With several threads I've been reading lately, there were proponents of some mash additives with opinions on which one would work better, but there was little in the way of side-by-side comparisons. So I planned out this experiment to mash 3 batches back-to-back, varying just the mash/sparge water treatment. I had a rare overlap of a completely free day, along with the family being out of town, so a perfect opportunity. 13.5 tiring hours later, I had 3 batches of beer, but a couple process problems that will skew my desired pure comparison. I'll still post the results when I get them, but I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts on how these process hiccups might affect my results. This isn't a LODO experiment per se, but I am stealing bits of that process (as much as I'm willing to do).
The recipe was a simple Pale Ale, hoping for a "cake and eat it too" result that I could evaluate effects on both malt and hop flavors. Below is my recipe, then the 3 variations I did (plus their unplanned hiccups). My end metrics are planned to be taste & aroma feedback, both from me (most important customer) and some neighbors that are "regulars" of mine.
4.25 gallons into fermentor
OG 1.060
IBU 36
91% Brewer's 2-row
9% Victory
0.21 oz Magnum @ 60 min
0.8 oz Cascade @ 20 min
0.4 oz Amarillo @ 20 min
0.8 oz Cascade @ 7 min
0.8 oz Cascade dry hops
White Labs WLP001 California Ale (1 whole yeast pack per 4.25 gallon batch, was lucky enough to get 3 vials all from the same lot#/day)
Mash @ 152F for 60 min, 168F for 10 min
Water treated with brewing salts to reach below target profile, K-meta tablet, and lactic acid added to target 5.4 pH
Mashed in mash tun with false bottom, continually recirculating through RIMS with return wort going through Blichmann AutoSparge with hose laying on top/just under liquid level in mash
Then transferred to separate Boil Kettle to boil on mild rolling boil for 60 mins, followed by cooling through CFC before going into fermentor with 1 min oxygen wand treatment
Fermenting at 66F
1. Batch 1 (YOS water)- to the mash and sparge water (3.8 gallons of each) I added 7.5 g of Fleischmann's dry bread yeast + 7.5 g of Dextrose bottling sugar (7.5g of each added to both mash & sparge water). This one had the unplanned accident of too fast of a fly sparge (like 2-3 minutes), and OG hit 1.057 instead of 1.060. I would normally consider this OG difference not that big of a deal, but it will be a variable not present in the other batches.
2. Batch 2 (Vitamin C)- to the mash water I added 2.6 g of Ascorbic Acid powder. This one had a problem where I disrupted the false bottom accidentally and got some grain particles flowing through and a few stray bits making it into the mash. It was a small amount of particles that normally I wouldn't be bothered by, but the Blichmann Button Louver false bottom has been amazing at providing clear wort in the Boil Kettle so far, so this is a slight difference. Fly sparge lasted 20-30 minutes. Hit 1.061 OG.
3. Batch 3 (Baseline)- nothing else added. This one had no process anomalies, fly sparge lasted 20-30 minutes and hit 1.061 OG.
The recipe was a simple Pale Ale, hoping for a "cake and eat it too" result that I could evaluate effects on both malt and hop flavors. Below is my recipe, then the 3 variations I did (plus their unplanned hiccups). My end metrics are planned to be taste & aroma feedback, both from me (most important customer) and some neighbors that are "regulars" of mine.
4.25 gallons into fermentor
OG 1.060
IBU 36
91% Brewer's 2-row
9% Victory
0.21 oz Magnum @ 60 min
0.8 oz Cascade @ 20 min
0.4 oz Amarillo @ 20 min
0.8 oz Cascade @ 7 min
0.8 oz Cascade dry hops
White Labs WLP001 California Ale (1 whole yeast pack per 4.25 gallon batch, was lucky enough to get 3 vials all from the same lot#/day)
Mash @ 152F for 60 min, 168F for 10 min
Water treated with brewing salts to reach below target profile, K-meta tablet, and lactic acid added to target 5.4 pH
Mashed in mash tun with false bottom, continually recirculating through RIMS with return wort going through Blichmann AutoSparge with hose laying on top/just under liquid level in mash
Then transferred to separate Boil Kettle to boil on mild rolling boil for 60 mins, followed by cooling through CFC before going into fermentor with 1 min oxygen wand treatment
Fermenting at 66F
1. Batch 1 (YOS water)- to the mash and sparge water (3.8 gallons of each) I added 7.5 g of Fleischmann's dry bread yeast + 7.5 g of Dextrose bottling sugar (7.5g of each added to both mash & sparge water). This one had the unplanned accident of too fast of a fly sparge (like 2-3 minutes), and OG hit 1.057 instead of 1.060. I would normally consider this OG difference not that big of a deal, but it will be a variable not present in the other batches.
2. Batch 2 (Vitamin C)- to the mash water I added 2.6 g of Ascorbic Acid powder. This one had a problem where I disrupted the false bottom accidentally and got some grain particles flowing through and a few stray bits making it into the mash. It was a small amount of particles that normally I wouldn't be bothered by, but the Blichmann Button Louver false bottom has been amazing at providing clear wort in the Boil Kettle so far, so this is a slight difference. Fly sparge lasted 20-30 minutes. Hit 1.061 OG.
3. Batch 3 (Baseline)- nothing else added. This one had no process anomalies, fly sparge lasted 20-30 minutes and hit 1.061 OG.