So I posted about my 2 month old crushed grains. basicly 9.5 lbs of grains for a porter. I have done the partial mash for this beer before but never the all grain. Since the possibility of the grain not converting efficiently was raised I added some LME. 7.5 lbs. The mash produced 7 gallons of 1.027 wort. I brought it to a boil.....put out the fire I started in the garage.....but that is another story...then brought it to a boil again. Added the LME, l added my first hops and discovered that I had not put the flaked corn into the mash.....DAMN IT!!! and threw that into a grain bag and tossed it in with the rest of the wretched mess. I added a half ounce of tattinger hops (SP) to the final 15 minutes hoping to offset some of the extra maltiness from the LME. Holy crap I'm such a dump cook.
When I was done and pitched my Nottingham I came inside and realized I didn't do a gravity reading so I plunged a sterilized coffee mug down into the wort and took a reading. YIKES> 1.094. I did the math and I could end up with as high as 11% abv. I was expecting something closer to 7-8 max. Soooo wow. I wonder what's gonna happen. At least I was careful with the sanitation.
It took me 9 hours from start to finish because I was constatly having to search for something that wasn't where I thought I put it.
And I only cut myself once. All in all, not a bad day.
Oh, this is also the first time I've brewed with my Keggle. I like it. And my hommade imersion chiller worked like a charm.

WCD - LoL..Sounds like your day was worse than mine. I struggled through my first all-grain batch today, but my problems were process/learning related. Anyhoo...did you use a yeast starter? A lot of yeast will have trouble with that high an ABV. Please let us know how this progresses. I'm curious as to whether the Nottingham can take it without any help.

Yeah, I'm curious too. I rehydrated and added some cooled wort for about an hour before I pitched to the whole thing. so I will see if it gets kicking or not....and as far as handling the gravity...hell I don't know. Learning cure. My father always said "life is tough...it's even harder when you're stupid".

LMAO..I'm going to have to borrow your father's saying. I would just quote from Animal House - "fat, dumb and stupid is no way to go through life son"....Dean Wormer..speaking to Pluto....aka John Belushi...

LMAO... Uli that was the best quote.....

WCD, jump right back in and re-do that beer. You'll have a great time comparing the two batches side by side...

that isn't a bad idea. I might do that in a week or two. Of course, I will probably be on here in 2 weeks trying to figure out what strain or yeast to use to finish the fermentation of this monster beer I have going .

Just don't ever put champaign yeast in your beer... it's not right no matter what your trying to fix...

ok if you pitched yeast into your wort and THEN took a reading, your gravity will naturally be higher. Unfortunately, you won't know exactly what your gravity is, but its probably closer to your projected number so don't fret so much. Furthermore, starters are always a good idea, but I'm pretty sure dry yeast doesnt' do well with a starter. I would wait it out and I bet you that you actually have a nice, higher strenght porter, without having a huge beer like you think. Nottingham might leave your gravity a little higher, with some residiual sweetness that could even be a positive factor for your beer. Don't worry! have a giant f'ing homebrew!!!!!

" fat, dumb and stupid is no way to go through life son"

Hey, I resemble that remark.

Now, I want to hear about the fire, WCD.

Ah...the fire. It wasn't big and I didn't panic...I've done far too many really stupid things in my life to panic over a small fire. The last 2 times I brewed I used my turkey fryer. about 7.5 gallon capacity but had to be somewhat timid on the boil. So I decided to use my new Keg pot.
The fryer stand is square. 4 pole type legs with a 3 inch metal "edge" that the grate sits down in and the turkey pot sits down in as well. The keg won't fit down in there so it sits on top of the metal edge and is therefor an extra 3 inches above the flame. So I needed to raise the grate. I toyed with a few things then decided to use 2x3 stud. 2 pieces cut to fit along opposite sides and a small piec of scrap wood to shim it in on the other two sides. Can you already see the folly of my plan? I figured it would last at least for 1 boil and I could come up with a better set up. HAH. So I could smell the wood caramelizing but when I looked under it the sides were nice and clean....it was the heat and flame roiling across the underside of the keg that was toasting the tops of the wood. ....Even when one of the pieces started bleeding pitch, I kept a calm head and just slid a piece of cardboard under it to make sure I didn't mess up the wife's garage floor. YEah...she let me move her car out in the driveway so I could use her garage ( the attached garage is hers and the detached is mine....but mine is converted to a shop and has no heat.) Then I saw the first bit of flame coming off one piece of wood. So I walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water to douse it with.....figured I could douse it a couple times and keep brewing.....HAH. by the time I got back it was full on burning on both sides with flames climbing up a good foot and a half. So I turned the gas off, doused it with water, filled the garage with smoke, moved the keg to the snowy driveway, kicked the smoldering wood into the snow and went to my shop to find some bolts to use to hold the grate up. And as I said before....I only cut myself once.

LOL good story.... Glad you remained calm and was able to complete the task at hand... most of all, I'm glad your safe....

BTW wood and fire usually don't mix welll unless your trying to make a bigger fire...

I thought it was the paint burning off. That is always fun. At least bayou classic warns about it.

I bought the large (21" I think) charcoal grate for a weber grill to help make the keg fit on the turkey fryer burner. That burner needs a tune up and just sits there. The kab4 holds it great with about half an inch to spare on all 4 legs.

I think we have all had days like that. Wait until you mash with flaked maise and forget to add rice hulls... talk about a stuck sparge.

And Uli.... I have to make a few corrections to your quote. You said:

"I would just quote from Animal House - "fat, dumb and stupid is no way to go through life son"....Dean Wormer..speaking to Pluto....aka John Belushi..."

First off, the quote was "fat drunk and stupid" , second it was said to Kent Dorfman aka Flounder and third, Belushi's character was named Bluto.

Sorry but I just had to do that. I am obsessive-compulsive.

"fat drunk and stupid"

I resemble that one too.

I think I may be looking like J soon as well....LOL

Ef' U 2

LOL

LOL Love ya John

You bugger

About the fire- I think you should have just stayed true to the Home Brew Motto!
RDWHAHB

Well. I can't RDWHAHB right now cause I'm all out of my own stuff. Drinking Sierra Nivada Glissade. Sokay....not great.

Gestyr - thanks for the correction..I think...lol...it's been a while since I watched the movie. Might have to do that in the near future..