Black Butte Clone Batch Number 2

Batch: 2

Recipe:

  • 3 lbs Maris Otter Pale
  • .5 lbs English Chocolate Malt
  • .75 lbs American Caramel 60*L [Crystal]
  • 4 lbs Dry Light (malt extract)
  • .33 oz Galena (Pellets 13.00 %AA) boiled 60 min
  • .75 oz Cascade (Pellets 5.50 %AA) boiled 30 min
  • 1 oz Tettnanger (Pellets 4.50 %AA) boiled 5 min
  • yeast: White Labs WLP002 English Ale [used wyeast 1338]

Original Gravity: 1.052

Notes:

I don’t know what we may have done differently but the beer seems much darker than the first batch.  Was the first batch short on the dark malts?  Did our (longer/more efficient) mash/sparge bring out more color?  This mash smelled more toasted (burnt) and the color of the brew is noticeably darker than the previous batch.

I broke a carboy by missing the protective carpet I had put down by about an inch.  It shattered on the concrete sending five gallons of sterile solution and glass all over the basement.  At least I didn’t lose any beer.

For whatever reason running the oxygen tank was troublesome as bubbles tended to bubble over the carboy.

I made a mark on the propane valve at what I hope will remain the perfect boiling BTU for future batches.  We shall see how that plays.

Fermentation:

(All ambient temperatures are a little more than 2 f shy if I compare my white thermometer with Matt’s Fluke device.)

  • Sat 5 Nov — 57.9 ? (in shop)

I moved the beer into theater where it will receive periodic (morning and evening) influxes of heat and the temps ought to range 62~68.

  • Sun 6 Nov — 64.9 f ambient; bubbles near exactly 3 seconds (perhaps increasing)
  • Sun 6 Nov — bubbles under 2 seconds
  • Mon 7 Nov 8:48 — 71 f ambient; bubbles are < 1 second
  • Mon 7 Nov 21:27 — 63.4 f ambient; blow-off tube more than one third full of ick
  • Mon 7 Nov 22:38 — 67.4 f ambient; vigorous bubbles up to several per second
  • Tue 8 Nov 7:14 — 66.0 f ambient; bubbles back to around 1 second
  • Tue 8 Nov 19:35 — 63.5 f ambient; bubbles ~4 seconds
  • Wed 9 Nov 7:42 — 65.7 f ambient; bubbles ~4.5 seconds
  • Wed 9 Nov 18:52 — 65.8 f ambient; bubbles ~7 seconds

I changed the airlock even though it got a little melty when I boiled it; I need to buy a new one; there is about 1/8″ of dough in the bottom of the blow-off bucket; with the airlock bubbles are under 4 seconds.

  • Thu 10 Nov 7:14 — 67.6 f ambient; bubbles ~4 seconds
  • Thu 10 Nov 21:19 — 67.1 f ambient; bubbles ~5.5 seconds
  • Fri 11 Nov 7:22 — 67.5 f ambient; bubbles ~5 seconds
  • Sat 12 Nov 15:59 — 67.8 f ambient; bubbles <7 seconds
  • Sun 13 Nov 9:19 — 65.7 f ambient; bubbles ~8 seconds
  • Mon 14 Nov 12:51 — 68.0 f ambient; bubbles <10 seconds
  • Tue 15 Nov 19:47 — 69.4 f ambient; bubbles ~10 seconds
  • Fri 18 Nov 6:37 — 70.2 f ambient; bubbles ~13 seconds
  • Fri 18 Nov 23:52 — 64.0 f ambient; bubbles 24.09 seconds
  • Sat 19 Nov 8:17 — 68.9 f ambient; bubbles 19.37 seconds
  • Sat 19 Nov 17:58 — 69.6 f ambient; bubbles 18.18 seconds
  • Sun 20 Nov 3:19 — 57.9 f ambient; bubbles 1:40.47 minutes
  • Sun 20 Nov 22:23 — 65.5 f ambient; bubbles 31.02 seconds
  • Mon 21 Nov 21:15 — 63.9 f ambient; bubbles 1:09.72 minutes
  • Tue 22 Nov 21:33 — 68.0 f ambient; bubbles too infrequent to bother measuring
  • Wed 23 Nov 20:27 — 63.1 f ambient; bubbles too infrequent to bother measuring

While there are still new bubbles forming at the froth line I am aiming to bottle Saturday.

  • Fri 25 Nov 17:19 — 68.0 f ambient; bubbles 10.50 seconds

This morning I moved in a personal heater to make sure the yeast was really finished with the sugars; I’ll make more measurements later.

  • Fri 25 Nov 23:43 — 73.2 f ambient; bubbles 11.72 seconds
  • Sat 26 Nov 8:34 — 79.5 f ambient; bubbles 23.46 seconds
  • Sat 26 Nov 16:12 — 77.9 f ambient; bubbles 19.63 seconds
  • Sat 26 Nov 23:42 — 74.1 f ambient; bubbles 26.29 seconds
  • Sun 27 Nov — no discernible bubble activity all day

I am hoping I made a better estimate this time in my secondary sugars so this batch will not be quite so effervescent as the first batch.  We shall see.

Bottled:

Monday 28 November 21:41

  • 2 x 1 L
  • 18 x 16 oz
  • 10 x 22 oz

I had a hard time keeping any of the sediment from getting into the bottles.  Some of the bottles have visible sediment in them.  I guess this is from the hops and the fact I didn’t use bags.  There was a lot of sediment in the carboy (two inches?) and it seems unlikely it’s all yeast.

Final Gravity: 1.010

The final gravity sample tastes a bit thin.  We shall see how that comes together after the bubbles come to being.

ABV: 5.5125 %

End Notes:

JamesIsIn

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