1st Ag- Pacific Pale Ale

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

remi

Well-Known Member
Joined
23/1/08
Messages
148
Reaction score
4
Just wanted to introduce myself,

Long-time lurker, 1st time poster. Have made the transition from K+K and bottling, to AG and kegs in the last few weeks- with much associated spending!

Picked up the AG gear from a member here off the 'Bay, and have finally put it to use, and learnt many interesting/ and plenty of embarassing lessons...

I chose the Pacific Pale Ale recipe from the database, thanks hughman666. I'm a Mac user, so used the Brewing Alchemy software which was very easy to use-

Pacific Pale Ale

Dates
Date Brewed: 20 Feb 2008 Date Racked: 27 Feb 2008
Date Packaged: 27 Feb 2008 Date Ready: 27 Feb 2008


Selected Style and BJCP Guidelines
10A-American Ale-American Pale Ale

Minimum OG: 1.045 SG Maximum OG: 1.060 SG
Minimum FG: 1.010 SG Maximum FG: 1.015 SG
Minimum IBU: 30 IBU Maximum IBU: 45 IBU
Minimum Color: 12.1 EBC Maximum Color: 35.9 EBC


Recipe Overview
Target Wort Volume Before Boil: 32.00 l Actual Wort Volume Before Boil: 31.00 l
Target Wort Volume After Boil: 24.00 l Actual Wort Volume After Boil: 22.50 l
Target Volume Transferred: 22.00 l Actual Volume Transferred: 19.00 l
Target Volume At Pitching: 22.00 l Actual Volume At Pitching: 21.00 l
Target Volume Of Finished Beer: 22.00 l Actual Volume Of Finished Beer: 21.00 l
Target Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.034 SG Actual Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.045 SG
Target OG: 1.046 SG Actual OG: 1.047 SG
Target FG: 1.012 SG Actual FG: -No Record-
Target Apparent Attenuation:: 73.9 % Actual Apparent Attenuation: 100.0 %
Target ABV: 4.5 % Actual ABV: 6.2 %
Target ABW: 3.5 % Actual ABW: 4.9 %
Target IBU (using Tinseth): 43.2 IBU Actual IBU: 40.4 IBU
Target Color (using Morey): 14.4 EBC Actual Color: 14.0 EBC
Target Mash Efficiency: 70.0 % Actual Mash Efficiency: 74.6 %
Target Fermentation Temp: 18 degC Actual Fermentation Temp: 18 degC


Fermentables
Ingredient Amount % MCU When
Bairds Marris Otter 3.000 kg 58.8 % 2.4 In Mash/Steeped
Australian Traditional Ale Malt 2.000 kg 39.2 % 2.4 In Mash/Steeped
Australian Crystal 140 0.100 kg 2.0 % 2.6 In Mash/Steeped


Hops
Variety Alpha Amount IBU Form When
US Amarillo 8.2 % 14 g 14.0 Loose Pellet Hops All Of Boil
US Amarillo 8.2 % 14 g 10.7 Loose Pellet Hops 30 Min From End
NZ Cascade 6.5 % 14 g 8.5 Loose Pellet Hops 30 Min From End
NZ Cascade 6.5 % 14 g 5.5 Loose Pellet Hops 15 Min From End
NZ Cascade 6.5 % 28 g 4.4 Loose Pellet Hops 5 Min From End


Other Ingredients
Ingredient Amount When


Yeast
Wyeast 1272-American Ale II


Water Profile
Target Profile: No Water Profile Chosen
Mash pH: 5.3
pH Adjusted with: Unadjusted

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name: Single Step Infusion (66C/151F) w/Mash Out

Step Type Temperature Duration
Rest at 66 degC 60
Raise to and Mash out at 77 degC 10

Anyway, some important lessons learnt:

1. Everything takes longer than you think it will, especially the first time- all up the day, including cleaning before and after took 7.5hrs
2. Sticking the digital thermometer in multiple places in the water/mash will give you multiple different readings, leading to much pulling-out of hair
3. Be very careful as to which tap you've left open, as much hot water/ cold water/ wort/ other stuff ends up all over the floor
4. Further to point 3 above, if you're brewing inside, even if all your taps are appropriately closed, water still goes everywhere
5. An early 1970's kitchen scale with markings every 20g is not very useful for weighing your hops- not sure if I have over-hopped the beer, as it tastes very bitter in the fermentor
6. Taking a post-boil SG reading straight into your plastic hydrometer dip-tube is not smart, see attached photo
7. Fitting the f&*king airline onto the airstone is the hardest part of the entire brew day, and ended up resulting in the air-stone falling into the bottom of the fermentor- at least it was sterile
8. Your hop-sock turns a lovely shade of green after use, which you can't clean off.

All up it was a brilliant day, and according to the software the efficiency wasn't too bad either- although I was surprised by how little wort went into the fermentor, as I was boiling on the stove-top. I ended up boiling for more like 75-80min than 60min though.

Appreciate any comments or suggestions, I've included some photo's below as well.

Remi

Mash_in.jpeg
Sparge.jpeg
Lauter.jpeg
Spent_Grain.jpeg
In_the_kettle.jpeg
Dip_tube_anyone.jpeg
Aeration.jpeg
 
Just wanted to introduce myself,

Long-time lurker, 1st time poster. Have made the transition from K+K and bottling, to AG and kegs in the last few weeks- with much associated spending!

first rule of ahb, we dont talk about the spending ;)

seriously though, welcome aboard. looks like you should have yourself quite a nice beer when its all done. and thanks for posting the lessons learned. rest assured at least one person will take precautions they hadnt thought of just by reading that.
joe
 
Congrats Remi & welcome to the forum... Great pics & looks like a nice recipe so should be good. :super:
I assume your preboil gravity reading is an error, but looks like you hit all your targets, which is an excellent result for a first brew.
You have now offically come over to the dark side, so be warned....the obsession has only just begun...... Mwahahahaha...

Cheers Ross
 
Recipe looks good, only thing that stands out is your first hop addition. It's recommended to boil 15 minutes or so before hopping to drive off DMS, etc.

Green hopsocks are just well-seasoned... just don't do what I did and rinse it but forget to clean it. Opening your clean kettle next brewday to a foul smell and a hopsock with hop debris and mould growing in it is not pleasant!




Hahahaha, that made me laugh; now you have an excuse to get a refractometer! :)

Cheers.
 
Heheh - (supposed to have picture of melted hydrometer sample tube)

Did Pistol Pat give you lessons perchance??

Seriously though - welcome to your new obsession :ph34r: where even your average efforts sh*t all over whats on the shelf out there.

Enjoy

RM
 
Welcome and well done, I can't stop laughing :lol: I made some of the same mistakes and lurked for ages, but on a lower level before posting [started partials etc].
Love it, another Soul lost to All Grain. :p
 

Latest posts

Back
Top