# While The Wife's Away...



## pants (18/9/09)

Yesterday afternoon, SWMBO decided that she'd take my Junior Brewer to visit her grandparents in the country for the weekend. I already had a brew planned, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to brew on my schedule.  This morning, SWMBO suggested that since she'd be away for the weekend, that I might want to do two brews. Why didn't I think of that? I have a wife who understands...

So I decided, because I have more time than usual on my hands, I would take some photos and write up a log of the process, with the aim of helping anyone starting out. On the other hand, someone more experienced might like to comment on my technique...

This weekend I'm brewing a 56 litre batch of DrSmurto's Golden Ale on Saturday, and a 65 litre batch of Australian Pale Ale on Sunday.

Right now I'm doing the hard yards, drinking a few Cooper's Pale Ale stubbies while my starter medium boils away on the stove.


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## matti (18/9/09)

I am envious. some got it hard


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## Effect (18/9/09)

only one brew per day???

you should be able to knock out at least 4 brews without even trying!

edit: 2 brews per day I mean.


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## buttersd70 (18/9/09)

Phillip said:


> only one brew per day???
> 
> you should be able to knock out at least 4 brews without even trying!
> 
> edit: 2 brews per day I mean.



You think? I did 2x 60L brews last sunday, and I'm still recovering. And that was with 3 pairs of hands on deck :lol: 

Good one pants, that much beer should keep you non compos for some time.


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## chappo1970 (18/9/09)

Or make a blackboard and put it in your drive way? I was thing something like this?










:lol:


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## Effect (18/9/09)

buttersd70 said:


> You think? I did 2x 60L brews last sunday, and I'm still recovering. And that was with 3 pairs of hands on deck :lol:
> 
> Good one pants, that much beer should keep you non compos for some time.



the difference between your brewdays and my brewdays are that yours are more like piss ups  :lol:


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## pants (18/9/09)

matti said:


> I am envious. some got it hard



I'm pretty happy with my lot at the moment...



Phillip said:


> only one brew per day???
> 
> you should be able to knock out at least 4 brews without even trying!
> 
> edit: 2 brews per day I mean.



A little help? And a few more cubes or fermenters...?



buttersd70 said:


> You think? I did 2x 60L brews last sunday, and I'm still recovering. And that was with 3 pairs of hands on deck :lol:
> 
> Good one pants, that much beer should keep you non compos for some time.



Yes...  

I did promise a pictorial log! Here's the starter at the start, containing the yeast from those six stubbies:




Stand by for news as it happens.


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## pants (18/9/09)

Chappo said:


> Or make a blackboard and put it in your drive way? I was thing something like this?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That'd do it! I wonder if I'd be so lucky?


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## pants (19/9/09)

I've filled my vessel with 73.5 litres of water, and am now heating it to 68 deg. strike temperature, which will give me 66 deg. once mashed in. I've already made my first mistake - I forgot to fit the pickup tube inside the kettle, so I had to clean my arm and a spanner and reach into the water to fit it! Lucky the water was only 25 deg. at the time...




In the photo you can see the stainless steel ruler that I use to measure the volume in the kettle. My kettle is a 98 litre Robinox, with square dimensions of 50 cm. Conveniently, it's only a matter of multiplying the depth in cm by 2 to get the volume in litres.

Also seen in the photo is the lack of pickup tube. h34r: 

While the water is heating, I've mixed up some Star San in my cubes and given them a shake, and I'll shake them again from time to time during the mash and boil.


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## beers (19/9/09)

pants said:


> I've filled my vessel with 73.5 litres of water, and am now heating it to 68 deg. strike temperature, which will give me 66 deg. once mashed in.



68 or 78?


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## pants (19/9/09)

beers said:


> 68 or 78?



68. I only lose two degrees when the grist is added.

Before adding the bag, I put a large stainless sifter into the vessel to protect the bag from the heat of the burner during mash-out. This can be seen in the image below (so can the pickup tube, now fitted!):




Stirring in the grist:




All rugged up for an hour and a half. The mash temperature is spot on.




I've stirred it twice now (every 15 minutes) and checked the PH of the mash:




All good so far...


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## pants (19/9/09)

Halfway through the mash now, and the mash temp has dropped 1 degree to 65. I'll give the burner a burst during the next stir to bring it back up to 66. Here's a picture of my mash paddle (as recommended by BribieG):




It's not stainless, but zinc plated. I might get Wayne from Beerbelly to make one up just like it in stainless. It works extremely well, brings up grain from the bottom and really works the mash.


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## pants (19/9/09)

Just a few minutes to go and I'll start heating to mash-out. I'll heat the mash up to 78 degrees while stirring, then leave it for 10 minutes before lifting the bag. I'm also heating 10 litres of water separately to pour through the bag and rinse the grains a bit more. I've gotten 75% efficiency using this technique, and it also allows me to do bigger batches than would otherwise fit in the vessel during the mash.


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## Katherine (19/9/09)

Honestly dont go to the cost of having a mash paddle made, we use the paint stirrer from Bunnings... $8.00 and its not coated in paint!

Have a good brew day.


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## Gopha (19/9/09)

pants said:


> 68. I only lose two degrees when the grist is added.
> 
> Before adding the bag, I put a large stainless sifter into the vessel to protect the bag from the heat of the burner during mash-out. This can be seen in the image below (so can the pickup tube, now fitted!):
> 
> ...


Hi, Do you adjust the pH of your water prior to adding your grains? I can never do any better than pH 6.0


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## pants (19/9/09)

Gopha said:


> Hi, Do you adjust the pH of your water prior to adding your grains? I can never do any better than pH 6.0



No adjustments at all.


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## pants (19/9/09)

Bag's out, squeezed, rinsed then squeezed again. Pre-boil volume 78 litres @ 78 degrees, and 1.036. Just bringing it up to the boil now. Some pictures of my skyhook and block and tackle setup in use:

Lifting the bag:



A close-up of the roller-skyhook gantry thing I made:



Dumping the bag for disposal of the grain:


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## Pollux (19/9/09)

How do you lift that bastard??

I assume you have a pulley system in place?

EDIT: Never mind, you posted the pulley pics while I was reading the thread.....


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## pants (19/9/09)

Pollux said:


> How do you lift that bastard??
> 
> I assume you have a pulley system in place?



Pollux, I must have gotten in just before you. :lol: 

The boil is underway, and smells goooood and I haven't done the first hop addition yet!



My natural gas Mongolian burner in action. The hose plugs into a bayonet fitting in the cupboard which is usually used for the barbeque. I shouldn't run out of gas!  



The question is, is it beer o'clock yet?


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## Thirsty Boy (19/9/09)

how do you manage your rinse/sparge of the bag?

Can't see another pot or heat source - or is there one on the BBQ out of shot?

and the answe to your question is YES, I think you deserve a beer. I love the giant BIAB system. Can I pinch your photos for another forum (The BN) and/or direct people to look at your thread?


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## pants (19/9/09)

Thirsty Boy said:


> how do you manage your rinse/sparge of the bag?
> 
> Can't see another pot or heat source - or is there one on the BBQ out of shot?



Good question, TB. I heated 10 litres of water on the stove inside in a 12 litre stock pot. After squeezing as much wort out of the bag as possible, I pour the contents of the pot onto the top of the grain in the bag as much as possible. Then I squeeze the bag as completely as possible again. It's probably not the most effective sparge you could do, but I originally did it because I didn't have enough room in the vessel during the mash for the volume I was doing. Now it's become regular procedure. Beertools Pro calculated that I got almost 75% efficiency on my last brew (the first with the rinse) which was a leap up from 63% on the previous batch. But, smaller grain bill, and I also introduced the new paint masher mash paddle at the same time. I couldn't take a picture of me doing it, because I'm on my own today.


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## pants (19/9/09)

Thirsty Boy said:


> how do you manage your rinse/sparge of the bag?
> 
> Can't see another pot or heat source - or is there one on the BBQ out of shot?
> 
> and the answe to your question is YES, I think you deserve a beer. I love the giant BIAB system. Can I pinch your photos for another forum (The BN) and/or direct people to look at your thread?



Of course. And I'll take your advice on that beer. :icon_cheers:


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## pants (19/9/09)

The bag is in the washing machine getting ready for re-use tomorrow, the first hop addition went in half an hour ago, next on is in ten minutes time. I'm enjoying an Australian Pale Ale from my last batch. It's a fine day, not much wind, and all I can smell (and the neighbours, probably) is Amarillo. How good is this? :super:


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## pants (19/9/09)

The wort is in the cubes. I think I'll have another beer and then clean the vessel, and refill it with water for tomorrows brew. I had a little issue with scalding on my belly from hot wort fallout when I let the silicone hose pop out of the cube and splash me, but otherwise, all went well. I hit my OG number and volume! Bewdy. 

Filling the cubes.




The cubes are relaxing, and so am I!


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## Steve (19/9/09)

Nice work - thanks for the pics. You a Postie?
Cheers
Steve


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## pants (19/9/09)

Steve said:


> Nice work - thanks for the pics. You a Postie?
> Cheers
> Steve



As it happens, yes! One of the best jobs in the world! The bike in the pictures is co-incidental, I had it before I became a Postie.


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## DKS (19/9/09)

Nice job postie Pants a bit of nice shiney stuff there Wife away brew hard Well done. :icon_cheers: 
Daz


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## joecast (19/9/09)

damn postie pants, nice work! you certainly deserve that beer. and another brew day tomorrow, hope that goes as well.


the only thing i dont like about threads like this is they make me feel guilty about looking at stuff like this:
http://www.beerbelly.com.au/turnkey.html


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## pants (20/9/09)

I'm heating up the strike water for the second batch of the weekend on day two of freedom. It's early - I want to be finished before SWMBO gets home!


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## Steve (20/9/09)

pants said:


> I'm heating up the strike water for the second batch of the weekend on day two of freedom. It's early - I want to be finished before SWMBO gets home!



what time does she get home?

Im looking forward to next weekend. 'Er in doors is going up to Sydney with the boys from Thursday to Sunday! Thinking of chucking a sickie on Friday!


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## pants (20/9/09)

Steve said:


> what time does she get home?


I suspect she'll leave Ardrossan (about 2 hours away) when the Junior Brewer is ready for her sleep, so she could be here around lunch time. I've mashed-in, and preparing to transfer yesterday's wort from the cubes to the fermenters. Yeast is just re-hydrating on the stirrer now.



Steve said:


> Im looking forward to next weekend. 'Er in doors is going up to Sydney with the boys from Thursday to Sunday! Thinking of chucking a sickie on Friday!



You had a sickie last week, didn't you? Or was that something else? :lol: A long weekend of freedom, eh? Sounds great. Got any brewing planned?


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## Steve (20/9/09)

pants said:


> You had a sickie last week, didn't you? Or was that something else? :lol: A long weekend of freedom, eh? Sounds great. Got any brewing planned?



:lol: yes I did! You keeping tabs on me? Have I got any brewing planned :blink: wadda ya reckon :beer: 

Cheers
Steve


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## pants (20/9/09)

Steve said:


> :lol: yes I did! You keeping tabs on me?



I was also home looking after my Junior Brewer who had an ear infection. I recall you had an issue with a pirate.


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## Steve (20/9/09)

pants said:


> I recall you had an issue with a pirate.



:lol:


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## pants (20/9/09)

Heating up for the boil. Slightly higher pre-boil gravity than expected. Volume is as calculated.


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## reviled (20/9/09)

Nice set up mate :icon_cheers:


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## Bribie G (20/9/09)

pants said:


> The wort is in the cubes. I think I'll have another beer and then clean the vessel, and refill it with water for tomorrows brew. *I had a little issue with scalding on my belly from hot wort fallout* when I let the silicone hose pop out of the cube and splash me, but otherwise, all went well. I hit my OG number and volume! Bewdy.
> 
> Filling the cubes.
> View attachment 31035
> ...



Glad it was only the belly, I take it you had your legs closed h34r: 

Man I'm itching to fire up the urn watching your progress there, wish I had a cube empty <_<


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## pants (20/9/09)

BribieG said:


> Glad it was only the belly, I take it you had your legs closed h34r:


I was concerned about it at the time, stripped off and ran the hose over it after I capped the cubes. You can hardly see it now.



BribieG said:


> Man I'm itching to fire up the urn watching your progress there, wish I had a cube empty <_<


I'm having fun... Just added the hops.


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## pants (20/9/09)

A couple of shots of gratuitous brew soft porn:

Mongolian burner at 4 am:



The breeze has come up a bit, so I've wheeled out my welding screen which doubles as a wind break. It's also handy for hanging hoses on to dry.



Five minutes left of boil.


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## winkle (20/9/09)

pants said:


> A couple of shots of gratuitous brew soft porn:
> 
> Mongolian burner at 4 am:
> View attachment 31052
> ...


That Mongolian is a thang of beauty :icon_cheers:
Edit: if NASA needs a cheap way to get to near earth orbit there's a hint in the first photo.


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## Bribie G (20/9/09)

pants said:


> I was concerned about it at the time, stripped off and ran the hose over it after I capped the cubes. *You can hardly see it now.*
> 
> 
> I'm having fun... Just added the hops.



:icon_offtopic: 
Yup that shrinkage can be embarrassing h34r:


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## pants (20/9/09)

:lol: All cubed now, cleaned, put away... Beer o'clock! BeerTools Pro tells me that I got 80% efficiency! Wow!


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## pants (20/9/09)

I've got these feelings... I've just made 119 litres of wort, and I feel like making more. If only I had the cubes and grain etc... 

Am I addicted?


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## buttersd70 (20/9/09)

119L? That's a lot of beer.....maybe a visit from Butters is in order in a few weeks, to 'help' you to 'make room' for some new batches. :lol:


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## pants (20/9/09)

buttersd70 said:


> 119L? That's a lot of beer.....maybe a visit from Butters is in order in a few weeks, to 'help' you to 'make room' for some new batches. :lol:


Thanks for your kind offer... That'd be a great help! :icon_chickcheers:


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## buttersd70 (20/9/09)

pants said:


> Thanks for your kind offer... That'd be a great help! :icon_chickcheers:



Contrary to what some people would have you believe, I'm very public-spirited in that respect. :lol:


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## BjornJ (22/9/09)

Removing everything you ever posted?


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## lespaul (20/10/09)

what a journey


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## Mantis (20/10/09)

Thats got me wondering how much I could squeeze out of my 50L kettle.
Using the sparge thing to get efficiency up sounds good as my eff is around 63% and nothing else I have tried will get it up. 
Great stuff Pants :icon_cheers:


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## Pollux (21/10/09)

Mantis.

I used to get similar eff%'s, then I took up a habit of mashing in with 2/3rds of my total required water and doing a bucket mashout/sparge with the other 1/3rd which I heat on the kitchen stove.

I've gone from consistent 60-65% to 75-80% virtually instantly.


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## Bribie G (21/10/09)

Hey Pants, should be about bottled or kegged by now, how has it turned out?


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## Mantis (21/10/09)

Pollux said:


> Mantis.
> 
> I used to get similar eff%'s, then I took up a habit of mashing in with 2/3rds of my total required water and doing a bucket mashout/sparge with the other 1/3rd which I heat on the kitchen stove.
> 
> I've gone from consistent 60-65% to 75-80% virtually instantly.




Sounds good Pollux, I will give it a try for sure. After squeezing the bag I put it in a 20L bucket so will mashout in it
Cheers :icon_chickcheers:


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## pants (21/10/09)

BribieG said:


> Hey Pants, should be about bottled or kegged by now, how has it turned out?



The Australian Pale Ale has been bottled and kegged a week and a half, and the DrSmurto's Golden Ale has been bottled and kegged two and a half weeks. Both have come out beautifully. There were only seven stubbies of DrS' GA, so I'm tasting them sparingly, but it's delicious. There are four left, and the wife hasn't tasted it yet - might be the Christmas keg. A terrific recipe. Perhaps I'll get DrSmurto himself to critique my work? There were 18 longnecks of the Australian Pale Ale, and although it was only 6 days in the bottle when I tasted it, it was very nice, just as I expected, and quite similar to the last batch. I would say that my results are quite consistent. I did notice when packaging that the beer from the fermenter that had lots of trub tasted different from the two which had no trub. Not bad, just different. The bottles are from the with-trub fermenter. I'll allow a little more wastage next time, to pretty much eliminate trub from the fermenters, as I did with the DrS' GA.

I'm learning each time I brew, but I'm very happy with my results.

pants.


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## drsmurto (21/10/09)

pants said:


> The Australian Pale Ale has been bottled and kegged a week and a half, and the DrSmurto's Golden Ale has been bottled and kegged two and a half weeks. Both have come out beautifully. There were only seven stubbies of DrS' GA, so I'm tasting them sparingly, but it's delicious. There are four left, and the wife hasn't tasted it yet - might be the Christmas keg. A terrific recipe. Perhaps I'll get DrSmurto himself to critique my work? There were 18 longnecks of the Australian Pale Ale, and although it was only 6 days in the bottle when I tasted it, it was very nice, just as I expected, and quite similar to the last batch. I would say that my results are quite consistent. I did notice when packaging that the beer from the fermenter that had lots of trub tasted different from the two which had no trub. Not bad, just different. The bottles are from the with-trub fermenter. I'll allow a little more wastage next time, to pretty much eliminate trub from the fermenters, as I did with the DrS' GA.
> 
> I'm learning each time I brew, but I'm very happy with my results.
> 
> pants.



If by critique you mean i get free beer than I'm up for that! :icon_drunk: 

Always happy to provide feedback :icon_cheers:


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