King Fergus Wee Heavy (Batch 373)

I brewed a couple weekends ago ... the last Sunday of March.

I've been brewing quite a bit this year so far, but the last time before this one was Kemosabe Quad (Batch 372) at the beginning of the month.

I actually got ingredients for this beer the same time I got the ones for the Kemosabe Quad brew day.

So, the fact that I've had these grains for awhile and a couple days before, I killed the keg of Merida Scottish Ale, I thought I should get a brew day in.

If you follow along with this blog, you probably read Roll-a-Style 19: 17C. Wee Heavy and knew what was coming ...

King Fergus Wee Heavy

Like with Kemosabe Quad, King Fergus is a big beer and the amount of grains in the recipe is more than the Anvil Foundry is able to handle well.

So, like with Kemosabe Quad (Batch 372), I used a Reiterated Mash ... two times in two batches without ever having done one ever before.

I got up at about 5:30 on the brew day. 

I had not done any prep the night before, so I had to get everything set up. 

I was mashed-in at about 140 degrees a little before 6am, and was up to the 156 mash by 6:10. 

I remembered the brewing salts 30 or 40 minutes later. I decided that would just add them in at the 2nd mash.

The 2nd mash started around 7:35.

When I was about to head off to church at 8:00, I looked and saw that the mash had stuck. I turned off the recirculation pump while I was away and let the rest of the conversion occur. 

I came back and pulled the basket to drain by 9:40.

About 15 minutes later, I realized that I had not prepared a starter for harvested yeast. I did this, chilling with ice cubes and got the vitality starter going.

I actually had tons of yeast harvested from Merida Scottish Ale, so I might not have needed it, but ... just in case ...

The pre-boil gravity was a bit high (1.067 vs 1.065), but I decided not to dillute.

The boil timer was going at 10:31 am.

The boil went fine. I remembered both hop additions.

I started chilling at about 11:31 and was down below 60 degrees before 11:45.

I was racked and pitched by 11:55 and everything was in place in the basement by 12:15.

The fermentation took off strong before bedtime.

The fermentation was basically done in four or five days. As you read this, I'm planning on kegging this coming weekend.

I do plan on waiting a week before even trying the beer, but we'll see how much will power I have.

I'm looking forward to drinking this beer.

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