Batch 298, Panama Red

 Finally! It seems like ages since I've been able to brew a decent Panama Red. We're packing up for a trip, leaving tomorrow for a few days, but I wanted to get this brew in so it could ferment while we're gone. It should be done when we get back.

It was a rough brew day, the temperature here peaked at about 104F (40C for you more normal minded peeps) , so the brew shed was HOT!. Two window fans, plus the ceiling fan, but still, very HOT!

Some work to do today, needed to get the last batch into kegs, that was 3 kegs to clean and fill (2 Bell's, 1 berry cider). Moved a  lot of kegs around, there were some emptied in the brew shed and the garage, and of course, the brewing.

10 gallon batch 

22.25 lb 2-row

1.5 lb Crystal 60

1.5 lb White wheat

4 oz Chocolate malt

Mashed at 154F, adjusted pH to 5.23 (almost fucked that up, I was measuring a teaspoon over the mash tun and the bottle slipped. The meter said 4.3 then as I stirred, it came up to 5.23, whew!) 12 gallons in the boil kettle.

90 minute boil

2 oz Mt Hood, FWH, these were pellets, I usually use leaf

2 oz Centennial, 60 min

2 oz Cascade, 30 min

2 oz Cascade, 5 min

2 oz Mt Hood, 5 min (pellets again, we'll see, I tend to not like pellets as much as whole cones)

Wyeast 1272 from last batch

The usual stats on this, hmm, where are they?

Batch 297, Bell's Two Hearted clone and Berry Cider

 I ordered some hops on line, and got way more than I ordered. I received 3 pounds of Centennial, so I thought to do this recipe since it's all Centennial. I've made this before, and it's always come out pretty good. As brew days go, this one kind of sucked: 

• my carbon water filter burst and turned the sparge water black, so had to dump that and start over
• my mill ( 3 roller monster mill) got jammed, so I had to take it apart and clean and adjust the gap
• I was cleaning stuff and not watching the boil kettle, so I had a boil over
• the Centennial are pellets, and that nifty thing I use to put the pellets in nylon stockings is in Baja, so made a new one
• the little tablet that I use to stream music to the beer shed was dead. Looks like it's going to be okay, though

Oh, and in the end, I missed the OG by 5 points.

10 gallon batch

27 lb 2-row

12 oz Crystal 60

Mash at 148F, adjusted pH to 5.2, collected 5 gallons, second sparge got 7 gallons for 12 gallons in the boil kettle.

2.5 oz Centennial, 60 min

2.5 oz Centennial, 30 min

5 oz Centennial, 5 min

60 minute boil. 

Wyeast 1272 from last batch, so very fresh yeast.

OG: 1.060, 1.056 actual

FG: 1.016

ABV: 6.1%

SRM: 6.5

IBU: 77

I also made a berry cider at the same time, 5 gallons, the usual recipe.