Brewing in Progress

Brewing complete.

Friday I'm heading down to Harrisburg for Troegs and Appalachian Brewery Comp.

Malt bill:

3 lbs 2-row pale
1 lb caramalt 20L
3 lbs crystal malt 40L

Single step mash at 153F for one hour

Sparge water at 168F for 35 minutes, 11 quarts into the brewpot

Hops:

Nugget 2 oz pellet (1 hour)
Amarillo 2 oz pellet (30 minutes, 8 minutes, 1 minute)
Cascade 1 oz (dry hop)

Yeast:

Safbrew T-58
(starter = 1 pint water, 3/4 cup DME)

O.G. 1.04

Mixed the boiled wort with 1 gallon water (boiled and cooled)

Notes:

The hops really sucked up a significant amount of wort. When I poured into the primary through a new funnel and strainer it clogged completely. The upside is that the initial beer is free of sediment. The downside is that the volume was decreased. I was very surprised by the original gravity. Maybe the mash was inefficient or I diluted with too much water, or didn't add enough post boil wort (at least the soupier stuff) to the primary fermenter. No biggie.

Now for some annotated pictures.

Here's the starter which I made yesterday. Godspeed ye noble yeast.



Here's the sparge.



The wort is boiling.



The wort boiling just after adding the hops. The hops form a heat barrier at the top of the kettle.



What the spent grains look like after the mash.