Fergis 1st All Grain Happening Now

[manticle]

Otherwise known as recirculating or vorlaufing if you're after info on the whys and wherefores, humulus.

 

[fergi]

i have noticed that my 0 min addition of 15 grms hops is for a secondry, i am not planning on secondary unless its a necessity, was thinking 10 days in fermenter then keg,. any opinions .sorry about all the short posts here.
fergi

 

[humulus]

Hi Hum,

I mean after you collect your first runnings & your mashtun is fully drained, instead of for example, sparging with 14lts water, break that into two x 7 litre sparges. Heat up your first 7 litres to desired sparge temp, add to mashtun, stir for a bit, let it settle for about 5mins or so, collect & return to mashtun & when clear let it go to kettle. Repeat this for the second batch sparge. I started doing this after omitting a mashout in my brew steps & my efficiency is always 80%+.

fergi,
Regarding your splashing into the kettle, manticle has a good point. HSA is often hotly debated & probably not so important on a home brew scale but as stated, may affect a judges point of view if they somehow picked that up. Just get into the practice of never letting your wort splash at any stage throughout the brewing process until it is chilled to fermenting temperature. This is the time to add oxygen to the wort to kick start your yeast addition. I gravity feed from my kettle to my fermenter so it foams up quite a bit, that seems to add enough oxygen to the wort for me.

Cheers Crusty thanks for your info,got everything ready to wack down a ag brew tomorrow(gotta luv rdo's) let you guys know how it turns out!

 

[humulus]

Otherwise known as recirculating or vorlaufing if you're after info on the whys and wherefores, humulus.

Thanks manticle as i told crusty im puttin down about my 4th ag brew and any info i can get is great!!! Totally stoked on how my First AG Beers have turned out id just really like to "fine tune "my brewing so i suppose the will be a few more questions posted later on down the track,anyway off to the shed to pour a cool one!!!!!!

 

[Crusty]

Cheers Crusty thanks for your info,got everything ready to wack down a ag brew tomorrow(gotta luv rdo's) let you guys know how it turns out!

Give the double batch sparge a go, you should see higher efficiency. Let us know how you go.

fergi,
Fermentation is another topic that everyone has their own views on. Personally, I would do a secondary if you are going to keg the beer. Leave her in primary for 10-14 days, transfer to secondary & add your 0 hop additions. Leave it there for another 7 days & test your SG. Hopefully you will be somewhere around 1.012-1.011, what yeast are you going to use?
After the 3rd week, I would transfer to keg, add 100kpa, burp 2-3 times & chill overnight. The next morning I would filter ( if you have one ) from keg to keg. 100kpa again, burp again & set your reg @ 80kpa for 1 week. After the week reduce to serving pressure & have a taste. Gets better @ week 2 onwards.

 

[fergi]

should i stir anytime during 60 min boil.
fergi

 

[fergi]

looks like i have a slow simmer going nicely, should i be a bit more aggresive with the boil.
fergi

 

[Crusty]

should i stir anytime during 60 min boil.
fergi

I do occasionally just to get antyhing off the sides from the rapid boil, hops debri etc.
Not something you have to do though, up to you.

 

[fergi]

Give the double batch sparge a go, you should see higher efficiency. Let us know how you go.

fergi,
Fermentation is another topic that everyone has their own views on. Personally, I would do a secondary if you are going to keg the beer. Leave her in primary for 10-14 days, transfer to secondary & add your 0 hop additions. Leave it there for another 7 days & test your SG. Hopefully you will be somewhere around 1.012-1.011, what yeast are you going to use?
After the 3rd week, I would transfer to keg, add 100kpa, burp 2-3 times & chill overnight. The next morning I would filter ( if you have one ) from keg to keg. 100kpa again, burp again & set your reg @ 80kpa for 1 week. After the week reduce to serving pressure & have a taste. Gets better @ week 2 onwards.

yeast is US 05
fergi

 

[Crusty]

looks like i have a slow simmer going nicely, should i be a bit more aggresive with the boil.
fergi

A nice rolling boil is supposed to be the optimum. I boil fairly agressively, 32 jet mongolian. I loose 6-8 litres during that hour though. I could probably back off a bit. Just keep it rolling mate.

 

[np1962]

looks like i have a slow simmer going nicely, should i be a bit more aggresive with the boil.
fergi

Boil should be done by now, but to answer this question, you need to boil hard enough to get 8 to 12% evaporation per hour.
From what you had said to me previously you were aiming for 15% which is more than what's necessary but with the kettles we use in homebrewing sometimes unavoidable.
If you boiled of 3-4 litres from your preboil then the vigour of your boil would of been fine.

I am one that will disagree with manticle with regards HSA and preboil splashing. You are going to boil for at least an hour so any oxygen that may have got into the runnings by a little splashing will be boiled out of the wort.
After the boil is a different matter, don't splash the wort before it has dropped below 40C. So when you are filling your cube in no chilling run your hose from the kettle to the bottom of the cube to avoid any splashing.

Hope all has finished well.
Cheers
Nige

 

[fergi]

ok guys its all finished,and cleaned up, now heres the rundown. i got 28 litres into my kettle from the mash, i cooled it down in the test tube and it came in at 140 on the hydrometer, 4.45 kg grain into the mash, i put 13 liter s @ 73 DEG into the mash and it settled to 66 deg , spot on, then after 1st runnings i put 10 liters @76 deg ,stirred and let sit for 5 mins, then i put another 10 liters @76 deg in and stirred, let sit for another 5 minutes.i got 28 liters into my boiler @140. after my 60 minute boil i got 21 liters into my cube with 2 liters of trub left in the boiler,thats 2 liters including a bit of wort, not sure how to work out efficiency ,i no chilled in a cube, sterilised the cube ,ran the boiling wort into the cube and filled it right to the top with hardly a bubble in it. now i guess i will leave it until tomorrow nite then run it into a fermenter and throw in the us05 yeast, set the fermenter fridge to 18 deg and wait,, now planning on waiting about 7/10 days then put into a secondry and throw in the other 15 grms of hops,leave it for a week then keg, how does this sound.

 

[Fuggle]

sounds about right, wd

 

[DUANNE]

I disagree.

Fergi - splashing hot wort can lead to hot side aeration. Splashing fermenting wort while the yeast is in anerobic phase can also lead to oxidation and is best avoided. The only time wort should be splashed is during the early part of the yeast's growth cycle.

Some people don't see this (HSA) as a problem on a homebrew scale and it may not matter if you don't plan to store the beer. Your beer won't automatically die so don't panic but next time I'd recommend using a tube - it's easy to do and gives peace of mind.

Congrats on your first.

hsa is a load of ********. according to charlie bamforth there is even one major us brewery that pumps o2 through theyre hot wort to achieve a cleaner beer. if your ferment is good enough ie pitching rate oxygenation and temp then it is not even worthy of mention.

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/475.

i do agree however that using a piece of hose will give you piece of mind though.

 

[manticle]

Going to have to do a test now. Somehow split a batch into two kettles, aerate the crap out of one and be gentle as a lamb with the other. Let both sit at least 12 months post ferment.

Maybe I can do away with my hoses.

Not sure it can be dismissed as ******** - just needs more examination, testing etc.

 

[Cocko]

An advantage of hose, depending on rig design, is you don't need to have your tun sitting right up over you kettle, so if you are using a burner you can fire it up after first runnings are in your kettle and start getting some heat into it without the risk of the heat damaging your tun. Obviously rig depending, mine is an advantage for the above and the bonus of, as beerhog said, piece of mind over the ever long battle of if HSA is an issue for HB'ers or not....

2c.

BTW: Good work Fergi!

 

[fergi]

well now i would like to work out my efficiency,how do i work that out guys, anyone help me out here.
cheers fergi

 

[jakub76]

well now i would like to work out my efficiency,how do i work that out guys, anyone help me out here.
cheers fergi

Assuming 4.25kg Pale Malt and 200g Crystal, 21 litres into fermenter you've got 60% efficiency. Depending on yeast choice and attenuation you should expect around 4% abv...maybe a touch more if you're priming.

If you get yourself some brewing software you'll be able to work out efficiency, keep better records of your brews and be better able to design recipes. I use BrewPal on the iPhone though most use ProMash or BeerSmith.
Best

EDIT: Just found your recipe...66% efficiency. Not bad considering your manifold issues :beer:

 

[np1962]

Assuming 4.25kg Pale Malt and 200g Crystal, 21 litres into fermenter you've got 60% efficiency. Depending on yeast choice and attenuation you should expect around 4% abv...maybe a touch more if you're priming.

If you get yourself some brewing software you'll be able to work out efficiency, keep better records of your brews and be better able to design recipes. I use BrewPal on the iPhone though most use ProMash or BeerSmith.
Best

Really not sure how you come to this figure.
Fergi hasn't given a gravity reading post boil, only preboil.
Using his preboil gravity and volume I would say he is much closer to something like 70-75%.
For a more accurate figure Fergi you will need to give us your grain bill and SG in the cube.
Cheers
Nige.

P.S. Good result mate by the sound of it, well done.

 

[jakub76]

Really not sure how you come to this figure.
Fergi hasn't given a gravity reading post boil, only preboil.
Using his preboil gravity and volume I would say he is much closer to something like 70-75%.
For a more accurate figure Fergi you will need to give us your grain bill and SG in the cube.
Cheers
Nige.

P.S. Good result mate by the sound of it, well done.

Oh...I assumed it was a post boil gravity of 1.040 If it's preboil then I'm getting more like 85% on my software.
Grain bill is here... http://tinyurl.com/6klb9v6