Vienna & Columbus SMaSH

It's all about malt

This brew marks the beginning of a malt experiment that I'm calling my 'Getting Smashed' series. I intend to make the same SMaSH beer seven times with seven different base malts to hopefully acquire a taste for what each base malt brings to the game. The seven malts I have lined up are...

• Pale (2-row)
• Pale Ale
• Pilsner
• Maris Otter
• Golden Promise
• Vienna
• Light Munich

Today I'll be starting with Vienna malt. I chose to use Columbus hops for this experiment for a couple of reasons. First because I'm not that familiar with them but am excited to learn about their 'dank' contribution. Second, they're a very efficient bittering hop at 15.6% alpha so it keeps the cost down and minimizes the amount of plant matter in a 60 minute boil.

Recipe Notes
Style: Pale Ale

Batch Volume: 5 gal.
Color: 6.2 SRM
Target Bitterness: 38 IBU
Target OG: 1.040

Grist
8 lb. Vienna Malt

0.5 oz. Columbus 15.6% (FWH)
1 tsp. Irish Most (15 min.)

0.5 oz. Columbus 15.6% (5 min.)

1.0 oz. Columbus 15.6% (30 min Hop Stand)

1.0 oz. Columbus 15.6% (Dry Hop 5 days)

Safale US-05

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 4/19/15
Mash Temp: 153F
Mash Time: 75 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 5.2 gal
Measured OG: 1.042
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%

Brewed outside today because it was one of those rare spring-summer days in DC that are warm and sunny but not boiling lava hot. Everything went swimmingly. After the boil reduced wort temp to 170 for a 30 minute hop stand at sub-isomerization temps. Cooled and collected 4.5 gal. of 1.048 wort. Diluted to 5.2 gal. of 1.042 but the gravity's still slightly higher than I was aiming for. Efficiency for this batch is 5 points higher than normal. Julie brewed last weekend and experienced the same thing but had >80% efficiency. Something magic in the spring air?

Update 4/24/15 - Measured SG of 1.009. Fermented only five days and already moving to secondary. Despite this being a malt experiment I added 1.0 oz of Columbus in a hop bag for some sweet aromas. Washed the yeast and saved two pint jars of slurry.

Collected slurry

20 min. settling time. No visible yeast-trub separation.

Before refridgeration

After 1 day of refrigeration

Update 4/29/15 - Sample tastes a little like melon and butter. Can't decide whether to keg this now or let it go another couple of days on dry hops. EDIT: Kegged today in a partial experiment to see what kegging a beer this young is like. After cruising some brewing forums it doesn't seem too extreme, especially with the 5 day dry hopping in secondary. Pressurized to 30 psi in my first attempt at speed carbonating. Too many experiments at one time? Probably. But there's so much I want to try out. Will let sit for 48 hours then reduce to serving pressure and see how that speeds things up.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.008
Attenuation: 81%
ABV: 4.5%
Calories: 137 per 12oz.
Carbonation: 2.5 volumes (After force carbonating)

Update 4/30/15 - Yesterday when force carbonating I set the pressure at 30 psi for that keg then disconnected it and set the rest of the manifold back to serving pressure. This was probably a bad idea because when I pulled a sample today it was not coming out 'vigorously' at all. When I hooked it back up at 30psi there was definite audible pressure equalizing. So now I'm keeping 30 psi on this keg for 48 hours and disconnecting the others. That's probably the right way to do it.

Update 5/16/15 - This brew acquired a bit of a diacetyl problem that went undetected while kegging. I'd never smelled or tasted diacetyl before but based on the descriptions I read this batch definitely has it. As an experiment in diacetyl reduction I pulled the keg out of the keezer and let it warm up to 70F. Then I top cropped my Maris Otter SMaSH during high krausen and pitched it into the keg. Stirred it around with my sanitized brew spoon. Excited to see if the krausening thing can help w/the diacetyl.

5/17/15 - Keg is at 78F. Sample has a lower diacetyl taste but may be harder to pick out when it's warm. I'll be leaving this for a few days to see what happens.

5/19/15 - Don't taste much diacetyl at all any more! Leaving for two more days just to be sure then chilling and carbing.

5/22/15 - After six days of krausen help and warm temperatures I can no longer detect what I believed to be diacetyl. Great news! Put it back in the keezer and started carbing. There's a bunch of crap at the bottom of the keg now. Will wait a few days for it to settle then hopefully just pour it off.