Not-So-Smashing Pale Ale

So, recently I embarked on my first all grain brew, what I had hoped to be a BIAB (brew in a bag) SMaSH (single malt and single hop) brew, using American 2-Row and Cascade Hops. What has emerged from my bottles is a nice Pale Ale, using American 2-Row, Crystal 60L, Torrified Wheat but still sticking to the Cascade hop as my only hop used. My brewing experience before this had consisted only of 2 Mr. Beer brews, both turning out pretty damn bad, so I was definitely bold to turn to all-grain so quickly, but the reward has been me jumping past the less-than-appealing world of extract brewing. So, since I only had the Mr. Beer equipment, I had to make a trip to my LHBS (local homebrewing store, I'm sorry for all the abbreviations, us Home Brewers are worse than most teenagers). I decided to keep my 3 gallon fermentor, but pretty much bought everything else I'd need.



I bought 3 lbs of American 2-Row Malt, 1 lb of Crystal 60L Malt, .5 lb of torrified wheat, 2 ounces of Cascade hops, 1 package of Wyeast 1028 London Ale yeast, 1 hydrometer, 1 thermometer, 1 bottle capper, 2 BIAB bags, and caps for my bottles.

Now, let me first start off by stating the fact that I used WAAAAAY too much Crystal 60, and the resulting wort was disgusting. Note this, that if you're planning to redo this recipe, use approximately half of what I used. This beer turned out awesome, but I still think I should have used less Crystal 60. Now, onto the mash:



The grains in the bag while I waited for the water to reach strike temperature.



Tried to see how the beer would taste, skipped a step or two.



Note to self: buy turkey burner so your water doesn't take 30 minutes to reach strike temp.



My magnificent 5 gallon pot that I've reclaimed from my mother. Notice the coffee in the background, as I made the extremely poor decision to brew after working a 10 hour shift and before working another 8 hour shift. I literally pitched the yeast as I was about to walk out the door.



Strike temperature reached, mash in started. I calculated my water wrong, and ended up with a really thick mash, and it greatly hindered my efficiency. Oh well, lesson learned.



Trying to find a good spot to get the temperature was a pain in the dick. I'll definitely be getting a probe thermometer, I work at Home Depot for god's sake!



They thought I was cooking, and were basically at my ankles for 4 straight hours. Gotta love dogs -_-



Weighing out my hops during the mash, so I could pay more attention during the boil. Ironically, a scale was the only thing I didn't have to buy. I wonder why...



Letting the grain drip over the pot...this is when the infamous "bag tearing" incident happened.



All the wort, post straining to get out the grain the fell out of the bag, being brought up to a "boil", or what my measly electric stove considers a boil.



Spray bottle ready for the boil overs that never happened, and my sad, pathetic attempt at taking notes.



Boil reached, 60 minute addition is a go!



30 minute addition is a go!



I got bored and didn't take a picture of the 15, minute addition or me putting the flameout addition in, but this is flameout!



My upside down picture of my water bath..will be making my own worth chiller before any future batches.



Batch put away to ferment (upper part of the picture) in my cluttered "brewcave" filled with all types of ill shit.



A month and a half later, and we have beer! It came out to be 3.95% ab/v, an excellent session beer. It has color, flavor, bitterness, aroma, by god it's beer! The yeast helped cover the harshness of too much Caramel, as did the 45 IBUs. All in all, a really good beer that will be getting made again, albeit with less Caramel malt.

Recipe:

OG: 1.042
FG: 1.012
AB/V: 3.95%
IBU: 45.5
SRM: 14.15

3 lbs American 2-Row Malt
.5 lbs Caramel 60L Malt (I used double this amount, don't make the same mistake)
.5 lbs of Torrified Wheat for head retention

Mash at 151 F for 60 minutes, no sparge.

.5 oz Cascade @ 60 Minutes
.3 oz Cascade @ 30 Minutes
.2 oz Cascade @ 15 Minutes
.1 oz Cascade @ Flameout
.3 oz Cascade dryhopped for the last week of fermentation

Ferment for three weeks, bottle condition for 3, refrigerate for at least a few days.

Until next time, go make some good beer!