Big Brew Day 12/16/2006

Yesterday Pete and I embarked on our biggest brew yet: using the new equipment that he bought, two 14 gallon demijohns, a 17 gallon pot, and a gigantic, recently constructed mash tun, we set out to start brewing a 13-14 gallon Duvel clone Belgian ale batch. We were incredibly pleased with our last Belgian ale, so we thought it a good choice to move from the typical 5 gallon batch to the 15 gallon. Here's a shot of our new chiller, the copper tubing that we'll use to cool down the wort when it's ready to be pitched into the primary fermenter.


Here's the hops and sugar that will be added to the boil: 4 pounds of sugar, 4.2% of an ounce of Styrian Goldings hops and 2 servings of 3.7% on an ounce of Saaz hops.


Here's the new and improved mash tun. And with the amount of grain we used, it almost wasn't enough...


Here's the copper manifold Pete put together for the mash tun. Mashing is the first process, wherein we steep the crushed barley in hot and superhot water, of varying degrees, in order to both activate certain enzymes and separate sugars out in solution to make the wort. The manifold filters out the wort beneath the grain bed, which itself acts as a filter for the wort.


I'm enjoying some midday cognac, savoring the balmy weather as the mash begins...


Here we go- 55 pounds of Pilsener malt...a little more than the recipe called for by about 5 pounds, but we'll see how it comes out.


Here I am pouring in the mash water.


More stirring of the mash...


Here's the first bit of the wort to be recirculated into the mash; we recirculate until the wort is clear, or at least more clear than this.


Draining the wort into the brewpot as we start sparging the mash.


Pete imbibing a screwdriver or two...


Here we are lautering the mash as the wort drains into the brewpot.


The hops have formed a kind of fractal pattern in the wort, after boiling had already begun.


Chilling the wort after an hour and a half boil; the coiled, copper tubing is inside the wort, with cold water running through the chiller in order to conduct the heat away. The water coming out the other end is very hot.


Pete is filtering out the hop detritus while the wort is poured into the demijohn for fermentation.


And finally, the aerated beer is in the demijohn, with the yeast just starting to get a hold of the sugar. It will be 10 days to 2 weeks before we transfer it into secondary. I can't wait.