http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/dogfish-head-60-minute-clone-ag-extract-25709/
The recipe looked like this:
- 28 lbs - 2 Row Pale Malt
- 12 oz - Carapils
- 6 oz - Crystal Malt 60L
- Hops
- 1.5 oz Warrior
- 1 oz Amarillo Gold
- 1 oz Simco
- 1 oz Simcoe (later for dry hopping)
- 2 oz Amarillo Gold (later for dry hopping)
- Yeasts
- 2 Packets - Pacific Ale Yeast - White Labs 0041
- 2 Packets - American Ale Yeast - 1056
- Additives
- 2 Whirfloc Tablets
- 2 Grams Calcium Carbonate (Chalk)
- 3 Grams Calcium Sulfate (Gypsum)
- 2 Grams NaCl (Kosher Salt)
- Potassium Metabisulphite
The process started by heating the water in the HLT (Hot Liquor Tank). We filled that up to 20 gallons and then heated it up to 154 degrees. While the water was heating we crushed our grains in our Barley Crusher grain mill.
Our first lesson came during the crush, which is to always make sure the cordless drill is fully charged! Ended up having to use the hand crank for a bit of it.
Once the water was up to temperature we transferred hot water from the HLT to the MLT (Mash/Lauter Tun). For this recipe we used 9.6 gallons. This is calculated via a straight forward equation:
Strike water = (Mash Thickness X Pounds of Grain / 4) + liquid in hoses
courtesy from Kal from www.theelectricbrewery.com
We were going for a Mash thickness of 1.25, so the equation looked like:
Strike Water = (1.25 x 29.125/4) + .5 = 9.6
After transferring this water, it needed to be heated a little and brought back up to temperature as it lost a little heat during the transfer process. This only took maybe 10 minutes. After it was up to temperature we slowly started scooping the grain into the MLT until it was all in. During this process we were mixing it the whole time to ensure no dry clumps and a well mixed mash.
At this point we introduced our Brewers Salts (Chalk, Gypsum, Salt), stirred well, then took a Ph reading. Our target Ph level is 5.2-5.3, we were coming in at 5.7 at this point. To decrease that level we need to introduce an acid, and most brewers will use Lactic Acid at 88% concentration. Very little is needed, we only added 4ml to the entire batch to bring down to 5.3.
Once we had all of our levels good, we started our Mash process for the next 90 minutes*
*Lesson 2, the timer needed to be programmed to reflect min:sec, it defaults to seconds. We entered 9000 thinking it was set for 90 min and 0 second, but it was 9000 seconds. We ended up with a 2.5 hour mash! Fortunately I don't think it hurt much, mostly my pride.
The next phase is to Mash Out. This is done by bringing the HLT up to Sparge temperature, which will bring the MLT up as well through the HERMS system. Once up to temperature we reconfigure the hoses and then start moving the liquid out from the bottom of the MLT over to the Boil Kettle. Since we only had 9.6 gallons in the MLT, we then start moving more water out of the HLT over to the MLT to compensate.
This process is called Sparging. It is taking the new water from the HLT and feeding it onto the top of the grain bed in the MLT to basically rinse out the last of the sugars. I should also mention before we started moving that water, we did a Ph reading on the HLT and introduced Lactic Acid to bring it down to a level of 5.8.
During this stage we realized the rig was still being dialed in. We didn't feel the heat exchange was as good as it should be between the MLT and the HLT through the HERMS system. We took note of this to address between brews later.
This Sparge process lasts about an hour, and what you are left with is sweet wort in the Boil Kettle. We then bring that up to a boil, and start to add our hops. As this is an IPA there are a lot of hops involved. This particular recipe called for a continuous hopping during the entire boil where we start by slowly introducing Warrior hops, then at 25 minutes in we start introducing the Amarillo Gold hops, then for the last 30 minutes we slowly introduce the Simcoe hops. We do this for the entire 60 minute boil where ideally we are putting in the last hops at the end of the boil.
15 minutes before the end of the boil we introduce the whirflock tablets, however we lost track of time a bit and put it in closer the 8 minutes remaining. This is used as a clarifying agent to help us achieve a nice clean looking beer.
Once the boil is complete we run out of the Boil Kettle and through our wort chiller to bring the wort down to 72 degrees. This will allow us to pitch the year right away. However first we take the full fermentors and introduct oxygen for the yeast. We have a small tank with an air stone that helps disperse the Oxygen, we run that for about 2.5 minutes.
Lastly we label our fermentors as we used the Wyeast in one of the carboys, and the White Labs yeast in the other. We then pitch the yeast into the wort, then go and set it all someplace nice and dark and cool.
These yeasts want to be around 65-68 degrees, so I put the fermentors in our utility room which has a concrete floor in it, and is located next to the AC handler which makes the room a little colder. Last check the room was at 65 degrees (rest of the house not near that cold).
We will ferment this for 2 weeks, then move to a secondary fermentor, at which time we will add our dry hops to the worts. We will let that site for another week and we will keg that beer. After about a week in the keg with CO2 plugged in, it will carbonate itself. It would be good to drink then, but it does get better over a little bit of time to let the beer mature and smooth out a bit.
After we complete some next phases I will take some photos and post them. Cheers!
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