We've made it through January and the Groundhog (or Marmot ... whatever your rodent of choice) has seen its shadow.
My plan was to brew on Sunday, but my birthday is early February and my kids decided they would like to celebrate it Sunday.
So ... I postponed the brew day.
The recipe I had picked to brew called for an overnight mash and a shorter-than-usual boil, which meant it wouldn't take quite as long a brew day.
So, on Monday I decided I would brew on Tuesday before work (which was actually my birth day).
I work from home, so I don't have a long commute to worry about.
Monday I got a starter going from harvested Belgian Ale Yeast, and then got my water ready to go.
Right before I went to bed, I started my mash and even recirculated for maybe 15 minutes. Then, I turned off the pump and went to bed.
I was up a little before 6am, turning on the pump to get the grain temperature homogenized. One thing I sort of forgot was that my wife uses her hair drier on the same circuit as I use for the Foundry.
Sometimes, we blow a circuit if the Foundry is at full power when she dries her hair.
Luckily I did remember before this happened, and I turned down the power level on the Foundry until her hair was done.
This did cause a little delay to my brew day.
Anyway, I was draining the grain basket by 7am, and wasn't really boiling until a little before 8am.
My pre-boil gravity was pretty close, and the volume was actually a little high.
The boil was pretty simple, just having one hop addition and whirlfloc.
Of course, the short boil was done right about 8:30, which is unofficially when I start work.
So, racking, chilling, and yeast pitching was done while multitasking at my computer.
But, I got all the brewing things done before 9am, which made for basically a 3 hour brew day. Not quite Short and Shoddy, but pretty close for a 120 volt electric brewing system.
One thing I decided to do is use my pressure fermenter to purge a keg, like I did with 2024 McShepardSons Irish Ale (Batch 352) and Chicken.
It didn't really work as well as I was expecting for McShepardSons, but I thought I'd try again.
The yeast was rocking fairly quickly, going pretty strong before the end of the day.
When I checked the next day, my fermenter was rock-hard and none of the liquid had been pushed out.
Weirdly, the outlet hose was not engaged, and so none of the pressure had been released. The fermenter includes a release valve, so at least there was not really a danger of explosion.
But, I had to release the pressure. When I connected the liquid outlet hose properly, the keg emptied very quickly, but with the pressure release, the krausen climbed toward the top.
I had to alternate between the hose and a spunding valve to slowly get the pressure completely released.
Once I got everything stabilized, fermentation seemed to progress as planned. I just had the beginning of the fermentation unintentionally under pressure.
Theoretically, that will reduce the Belgian esters in the final beer, but for the most part I like those to be fairly subtle anyway.
I think it will turn out just fine.
Stay tuned on this blog and the Mardi Blonde Brewing Notes, and you'll probably be able to read what I think about the beer.
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