Forgot to post about the results of my batch 11 brew, good old Papazian’s Humpty Dumpty English Bitter. As I suspected, the alcohol content is weak (about 1%), there is a lack of maltiness in the finish that I love. But, the hops have a beautiful aroma and a great start. During the hot weather last week, this beer hit the spot.
So, lesson learned: Sparge the heck out of your grains. Even if I ended up with 8 gallons of water to boil down, it’s better to do that then to under-sparge as I did. My friend Jared did a Belgian wit beer, and ended up with over 7 gallons for his wort, which he had to reduce down to 5 gallons. He sparged until the water was coming out clear. So, next time I’ll follow suit. Of course, with the chaos in my life right now it will be a while until I get to brew again.
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