Commemoration and Emergency Preparedness

So my wife has often encouraged me to brew something that she will enjoy. She has a very particular taste preferences for beers; she only likes a) light fruity beers or b) bourbon barrel stouts over 10%. Being that its Spring (kinda), I thought a light fruity beer would be best. She loves Blue Moon, so I found a couple of recipes that I merged in order to craft this SWMBO witbier (I recently that/s internet slang for "She Who Must Be Obeyed").

We are renting right now, so we have lived in two different places so far. We thought it would be fun to make a beer for each place we have lived in Richmond. Our first was a Brown Porter named after our road, "Old Nuckols" Taddy Porter. Our street now is Quarter Mill, so we decided to call this next one Quarter Milled Wit, which actually fits because most of the grains were not milled. Recipe is as follows:

Vital Stats:
Size: 5.04 gal                            Efficiency: 79.67%                        Attenuation: 78.0%
Original Gravity: 1.060              Terminal Gravity: 1.013                Alcohol: 6.15%
Bitterness: 20.4                         SRM 4.29
Ingredients
5 lb (41.2%) German 2-row Pils - added during mash
4.5 lb (37.1%) Wheat Flaked - added during mash
.25 lb (2.1%) Munich Malt - added during mash
1.0 lb (8.2%) Oats Flaked - added during mash
1.0 lb (8.2%) Rice Hulls - added during mash
6 oz (3.1%) Acidulated Malt - added during mash
1 oz (100.0%) East Kent Goldings (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m
.75 oz Corriander seeds - added during boil, boiled 5 m
.75 oz Orange Peel - added during boil, boiled 5 m
1 L White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale
Schedule:
Mash In - Liquor: 4.5 gal; Strike: 164.52 °F; Target: 154.0 °F
Rest - Rest: 60.0 m; Final: 154.0 °F
01:48:17 Batch Sparge - First Runnings: 0 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 15.0 m; Second Runnings: 3.71 gal sparge @ 185.0 °F, 15.0 m; Total Runoff: 7.0 gal

Brew Day
Everything went relatively good, with a few minor issues. My mash tun has been leaking since I got it. Luckily I discovered this problem before doughed in the grains. I messed with plastic spigot a few time and maybe said a few curse words. Finally, a quick trip to Original Gravity, my local homebrew shop, solved that problem for the most part.

The trip set my time back quite a bit (few hours)... the sun was pretty much gone when I was done. But eventually, I was mashing in with the grains. I had trouble getting a consistent mash temp, which is an issue I will have to solve for next time. The rice hull addition really helped prevent a stuck mash with all the unmalted wheat and oats, but the draining was still very sloooooow. Took a lot longer than expected. This was also my first beer with real water additions to maintain mash pH and correct for water flavor, so I did some acid malt, calcium chloride, and gypsum additions. I do not have a pH meter, so I will have to see how it turns out. Took my gravity reading at was close to target (little did I know...).



Finally I reached the long awaited boil; a time a relaxation and calmness. Probably one of my favorite parts of brewing, because I actually get to sit down and chill out. This boil was great, and I was able to chill down very quickly with my chiller (despite hotter than average ground water). Hit my volume numbers right on the money.

Then I took the hydrometer reading and got a whopping 1.060! Much higher than my targeted 1.054. Probably due to impatiently checking my refractometer too quickly (it has to cool down when you put hot wort on it). All in all, it just means more alcohol, so WOO! Just have to adjust for the next time.

Brewing seems to never be without minor crises and issues, but as my wife reminded me... its supposed to be fun. At least I got to have one of these after.

                                                      Old Ironsides California Common