- It was a lot of work for about two pints of beer. But, it was kinda fun, and if I can make it work so that it becomes a mostly hands-off process, it would make it a far more attractive option for making small batches of beer. So, I'm probably gonna try again.
- The OG of the beer was 1.030. This is pretty low, and means that at best, I will get a 4.0 ABV beer. At first, I was concerned that I had an incomplete mash, and because I topped off the fermenter with a bit of water to make up for lost wort. But after crunching some numbers, it turns out that I just didn't use much grain. So, the 1 1/4 cups (about 5 ounces) be increased. There was definitely room in the lauter-tun (or coffee filter basket) for more grians.
- There was a huge drop in volume during the boil. A shorter boiling time could help solve this, as could having a lid on the pot during boil. This guy got 3 bottles out of each batch, meaning he had at least 36 oz. of beer.
- The recipe. Let's face it... it was way too much chocolate malt. Also, I may have put in too much hops...
- I don't like using an open fermenter... I've never used one before, and I don't like not having an airlock. Partly, the risk of something getting into the beer concerns me (but it's not that likely). mostly, I like to have an airlock going glug glug glug as a visual indicator of active fermentation.
So... definitely not a complete failure, but there is definitely room for improvement. I'll try it again sometime soon, and I'll try to post pictures, too.
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