Caribou Slobber

Northern Brewer got me with their "last day to get 10 percent off your order!" e-mail, I hate to admit. So I got this version of Moose Drool, which I have never had but have heard much about:

Fermentables

* 9 lbs. Rahr 2-row
* .75 lbs. Briess Caramel 60L
* .5 lbs. Briess Caramel 80L
* .25 lbs. Fawcett Pale Chocolate
* .125 lbs. Black Malt

Boil Additions

* 1 oz. US Goldings (60 min)
* 1 oz. Liberty (30 min)
* 1 oz. Willamette (15 min)


Brewed it on April 24th, and the only mishap was accidentally shooting about a cup or two of coolish water into the mash tun after I had perfectly reached strike temperature. I just pulled back and didn't panic, since the temperature didn't plunge.

Instead I went and cleaned the chicken house (great thing to do while you are trying to maintain sanitary conditions) and when I came back 40 minutes later my mash temp had fallen into the high forties. And it was still falling.

I read somewhere that most of your starch-to-sugar conversion happens in the first 15 minutes of the mash, so again I did not panic. I was definitely going to have a lot of fermentables and a higher ABV with these temperatures.

Also, with the way my system works, I was able to route the wort through the boiling hot water tank while I was circulating and clarifying it. (I did wash my hands first.) So I just circulated it for 15 minutes or so at 153 degrees or so.

Target gravity for the recipe is 1.052. I got 1.057!

I didn't buy any yeast for it. I had saved the Wyeast slurry (American Ale 1056) from my Three-Hearted Ale, sealed in bottles and stored in the fridge, and pitched that. Bubbling nicely within only a few hours.