After about a year and a half hiatus, we return on January 1st, 2024 to brew a Pliny the Elder clone. In homage to the end of the Roman philosopher during the cataclysmic and best-known eruption of the volcano, and to start the year resonating with powerful transformative energy, I dub thee Vesuvius. The electric system wasn’t back in service yet, so this was an outdoor brewing session. It was ~40°F and overcast outside.
This beer was roughly patterned after the following recipe:
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP090
Yeast Starter: 2L starter (two 1L steps) from very old WLP090
Batch Size (Gallons): ~5
Original Gravity: 1.065 (including sucrose)
Final Gravity: 1.0??
IBU: 100+
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color:
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp):
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp):
11# 2-row
12oz Carapils
12oz C40
1# Sucrose (added to the end of the boil)
2 tsp Gypsum added with FWH
1.25oz Nugget (11.7%) – FWH
0.5oz Nugget (11.7%) – 45 min
0.5oz Simcoe (11.9%) – 30 min
whirlfloc – 10 min
1# dextrose – 10 min
2oz Cascade (5.7%) – 0 min, whirlpooled between 160°-180°
1.5oz Simcoe (11.9%) – 0 min, whirlpooled between 160°-180°
1.5oz Nugget (11.7%) – 0 min, whirlpooled between 160°-180°
Mashed in 4g of strike water at ~175°, which landed us perfectly at 149°, mashed for 60 minutes
boiled for 60 minutes, chilled and whirlpooled at about 160° for about 15 minutes, then chilled in the counterflow and collected ~5 gallons, with lots of schmutz
pitched wort, transferred to basement, and the carboy is sitting around 65°
1/14/24 – need to dry hop 2 weeks after brewing: 2oz each of simcoe, nugget, cascade
1/27/24 – the basement was very cold, and the fermentation seemed to stall when the wort fell below ~62°. The wort got as cold as 60°. I brought the carboy upstairs, roused the yeast by swirling the carboy, and bought a carboy heater. I brought it up to 64, then 66, then 68°. It seems to have stalled at around 1.016, bringing us to above 6.7%.
I transferred to secondary on top of 2oz each of Cascade, Nugget, and Simcoe.
Yeast cake was split between 2 carboys for batch 108.