Batch 303, a crap beer

 It was supposed to be a Panama Red. I thought I had my process down, finally, but fucked up on dumping this batch on top of the yeast cake from the last batch, which was also crap. It turns out the yeast had gone bad, so I had 2 bad batches in a row. I'm not even going to list the whole story, as it just sucked. That, and I ran out of CO2, and the only place I know here in Baja to get it doesn't handle my little 5 lb tank, just the 20 pounders.

Batch 302, Brown Ale

I've decided what I don't care for about the beers I've been making recently are the hops. I don't think I'm getting good flavors out of the pellets. I'm using pellets since they keep well and I don't have the cold storage space for leaf pellets. I'm also a little concerned about hauling leaf hops across the border, but my neighbor says they do it regularly, so I'll give that a try next year.

Here's a 5 gallon batch of brown ale, copied from BrewTarget:

Brown Ale - American Brown Ale (10C)

Date 3/2/25

Batch Size 5.750 gal 

Boil Size 6.500 gal

Boil Time 60.000 min Efficiency 70

OG 1.050 sg 

FG 1.013 sg

ABV 5.0% 

IBU 21.9 (Tinseth)

Color 16.2 srm (Morey)

Fermentables

Pale Malt (2 Row) US Grain 9.000 lb

Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L Grain 12.000 oz

Biscuit Malt Grain 8.000 oz

Chocolate Malt (US) Grain 4.000 oz

Hops

Mount Hood 5.5% 0.700 oz Boil 60.000 min Pellet 14.6

Mount Hood 5.5% 0.700 oz Boil 15.000 min Pellet 7.2

Yeast

1272 - American Ale II

25 Mar 2025: fuck. It turns out the yeast had gone bad and I didn't notice, this beer just sucked. Even worse, I kegged this while brewing the next batch and dumped the new beer (Panama Red) on top of the yeast cake. Two bad batches in a row. Fuck.

Batch 301, same as last time

Same as last time, just working on process.

5 gallon batch

11 lb. 2-row

8 oz Biscuit

Mashed at 156F for 60 minutes, started recirc at 45. Did math to decide how much for the second sparge, apparently I can still do math. I did nothing about the pH.

1 oz Mosaic, FWH

1 tsp Irish Moss, 15 min

1 oz Cascade, 5 min

1 oz Mt Hood, 5 min

60 minute boil, collected 5.5 gallons in the fermenter, yay!

Wyeast 1272 from last batch.