Bloody Bastard Ale

I'm a fan of Graham Sanders' podcast "Craft Brewer Radio." A few weeks ago, he gave a recipe for a beer he liked. He wound up injuring himself during the course of the brew day, hence the name of the beer. His was a lager, but mine will be an ale, using some clean fermenting ale yeast.

Bloody Bastard Ale
OG 1054 | 6 gal | 30 IBUs | 60% eff.

9# 8 oz German pilsner
2# Munich Malt
2# rauch malt
1# CaraMunich
8 oz Chocolate
1 oz Hallertauer/ 60 min
1 oz Hallertauer/30 min
1 oz Hallertauer/10 min
Irish Moss/10 min
WLP 001

Mash at 154°F for 60 minutes. Boil 90 minutes.

I collected about a gallon and a half less than expected. The pump never would empty the kettle. It pumped for a good two minutes getting nothing. Don't know if the pump head was clogged. The pressure of the pump is a bit higher than gravity, so I developed a wort leak on the input side of the counterflow chiller. I expect most of my gallon was lost there, plus what was in the chiller and tubing when I quit pumping. And I did notice slightly higher evaporation rate today. Most days a 1.5 hour boil only loses me a gallon. Today it lost me almost a gallon and a half.

So this is a steep learning curve.