I brewed this batch yesterday, it was fun, and had only a few minor hiccups/frustrations.
Issues/frustrations
Water salts - When I did my water calculations I didn't realize that my pack of brewing salts did not have magnesium chloride, and I realized this after adding gypsum, calcium chloride, and epsom salt. I considered dumping the 8 gallons of partially salted distilled and going with tap + campden, but I instead tried to recalculate my salts without using magnesium chloride, taking what I already added to the water into consideration. I came out a little high in calcium and a bit low in magnesium, but I was able to line up sodium, sulfate, and chloride additions. Take away, get magnesium chloride.
Magnet dry-hopping - The muslin bag I used for dry hopping was a nightmare once added 6 oz of hops. It was very baggy and was hanging way too low, into beer territory. I ended up increasing the amount of cloth used for the knot and this helped. I was able to successfully get the hops staged for the dry hop. The process was annoying and I need to figure out a better way. Take away, find a new type of bag for dry hopping with magnets.
Temperature control - Last night I was trying to figure out how to get the keg down to 68F, as it was sitting in the mid 70's. I ended up getting it down to 68F using a bucket of water and then I put the keg in my closet which sits at 64F. I woke up to no activity in the keg which surprised me, and it was sitting at 64F. I quickly got the keg back up to 68F and was thinking if something was wrong and if I should re-pitch. The odd part was, when I was standing near the keg, I could smell that good hoppy fermentation CO2 but I was getting no bubbles in the blow-off. Out of curiosity, I popped the keg lid to check on it, and to take the temp of the actual liquid (which turned out to match outside keg temp), I saw a nice krausen head on it, which was good to see. I then noticed that the flare fitting on the ball-lock QD was loose, I tightened it up, and I had bubbles in the blow-off sanitizer! This was the result of deciding to put off making my blow-off tube until I was done with brew day, and after securing the tube, I forgot to tighten it down. Take aways, get as much as you can get done beforehand and figure out a temperature control setup for the next batch.
Taking my OG - Not sure how much this will impact the reading, but I took the OG using a refractometer after adding FermCap-S and yeast. Take away, write down step by step instructions so nothing gets missed, at least until I get more experience.
Brew day was depending on this coming in the mail, and it did, and Farmhouse surprised me with an extra packet.
Start of brew day
Sped up the boil using 2 kettles, combining them once the small one was boiling.
The grain juice
Into the fermenter
OG, after adding Fermcap-S and yeast. Need to figure out an adjustment factor.
This morning, getting the keg up to temp.
After tightening the flare fitting