This is a really low alcohol session beer. I thought it might be a nice break from all the imperial stouts and holiday beers. Didn’t take any pics so enjoy the swallowtail caterpillar.

 

First 5 gallon batch I’ve done in awhile. I was a little low on Marris Otter malt, really low on yeast, and really really low on storage space so I did the 5 gallon batch. I’m sure I’ll regret it. Still haven’t gotten the brew cart completely constructed so it is a little difficult brewing with the pump. The strike went ok and I used the same HERMS setup as last batch to maintain mash temp and to raise to mash out. The pump did a lot better during the spagre being on the same level with the mash tun. I hit the target pre-boil gravity at 6.75 gallons.

 

I seemed to have a lot of boiloff. Only got 3.75 gallons in the fermenter. The gravity was really high so I added in filtered, but not boiled, water and hit the target OG at 5.5 gallons. Right on target but the boiloff rate is ridiculous. Hope the non-sterile water will be ok.

 

Added in one month old Propagator pack of Wyeast 0056 and another one from October. It hardly had any swelling in the smack pack. This beer is supposed to be a little under attenuated so I hope the yeast count will be ok. It is also fermenting at 65F to help with the low attenuation.