Masa Harina Cream Ale

[Jon]

Ok, time to brew up a nice, light beer for the summer heat--which has already started here in Houston!

I'll be using 7 gallons of RO water, with 1.25 gallons of my tap water, treated with a tiny sliver of a campden tab.

1.25 gallons tap + 3 gallons RO in the mash, 4 gallons RO in the sparge.

The recipe:
6 lbs, 3 oz Pale Malt (oops, over poured)
2 lbs, 1 oz Masa Harina (to keep the proportion the same as it was before I overpoured the pale malt!)

90' recirc mash in the Grainfather with its new Graincoat to help insulate (and keep me from burning myself on the outside of it!) @ 149*
??' @ 163*, juuust to get it some extra attenuation
10' mashout @ 168*

90' boil

1/2 oz Sterling @ FWH
1 oz Liberty @ FO

Going to chill by running my cold tap water through my copper wort chiller in a bucket of ice water as a pre-chiller, then through the CFC that came with the grainfather. Once I've got the wort coming out cool, it'll go directly into the fermentor, on top of the yeast cake from my brown ale from 2 weeks ago (which was fermented with 2 packs of S-04).

I'll ferment it at 55*, hoping to coax a little crispness out of S-04, but however it comes out, I'm sure I'll be pleased. Even if there's a tinge of roasty character left over from the brown ale, I bet that'll make for an AWESOME beer.

Currently have my grains ground, my Masa Harina flour measured out, and am heating the strike water while drinking coffee.

Thorn just had back surgery on Thursday, and is having some weird complications (swelling around her eyes), so no alcohol for me until we know she doesn't need to go to the ER.

But coffee will do for today.

[bpgreen]

Sounds like it'll be a good brew.

I hope Thorn starts feeling better.

[Whamolagan]

Are you sick of the rain yet? Hope thorn gets well soon.

[Jon]

Sounds like it'll be a good brew.

I hope Thorn starts feeling better.

She's doing better--looks like the complications were just a side effect of the anti-nausea meds she was taking (which she was accidentally taking every 4 hours instead of every 8 hours) she stopped them and switched to a different pain med (one that doesn't make her nauseous) and the swelling looks to be going down.

It was pretty scary for a little while, though.

Back to the brew--I had to mostly close the ball valve on the pump outlet while recirculating, otherwise the mash would drain down the center overflow pipe instead of through the false top that rests on top of the mash...which is something that it took me a few brews with the Grainfather to realize was even an option.

It's still mashing--finished the 90' at 149~ish*, and am now doing 20' at 161~ish*, to be followed by a 10' mash-out at 168*, and then the sparge (4 gallons at 168*...given how slow the recirc is going, I may increase those times.

Going to end up a pretty long brewday overall, but I don't mind.

[Jon]

Are you sick of the rain yet? Hope thorn gets well soon.

It stopped today! Which, if it continues like it has been for this spring, it just means that it'll start again within the next couple of weeks with more flooding.

[Jon]

So, not unexpectedly, the masa harina made sparging waaaay slower. It also meant I had to mostly close the ball valve on the pump output during recirculating so the wort wouldn't just drain down the overflow pipe and not really recirculate through the grainbed.

Luckily, I had already been planning to do an extra long mash, so it should all be fine.

I've currently got the basket sitting above the grainfather, letting the sparge water drain sloooowly through the grainbed and into the boiler. I occasionally add more sparge water, and I'm very glad I did the mashout, as the sparge water is definitely cooling off before it can heat the grainbed up to 168*.

So, be sure to invest in some rice hulls if you're using Masa Harina! I have rice hulls, I just was lazy and didn't bother to use them. Whoops!

[Whamolagan]

so a slow sparge just helps you out being more lazy

[Jon]

so a slow sparge just helps you out being more lazy

Yup! Lets me put off doing stuff (kegging my brown ale, doing some dishes, etc, etc) 'til the boil, which means I get to catch up on posts on the Borg! And do things like walk the pup...plus, it's more time for the pre-chiller water to cool off in the kegerator!

Going to run my "cold" tap water through my old immersion chiller (still making use of it after all this time, Kenny!), then through the CFC that came with the grainfather. Going to keep the water and wort both running fairly slow so I can maximize the cooling power of the CFC.

But that's still a 90' boil away, and that clock doesn't start until the sparge finishes draining...which is apparently going to be a while, yet!

[The_Professor]

so a slow sparge just helps you out being more lazy

Yup! Lets me put off doing stuff (kegging my brown ale, doing some dishes, etc, etc) 'til the boil, which means I get to catch up on posts on the Borg! And do things like walk the pup...plus, it's more time for the pre-chiller water to cool off in the kegerator!.....

Hey, am I being lazy by waiting until my spicy chicken with brie is done before I start preparing to rack my second running IPA?

[Whamolagan]

Prof, you will never be considered lazy with the type of beers you brew. Nice try though

[Jon]

Kegged this one up on Sunday, put it on CO2 yesterday (after I got my tanks refilled) and today I fined it with Knox gelatin.

I plan to pour a pint or so tomorrow night after work--which won't be until 9:30, 10pm just to see how its coming along.

I'm hoping that between the S-04 and the gelatin, it'll already be starting to clear.

[Kealia]

Put on CO2 yesterday? what PSI to carb at to have it ready that quickly?

[Jon]

Put on CO2 yesterday? what PSI to carb at to have it ready that quickly?

30! I'll turn it down once the carb is most of the way to where I want it to be...a couple of days and it should be well on its way.

[bpgreen]

Put on CO2 yesterday? what PSI to carb at to have it ready that quickly?

30! I'll turn it down once the carb is most of the way to where I want it to be...a couple of days and it should be well on its way.

Somebody's kegerator was empty too long.

[Jon]

Put on CO2 yesterday? what PSI to carb at to have it ready that quickly?

30! I'll turn it down once the carb is most of the way to where I want it to be...a couple of days and it should be well on its way.

Somebody's kegerator was empty too long.

Ha! That's the truth.