First 5 Gallon Batch and First Partial Mash

With the arrival of my 5 gallon starter kit from Midwest Supplies ( a Living Social deal), I was ready to try my first 5 gallon batch.  The kit came with an Irish Red Ale ingredient set.

Below is the ingredient kit.  I didn't notice it at the time, but the grain bag they included was the wrong one.  Didn't catch this until the wort was on the stove for the 60 minute boil.  Contacted Midwest, asking what type of beer I'd end up with.  Didn't seek anything from them as it was my mistake not checking the contents properly like the brewing directions say.  They indicated I'd still have an Irish Red Ale, just a bit lighter in color and with a reduction in the roasty flavor in the beer.  They still expect it to be a good, drinkable beer.

Image my surprise a few days later when I get a package in the mail with the correct grain bag.  Wasn't expecting that at all, so kudos to the customer service folks at Midwest Supplies..  Now I just need to get the rest of the ingredients and I can brew up a second, correct, batch and compare the two.

For the steeping of the grains (sometimes called a partial mash), I brought 4 gallons up to 154 F and put the grains in for 30 minutes.  I ended up with the beginnings of wort, looks a lot like tea.  I did have to turn the burning on a couple of times on the stove to keep the temperature at 154 F as the stainless steel kettle isn't insulated.  After I drained the grain bag, without squeezing it, I added the liquid malt extract and stirred it to make sure it was fully dissolved.

Then it was time for the boil.  Only thing is my brew kettle to too large for my stove, it hits the over the range microwave oven, so I couldn't use two burners to help get it boiling.  With only one burner, it took quite some time to get it boiling, and could barely keep it there.

Due to the tight fit, I was able to wedge the grain bag between the pot and the microwave during the steeping phase.

Then came time to cool down the wort.  I'd planed on an ice bath in the sink.  Only problem is my boil kettle doesn't fit as you can see in the below photo.  I could only get about 2-3 inches of the pot into the ice water.  The top layer of the water quickly warmed up, while the rest of it remained cold.  I had to run cold water from the faucet down the side of the pot into the sink to get the warm water to overflow into the sink to the left.  It took a while to get it down to temperature, so I'll definitely need an immersion chiller for next time.

Once it was cooled off, I poured it into the fermentation bucket and topped it off with cold water.  Pitched the yeast and sealed the lid.  Added the air stopper with sanitizer in it, and moved it to the basement.  It's been fermenting for a week now, will let it go another two weeks before I bottle it.

Since I'm so used to doing smaller two gallon batches, I totally forgot to take a hydrometer reading for this batch, and since the grain is incorrect, not really sure where it will end for a final gravity or ABV.

I'll update this post, or add a new one, when it is bottling time.

Here's a video of my stove struggling to keep the wort boiling.  Not quite a rolling boil, but hopefully it was enough.  I have a propane burner for next time, once the weather improves a bit.

Update: 03/22/2014

Bottled this batch today, and as expected, the color was off due to the wrong specialty grains.  I think I'll call this one the Irish Unred Ale.