January 01, 2018

I brewed a tripel and almost hit target gravity!

15 minutes

I brewed a tripel and almost hit target gravity

Here’s the podcast about me brewing a tripel:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/bminusshow/i_brewed_a_tripel_and_almost_hit_gravity.mp3

So I am progressing as a home brewer, on my road to being a pro. I had a few times where I was wasn’t hitting my target mash gravity (all grain), and it was pissing me off.

I hit up the internet, YouTube and a couple homebrew buddies to help me diagnose the cause.

I gathered all the basic shit from them (grist milling, mashing too hot or cold, not mashing long enough) and decided to try something different.

This was a 10 gallon batch which used a bunch of sugar, so there wasn’t too many grains to mess with.

So I tried the brew in a bag method (BIAB). Actually more like brew in a curtain method, because there isn’t a large enough bag for me to do BIAB.

So I do my thing; grind grains with my janky ass grain mill, dough in then mash for about an hour.

I then lifted the grains up, squeezed/twisted the bag (curtain) and put it in a bin. I then put a couple gallons of 170 degree water and poured it over the grains in the bin.

I then re-squeezed the bag and put the rest of the juice back in the boil kettle. I think I got most of the residual sugars out.

Now, some may argue that I will get more husky grain flavors from doing this. And I suspected that I may have been milling my grains improperly.

But I have to say, it felt good brewing a tripel, using the set amount of ingredients and hitting that very near target original gravity.

So in sum, I will stick with brew in a curtain method when I am doing lower gravity beers or smaller (5 -7 gallon) batches!

*Update* The beer turned out decent. It was a little harsh and stringent. I think it was because I used the wrong yeast (safale 05). Don’t judge! Next time I will keep the same recipe and use a belgian strain of yeast. It’s still drinkable. Cheers!

Thank you for being a loyal listener!

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