So its been a while since I have brewed and man am I itching. Got the kitchen floor down so that is complete, and now time to brew up an Oktoberfest. Well sorta, I started to look at the ingredients and realized I was short on a few things so I decided to mix it up a bit and try and adapt to what I have on hand. Created a new recipe based off my Oktoberfest and let see how it comes it.

The night before I gathered the grains and milled them as I was collecting the water. I wasn’t able to collect it all before bed but got about 5.5 gallons worth and added in my salt, which was 4 grams of Calcium Chloride.

The next morning before heading off to the grocery store I started the Anvil at 152f(66.6C) and let the water heat up while I go to the store. When I got back was able to dough right in, temperature was at 149F(65C) and let it heat up while adding the grains to the 152F(66.6C). At 30 minutes into the mash I stopped the pump and gave the grain bed a good stir, not all the way down but pretty close. Started the pump back up and let the mash finish out.

With about 10 minutes to the end of the mash I turned the Anvil up to 168F(75.5C) 100% to mash out. After about 10 minutes sitting at the 168F i pulled the grain basket and allowed the wort to drain out. After it stopped draining I tilted the basket and let it continue to drain out, with a bag squeeze near the end. Collected 6.5 gallons of wort at 1.041 SG. Cleaned up some equipment no longer needed while awaiting the boil. When the temperature got above 200F(93C) I pulled my 2 cups of hot break and awaited the boil.

Once the boil started I added in the 1oz of Hallertau Mittlefruh. 15 minutes left in the boil I ended up adding in the wort chiller as when it got to 10 minutes had a few things to do so figured Id break it up a bit. Pulled a gravity sample of 1.044 SG, nailed what was expected with more wort then expected. After the boil, I quickly chilled it down and transferred into my fermentor while pumping air into the brew. Pitched two packs of 34/70 and also added in my Tilt hydrometer so I have a better understanding on when to kick up fermentation temperature. Placed in the fermentation chamber at 72F(22C) and set to 56F(13C). It will cool down fast.