Bier: First Sud is in the pot

19l of cooked wort

So, finally the first Sud is in the pot. It's about 19l and it is now fermenting happily (I hope) at 21°C in the guest room. I started yesterday, by checking the equipment, sterilising and generally getting everything ready. This morning at 07:00 I heated 13,5l of water to 38°C and then added the malt mix (Münchner and Wiener malt). After heating up to 48°C for a twenty minute protein rest, I added the colour malt. It is supposed to be added only 10 minutes before the end of mashing, but I figured I'd dump it in early to get more colour into the beer. After the protein rest, I heated to 64°C and kept it there for a good forty minutes. This is the maltose rest, where fermentable sugar is released into the wort. Then, up to 72°C for another thirty minute rest. This is where the non-fermentable sugar is released. After a quick check with iodine, to make sure there was no starch remaining in the mash, I heated up to 78°C and then spooned the mash into the Läuterbottich.

Läutern

The läutern was a bit of a chore. The idea is to separate the wort from the mash - i.e. what you want is the liquid. What happens is that the solid skins of the barley/wheat form a filtration layer at the bottom of the bucket. The liquid filters through and is decanted out through a tight spiral called a Läuterhexe. The liquid is then gathered and put back into the Einkocher for cooking hops. While läutern, you use all the mash and then add (in this case) 18l more water (the Nachguss) which is heated to 78°C before being added. I'm going to see about getting a second Einkocher to keep the 18l ready - constantly heating 1l amounts in a kettle made the whole thing a bit tedious.

In the end I filled the Einkocher to max (probably about 27l). The wort was heated up to boiling and then the hops got added (in a cloth hops bag). About 30g of Hallertauer Perle came in when the wort boiled (and stayed in till the end). This is for the bitterness. Another 14g came in about 12 minutes before the end of the cooking. This is for the aroma. Once I was finished boiling, I whirlpooled the boiling wort and piped it from the Einkocher into the fermentation keg - via another filter (to ensure none of the solids (hops) got into the fermentation keg). When finished I had about 19l. The rest evaporated during cooking.

Cooling the wort to 22°C

Shortly before the end of cooking I got the yeast ready. I added boiling (sterilised) water to a jam jar and then cooled it down to 26°C (the ideal temperature for 'starting' the yeast). After about half an hour the dry yeast powder had formed a kind of a frothy cream in the jar. Once the wort was cooled down to 22°C using the spiral cooler, I added the yeast mixture, sealed the fermentation keg (except for the CO2 escape) and carried the keg up to the guest room. Then, I cleaned all the equipment and called it a day. Currently, I'm still waiting to see when the yeast 'takes' and starts creating 50% alcohol and 50% CO2. Below are some of the other photos.