Gyle #1

We produced our first batch of wort Saturday before last. As with any first full run on a new brewery, there were some surprises. In our case, though I checked and calibrated 4 FVs, 2 brite tanks, 2 lager tanks, a mash tun, kettle, HLT, and glycol monitor against our reference thermometer, when mashing in I found that though the HLT temp readout indicated 168F, the liquor hitting the hydrator was a solid 10F lower, enough to make our mash temp start distressingly low. I took corrective actions on the fly (switched over to the inline water heaters,) and I think the main effect if any will be higher attenuation than planned. Definitely took a few notes on stuff to correct and/or modify before the next run. Anyway, a wort for Munich-style dunkel is in FV4 along with some billions of our yeasty co-workers. Let us hope for the best.

UPDATE: Found that the water in the electric HLT stratifies dramatically, with a huge ~10F gradient from top to bottom, that requires up to an hour of circulating to even out. Adjusted procedure, easy-peasy. Also, insulated the copper hot lines from the inline water heaters to the brewhouse, bringing the typical gradient there down to a tidy 3F.

EVEN MOAR UPDATE: The dunkel has passed a forced diacetyl test, and is being attemperated. It did attenuate more than is typical for this sort of beer, but should be otherwise OK.