Beer making day, finally

It has been a busy couple of months with the move of the bike shop, so I have not had the chance to make any beer since September.  In fact, except for some chocolate stout, we have run out of beer for the first time in 4 years.  Since Monday and Tuesday were our first multi-days off since the middle of November, I dedicated Monday to making two batches of IPA.

For the most part it went very smoothly.  I did have to chase down a Fed Ex driver who had driven over the top of my wort cooler.  That caused a little excitement during the second batch.

Checking the mash temp

Where it all happens

Chasing the FedEx Van

Beer #	52
Date	Jan 12, 2014
Description	Just a good solid IPA with the Magnum hops doing the bittering work and some "citrus" hops for the aroma.
Yeast	WLP #001 CA Ale Yeast
Grain Bill	Quantity	Grain
	28 lbs	2-row pale malt		12.7 kg
	2 lbs	Caramel Malt (40L)
	1 lbs	Carapils
Hop Schedule	Quantity	Hop		Schedule
	2 oz	Magnum		Mashout
	2 oz	Magnum		1h
	1 oz	Cascade		15m
	2 oz	Crystal		15m
	2 oz	Citra		5m
	2 oz	Citra		Dry hop
Alcohol %	OG	FG	%
	1.064
Notes	Everything went pretty smoothly. I had the mash at exactly 154 degrees, but I may not have had my water temp up high enough during the lautering.

Beer #	53
Date	Jan 12, 2013
Description	Racer 5 Clone with some extra hops here and there
Yeast	WLP #001 CA Ale Yeast
Grain Bill	Quantity	Grain
	26 lbs	2 row
	4 lbs	American Wheat
	2 lbs	Caramel Malt (20l)
	1 lbs	Carapils
Alcohol	OG	FG	%
	1.060
Hop Schedule	Quantity	Hop		Schedule
	1 oz	Columbus		1h
	2 oz	Columbus		20m
	2 oz	Cascade		20m
	1 oz	Columbus		10m
	2 oz	Cascade		10m
	2 oz	Amarillo		Dry Hop
	2 oz	Columbus		Dry Hop
	2 oz	Centennial		Dry Hop
Notes	I haven’t made this one in a long time.  I was a little low on the mash temperature, but that was the least of my problems.  Just before mashout, the Fed Ex driver drove over the top of my wort cooler.  I only noticed it when I walked out to check some temperatures and I saw it smashed in the driveway.  I ran down the street and chased her for about 4 blocks before catching up with her.  Luckily she was lost.  I confronted her and she said that I should not be leaving it in the road and that she was concentrating on street numbers and not what was in the road.  Anyway, she was not to sorry about the situation.  We called Fed Ex and lodged a complaint.  Anyway, when I got back after the chase, the sparge water was way too hot, I had to add some cold water to cool it down.  The mash was also at the end of its time, so I had to rush.  I think it is okay.  I was able to straighten out the wort cooler, but it has some extra leaks and some of the tubing is on the verge of cracking.