Giants Fever

I mixed up 10 pounds of Pilsner malt, 3/4 pound of 60 ºL crystal, and 1/4 pound of 350 ºL chocolate and mashed at 150 ºF with 12 quarts of liquor. I used 1/2 ounce of Belgian Admiral whole hops (14.7 % α-acids) for bittering (60 mins) and 1/2 ounce New Zealand Hallertaur (7.4 % α-acids) for flavor (20 mins). A 70-minute boil yielded 5 delicious-looking gallons of wort. The refractometer said 11-12 ºP which I'm calling 1.046 OG. I pitched two packages (@ 7 grams) of Cooper's dry yeast in the carboy, one at the bottom and one on the top. I think this dark amber brew will be worthy of the name "Giants Fever." I'm looking for less hop bitterness and more of a malt character. Speaking of the Giants, they are 4-0, the only undefeated team in baseball!

My "hillbilly malt mill" made its debut with this mash. I used two small C-clamps to attach the mill to a piece of heavy counter-top material which I then clamped to my brew table with a monster-size C-clamp. With an old milk crate--the heavy-duty kind--and two pieces of scrap lumber I could mount a square plastic pail directly under the mill's rollers. I removed the hand crank and powered the shaft with my electric drill. It worked great and I turned malt into grist lickety-split. That sure saved time and effort!

Even though it is a bit cool in the closet (62 ºF), I expect the beer to ferment vigorously and I plan to rack it right away to a secondary fermenter. I'll keep you posted.

Go Giants!

a.d. IV Id. Apr.