Finally, An Ag Resides In My Fridge

[PistolPatch]

Well it's 9pm and Ross has just headed home leaving behind, my first AG, a wealth of knowledge and several laughs which were, not all, at my expense.

Brewers Details: After picking him up at 7am we mashed in at 9:45am and pitched at around 2:45pm. Brewhouse eficiency somewhere around 70%. Drinking beer and humour efficiency approached 100. So, quite a successful day.

Other Details: Apart from producing an all grain Scwartzbier, we also managed to sample 21 different beers. (Ross had 19, I'm on the 20th now and by the time I finish I'll have done the 21st.)

Thanks: I'm not too sure of forum etiquette and probably never will be. If doing your first AG is a good excuse to thank people then I'll grasp that. Surely thanking people can never be wrong even if you have had 20.5 beers? So...

There's one moderator here who has nursed me especially. Thank you. You know who you are.

There are other moderators who have been been extremely polite and taken the time to steer me gently in the correct direction when I needed it (Whoops! You've had too many beers Pistol, and, can you lower your enthusiasm a tad?) Thank you.

I've never had that comment from a mod yet but probably deserve it daily.

There are too many of you here that offered me one on one help via email, Skype, etc. or have given excellent advice through posting detailed replies to AHB. Some of these offers I have embarrassingly not even had time to respond to. Sorry about that! Thank you.

Something is telling me that Ross is probably already home and I really wanted to finish this post before he had any chance of getting in first!...

The main thanks has to go to Ross. His generosity in every area has amazed me. I hope that one day, I'll be able to pass on what I learned today and be as generous.

Many thanks
PP

P.S.. AussieClaret was able to join us after work and Ross and I were both amazed that he had just done his first AG last weekend without any sort of guidance. Aussie reckons he did a bit of a cowboy job but I reckon he did brilliantly. I would have failed totally today without Ross. For a start, a 20 lt bucket does not suffice for a mash tun! Aussie is getting a whole new brewery set-up on Sunday so hopefully we can help each other out a little in our early AG days. Unfortunately, Foz is teaching at the moment in Brisbane and couldn't join us. The only other Gold Coaster I know of, Old Dog, couldn't make it. He's a good mate of AussieClaret's though and was an active participant in the, 'Cowboy,' AG!

 

[MVZOOM]

Awesome PP, without doubt you're one of the most passionate 'new' brewers here - great to see you get to the AG goal. I hope it brews brilliantly and tastes as good as it possbily can!

Cheers - Mike

 

[razz]

Well done PP ! Before you know it you will be looking 4 a house with a shed :beerbang:

 

[johnno]

Good to hear it worked out well PP.

No stopping you now. You will be churning them out quick enough.

cheers
johnno

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Ross will probaly have another 20 beers after he gets home, before he goes to bed...

 

[doglet]

Congrats PP. The sense of achievement your feeling today can only be bettered by tasting the first bottle or glass of YOUR all grain beer! :beer:

 

[PistolPatch]

So nice to read the above. Really appreciated. Can hardly type now as I made it to the 21st beer. Have to get up at 5:30 so I'll hand this thread over to Ross - he's got all the photos anyway!

(As for passion/enthusiasm. It actually means, in Latin, 'the God within.' In my case, it probably means the beer within! Ross certainly brought the beer gods out today - we didn't even run out of gas!)

I think I better go to bed now!

PP

Morning Edit: As you can see, tasting all those beers didn't affect me at all B)

 

[peas_and_corn]

Congrats on making your first AG! I'm sure you'll be making many-a-batch from now on!

 

[Mr Bond]

ONYA :beer:

 

[arsenewenger]

PP, sounds like You had a blast. after meeeting Ross on his trip last year I agree with You about his generostiy with many replies to many of My emaiols to him.

I am well on the way to AG land myself and after reading this thread I must get that moving alot faster


Well Done :beer:
Cheers
AW

 

[Ross]

Congratulations Pat, your 1st AG in the bag :beer:
Had a fabulous day - wonderful company, great food, washed down by an excellent array of German beers & a few homebrews.
We had to wing it a bit as we went, but everything fell into place pretty smoothly - Anyway, they say a picture's worth a thousand words (hey Pat )...
PART 1 - THE MASH

Heating the mash in water to 76c to acheive 67c mash



First problem of the day, 20L mashtun only just big enough to hold water & grain. Could have tried fly sparging, but Pat was keen to batch sparge. so we drained the water back out & looked for a better alternative



"Pete, your cooler box on top of the fridge looks the goods"



Much better size, now to convert



Bugger - tap won't close, we need an extension.



"Sure I've got what we need here somewhere"



Success!!!



Now fit the braid & we're all done



Pete gives the mash a stir - temp right on the money.



Water brought to boiling & 10L syphoned into mash for first sparge



Whoops - Pete take's another one for the boys when he discovers auto syphons don't like boiling water.



A neighbour watches on, still laughing, as Pete stirs up the mash for the first runoff



Transfering the first runoff back into the esky, being carefull not to stir up the bed,



Finally, we have wort going into the kettle

 

[pint of lager]

Congratulations to Pistolpatch on the first AG. It is great to see members of the forum increase their skills and equipment with the help of others from the board.

Hope you have lost your arrggghhh taste.

Well done Ross for your support.

Standard brews can be done in insulated 20 litre buckets, just don't attempt to do a barley wine or batch sparge.

 

[Duff]

Goes to show when you are determined to make a great beer, space limitations are not an issue Well done, you'll never forget your first sip of it in a few weeks.

Cheers.

 

[Steve Lacey]

Awesome! Lovely set of pics. Great improvisation on the mash tun (not sure why that esky wasn't called into play from teh get go, but we learn as we go, huh!). Underlines the importance of a much bigger mash tun when batch sparging. Looks like you had fun along the way, and that is the main thing.

Congratulations Pete, and kudos Ross for giving up your time and knowledge to oversee the birth of another all grain brewer. Though it doesn't seem like there was too much hardship involved ;-)

 

[Ross]

PART 2 THE BOIL

We didn't have a large enough kettle, so rather than adding water at the end, we boiled in 2 pots & split the hops additions propotionally between them.



Whoops - wrong lid



Pots were pretty full, so Pat has become a skimmer.



Ross's hopsock comes in handy for the extra pot.



Pat transfers boiling wort into the larger pot for chilling - Not to be recommened -The sooner he buys a large enough kettle the better.



Chilling the wort to approx 35c



Attahed chiller to a pond pump & submereged in iced water for final chill down to 17c



Into the fermenter



The S/S airstone does it's bit for 20 mins & the yeast is pitched.



One happy camper having cracked his AG cherry.



Finally - a picture of the great selection of German beers that Pat provided. Many of these I hadn't tasted before. Don't ask for any reviews, they were all nice, but the memory's blurred.



Cheers Ross

 

[OLD DOG]

Hi guys,

sorry I couldnt make it. sounds like you had a great time and by the photos plenty of laughs too. My loss again....

aussie claret has already giving me a hard time for missing a prime opportunity to meet two great guys.

Pistol Patch great work on your first AG and keep the passion alive.
I look forward to getting together at ACs place for our next BIG ag venture.

The wealth of knowledge on this site is second to none and great for all types of brewers, as we all aim at making each beer "our best". Also to fellow AHBs giving up their time to help fellow brewers alike, thanks to all.

respect
old dog


:super:

 

[Jye]

Could have sworn I could smell the wort when looking at the pic of the boil :beerbang:

So whats next

 

[jayse]

Firstly I must comment on the coherentness of your post after 20 beers, top work. :super: I ussually have trouble finding the keyboard let alone type on it. :blink:


Top work and I hope it comes up a treat.
Jayse

 

[warrenlw63]

Well done PP. Glad it's all happening. :beerbang:

You blokes who chill and transfer uncovered wort scare me. :lol:

Not trying to tell anybody how to suck eggs. OTOH Maybe fabricating something to cover your brewpot and putting the lid over the fermenter when chilling/transferring may be something to consider.

Enjoy the resultant beer.

Warren -

 

[Ross]

Not trying to tell anybody how to suck eggs. OTOH Maybe fabricating something to cover your brewpot and putting the lid over the fermenter when chilling/transferring may be something to consider.

[post="125657"][/post]​

Warren,

PP was concerned & wanted to put a towel over - I reckoned there was more risk of something dropping in off the towel than from the air. We could have used some glad wrap, but being inside a spotlessly clean unit, I told him to RHAHB - Gotta live on the edge a little sometimes


Cheers Ross