Galena Dave's Pale Lager (Batch 283)

I was going to brew Sunday. Then I didn't.

I actually had Monday off work, so on Sunday I thought I was going to brew Monday. 

Later on Sunday, I decided that I wouldn't brew the next day. 

I was on a walk Monday morning when I thought that it was silly to not brew on my day off.

And then I decided to brew. 

If I had followed through with the original plan, I would have done an over-night mash, so by waffling like I did, I totally engaged in the kind of delay I complain about when the SheppyBrew Beer Model brews with me.

Oh well.

I had the ingredients all ready for ...

Galena Dave's Pale Lager

So that is what I brewed. Sort of.

Last time I brewed Galena Dave's, I thought I 'd like to try the beer without the wild hops that come from by Brother-in-law's yard. This was my first time brewing it with only Galena hops.

It was 8:45 when I got started ... at least a couple hours after my usual start to a brew day. More like 3 or 4 hours after I generally like getting started.

To help save time I got out the propane burner, and heated up part of the strike water with fire. I mashed in by 9:05. 

I did my usual mash on the Foundry, so it was around 10:30 when I started draining the wort basket. 

To help speed up the process, I emptied a couple gallons of wort into a kettle and boiled on my propane burner, pouring it back into the Foundry once it was boiling.

After the boiling wort was in there, I took a gravity reading and noted the volume.

I was high on pre-boil gravity and low on volume, so I diluted with water, but instead of adding straight to the foundry, I boiled the extra water on the propane burner along with a little of the wort.

It was around 10:55 at this point and the wort was at 187.

By 11:10, the wort in the Foundry was boiling. My pre-boil gravity was right on the planned 1.047.

The boil went to plan. 

I was chilling by 12:15. Less than 15 minutes later, the wort was at 52 degrees so I racked to the fermentor.

The yeast was pitched by 12:45 ... 4 hours into the brew day. I was cleaned up in another half an hour.

And, now I'm waiting for the yeast to start working. The temperature of the wort is around 50 degrees.

I should be drinking this in 2 to 3 weeks.

I'm looking forward to it.

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