Ingredients: 6lbs Pilsner; 2lbs Flaked Corn; .5 Crystal 10; .25oz Tettnanger @45; .5 Tettnanger @ 20; .25 Tettnanger @ 2; 1oz Hallertauer @ 2; S-23 yeast.
Who knows how this will turn out. The OG was 1.053 which would put my efficiency at 83%. I usually shoot for 75ish. I am blaming it on the thin bash. I went 1.5 instead of 1.25. This will put the ABV around 5.5% when I was shooting for closer to 4.5%. It may be under hopped @ 12 IBUs. Then went to grab the yeast and it had a date of 5/2009. Too late for a starter so I pitched it anyway @ 66F.
It is now in the keezer at 48F. I sure hope the yeasties are alive!
For some reason I had a pound of pilsner malt. No more, no less. I wanted to use it to make an American lager but did not want to add any 2-row. So, based on a podcast at Basic Brewing, I decided to try thinning my mash to increase efficiency.
Ingredients: 1lb pilsner; 1lb flaked corn; .75 lb munich; .10lb carapils; .25 Saaz@60mins; .5 Saaz@20mins; .25 Saaz@2mins; S-23; irish moss
Instead of my normal 1:1.25 ratio I increased the water to 2.25. I mashed in with 161F water. Then after a really good stir, the mash hit 154.6F. I sealed up the mash tun and waited 60 minutes. First sparge with .9 gallons @ 169F, stirred really well, mash hit 156. Second sparge 1 gallon @ 176F, stirred again, mash hit 166.5. I ended up a little over my boil volume so I boiled a little off. I guess a little too much because I ended up with 2.4 gallons. The rest of the recipe went as written. Pitched at 68F.
The thinned mash worked. I got to 81% vs my normal 75% efficiency. OG of 1.035 should give me the 3.4% ABV I wanted. I am also trying to decide if I am going to add amylase.
