Brewed on 02-May-2010 with a few problems.
Stuck mash about half way through, so I had to stop the lauter, stir things up, then vorlauf and continue sparging. The resulting O.G. was higher than anticipated. I finally think I figured this out. I've ordered my last 3 grain bills from a new supplier, milled of course. I think they mill it too fine, resulting in both the stuck sparge and the higher O.G. I don't mind the higher O.G. - probably higher ABV as a result. But. . . the Best Bitter had and O.G. more in line with an ESB, thus out of style.
The next mash I did (Moose Drool clone, see a future/next? post) I added 0.5 lbs of rice hulls and the mash did NOT get stuck, but the O.G. was still much higher than it should have been. I ordered from this online supplier because they were a bit cheaper for the ingredients and the shipping was a dollar less. I could use less grain instead and hit the target O.G., but I'm still too inexperienced at all-grain to figure this out without missing the mark a few times. My question, to myself, is... What does it matter if the O.G. and final ABV are too high? I'm the one doing the drinking of the final product and I'm not too interested in entering the beers in any contests where they would have to be within style guidelines.
Kegged: 15-May-2010.
Carbonated at ~1.7 volumes, meaning 9 lbs CO2 tank pressure and 53 oF in the conditioning and dispensing temperature controlled 'chest freezer'.
Began drinking: 22-May-2010.
Pretty good, could be better but I really don't know what to do to make it better. I'll probably brew it again as I like commercial best bitters and ESBs. There are still quite a few more other beer styles I'm going to try first. Including quite a few other session beers. Actually, I'm drinking one now as I write the post.
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