Brew Ends In Tears

[Gout]

Well brewing friends, Last night i started my English pale ale of sorts, based on a recipe in my x-mas "Pale Ale" book and some guess work etc

Anyway all was going well, i turned the wort cooler on and had a hot spa... once i got out i thought ok time to get this puppy in the fermentor well thats when "SPLASH" wort all over the place, i scored only 6Lt in the fermentor !!!

Yes at the final step i lost the lot, this was about 1am at this stage i was mega pissed off and started the next brew! (same again to replace my loss) I finally decided i should go to bed.

now i am starting again! boo hoo This better taste good for all the effort


But I was drinking a skunk fart ale, when a mate turned up with a SLAB OF LCPA i though what the!!!!

so he got some out and we had a stubbie, i must say next to the skunk fart, i wasn't impressed the skunk fart tasted fresher, cleaner, more flavour bitterness and aroma!!! Maybe it was a bad stubbie (i'll try again tonight) but gee i was happy to get back on the SFA once he went! True story...

 

[big d]

onya ben that will make jayses day/night

 

[RegBadgery]

Speaking of losing wort - I recently left the boiler tap open while transferring wort from the mash to the boiler - left the kitchen - came back later and saw wort all over the floor. Happily it was only a couple of litres but it was a bugger to clean up all the sam.

cheers
reg

 

[deebee]

I had a bad LCPA recently from a fish n chip shop in Freo just down the road from LC brewery. Harsh bitterness. Little aroma. I have gone off buying the bottles now and only drink it on tap.

 

[joecast]

where to start? tried my first ag yesterday to start the year off right.

MLT leaked...fixed that.

couldnt find my thermometer...found that. meanwhile mash water got to 70C while i was searching = forget the 50C protien rest.

iodine tests (about 12) all came up showing starch present = 3 hour mash = some sweetness in the wort but lots of what i think are tannins??

boil...ok
wort chiller...ok
sg prior to boil...1060 (not bad)
transfer to fermenter...only got 12l!!! damn!! added 2l cool water and pitched yeast anyway.

experience gained...heaps!!

 

[Jovial_Monk]

Brewing, well, homebrewing is a craft, but even old ladies knitting count their stitches!

I bought a 2foot wooden spoon, originally for stirring the mash, now I use it in the kettle exclusively. I have burned marks in the handle to show where 19, 23, 25 & 27L are, and try to make sure that 25L are in the kettle post boil which will give me 23L in the fermenter.

The same thing applies to (horror) diluting the beer. G=SG-1000

V1 * G1 = V2 * G2

you can measure Volume 1 & Gravity 1, then if you want to dilute to Volume 2 the gravity after dilution will be V1 * G1/V2.

Likewise, if you want to dilute to a new gravity the new total volume will be

V1 * G1/G2

So, you use the tools of the craft, hydrometers, volumetric marks, the little bit of brewmaths needed etc rather than just muddling through and guessing. We do housebrewing not backyard brewing.


Jovial Monk

 

[big d]

yep
ya gotta make sure the kitchen is in order.
i reckon pre start checks are a must