Back to the Grind

Well I finally bought a grain mill. Here goes!

Brewer:	Lunatech Brewing		Email:	dburrill@cogeco.ca
Beer:	Back to the Grind		Style:	German Lager
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	16.5 liters
Color:	7 HCU (~5 SRM)		Bitterness:	31 IBU
OG:	1.063		FG:	1.018
Alcohol:	5.8% v/v (4.5% w/w)
Water:	Water was charcoal filtered reverse osmosis deionized, as pure water as you can get.
Grain:	5 lb. German Lager
Steep:	Steeping: 1 hour @ 35°C, 1 hour @ 50°C, 20 minutes each @ 60, 65, 70°C, then 15 mins @ 77°C. Sparged with a further 5L of water @ 77°C.
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.103	10 liters
	3 lb. Light dry malt extract 12 oz. Corn sugar
Hops:	1 oz. Cascade (5.9% AA, 60 min.) 0.5 oz. Northern Brewer (8.3% AA, 60 min.) .5 oz. Cascade (5.9% AA, 30 min.) .5 oz. Cascade (aroma)
Yeast:	Pitched 8 grams of Cooper's Pure Brewer's Yeast directly into wort.
Log:	Original gravity measured at 1.060. I had to introduce a steeping efficiency value of 58% in order for the calculated OG to match the measured value. Who would have guessed I was actually that efficient? Certainly not my wife!
Carbonation:	133 grams of dextrose used as priming sugar at bottling. This works out to 8 g/L in finished product so should make a nice fizzy brew. Also accounted-for in alcohol content calcs.
Tasting:	Now THAT'S a BEER! Next time I'd likely increase the final volume to 19-20L, just because this one's pretty strong and a bit too chewy for some of my friends' taste, but I like it as-is. May add a touch of Irish Moss next time around as well.

Recipe posted 02/10/10.