It's a Blonde!

No photos today; just data from last night's brew.
I decided to make a Blonde Ale in the hopes that the locals would find it palletable and not too dramatically different as opposed to their Bud Light. One little step at a time...

Ingredients:
10 lb 2 row
1/2 lb CaraHell
1 oz Williamette @ 60 minutes

I went a little heavy on the hops just because I wanted to. Actually, I was drinking a beer and talking to my neighbor Pete and I forgot to reduce them to 0.8 oz. Oh well, if you can get them, use them! The global hop shortage is real folks; there are many on-line brewshops that I used to purchase them from that are out. Zip. Zero. And what used to cost $1 is now going for $4 and projected to increase. I hope that my supply will get me through the next 2 years! And if you think that it won't affect you because you are not a brewer, think again. It's going to cost all of us. Read about the shortage here.

Back on the porch, I thought that I would make several water measurements in order to build a database that will help me to estimate my volumes and thus my final gravities more closely. Here's what I used:
10.5 lbs grain @ 2.1 target lbs mash water/lb grain = 22.05 total lbs water, or 2.69 gal of mash water required.
Assuming .084 lbs of water retention per lb of grain, I calculated my total mash volume to be 3.57 gallons, and this is what I tried to hold in the mash tun. I mashed out at about 154 degF.

For my total water volume, I targeted a final kettle volume of 5.5 gal. I assumed a 17% evaporation rate for a loss of 1.13 gal. My kettle start volume thus had to be 6.63 gal. I assumed that each lb of grain would absorb 0.115 gal of water, so I added another 1.21 gal. I assumed 5% system losses, for another .28 gal. Total water for the brew was thus calculated to be 6.63+1.21+.28=8.12 gal (it's easier to put all of this on a spreadsheet that does the calcs for you, which I did).

I measured the preboil gravity at 1.044 @ 60 degF. That's respectable. I measured my actual evaporation at 1.3 gal. Pretty close to my assumption; it looks like I may actually be losing closer to 20%. I'll keep tracking that. My final gravity came in at 1.051 at 60 degF, which is a little heavier than I had figured. Oh well, more alcohol for the Cajun Coors Light crowd that I am trying to convert.

This morning the airlock was bubbling; she's alive! Stay tuned for details on primary fermentation.

Today I'm travelling to India on the USS Bridgeport.

Until tonight, cheer!