NZ Pilsner 2020

Up today is a slightly modified version of the Port Road Pilsner recipe I brewed a couple months back. I tweaked the hop additions a bit and increased the grain bill slightly.

Other "new stuff", I recently purchased the Ultimate Sparge Arm for my brew system and this is the first batch I'll be using it on. There wasn't any major problems with my original arm, but I did have to occasionally switch out the silicone hose used to connect the siphon sprayer to the end of the arm. The reason for this was so I could more finely adjust the height of the sparge arm based on grain bill and batch size. I gotta say, the Ultimate Sparge Arm is pretty awesome...well thought out and simple but functional design. I'm able to drop the arm all the way to the top of the false bottom, or raise it all the way to the brim of the mash tun.

False bottom support

One additional change, I modded my false bottom ever so slightly and this will also be the first batch using this mod. I use a domed false bottom from Morebeer and it's the original one I bought years ago back when my mash tun was based on a Rubbermaid cooler.  I noticed sometimes it would start to dent/deform/collapse with huge grain bills. The mod was to add a short section of 14mm OD copper pipe which functions as a stand to support the middle of the false bottom. This little support/stand was drilled in several places to allow the wort to flow freely. I'm hoping this simple mod will provide enough support to solve the occasional collapsing issue.

Here's the recipe as I'm brewing it today.

7.5# - GW Pure Idaho Pilsner Malt
0.5# - Weyermann Carahell Malt
2oz - Weyermann Acidulated Malt
1.0g BrewTan B (Dissolved in mash)
3ml Hopshot (60 min)
8.0g - NZ Motueka (10 min)
18.0g - NZ Nelson Sauvin (10 min)
28.0g - NZ Riwaka (10 min)
3.0g - Loral Cryohop (10 min)
18.0g - NZ Motueka Pallet (Flame Out)
28.0g - NZ Nelson Sauvin (Flame Out)
28.0g - NZ Riwaka (FlameOut)
3.0g - Loral Cryohop (Flameout)
28.0g - NZ Riwaka (Dry Hop)
7.0g - Loral Cryohops (Dry Hop)
Whirlfloc
Wyeast Nutrient
4.66g BCAA (Dissolved in water or wort, 5 min)
S04 or Saflager W-34/70

Mash at 151F, 90 min boil, start fermentation at 46F, ramp up to 52F over 6 days, diacetyl rest when gravity ~1.016.

Water Profile - To 10.5 gallons of RO water, add:
3.81g Gypsum
2.67g Epsom Salt
4.58g Calcium Chloride

Brewing Notes
No issues. The sparge arm worked great and actually looked like it was doing a better job of not disturbing the grain bed. The false bottom stand also worked well, but I really wasn't expecting any issues because the grain bill was pretty small to begin with.

Update 2/26/2020

Gravity is down to ~1.039 this morning, so things are progressing.

Update 2/27/2020

Gravity is reading ~1.030 this morning, however I'm not confident that is super accurate. I'm only logging gravity once per hour and the Tilt has a tendency to wobble a bit during active fermentation. So bottom line, I don't take the readings as gospel, but they are helpful in showing a trend. As you can see in the graph below, yesterday there was a steady drop 1.039 to about 1.037, then it jumped back up to 1.040 to 1.041, then a sharp drop to 1.030 at 5am this morning. That could be when a glob of yeast slid off the Tilt. Long story short, I don't get too hung up on the individual readings, rather I'm looking at the overall trend.

Update 3/5/2020
Dry hops went in today. I'll let these ride for a few days then hook up my CO2 reservoir and start cold crashing.

Update 3/22/2020

It took me longer than I'd planned, but this finally was kegged today. The leftover hops smelled amazing.