Batch 295, another Doug-based pale ale

 Moved my Baja brewery to another location, much larger, and it's all mine, not shared, so I feel a little better about setting things up more or less permanently.

5 gallon batch

12 lb 2-row

8 oz biscuit

Mashed at 150F. Got interrupted, ran off the first batch, then dumped the sparge water in the boil kettle. Oh well, I just scooped some of the wort out of the BK and ran it back through the mash tun for the second batch.

2.5 oz Doug, 60 min

5 oz Mt Hood, 5 min

It went pretty well, other than I'd left a lot of stuff at the house, so there were several trips back and forth.

Batch 294, another Belma Summer Ale

 I thought I'd do the same recipe again to help me figure out what I need to do to improve. I discovered a semi-serious issue last time, the gap was too wide on my grain mill. I don't have a feeler gauge handy, so I used a credit card and I thought that the grind might be too fine, but it worked out with no problems. Another issue I discovered this time is the SS braid that I have in the boil kettle is too tight, the wort won't go through it. Good to know.

5 gallon batch, pretty much the same as last time.

12 lb 2-row

5 oz white wheat (I'm out now)

5 oz crystal 60, just to cut down the sweetness and color a bit.

Mash water at 175F got me 150F in the mash tun, so that's okay. No stuck sparge, which I thought might happen. I measured the water carefully, so I did get 6.5 gallons in the boil kettle, and ended up with 5.5 gallons in the fermenter.

Same hops as last time:

2 oz Belma, 60 min

4 oz Belma, 5 min

Yeast from the last batch, about a pint of reasonably thick slurry.

Batch 293, Belma Summer Ale

 Still forgetting to update this blog. This batch is done and gone, it was decent. I went with a simple brew to help me figure out my system here. I got a new grain mill, it turns out the gap was too wide, so I missed my numbers, 1.040 OG instead of 1.052. Oh well, it was a good beer anyway. I also ended up about a gallon short, so just under 4 gallons in the keg, which was a little disappointing.

5 gallon batch

12 lb 2-row

8 oz white wheat

6 oz crystal 60

Mashed at 148F, about the same as last time. Mash water was at 170F so I'll go a little higher next time to hit that mid-150F range that I'm aiming for.

2 oz Belma, 60 min

4 oz Belma, 5 min

This turned out pretty good, and it's all gone now.

Batch 292, Guava IPA

 I guess I'm just getting lazy, I'm three brews behind on updating this blog. This is my first batch in Baja this season, I'm still trying to get a grip on my system here. I brought a lot (a LOT) of dry yeast down, so I figured I'm good to go. I should not have bothered with doing a guava IPA first, I really should have done something simple and easy just to get used to the system again and to get some fresh yeast going.

Anyway, I forgot to write down anything, this is pretty much like what I've done before:

10 lb 2-row

1 lb wheat

1.1 lb guava paste (added after primary fermentation is complete)

Missed my temp, got about 147F instead of the 155F I was aiming for.

2 oz Citra, 60 min

2 oz Citra, 5 min

Overall, it was barely drinkable. I used a lot of yeast, maybe 5 packets as it just didn't seem to want to take off. It was beer in the end, so there is that.