First Ag. The Brew-day Plan So Far.

[snagler]

You cant go wrong with dr smurtos recipe, its a top drop. I just finished my first keg of it.

No tweaking of the recipe necessary in my opinion, Tastes great young too :icon_drool2:

 

[trevc]

Glad it tastes good young, our brews never last. Even the poor Belgian Strong Ale didn't have time to fully mature.

 

[Crusty]

Dr Smurto's the one I'm doing as my first AG.
I'm not quite up with the Brew lingo just yet & have a couple of questions for you trev.
Yeast additions 1.4 ea is? I'm guessing thats adding the yeast to 1.4 litres of water, each?
I looked on Craftbrewer website & found the Fermentis Safale US-05 but couldnt find the other one.
Is this two yeast additions or should I make my way back to the Kegerator?
Any advantage adding two yeasts?
Dr Smurto's recipe says 12 ml Wyeast labs 1056 American Ale. I found it on the Crafbrewer website. Is the packet 12 ml ?
Crusty

 

[remi]

my first Ag earlier this year was an apa with predominant amarillo hop character/ a bit of cascade. was easily the best beer i've ever made, and had mates claiming it was one of the best they've ever tasted... which is probably just the copious beer talking. still- never looked back, as I'm sure you won't. Good luck...

remi

 

[trevc]

Dr Smurto's the one I'm doing as my first AG.
I'm not quite up with the Brew lingo just yet & have a couple of questions for you trev.
Yeast additions 1.4 ea is? I'm guessing thats adding the yeast to 1.4 litres of water, each?
I looked on Craftbrewer website & found the Fermentis Safale US-05 but couldnt find the other one.
Is this two yeast additions or should I make my way back to the Kegerator?
Any advantage adding two yeasts?
Dr Smurto's recipe says 12 ml Wyeast labs 1056 American Ale. I found it on the Crafbrewer website. Is the packet 12 ml ?
Crusty

Hey Crusty,

1.4ea was just some random measurement Beertools spit out. I'm intending to use 1 pack of us-05 (re-hydrated), this one from craftbrewer:
http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=851 I usually use Wyeast, so I'm trying something different. It's nice to not need a starter.

I'm fairly certain wyeast 1056 and fermentis/craftbrewer s05 are all the same strain, or very similar. Hopefully someone can verify.

We're doing the brew session tomorrow. I'm just testing my new water supply to the balcony now, along with boiling the kettle and cleaning out the clear hoses and mashtun.

 

[Crusty]

Thanks trev,
I understand it now.
Still heading out to the Kegerator though.
I still have about 1/3 of a keg of Coopers Canadian Blonde left & am looking forward to filling both kegs with my first AG.
Keep a record of all your temps whether you hit or miss your targets.
Good luck tomorrow.
Cheers,
Crusty

 

[trevc]

Just finished testing all the gear, everything went very well. 40L to a full boil in just under 90min. This is in stealth mode though, I'm sure It could do better on the various "worry the neighbours" settings. The stinky paint burning off the stand was bad enough... I'm sure other apartments were wondering what was going on. It was a bit windy too, so I was probably losing a lot of burn efficiency.

My new temporary plumbing running from the bathroom to balcony held up without losing a drop

Tomorrow is the first brew-day for 15th Floor Brewing Co., starting at 4pm. Good thing too.. we're running low.

 

[Screwtop]

heat water to around that temp 65*C

stick in the thermometers you have and see if any are out

cheers

Spot on Cortez, its Common Dog Fcuk really eh?

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Has anyone else here used the beerbelly false bottom for their first AG? I'd be curious to hear what sort of efficiencies were managed. A couple of people told me they regularly get around 80% or slightly more, so that's where I came up with 75% from. Perhaps I was a bit too optimistic

I've been using the beerbelly false bottom recently - It has allowed me to crush finer without stuck sparges - so getting stuck shouldn't be an issue - it left the manifold i had for dead

Your efficiency will depend on your crush / water chemistry and a multitude of other variables

I'd be inclined to run with a 70% efficiency on your first go and if you go over you can add top up water to your wort or savour a better than expected efficiency

Some way of measuring your kettle volumes will be invaluable for your first few brews until you are familiar with it

I found that initially I was taking measurements all the time - but later reduced the number as I began getting predictable results

Goodluck

Cheers

 

[Julez]

I've been using the beerbelly false bottom recently - It has allowed me to crush finer without stuck sparges - so getting stuck shouldn't be an issue - it left the manifold i had for dead

Your efficiency will depend on your crush / water chemistry and a multitude of other variables

I'd be inclined to run with a 70% efficiency on your first go and if you go over you can add top up water to your wort or savour a better than expected efficiency

Some way of measuring your kettle volumes will be invaluable for your first few brews until you are familiar with it

I found that initially I was taking measurements all the time - but later reduced the number as I began getting predictable results

Goodluck

Cheers

I'd agree with this - I've been using a BB falsie since AG #1. First few batches were around 73% eff. and often getting 85% + now. I reckon assume 70% as well, you shouldn't go too far wrong. If you get a higher efficiency, as Cortez says, that's a bonus, you will get a bit more beer out of it

The other thing too, be prepared on the day with either you brewing software or formulae handy, so you can work out your efficiency and target gravity quickly and easily post-mash/pre-boil, alter hop additions on the fly, etc. I also like to keep a printed sheet handy on brew day that lists SG temp adjustments, etc.

But it looks like you've done all the research and I don't reckon you'll have any probs. Good luck :beer:

 

[trevc]

Just thought I'd add a follow up here...

Over all, the brew session went really well. I think our temperatures were close enough.

• We nailed exactly 66C for the mash, and it only dropped maybe 0.25 of a degree over 75 minutes, hardly anything measurable.
• The target mash-out temperature was 76C, and we ended up at 72.5C. I decided to leave it at that instead of adding boiling water... looking back, I probably should've just added more water, then decreased my batch sparge after that to match. Perhaps that might have improved our efficiency. Can anyone confirm this?
• We spilled about 2-3L of wort due to an open tap in the kettle!
• Our calculated efficiency ended up at just about 65%, final gravity was 1.046... at least it's nice and true to the JSGA style. Surely we'll do better than 65 next time.

The biggest mistake we made was drinking too much beer throughout the whole process. I suspect this was the root cause of any issues

And now the end result...
Holy ****. The flavour of the un-fermeted wort is AMAZING. :icon_cheers: Very, very good. There's no way any kit beer could possibly taste this good, even with full boils. It's delicious stuff. I saved a small bit in the fridge for my wife to try, but I doubt she'll be as excited

The toughest part was cleaning up, everything else was easy. Bring on the double batches!

Thanks to everyone who runs this forum, and all of you guys contributing the wealth of information, it's a huge help. I bought my first Coopers kit 3 months ago, and would likely still be playing with extracts if it weren't for AHB. Cheers!

 

[drsmurto]

Havent been able to access AHB much lately.

I too an impressed by the amount of thought you put into the process, hardly a surprise to hear that it all went well as a result.

Keep us posted of the results post fermentation - i have one of these on tap now and will be making a beeline for it when i get home tonight!

Cheers
DrSmurto

 

[MVZOOM]

Agree with the Dr. You put a lot of thought into it, bought the right gear and planned well. I guess that breaks down the 'mystery' - it's a lot better to spend the money up front, get the right kit and follow a plan.

Well done, you will be stoked when you bottle / keg that one and it will, I have no doubt be the best beer you have had.

I remember my first taste of my first AG - it was magic.

Cheers - Mike

 

[Cortez The Killer]

How'd the efficiency go?

Cheers

 

[trevc]

Thanks for the recipe Dr Smurto. Mine should work out to around 28IBU's, I'll dry hop in secondary too... I ended up changing the recipe to 25L final volume after I realised my 28L cube can be squeezed to accommodate the lower volume.

I'm sure decreasing my alcohol consumption will result in greater efficiency for next time. It's a good thing my balcony has a proper drain.

Brewing in a high-rise in the middle of Surfers is pretty funny, I'm glad it all went well and no neighbours complained. The malt smell in the hallways was VERY strong (but good). I'm sure people around us were wondering wtf was going on. The balconies and bedrooms above us would've had a good whiff

 

[trevc]

How'd the efficiency go?

Cheers

Pretty bad, 65%. The 3L spillage decreased our final volume, and the lower mash-out temp probably didn't help either.

Not worried though, the wort is 1.046 and tasting perfect.

 

[Crusty]

Well done Trev,
I should get my grain order by Friday & hope to do my first AG this Saturday, Dr Smurto's JSGA clone recipe. I have to use the Munich II instead of Munich I as stock is not available. Slightly darker but will still be awesome I'm sure.
Looks like it's gunna be a cracker tasting good that early.
Cheers,
Crusty

 

[trevc]

Thanks Crusty... I'm sure yours will go well. The recipe is fairly solid, I think it would be hard to really stuff it up.

I'd recommend making a sequential "brew day" check list... that was a huge help, especially since we were beering it up and listening to tunes the whole time. I might also suggest aiming for a stronger version than the recipe, say around or just under 5%. If things go well, you'll get a slightly stronger beer, but if you're less efficient you'll still be in the 4.5% range. I'd rather have a bit extra than go below the 4.5% mark and end up with a "mid".

 

[drsmurto]

Arrrrrrrgh. My golden ale is being no chilled.

As for efficiency, it sounds like you have a similar setup to me - a 55L esky with a beerbelly falsie. Got to love them, makes life so much easier. I get 70%

 

[trevc]

Yeah, sorry No-chill means less gear to buy, and AG sooner. Bring on the botu-brew!