Chagrin River Pale Ale

This past weekend a couple of first occurred in my home brewing effort. I brewed my American Pale Ale recipe that I created called Chagrin River Pale Ale. The first was my first partial mash. Partial Mashing is the next step in going to all grain brewing beyond steeping specialty grains. I mashed 2lbs of Marris Otter (British Pale) malt for an hour at 150 F. This made a nice pale wort base, I then added 6 lbs of pale malt extract syrup and 1 lb of pale dry extract. The Warrior, Cascade, and Summit hops used are all American grown and hopefully will provide clean bitterness with pleasing nice citrus bite. As I write, the airlock is bubbling away!!!!

The other first was using my wort chiller that I built. All I can say is success. It cooled 3 gallons of wort from 212 F to 85 F in about 15 minutes. My best with ice baths was about 1:15. The temperature dropped quickly to about 100 and the last few degrees it slowed (basic heat transfer principles.... and yes, I use my degree more in home brewing than I do for my career). I may build a another and put it in series with the current one. The second chiller will be placed in an ice bath. This will cool the boiled wort even faster and also help cool off the last few degrees.

The next question, what do I brew next?