Not only is it a brew day its National Homebrew day. Typically I’d brew one of the two recipes they give out for the big brew but I had grains and really wanted to get this brew underway so its really for Memorial Day weekend.

The night before I weighted out all my grains and milled while gathering my 7.3 gallons of water needed for this brew day. Since I use RO water this takes some time to gather the required amount. Added the salts to the water and closed up for the next morning. Before heading off to the grocery store at 6:15am I turned on my Anvil to 152 degrees F and set at 80%. After food shopping and putting away what I got came down to the Anvil and it was at 133 degrees. Cranked up to 100% and added in the bag to get ready for the mashing.

Once the water was at about 150 degrees F, I started to add in the grains. By the time I was done adding in the grains the Anvil was up to temp, 152 degrees F. Started timer and then the pump. 30 mins into the mash, I gave it a good stir about 2/3 of the way down. With about 8 mins left in the mash I cranked the Anvil up to 168 degrees F and 100% power and let it rest before pulling the basket of grains. Pulled basket, but not before putting my colorful clips in place, BTW if you ever had that ring fall in while pulling the grain basket you know why I use those colorful clips 8). Cranked the Anvil up to 100% and 212 degrees F to get a jump on getting to a boil. Once wort drained off and a good squeeze of the bag, pulled the grains and cleaned everything I could till this point. Once the wort it about 200 degrees F, pulled about 2 cups of hot break and waited for the boil. Took a pre boil gravity reading of 1.043. Slightly higher than my expected pre boil gravity of 1.041.

Hit boil and waited 30 minutes before putting in my first addition as I’m doing a 90 min boil with this brew. Added in the 2 oz of hops and let the boil continue 8). Tossed in the chiller and added in my Irish moss and yeast nutrient. Took a post boil sample and OG is 1.047. Chilled the wort down as fast as I could to about 68 degrees F and then transferred into my fermentor pitched two packs of 34/70 and that went right into my chest freezer set to 50 degrees F and added my Cold crash Guardian as well. Once settles in I’ll turn down to 48 till it starts to ferment for a few days than start to turn up the temperature a little every day. All cleaned up for today. Now off to some projects around the house.