Gene Simmons

The wort chiller thriller from hell

G is for Gesus Christ. Would you believe that this guy doesn't drink? Maybe he should start. In all seriousness though, I probably owe a great deal to Gene Simmons. If appearances are not deceiving, his influence is apparent in my favorite KISS album Music from "The Elder".

It was a commercial disaster for KISS, but this doesn't mean that it's not awesome.

Anyway... This is the 7th installment in my project to clone Whitchwoods Hobgoblin Ale, and I've decided to make a few more changes.

Firstly, as an experiment, I decided to seriously reduce the amount of 2-row as a way of training myself up to getting a good efficient sparge. Secondly I decided to try working out the grain bill in decimal pounds.

The grain bill:

9.35 Pounds 2-row
0.50 Pounds Crystal
0.05 Pounds Chocolate
0.15 Pounds Black

Hop wise, I'm sticking with the three oz Goldings, but I divided it into two additions. My brewing mentor has suggested that with this kind of malting, and hop strength, a mid addition is a waste of time as the mid just gets plowed under by the flavors that are already contributed.

As for yeast, Wyeast 1275. Depending on the availability it's either 1275, or 1028. I'm not quite ready to venture a comparison yet but I'm getting close.

THE MASH

Strike with 10 Litres @ 71° Celsius for 62° Celsius
Rest for 60 Minutes
Decoct 1/5th and add back for 68° Celsius
Rest for 30 Minutes

THE RESULTS

As I expected, there is a gap somewhere in my method as I had to pull a second decoction again. It wasn't nearly as crazy this time though. This actually made me uneasy.

Like a cruel joke I managed the same bone head screw up with the wort chiller. In the confusion of hose, I managed to hook it up wrong again. When I tried to re connect it I removed the wrong line and got a jet of cold water in my eye. Then the bottle washer came loose and shot water right into the towel that I use to cover the kettle lid. I had to replace the towel to prevent water from whiking into the beer. Then when I got the chiller hooked up properly and turned on the water, it leaked, all over the place.

I was about ready to go ballistic Rainman style, but then I decided to just relax, and have a Homebrew.

OG: 1.042

TG: 1.008

The colour actually turned out pretty close to that ruby red that I'm going for.