Batch 310, yet another pale ale

 I'm continuing with the series of simple yet delicious pale ales. This one is very similar to the last few batches. I'm out of Cascade, so I used Citra in this one. Citra has a higher AA so I used a little less.

10 gallon batch

20 lb 2-row

1 lb wheat (now I'm out)

1/2 lb Crystal 60

No chocolate in this one just to change things up a little. Mashed with 8 gallons at 170F which put the mash at 158F, a little higher than I wanted. Adjusted pH to 5.3. Started recirculation at 45 minutes for 15 minutes, ran off 5 gallons to the boil kettle. Used 7 gallons for second batch, recirculated for 15 minutes, then to the boil kettle for a total of 12 gallons for the boil.

60 minute boil, all Citra hops, 12.6% AA.

1 oz Citra, FWH

2 oz Citra, 60 minutes

2 tsp Irish moss, 15 minutes

2 oz Citra, 5 minutes

I don't have a good chilling system yet, the lack of water and drainage means I can't really use my plate chiller. What I did was connect the plate chiller as usual for the wort to flow through, then immerses the chiller into a bucket of water and pumped the wort through and back into the boil kettle. This dropped the temp from boiling to about 170F fairly quickly, then I ran the wort into the fermenter inside the chest freezer. I let it sit overnight, then the temperature was down to 65F and I pitched all the yeast from the last batch.

OG: 1.052 actual

Batch 309, doing it again

Big move is finally over. House is sold, all my good brewing stuff is now at our place in Mexico. First batch here with this equipment. I have to say, the brew day went very well. There was a minor issue having the power turned on to my garage, where I brew. 

This batch really is the same as the last 2 batches, so again, I'm not going to repeat myself, just detail the differences:

I had to toss all my old yeast for the move, so I picked up 2 packs of White Labs WP-01, California Ale yeast. I made a starter since I now have my stir plate here. My only good temperature controlled space is my little chest freezer, so I did the starter in there. That also gets the temp set for fermenting, so win/win.

Looking at my notes, the yeast was the only real difference. Good brew day!

13 Oct 2025 - gravity was down to 1.011 two days ago, so I turned the temp down to 35F for cold crash. Kegged it today and added gelatin for clearing. Harvested the yeast, I got two really nice looking quart jars. Both kegs are in the kegerator getting some CO2. Should be drinkable in a couple of days.