First Ag Is Mashing As We Speak....

[MVZOOM]

YAaahooo! It's in. My first AG - although its only 11l batch.

Heated 16l of water in a fermenter w/ my immersion heater - took about 30mins. While that was going on, gor the grain measured up - here's the call:

2KG JW Ale
200g Amber Ale
100g Weat

Mashed w/8.5L of water - and hit 67deg after a really good stir! My mash tun creaked and moaned during the water addition, but it'll live.

Now, I need to measure out my hops - 50g Amarillo. I'll be going with:

7g @ 60mins
10g @ 15 mins
10g @ 5mins
10g @ Flame out
Dry Hop 12g

Must get to measuring...

Cheers - Mike

 

[homebrewworld.com]

mvzoom,
Good on ya mate ! :beerbang:
All will be good !

:super:

 

[Punter]

Way to go MV,
No looking back now eh? :super:

 

[Mr Bond]

Onya MV,
Looks like a JS golden type ale.
What yeast are u using ?
US 56 would work well .

 

[Archie]

Nice work on the First All Grain,
You will be hooked hahah
I noticed you mashed in with 8 1/2 litres of water.
Seems like alot of water for the small amount of grain.
Anyway Congrats

Archie

 

[MVZOOM]

Onya MV,
Looks like a JS golden type ale.
What yeast are u using ?
US 56 would work well .

Thanks Braulover - I'm using White Labs American Ale, will ferment at around 16degC. Thought I'd treat myself!

Nice work on the First All Grain,
You will be hooked hahah
I noticed you mashed in with 8 1/2 litres of water.
Seems like alot of water for the small amount of grain.
Anyway Congrats

Archie

Archie - yeah, it seems a lot to me too. This is via Beersmith, total vol of 13l to get an 11l batch. 2 batch sparges, first with 6l, second with 1l. It seems a bit sloppy?! The OG will tell, I guess!

Cheers - Mike

 

[bugwan]

Congrats MVZOOM! Great news.

The test will be in the tasting, but I'm sure you'll enjoy the fruits of your labour. There's nothing quite like knocking another pint off your own work!

Cheers

 

[MVZOOM]

Quick question on the sparge - how long should I leave each batch sparge in for? Get water in, stir, leave for ??? time - recirculate and flow off.

Anyone fill in the question marks?

CVheers - Mike

 

[Mr Bond]

15 mins is my usual, then recirc until clear and drain.

16 c is an excellent temp for a clean crisp flava with that strain,don't sweat it if it gets up to 18c though.

Good luck and have fun :excl:

 

[PistolPatch]

Exciting stuff. I never thought of doing 11 litres before and I live in an apartment! Would love to hear what equipment etc you used. With 11 litres, you could probably brew without having to invest too much and it must be a great way for people to try out AG. Good on you Mike!

If you do get time, I'd really appreciate the details.

Bugwan wrote that the, 'test is in the tasting.' I reckon tonight, the test will be you getting to bed before midnight but with 11 litres, I think you can probably do it!

All the best,
PP

 

[MVZOOM]

OK - CRISIS! The SS braid (I think) is too low and the egress point too high up - isn't allowing drainage. I tested it for not long enough, obvisouly.

Reaching down with coathangers only works for a while - the drainage just stops! Starts with a huge gush and slows down to nothing.

Bugger.

Any suggestions?

 

[Archie]

Yeah i normally use 2.5 litres to each kg of grain then 3 litres of water to each kg of grain for fly sparging.

Anyway enjoy yourself its great fun

Archie

 

[MVZOOM]

OK - if I mose the braid up, liquid comes through. It will then peter out to nothng. If I move the braid down, same deal. If I move the grain around, get more flow, but ultimately it stops.

Blew back into the braid and woooosh, heaps of wort comes through - but then slows and stops. Maybe my braid's blocking? :angry: .

 

[pint of lager]

Do you have some sort of mesh? Cheesecloth, fine net curtain or clean flyscreen mesh pegged over a bucket, so that it forms a depression to hold your grain and gently pour your sparge water through it. Or a fine mesh colander/strainer for vegies, do the grain in two lots.

 

[tangent]

good on ya for not wussing out and adding a can of goo
try a stir with some hot water additions and be happy with a cloudy runoff
leave some more crud in your kettle afterwards.
edit - and what POL said

 

[MVZOOM]

This is pre-sparge fellas, still on the main runoff. ONly way I get action is to run a coathanger around the braid, which gives me flow. She's gonna be a dirty beer.

I prefer my women like that and my beer clean!

 

[PistolPatch]

Mike, how many litres have you got out so far? I'd say just keep stirring things around in the tun to keep things moving. Don't worry about clarity.

If worse comes to worse disconnect your braid. Then do as POL said and just strain your liquor through anything.

The only disadvantage you are going to get is hot side aeration and cloudiness but it's your first AG so don't get overly worried about anything especially clarity. Jiggle away.

Good luck
Pat

 

[PistolPatch]

Mike, just saw your post about this being pre-sparge. You are going to get bugger all liquid out of your pre-sparge so you might be panicking about nothing. Stop what you're doing and add your sparge water in. Let's see how that goes. I think you'll be OK.

EDIT: In fact, there's nothing wrong with you having a relax now for a quarter or half an hour and thinking things through. Just means you'll be in bed 15 minutes later. Have a beer (if you haven't already had 20) and see if any of the above advice makes sense then get back into it.

 

[MVZOOM]

Thanks PP, I was trying to have my third AFD of the week, this has made me pour a nice lager to get my head around it! Made a deal with myself - I can have a beer as long as I do a 5km sprint tomorrow before work.

Ok, I got 6.5l off the first run off, have added 7l of sparge water and am waiting 15mins before we go again.

Cheers for your help everyone - everything was going so damned well!

 

[Screwtop]

Congrats on the first, your taste buds will never alow you to go back. As there are no dark grains in your mash I'm suspecting your grist was crushed too fine (crushed dark grains will settle like a film of mud over the top of your grain bed and block runnings). Braid works well otherwise. Don't worry about egress depth etc. It all just works if your grist is crushed properly.