Brewday !

[browndog]

Right now it is 6:55am, just finishing off a coffee and perusing the forum before heading downstairs to do AG#2. I'm using AndrewQLD's Bosun Best Bitter recipe and look forward to the day running much more smoothly thanks to the purchase of a better gas burner, refractometer, hop bags and a fermentation fridge and the experience from the first attempt. Righto I'm off.

cheers

Browndog

 

[manaen]

Good luck browndog, I will be turning to the dark side soon to have some fun too.

 

[Jye]

better gas burner, refractometer, hop bags and a fermentation fridge

Good luck browndog, thats a lot of new toys to cope with all at once

 

[Hoops]

Hahaha, great stuff browndog, gone AG, bought gas burner, refractometer, hop bags and a fermentation fridge??
My friend you have been definitely bitten by the bug!
Seriously a great way to start AG by biting the bullet and just buying all the bits you need. In my opinion you will NEVER regret buying a fermentation fridge. This QLD summer was a perfect example of why fermentation fridges are so valuable.
Good luck with todays brew

Hoops

 

[Ross]

Is it in the fermenter yet Browndog?

Here's hoping, no news is good news

cheers Ross

 

[browndog]

Hi Ross, it has been in the fermentation fridge since about 12, just waiting for it to get down to 20C before adding the yeast. This time things ran much smoother (didn't forget anything, everything worked) however when I went to check the gravity, I realised I had no idea how to convert brix to SG so had to use the hydometer anyway. I brewed Andrews Bosun Best Bitter the preboil gravity was supposed to be 1.040 and I only managed to achieve 1.030. Original gravity was supposed to be 1.050 and mine came to 1.040 so I don't know what went wrong there as I followed the mash and batch sparge to the letter.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Ross]

however when I went to check the gravity, I realised I had no idea how to convert brix to SG so had to use the hydometer anyway.

[post="105274"][/post]​

Multiply the figure by 4.1 & inset 10 in front - ie your preboil gravity should have read 7.3
7.3 x 4.1 = 30 = 1030. Hope that makes sense...

When your preboil gravity turned out low you could have added a bit of extra time to the beginning your boil to compensate...

cheers Ross

 

[Jye]

Original gravity was supposed to be 1.050 and mine came to 1.040 so I don't know what went wrong there as I followed the mash and batch sparge to the letter.

Since getting my refractometer I have started a new folder in Beersmith called 'Corrected Brews', if I find my pre boil gravity to be off I go back and alter the hopping schedule and final volume if required.... it makes the brew day even more interesting when you have to change things on the fly

 

[PeterS]

Hi Ross, it has been in the fermentation fridge since about 12, just waiting for it to get down to 20C before adding the yeast. This time things ran much smoother (didn't forget anything, everything worked) however when I went to check the gravity, I realised I had no idea how to convert brix to SG so had to use the hydometer anyway. I brewed Andrews Bosun Best Bitter the preboil gravity was supposed to be 1.040 and I only managed to achieve 1.030. Original gravity was supposed to be 1.050 and mine came to 1.040 so I don't know what went wrong there as I followed the mash and batch sparge to the letter.

cheers

Browndog

[post="105274"][/post]​

Hi Browndog. The time to adjust your gravity should have been at the preboil time when you noticed that it was low. Let me guess. You used the BeerSmith software to formulate your recipe. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with BeerSmith, Promash or any of the other brew programs.. I am saying this as I had similar results when I started and could not work out why when temps and timings on the mash were correct. It is just a possibility that the recipe was not scaled and adjusted to your system. Still, you will find that the result will still be a nice beer.

Cheers,
PeterS.... :beerbang:

 

[browndog]

Well there you go how simple is that. I had a reading of 9% then a reading od 10.5% so that translates into 1.037 aprox. and 1.043 so that is a little better (and I hope somewhat more accurate than my hydrometer readings)
Peter, I did use beersmith for the recipe! I guess it is something else to come to terms with.
As to extending the boil, howwould you work out how long to extend the boil to achieve a specific OG?

cheers

Browndog

 

[Ross]

Well there you go how simple is that. I had a reading of 9% then a reading od 10.5% so that translates into 1.037 aprox. and 1.043 so that is a little better (and I hope somewhat more accurate than my hydrometer readings)
Peter, I did use beersmith for the recipe! I guess it is something else to come to terms with.
As to extending the boil, howwould you work out how long to extend the boil to achieve a specific OG?

cheers

Browndog

[post="105280"][/post]​

Browndog,

Until you get the variables of your brew set up correctly it's easiest to use the readings from your previous batch. I have found that my pre & post readings on a typical 5.2% beer are 2.4 brix apart. So for a SG of 1052 = 12.7 brix, I need a preboil reading of 10.4. If this reading is low, boil for 10 mins & take another reading. From this result you can calculate the extra time needed. Probably best to make a slightly larger batch than you need until you get comfortable with your effiencys - or you could just add some dme to the boil instead...

 

[browndog]

Thanks Ross,
I can see that there is no substitute for hands on experience. Hopefully once my system is stable I'll be able to make preditions just as you mention.

cheers

Browndog