Journal of Brewing

A little ditty we’re constructing for phDiesel. “Cash Rules Everything Around Me” Ale. Since he’s an accountant I thought he’d appreciate it. I think it’s supposed to be a pale to medium colored ale. We picked up the ingredients from Northern Brewer.

The new trick with this brew is defintely going to be the oats. Since they are an adjunct that needs to be mashed, we’re going to be performing a “Partial Mash”. What that means at least to me is that we’re going to be doing the all-grain process, on a much smaller scale. With that said, let’s look at the line-up:

6 2/3 lbs light malt extract
2 lbs dry light malt extract
1 lb crystal malt (60L)
1 lb rolled oats
1 lb Marris Otter Malt

2 oz cascade hops (boiling)
1 oz hallertauer hops (aroma)
1 oz kent golden hops
(aroma)

2 teaspoons gypsum
1 package London ale yeast

Partial Mash Grains

So we’re looking at 60 Lovibond from the Crystal Malt; not terribly dark. The oats are going to be the real trick. So it turns out that you have to mash them inorder to bring forth their sweet creamy goodness. My book says to boil them but from everything I’ve seen that’s the surest way to extract harsh tannins. I’ve also read that they need to be mashed with an actual grain to truly render them. Since they are only an adjunct and have a high fat and protein content they can’t go on their own.

So I plan to use 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain. That gives me 3.75 quarts of water. I have a nice 4 gallon igloo cooler that I’m going to use for the rest. I figure if I get the water to about 165 and then dough in I will lose 10-12 degrees from the cooler and mixing which would put me in my target range. I’ll let it rest for 30 - 45 minutes. I have a nice colander from a pasta pot that i’ll use along with a big wire strainer that I’ll fit the colander in. That should filter out most of the crap from the wort. I’ll re-circulate once and then sparge with 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain. So that means 4.5 quarts for the sparge. I’ll have that at around 170 and I’ll do it a cup at a time. Should be lovely. I’m hoping to collect like 1.5 gallons of wort to which I will add the other malt extracts and hops as usual. If I figure out the calculations for what the initial wort will be, I’ll post them.

Fermentable Sugars

6 2/3 lb isn’t all that bad. I have to add that to what the wort will be already. I’ll make sure to add it at the end so it retains it’s color.

Hops

Not much going on here. 2oz Cascade for the boil. I think this beer is going to be more malty than anything. The Halletauer and Goldings are just for aroma. Bottle conditioning will do well for this beer. I’m looking at 6 IBU.

Yeast

London Ale Yeast. Used for high gravity ales or when high attenuation is required. Medium flocculation, 60 - 72, 75% attenuation. Just going to see what happens with this one. I’ll be using a stirrer and oxygenating the starter too. Gotta pack them hard this time if we want some serious performance.