Brew 16 - Pilgrim Brother (2nd Running's Experimental)

Brew 16 - Pilgrim Brother (2nd Running's Experimental) 

Brew day: 09/01/2021
Bottle Day: 30/01/2021

Whilst at the end of the mash for Brew 15 (Son of Cornwall), I decided to try something out. 

Usually at this point I would squeeze the bag and discard the malt. This time, I intended to re-infuse some hot strike water into the mash tun in the hope of extracting the rest of the fermentable sugar held within the grain bed. As I don't usually sparge there should be some at least. 

I added about 10L of hot water (77 deg C) back into the mash tun with a view to washing more of the sugars from the grist. This is the temperature that a sparge would usually lift the grist and wort up to - making the wort more viscous and allowing it to move more freely to the base of the mash tun. I then recirculated the new wort a few times over the grain to increase yield. 

The resulting wort had a gravity of 1.049 which was well above what I expected. I decided that this wort would be used to make a different experimental beer - the first mash had gone so well that it seemed silly to blend the worts and ruin the main brew. I knew that the reinfusion process could well have knocked more proteins and potentially tannins into the wort so better to keep seperate and run an experiment. 

I'm going to run with the idea that this brew is based on a Wee Heavy malt bill but is slightly weaker in ABV so this will be classed as a Scottish Light Ale or 60/- (Shilling). 

The beer now entered the boil with the following additions: 
    - 25g of Bramling Cross at 60mins 
    - 3/4 of a protofloc tab at 15mins
    - Around 1 litre of boiling water at 10mins to top up the batch

Post boil gravity was only 1.050 (the added water diluted the sugar - no great shame). This batch chilled rapidly and then transferred into a 10L lunch/cake box to ferment along with about 100ml of Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale Yeast. 

Fermentation update: After what looked like a slow start, the yeast got going after about 2 days. By the 14/01/2021 the gravity was down to 1.008 leaving this one at a tasty 5.5%. A quick taste sample and thankfully the brew hasn't picked up too many off flavours. I think this new sparge method could be quite handy for future brews and increasing my yield. This time, it has given a different brew altogether. 
   
 

Further updates to follow...

Notes
Malts: Maris Otter Pale, Amber Malt, Light Crystal and Roasted Barley (2nd Runnings of Mash)
Hops: Bramling Cross
OG: 1.050
Gravity on 14/01/2021: 1.008
Final Gravity: 1.004
ABV: 6%
Batch size: 8 x 500ml bottles (4 litres)

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