all over this one. It's a very complete hops flavor and the grapefruit plays very nicely with it.

Overall - My comments verbatim; "Wow - I love this beer!" It's a hell of a brew. My only regret is that I had but one to drink...

Second I racked over my Hairy Porter, very smooth and very sweet. It's actually a lot less harsh than I anticipated. I let it sit in secondary in the fridge for three weeks so its nicely mellowed. It was time well spent. The Anise has an interesting blend in this brew. More to come on this.

Finally it seems as though my "bottling for champs" el cheepo method might not be working. I need to do one of two things; break down and get a beer gun or prime every keg and bottle off of that. We will see...