This was my last brew of the year and nothing went super wrong but nothing went quite right.  Basically I missed on about every number.  Mash was low again.  It started at 150F (target was 152) but within 3 minutes it has dropped to 147.  Usually my mashtun holds temp really well but it was ~35F outside so I guess it isn’t shocking.  I added 3 Quarts of boiling water which brought me back to 150 and I did a 90 min mash instead of 60 to make sure everything converted.  My efficiency was a bit higher than expected so I had to add a gallon of water to hit my OG but still came out a hair high.  I adjusted my 60 min hop addition to keep my bitterness level the same.  I also had a minor boil over since I brainfarted at the end of the boil and put the lid on before cutting the heat.  icing on the cake 🙂  pitched at 45F with 300mL of pretty thick slurry from vienna 3.
Dortmunder Export 2
1-E Dortmunder Export
Size: 7.5 gal
Efficiency: 85.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Original Gravity: 1.055 (1.048 – 1.056)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 – 1.015)
Color: 4.96 (4.0 – 6.0)
Alcohol: 5.44% (4.8% – 6.0%)
Bitterness: 30.4 (23.0 – 30.0)
Ingredients:
11 lb (79.3%) Best Malz Pilsen Malt – added during mash
2.5 lb (18.0%) Best Malz Munich Malt Dark – added during mash
6 oz (2.7%) Weyerman Acidulated Malt – added during mash
.75 oz (27.3%) Northern Brewer (9.9%) – added during boil, boiled 60 m
1 oz (36.4%) Liberty (4.5%) – added during boil, boiled 20 m
1 tsp Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 20 m
1 oz (36.4%) Liberty (4.5%) – added during boil, boiled 5 m
300 mL White Labs WLP830 German Lager slurry
Notes
mash salts:
3.1g Gypsum
3.1g CC
sparge salts:
6g Gypsum
6g CC
acidify sparge to below 5.8 (~10ml of 10% phosphoric in 10G of water)
should give mash pH of 5.3 (was 5.2)
13.88 lb of grain
1.5 qt/lb = 20.82 quarts = 5.21 gallons
mash @ 152
mash in water temp 165.2
pitch @ 48 and ramp to 50 over 2 days then hold till 14 days and raise 5 degrees a day to 60 then hold through 21 days.  rack to keg and drop 2 degrees a day to 40 and lager for one month.  rack to clean keg and force carb to 2.5 volumes.
12/8/14 @ ~2pm pitched @ 45F w/ brewpi set to raise to 50F over 48 hours.  then hold till day 14 and raise to 60 over two days and hold.
12/9/14 @ 8am no activity > at 47F
12/9/14 @ 10pm still no activity > WORRIED
12/10/14 @ 8am can see a little bubbling and spots so seems like its getting going
12/10/14 @ noon kreusen is forming but activity is still low
12/12/14 1/2″ kreusen and steady bubbling.  solid sulphur odor.
12/13/14 fermentation is a bit more vigorous but similar
12/14/14 still vigorous
12/15/14 still vigorous
12/16/14 kreusen has started to drop and bubbling less vigorous but still steady
12/17/14 still steady but slowed some more
12/18/14 steady but slowed to every ~2 sec.  starting to clear
12/19/14 ~4 sec
12/21/14 ~7 sec
12/22/14 still ~7 sec.  raising 5F a day to 60 using brewpi.
12/23/14 up to 55F ~4sec
12/26/14 seems done.   dropped pretty clear.
12/31/14 racked to keg
FG 1.013 pH 4.50
aroma-some sulfur but low level.  low malt / breadiness.  low herbal/earthy/spicy hop.  some yeast tang.
appearance – nice gold color.  cloudy.
flavor – solid pilsner / munich malt character.  solid bitterness.  moderate herbal/spicy hop flavor.  notes of diacetyl maybe?  hard to tell if it is just the munich or some diacetyl.  didn’t do a forced diacetyl test but it was well over a week at 60F so hard to believe there is any diacetyle.  all in all very tasty but in retrospect i would probably cut the munich in half and maybe switch it to munich rather than dark munich.