3.10.2013 scottish again.

Good early start. Was able to hit my mash temp at 156. 152 after a generous hour. Sparge went well until I got to almost the end and kept wondering why the color wasnt right.  Looks like I forgot my roasted barley.

Ran and grabbed it and put 2 big handfuls right on top in my mash tun. It did darken up considerably.  I wonder what it will do to the flavor.

Pulled the first 3 quarts after vorlauf and threw them in another pot to reduce.  I've been boiling the firsy runnings for about 20 mins already and they will go back in the last 10 mins. That should give me decent kettle color. Took me almost an hour to drain the mash tun.

I also skimmed my wort as it came to a boil. Even in a very full pot it doesnt look like im going to have boil over problems today. Good thing to know.

Got everything to a boil at 10:30. Scheduled for an hour boil but I may go a little longer to boil off a little more. I have to have enough room in the kettle for the wort chiller to fit without overflowing.

Decided to extend the boil 10 mins before the 30 min hop addition. Main kettle is under 6 gallons now and the first runnings are reduced by half in the little pot.

Cooled to 70 with the chiller. Pitched and cleaned up.  Still need to put away clean ed equipment. I can do that after the race.

Water

I've decided it's time to start experimenting a little bit more.  After some feedback from the wonderful staff at great fermentations, I'm planning on rebrewing my scottish ale tomorrow.  I've decided that I'm going to "build up" my own water instead of relying on "spring water" from the grocery store.

I've spent the last week listening to podcasts about water in the car while commuting as well as reading several different internet forums.  In the end, at least at this level, it's not that difficult.  Pick the water profile from the brewing software for the appropritate geographic region where the style originated.  Then using the software, measure out the various salts and water chemicals for 25 gallons of water.  Then use 1/5th of that by wieght for a 5 gallon batch.

Most of these ingredients are measured in the 1 - 5 gram range per batch.  By mixing up enough for 10 batches at once, it allows my rounding errors to be spread out and minimized.  I now have a little container of "Edinburgh" water from which I will measure out 14 grams for each 5 gallons of distilled water.

The only real changes to my brew day will be adding the water mix to my mash and checking the PH to make sure I'm in range.  If not, I'll add more mix and wait 15 mins before checking again.

Chloride and sulfate evidently can greatly influence the apparent balance of a beer, sulfate bringing out more hops and crispness and the chloride emphasising maltiness. It's not the raw amount, but the relative ratio between the two.

Also, the brewing water must have some calcium for yeast health.  So many little things that you pick up along the way.  I sure wish I had enjoyed chemistry a little more.  It seems like a good chemistry knowledge would take some edge off the mystery.

I'll brew this batch, and see if I can tell a difference.  If I like it better than the last batch, I'll brew it again and just use "spring" water and see if it regresses or stays similar.  Nothing like the experimentation.