Brew Log #2 - Flagship Brown Ale

Flagship Brown Ale

Stats:
Brew Date: September 2, 2018
Estimated ABV:5.4%
IBU:26
SRM:25
Batch Size: 3 Gallon

Grains:
· 5lb 8oz Pale Malt(2-Row)
· 8oz Carmel 80L
· 4oz Chocolate Malt
· 1oz Black Barley

Hops:
· 0.65oz East Kent Goldings (60min) (3.25 AAU)
· 0.30oz Liberty (30min) (1.26 AAU)
· 0.30oz Willamette (0min) (1.44 AAU)

Yeast:
· Imperial Yeast - Flagship Ale (A07)
· Given my 3.0 Gal batch size and estimated OG of 1.054 there is no need to make a starter when tossing this powerhouse yeast pack. However, I wanted to harvest yeast to use in another batch so I used the starter and harvesting method outlined in previous posts.

Misc:
· 0.35tbs 5.2 Stabilizer
· 0.5 Whirlflock tablet (15min)

Brew Day Steps:

Collect and heat 2.20 gal strike water



Preheat mash tun with hot tap water



Add stabilizer to mash water



Mash in, smoosh dough balls and mix



Mash at 153F for 60 min



Collect and heat 2.7 gallons of sparge water


Iodine test to ensure conversion is complete

Vorlauf until runnings are clear

Collect first runnings in boil kettle



Mix in sparge water, seal mash tun



Collect second runnings



Bring 4.00 gallons of wort to boil



Empty spent grains. Put your foot on grains. It feels nice.



Boil Achieved - Start timer for 60min, Add East Kent Goldings hops (60min left)



Add Liberty hops (30min left)



Add Willamette hops (0min left)



Cool wort to pitching temp and transfer to carboy, OG 1.061...whaaat!

Aerate with oxygen for 30 seconds or shake vigorously for 5 minutes and pitch yeast

Attach bung and blow off hose


Brew Day Debrief:
The brew day was going fairly smooth however, I overshot my OG quite drastically. The estimated OG was 1.054 and I ended up with 1.061, and I have several theories. I got an important phone call right after stirring in my sparge water and thus, my hot sparge water stayed in the mash tun for about 30min and perhaps it did an excellent job of washing additional sugars from the grain. Second item, and very likely the cause, my grain appeared to have a much finer crush than usual, I don't crush grain myself and I feel like the crusher that I use was tightened up a bit. Not a big deal but I am in for a bigger beer than expected...not the end of the world :). Other than that, the brew day went smoothly and all major events were captured in the photos above.

The cool peeps at Imperial Yeast sent me this Flagship Ale strain to take for a test drive. While I have not tasted the beer yet, I do have a few preliminary notes.

• There is a tremendous amount of yeast in this package, I did not need to make a starter however, I wanted to harvest clean yeast from my starter to save for another batch.
• Dang! This yeast is hungry! I almost needed a blow off hose on my starter, this stuff is ready to go. I was also hearing blow off action from my carboy 3 hours after pitching the yeast.
• Ripped the wort down from 1.061 to 1.012 in 6 days, I am very pleased.

Fermentation Notes:


Ferment at 65F - Krausen in less than 12 hours from pitch :)

After 48 hours I lowered the fermentation temperature from 65F to 55F


Racked to secondary 6 days after pitching yeast. Changed temperature back to 65F.

Bottling notes and tasting notes to come!


Cheers,
Graham