SATURDAY!!! SATURDAY!!! SATURDAY!!!
Hmm, the whole Superbowl of Motocross voice just doesn't come over well on a blog. Sorry.
Just picked up the ingredients for my "Goodnight In Mexico" (Buena Noche clone) recipe. Several varieties of hops weren't available so I substituted Hallertauer pellets which have the same AAU as the ones I was supposed to get (German Spalt).
I also bought 6.8 lbs of extract, 1 lb. of rice powder, 1/4 lb of roasted barley, 1 lb. crystal malt, yeast, Dehydrated Malt Extract, and whole Czech Spaaz hops. Gonna brew this SATURDAY!!! SATURDAY!!! SATURDAY!!! Sorry about that. Won't happen again.
I decided against using a grain bag this time because I really worry that the compact area of the bag doesn't allow the grains enough surface area when it comes time to soak. Plus, I'm soaking them in a gallon of water that will be in a pot on the stove which will make it a cinch to strain into the boil kettle.
I'm also planning on making a rather large ice bath for the brew kettle to try to cool it down a bit before I mix it in with chilled water from the fridge. 3 gallons of 212° wort, with proper agitation, shouldn't take too long to get below 90°. Once it gets cooled down, I should be able to pour the wort into the fermenter with 2 gallons of chilled, distilled water and that should get it to pitching temp. At least I hope it does.
Hopefully, I'll have the house to myself. If so, I'm going to be UltraGeek and try to get a video of the whole thing put together.