Big Gay Oni's Big Gay Ale

[Taylor-MadeAK]

Since Oni is having me make this for you all to consume, I've decided to document the brewing process - in all it's gory glory - here for everyone to see.

I call it...

Big Gay Oni's BIG GAY ALE

Catchy, huh?

First, here's some of the number crunching I've done:

07-04-2009  Gay Bastard Ale (aka. Big Gay Oni's Big Gay Ale)

A ProMash Brewing Session Report
--------------------------------

Brewing Date: Saturday July 04, 2009
Head Brewer:  Bob Taylor
Asst Brewer:  Millie and Rachel Taylor
Recipe:       Gay Fat Bastard Ale (aka. AKC Big Gay Ale)

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

20-A  Fruit Beer, Fruit Beer

Min OG:  1.030   Max OG:  1.120
Min IBU:    12   Max IBU:    50
Min Clr:     2   Max Clr:    70  Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal):         5.00    Wort Size (Gal):   5.00
Total Grain (Lbs):        8.50
Anticipated OG:          1.042    Plato:            10.46
Anticipated SRM:           8.7
Anticipated IBU:          18.2
Brewhouse Efficiency:       68 %
Wort Boil Time:             90    Minutes

Actual OG:  1.059   Plato: 14.40
Actual FG:  1.012   Plato:  3.07

Alc by Weight:  4.80      by Volume:  6.14  From Measured Gravities.
ADF:            78.7      RDF         65.5  Apparent & Real Degree of Fermentation.

Actual Mash System Efficiency: 95 %
Anticipated Points From Mash:  41.92
Actual Points From Mash:       58.54


Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate:      10.00    Percent Per Hour

Raw Pre-Boil Amounts - only targeted volume/gravity and evaporation
rate taken into account:

Pre-Boil Wort Size:                 5.88    Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity:                   1.036   SG          8.93  Plato

With sparge water, mash water, additional infusions, vessel losses, top-up
water and evaporation rate recorded in the Water Needed Calculator:

Water Needed Pre-Boil Wort Size:    6.15    Gal
Water Needed Pre-Boil Gravity:      1.034   SG          8.56  Plato


Formulas Used
-------------

Brewhouse Efficiency and Predicted Gravity based on Method #1, Potential Used.
Final Gravity Calculation Based on Points.
Hard Value of Sucrose applied. Value for recipe: 46.2100 ppppg
Yield Type used in Gravity Prediction: Fine Grind Dry Basis.

Color Formula Used:   Morey
Hop IBU Formula Used: Rager

Additional Utilization Used For First Wort Hops: -10 %


Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 70.6     6.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)              Belgium        1.037      3
  5.9     0.50 lbs. Crystal 20L                   America        1.035     20
  5.9     0.50 lbs. Crystal 40L                   America        1.034     40
  5.9     0.50 lbs. Munich Malt                   Belgium        1.038      8
  5.9     0.50 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt                      1.033      2
  2.9     0.25 lbs. Biscuit Malt                  Belgium        1.035     24
  2.9     0.25 lbs. Honey Malt                    Canada         1.030     25

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  0.75 oz.    Willamette                        Whole    4.57  15.2  First WH
  0.50 oz.    Fuggle                            Whole    4.06   3.1  20 min.


Extras

  Amount      Name                           Type      Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.00 Tsp    Irish Moss                     Fining    15 Min.(boil)


Yeast
-----

DCL Yeast S-04 SafAle English Ale

Water Profile
-------------

Profile:           Anchorage AK
Profile known for: Good for Brown Ales through Stouts.

Calcium(Ca):          27.0 ppm
Magnesium(Mg):         4.6 ppm
Sodium(Na):            5.9 ppm
Sulfate(SO4):         20.0 ppm
Chloride(Cl):          4.3 ppm
biCarbonate(HCO3):   102.4 ppm

pH: 7.00



Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Type: Single Step
Heat Type: Infusion

Grain Lbs:    8.50
Water Qts:   13.00 - Before Additional Infusions
Water Gal:    3.25 - Before Additional Infusions

Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 1.53 - Before Additional Infusions

Tun Thermal Mass:      0.16
Grain Temp:              80 F

Dough In Temp:                0  Time:   0
Saccharification Rest Temp: 154  Time:  90
Mash-out Rest Temp:         168  Time:  15
Sparge Temp:                168  Time:  45

Runnings Stopped At:  1.010 SG       2.56 Plato


Additional Infusion Temperatures And Amounts
--------------------------------------------

Mash Out Step:             4.68 Qts of  212 Degree Water Added


Total Mash Volume Gal:     5.10  - After Additional Infusions

All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.



Water Needed For Brewing Session
--------------------------------

  Sparge Amount:   3.25  Sparge Deadspace:    0.00  Total Into Mash:    3.25

Total Grain Lbs:   8.50       Qts Per Lbs:    2.08  Total From Mash:    3.40
                             Mash Gallons:    4.42
                         Grain Absorption:    1.02

                                Amount Lost in Lauter Tun Deadspace,
                                          Grant and Misc. to Kettle:    0.50

                                       Top Up Water Added to Kettle:    0.00
                                                 Amount into Kettle:    6.15

                          Boil Time (min):   90.00 Evaporation Rate:   10.00
                                                  Amount after Boil:    5.23

                                           Left in Kettle Deadspace:    0.00
                                                    Left in Hopback:    0.00
                                        Left in Counterflow Chiller:    0.00
                         Left in Other Equipment / Other Absorption:    0.00

                                                 Amount to Chillers:    5.23
                                     Amount After Cooling (4 perc.):    5.02



Grain absorption rate is: 0.12 (Gallons Per Lbs)

Evaporation rate is Percent per Hour

This formulation will yield 5.02 gallons of fermentable wort.

You will need 7.67 gallons of water for the complete brewing session.


Efficiency Specifics
--------------------
Recipe Efficiency Setting: 68 %


With sparge water, mash water, additional infusions, vessel losses, top-up
water and evaporation rate recorded in the Water Needed Calculator:

Target Volume (Gal):    6.15
Estimated OG:           1.034    Plato: 8.56


Raw Pre-Boil Targets - only targeted volume/gravity and evaporation
rate taken into account:

Target Volume (Gal):    5.88
Estimated OG:           1.036    Plato: 8.93


Post-Boil Targets:

Target Volume (Gal):    5.00
Estimated OG:           1.042    Plato: 10.46


Recorded Actuals - Measurement Taken In Kettle:

Recorded Volume (Gal):  5.00
Recorded OG:            1.059    Plato: 14.40


At 100 percent extraction from the maximum mash potential:

Total Points:              61.65
Points From Mash:          61.65
Points From Extract/Sugar: 0.00


With the recipe efficiency setting, you should have achieved:

Total Points:              41.92
Points From Mash:          41.92
Points From Extract/Sugar: 0.00


Actuals achieved were:

Actual Points From Mash:       58.54
Actual Mash System Efficiency: 95


Notes
-----

Primary fermentation: 64-68ºF 7-10 days (until complete).

Secondary: Rack
onto 6 pounds of fruit puree - one 3 pound can each of cherry and peach "Or
egon Fruit Puree" - and allow to ferment at 64-68ºF for 2-3 weeks.

Tertiar
y: Rack off of fruit lees into a clean fermenter and allow 2 weeks for clea
ring (fine wtih gelatin if desired).

Bottling: Prime with 5oz sugar (2.4v/
v CO2), mature for at least 2 months



The above text is called a "brew session report," and it basically includes all of the number crunching I do to make a beer from recipe formulation to packaging.  Before you run away, just take a second to scroll through the text in that code window.  I want you guys to have some appreciation of the kind of calculating I have to do every single time I brew a beer.

Now multiply that by the number of batches I've brewed this year so far (4).

Yeah...I do this for fun.  Go on and scratch your head, I know you want to.

One point not noted in the above session report is that Anchorage water is very deficient in calcium...which always makes me scratch my head when I see or hear advertisements for water softener machines (which "soften" water by replacing calcium ions with sodium)...but I digress.  At 27 ppm of Ca-, this water is fine for brewing darker beer styles like brown ale, porter, or stout.  But when making lighter beers, that's nowhere near enough calcium to acidify the mash (by reacting with malt compounds) to the proper pH level of 5.2-5.5, which creates a problem that can be dealt with in several different ways.  A brewer can add lactic acid straight to the mash and sparge water to lower the pH, or he can add acidified malt (that has undergone a lactic fermentation prior to kilning), or he can perform a step mash that incorporates an "acid rest" that allows lactic fermentation to take place in the mash, or he can simply add calcium in the form of calcium chloride (CaCl₂) or calcium sulfate (CaSO₄) to the water used in the mash.

I'm just adding calcium chloride to this batch, at a rate of 0.5 gram per gallon of water, because it is a malt-focused beer.  

I'll update this thread with more pics later, but here's a shot of some of the ingredients:

[Oni]

What no tail?

[Taylor-MadeAK]

It's behind him, genius.

[Taylor-MadeAK]

Pics!  I'm halfway through the mash, with nothing in particular to do for a few minutes, so I'll post pics of the brewing process so far (each thumbnail links to the full-size image):


This is malt.


This is a shot of my mash/lauter tun and the bag of malt waiting for the water...


...to reach this temperature, which will drop to my desired mash temperature when combined with the cooler malt.


Thirteen quarts of hot strike water in my baby brewpot.  I've already added CaCl₂ to this water.


My wifey cleaning up the mess she made while adding the malt to the mash tun.  I don't have a shot of the malt/water adding process because my hands were occupied with pouring the water in while she poured in the malt.


Stir stir stir...


Damn dough balls...stir stir stir some more....


It's a half degree shy, but I'll take it. =)  Close the lid and go find something else to do for 90 minutes...


...like weigh out hops...


...and add them to the brewpot.


Oh, did I mention that a sink full of Star-San is standard procedure?  Everything that contacts the beer after the heat is turned off needs to be sanitized.  Right now all that's in there is the plate chiller, but that will soon change.

[Taylor-MadeAK]

More pics:


Getting the mash system ready for runoff.


Taking the opportunity to weigh out the second hop addition.  Doesn't take much...


...see?


Here's a trick I've been using over the years: putting a Tupperware™ or other plastic lid on top of your mash will keep the grain bed from channeling during recirculating.  I'll come back to this after I set up the burner.


All set.


Time to recirculate.  This is an important step: it turns the grain bed into a filter, so that we don't have flour and bits of malt husk in the boil.


Rachel took a close-up for you, so you can see the bits of grain in the runoff.


One gallon of recirculated wort later and we're already seeing clear runoff...


...but we still need to pour the chunky runoff back into the mash so that the bits of grain get stuck on top of the filter bed.


See how the plastic lid spreads out the recirculated runoff?  This is so that we don't cut channels through the filter bed, which would defeat the purpose of recirculating altogether. =)


Ah, nice clear runoff!


Time to direct the runoff into the brewpot and start sparging.


The classic three-tiered sparging setup: hot liquor tank on the left, mash/lauter tun in the middle, brewpot on the right.  Gravity does the rest. =)


This is a sparging arm.  All it does is gently sprinkle water on top of the mash - again the point is to add water without channeling the filter bed.

[Taylor-MadeAK]

Pics!  AGAIN!  Oh TMAK, you crazy pic-takin' brewer, where will it end?!


Here we have an almost empty mash tun.


An an almost full brewpot.


Which eventually turns into an empty (of wort) mash tun and a full (of wort) brewpot.  Time for the boil. =)


Why don't you guys watch the girls clean out the mash tun while I put the heat to the brewpot?


Rachel was snackin' on the spent grain. =)


Millie made the mistake of enlisting Rachel's help....


Okay, time to get the wort through the hot break.  This is when albumin protein from the malt starts to denature.  It's sticky stuff, like egg whites, so if the brewer isn't careful here this step can result in a boilover.  That would not be good.


See how it foams?


WOOOAAAH!  Back the heat down!  Quick!


Phew!  We have a rolling boil.  Now I've got nothing to do but sanitize a fermenter and eat dinner for the next 70 minutes. =)

[Oni]

Dear God Man. I though you were a Brewer not a Photographer?

[Taylor-MadeAK]

Dear God Man. I though you were a Brewer not a Photographer?

I told you, man: I'm crazy!

[Oni]

And how many hours you been working at this so far?

[Taylor-MadeAK]

About 6 hours, which is normal for my all-grain brew day. 

Guess what...

...MORE PICTURES!!!


While the final minutes of the boil wraps up (didn't take a shot of the second dose of hops being added, sorry), it's time to prep the yeast.  Dry yeast needs to be rehydrated, so I just sprinkle it on top of some tepid filtered water in a sanitized cup, then cover to keep it sanitary.  Meanwhile...


The boil is done, so it's time to empty the brewpot.  This contraption is a wort chiller, it uses cold water and the conductivity of metal to cool wort as it passes through.  With this, I can have a fermenter full of cool wort in five or six minutes.


Turn on the water, open the valve, and away we go!  The foam is normal, don't fear the foam.


A few minutes later, the brewpot is empty.  Still needs to be cleaned out, though.  I'll take care of that after taking care of the wort and backflushing the chiller.


Yeast is ready!


Into the fermenter with you yeasties!

The fruit won't be added for a couple more weeks, when the primary fermentation has finished.  No more pics until then.

[Oni]

and people call me a cam whore. LOL> I think you have more fun using the cam than I do. Beer looks great. Can't wait for it to be finished.

[Taylor-MadeAK]

Unlike you, I don't use the camera to take naked pictures of myself to share on the internet.  That makes you truly a "cam whore."

[Oni]

You would be surprised

[Taylor-MadeAK]

You would be surprised

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be.  You're not as unpredictable as you think you are, C@.

MOAR PICS!!


It's aliiiiiiive!!!  It tried to climb out of the fermenter in spite of the tightly controlled temperature maintained by the fermentation fridge, so I had to put a blowoff hose on it to direct the foam into a catch vessel. 


See?  This is basically just a really big airlock: the end of the hose is submerged in sanitizer solution, preventing any spoilage critters from entering by way of the blowoff hose while still allowing CO₂ to escape.

[Taylor-MadeAK]

Just to show that I'm still hard(ly) at work on this batch of beer:



Just a few days after brewing, the base beer is nearing the end of its first active fermentation.  The kraüsen has stopped, leaving behind a layer of braun hefe in the neck of the carboy.  The beer is no longer blowing off, so I've replaced the blowoff hose with a regular airlock, the bubbling in which is pretty slow.  I'm going to give it until this weekend to wrap up its fermentation before I rack it onto the fruit puree.