4/20/15 Northern Brewer Dry Dock URCA Vanilla Porter - 5Gal - UPDATED!

Recipe Data

Date:  4/19/15

Type of beer: Dry Dock URCA Vanilla Porter

Recipe Author:  Northern Brewer

Batch Size:  5gal

Yeast:  Wyeast #1056 American Ale Yeast.

Sacch' Rest: 156 for 60 min

Mashout: 168 for 10 min

OG at 75% efficiency:  1.061

Fermentation Temperature:   65-70 F

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Brew Day Data

Starter: 1 liter 70grams light DME 36 hrs stir plate
             Stopped stir plate after 24 hrs
             (used temp controller with heater and fan)

Sacch' Rest: 50 min @ 156
                     15 min raising to mashout temp
Mash-Out:   10 min 168
Sparge:         60 min 165

Pre-Boil Gravity:    1.046

Pre-Boil Volume:    7 gal

Mash Efficiency:   75.4%

Realized OG:  1.060

Actual Post Boil Batch:  5 gal

Pitch Temperature: 68

Yeast Nutrient:  2.5 tbs

Notes:  While adding grain I lost about 6 oz to the floor so the actual mash efficiency was most likely just a bit higher.  I also lost several ounces of highly concentrated wort trying to get the recirculation pump primed.  On this batch I ran the recirculation at a VERY slow rate.  I am thinking it may have been a little two slow...  I love the new recirculation kit from Brew Hardware.

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Fermentation Data

No thermowell on this batch so no detailed temperature info.

After 9 hours there was heavy activity in the air lock and there is a very slight brown tint to the liquid in the air lock.  This leads me to believe that there was really heavy activity over night.  The basement temp is about 64 degrees and I made no attempt with this batch to heat or cool it.  I am hoping that by pitching below 168 degrees will keep the overall temp in the fermenter in a reasonable.  It must have been really crazy at some point during the night because there is at least 5 inches of head space in the brew bucket.

After 34 hours the activity is still pretty strong but there is no head of foam on top of the airlock.

The fermentation died off to a bubble every minute or so the evening of the 22nd (about 3 days)

As per the instructions from NB I did not rack to secondary until Sunday May the 3rd.  The smell was great and the taste was even better.  There was no sign of the off taste from PH being too high in the mash.  I am guessing this is because of the amount of dark grain in the grain bill.

Monday May the 11th I cut up the Vanilla beans and put them in the secondary.  I was not sure how to handle sanitation so I just soaked the package, scissors and my hands in sanitizer before cutting.  I opened the fermenter lid just enough to dump the bag, then quickly sealed it.

I am scheduled to keg and start carbonation on the 18th.