I Break For Llamas - American Amber Ale

[Alastair70]

My kit brewing mate David joined me today. He's done over 30 different kits in recent years and wants to make the leap to All Grain. Made for a very enjoyable brew day.

Water
Ca 111, Mg 10, Na 58, SO4 135, Cl 98, HCO3 75

Fermentables (23L batch)
4.5kgPale Ale malt
450g Munich I
400g CaraMunich III
400g CaraAmber
50g Chocolate malt

Hops
10g Centennial 60min
7g Centennial 30min
7g Citra 30min
7g Centennial 15min
7g Citra 15min
1/2 Protoflac 15min
7g Centennial 5min
7g Citra 5min

Yeast
CML Five (I had Atlantic on hand too, but thought I'd stick to Five for the first iterations)

Slight undershoot, 23L in the fermenter at 1.052. Mash pH was low (4.85). This was my first brew with the Brewfather water calculator, I'm not sure about it. The Grainfather one has worked perfectly up til now. I'll give Brewfather on more try.

 

[NormanHurst]

When did you add the Llamas? And did you sterilise them first?

 

[Agentgonzo]

What acid additions did you do (and what is your normal)? The setup looks very familiar... I have the same hydrometer, grainfather and mostly-opaque measuring cylinder. I am thinking of getting a better one as it's too hard to read through at eye-level.

 

[Alastair70]

What acid additions did you do (and what is your normal)? The setup looks very familiar... I have the same hydrometer, grainfather and mostly-opaque measuring cylinder. I am thinking of getting a better one as it's too hard to read through at eye-level.

No acid additions. I used 80% tap and 20% RO as it’s an amber beer, and my source alkalinity is pulled down to the right sort of level. If I’m doing a pale beer, it’ll be 20% tap and 80% RO, and so on.
I’ve worked out one issue in the Brewfather calculator. I hadn’t selected auto for bicarbonate or CRS so they were missing from the initial additions. Still, my measured pH was way lower than predicted by the software which is concerning.

When did you add the Llamas? And did you sterilise them first?

Sterilise? How dare you! Llamas transcend infection.

 

[Alastair70]

Two Llamas is in the FV. I’ve added a hop stand, 30g each of Citra and Centennial, 15min at 75C. Slight overshoot today, 22L in the fermenter at 1.058, target was 1.054. The yeast is Fermoale AY4, GEB’s ‘own brand’ chico from AEB-group.