I got my brew on yesterday – early in the morning. I did a lot of prep beforehand including pre-measuring my malts and sugar, making a yeast starter, and setting up my new mash tun. It made getting started at 4AM that much easier.
The only real wild card was my propane situation. I had a couple of tanks with low levels in them. I didn’t know if I had enough for the water heating for the mash, sparging, and a 90 minute boil.
The first propane tank ran out before I was able to heat water for the mash. So it was all down to the second propane tank, which was a smaller one – about half the size of a normal tank.
I was able to get a 85 minute boil from the little guy and I think that was close enough. I had hop additions at 60 minutes and at flameout. Flameout came a few minutes earlier than usual.
I am very happy to report that the new mash tun works very well. I think stuck sparges are a thing of the past, for me at least.
Here are some photos from the Saison Brew Day:
The mighty yeast starter (2.5 liters worth).
The new mash tun with false bottom in place.
The little propane tank that didn’t let me down.
The wort boil of the Saison
Unrelated but cool – the Magnum hops are starting to take shape.
Mike
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome.
Glad to here you are running clean with no more stuck sparging. It will be interesting to see if you get some crushed malt from Beer and Wine, if you get stuck again with the FB. But I love the FB and cooler mashtun. Very classy. Stay classy San Diego.