May Brewday – Stuck in Lodi Rye
Finally brewing again after several busy months! I’m really excited to get this beer brewed in the new fermenter system, since it picked up my house off-flavor the last few times I’ve brewed it. This time I’m also using the White Labs Kolsch yeast, WLP029, to see how it works in the beer.
0945 – Mashed in, off to a nice early start. 149F and 5.4pH. Off to get propane.
1130 – Finally started the first runoff after a LONG trip to get propane. Ugh.
1151 – Second runoff and the kettle is heating up. I just realized that I forgot to sanitize my fermenter though, that’s a bummer. I think the trick will be to move the kettle to the table during the whirlpool and throw the fermenter on the burner then. This is definitely something I’ll have to think about for future brewdays, running out for propane during the mash like I used to do is not great with the new setup.
My rye malt had a lot of bugs in it, as if there wasn’t enough protein in the rye by itself:
1225 – Added my 60 minute boil hops and started the countdown.
1325 – Started the chiller, ran out to get ice and lunch.
Check out the break:
Alright, hit my OG just about right on: 1.042. Everything’s in the fermenter and coming down to pitching temp. A good day, except for the hour and fifteen minutes it took to get propane.