Ancient Grains Cereal Lager Brew Session

Brew Session Info

5/22/2018
(Include any important notes from brew day until tasting)

Mash pH went a little low, so added 1.5g Baking Soda to bring final pH to 5.4. Checked for conversion after 45 minutes and there were still starches. I suspect that the cereal I'm using didn't gelatinize the starches prior, so no amount of time will suffice. I mashed for an entire hour and left it at that. First runnings were 1.065. I was able to get a lot more wort despite not using 1.5 gallons of sparge; in the end, I got 11 gallons of runoff with 11.5 gallons of water, so that is pretty remarkable. Using the calculator from the recipe page, I'm not so sure that the cereal added any points. It really smells like cereal in the garage with this boiling, so that character being carried over to the beer will, hopefully, be a good thing. Pitched 325mL yeast slurry from prior brew. The jaded immersion chiller was everything that I hoped for and more. Utilizing my old immersion chiller in an ice bath in the chill chain, I was able to chill 5 gallons from boiling to 70F in about 4 minutes. 5/26/18 - fermentation still going with a bubble every couple seconds. Krausen never exceeded 1.5cm. 5/30/18 - slow trickle of bubbles still 6/7/18 - this one is entirely done. I'm going to wait a week and bottle. 6/11/18 - pulled 1.020. Sample was malty and a bit roasty with some sweetness on the back end. The saison finished 5 points higher than expected as well, so maybe 1.020 is terminal, but I'll give this another couple weeks before bottling. 6/26/18 - this is still just barely bubbling. I don't know what to make of it. There are very fine bubbles being produced, similar to what I've seen when adding fruit juice into secondary. I will rack it, wait another week, and then bottle. 6/28/18 - measured 1.013 on the pycnometer. This has got to be done now. I threw in some Huell Melon dry hop. I'll give this a couple days to soak and then bottle it up.

Water Infusion

Brew Session Specific

17.5 lb kg
68 °FC
154 °FC
1.5 qt/lbl/kg
60 min.
9 gals liters

Equipment Profile

0.15 gals/lb liters/kg
0.01 gals/lb liters/kg
°FC
0.25 gals liters
0.5 gals liters
1 gals/hour liters/hour
0.2 gals liters

Calculated Totals

13.50 gals liters
7.96 gals liters
6.81 gals liters
165.05 °FC
165.05 °FC
4.18 gals liters
6.69 gals liters
10.70 gals liters

Mash / Boil

Mash

5.25 PH
154 °FC
154 °FC
60 minutes

Boil

1.052 1.053 (estimated)
11 gallons liters 10.70 (gallonsliters estimated)
60 minutes minutes (60 minutes estimated)
10 gals liters

Gravity Estimates

Based on boiling 11.00 gallonsliters at 1.052 for 60 minutes, this will decrease your wort by 1.00 gallonsliters, bringing your after boil OG to 1.057.

You wanted an OG of 1.059. It looks like it will be under.

Fermentation

5 gallons liters 10.00 (gallonsliters estimated)
1.059 (1.059 predicted)
1.013 (1.015 predicted)

Conditioning

7/2/2018
10
Dextrose
4.5 oz g

Tasting Notes (1)

CheeseNips

Tasted on 7/17/2018 by CheeseNips

Notes:

Dark orange, close to brown in color and then pours 2 fingers of foam that don't dissipates at all. Aroma is bready and then sweet melon. Flavor is bread that is quickly overtaken by a melony strawberry flavor, finishing with a bit of a boozy and strawberry breath. The body is quite thick with little sharpness from nucleation despite a higher priming. Despite using a cal common yeast, there's no sharpness or crispness to it. Of note, the foam is very pillowy, which may be a positive. So, this is an interesting beer and, were I to order it in a bar, I'd be intrigued by it but wouldn't order another. I'll say 4 stars for the novelty of this as the Huell Melon hops give it a truly unique flavor.

Comments

  • CheeseNips

    Scored a 24.5 at the Oregon State Fair. Supposedly the green bottles led to a light struck quality and there was a banana flavor due, possibly, to distressed yeast or infection.

    7 years ago

Recipe Facts

Ancient Grains Cereal Lager
California Common
  • 10.00 Gallons Liters Batch Size
  • 11.00 Gallons Liters Boil Size
  • 60  min Boil Time
  • 1.059 OG
  • 1.015 FG
  • 27.0 IBU (tinseth) Bitterness
  • 0.46 BG:GU
  • 10.0° SRM Color
  • 94% Efficiency
  • 5.7% ABV Alcohol
  • 197 per 12oz Calories
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