Batch 13

A long, lovely brew day completed and the second batch done with the brewing system Grainfather and it’s still a joy to use it!

I tried to repair the efficiency from the last batch and change mashing time from 60 to 90 minutes and grain crush gap from 1,3 to 1,2mm but this actually made it all worse and resulted in an even lower efficiency. I’m guessing the lower crush size was the culprit and I might try 1,4mm with the next batch instead and see if that raises efficiency. The mash was a bit thick and did get stuck multiple times so I’m thinking the crush is a little bit too fine. I’ll lower the brewhouse efficiency either way for upcoming recipes so they mirror the actual values I get, there’s not point in using values I wish I had and like discussed before, it’s better to be consistent than efficient.

The beer is really nice but I had to store it for three weeks before the hops flavor had dialed down a bit, before that it was a little bit all over the place and now it’s more pleasant. The high ABV is also something that benefited from storing but it also means that the longer I’m storing the beer, the less hops aroma and flavor will be left so I better hurry and drink up before it all gets spoiled!