Pulling the Triple

Last weekend I had an epic triple brew day. I started heating the strike water for my first batch at 1:30 PM and finished cleaning up at around 3:00 AM. Of course I had about a three hour detour when I had to take my daughter to the doctor for a severely sprained ankle. I was supposed to have the weekend alone, but she couldn’t go with her Mom on a trip with a bad wheel.

It was quite an undertaking. I had two stuck mashes because my manifold came apart on two of the batches. I think in retrospect, I bit off way more than I could chew trying to brew three batches. On two batches I forgot late boil additions of honey and sugar that I had to add post-cooling. I wasn’t as vigilant as usual with my temperatures (mash and yeast pitching) because I needed to empty the vessel (mash tun or boil kettle) in order to get the next batch going. I tell you one thing, if I ever had the desire to brew professionally, I think this cured it.

The coolest thing about brewing three batches is the next day when I opened the door to my fermentation room I was treated to an airlock bubbling symphony. At least I should have plenty of beer for the beginning of the summer.