Helles Brewday

[Owenbräu]

I made some modifications to the helles recipe per the previous thread. I got it brewed up, so I thought I'd share the day. Here is the recipe I went with:

[Owenbräu]

More recipe (ignore the middle pic):

[Owenbräu]

Last recipe:

[Owenbräu]

I've been malt conditioning the last few batches. I have my crush set fairly coarse, as I recirculate during the entire mash and hate a stuck sparge. The conditioning really keeps the husks in tact. Here is the mill, the husks after milling and the husks after sparging.

[Owenbräu]

I'm a three vessel system. Getting everything ready to monitor and record the brew day. I'm doughed in and got the pH set.

[Bryan R]

I don't know this is going to get you where you want to be. I think you missed a lot of the finer points.
Crush looks great though!

[Owenbräu]

2 hours later and the mash is running clear. Time to first wort.

[Owenbräu]

Three hopping addition and 90 minutes later, time to drop the pH. Overshot it a touch, but it's still between 5.1-5.2

[Owenbräu]

Put the lid on with the immersion chiller, started the whirlpool and turned on the water. I'm below isomerization temps in 4 minutes, below DMS formation in 7 minutes. Once I'm at 60F (didn't have any ice today to go all the way down) I turn it off an wait about 90 minutes for everything to settle.

I pitch the yeast into the carboy and begin transferring. I've got clear running wort for the carboy and even put some in my yeast container to do the FFT.

[Owenbräu]

I ended up pitching at 55F, and setting the temperature to 48F. Can't forget the oxygen, usually 2 l/min for 90-100 seconds. I like the long stainless wand because it lets me create a whirlpool in the carboy while the oxygen is flowing.

I'll go back through and confirm my gravities and pH using the samples I kept back. Shows the color development over the brew day nicely too. The last pic is a past rauchbier, but this is how I will spunden, usually transferred when I'm within 1.5-2 plato of EVG. I use the Narzis warm conditioning profile, which lets me ensure terminal gravity is reached and diacetyl is removed. Then on to lager at 32F for a few weeks. One day I will attempt cold conditioning, but right now I am settling for the reliability and consistency of the warm profile.