First Ag This Weekend

[Hefty]

After accumulating gear slowly over the past few months and thanks to some generosity from a mate who just upgraded his system, I'll finally be doing my first AG brew this weekend!
I'm basing my recipe on AndrewQLD's CPA clone, but I might end up changing out the dark crystal for some light crystal I have access to that is particularly fresh at the moment. (I know it won't be exactly the same but it will be good beer none-the-less)
I'm going for something lighter for summer but hopefully this recipe should still be fairly forgiving for a first timer.
My starter is bubbling away as we speak and I'm getting excited.

HABAHAGD! :icon_cheers:
Jono.

PS. I'll try to remember to take as many photos as possible.

 

[AndrewQLD]

Have fun Jono, hopefully you will have a smooth brew day without any hiccups.
Is your mate going to be there on the day to lend you a helping hand?
Photos of the day would be good and a bit of feedback on the brew when it's finally tapped would be great as well.

Good luck.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[QldKev]

And some samples sent to Bundy so we can provide feedback

Welcome to the world of brewing

QldKev

 

[raven19]

Remember to pencil down your progression, times, temps, volumes to help refine your next batch also.

I am sure it will go well! :icon_cheers:

 

[Hefty]

Have fun Jono, hopefully you will have a smooth brew day without any hiccups.
Is your mate going to be there on the day to lend you a helping hand?
Photos of the day would be good and a bit of feedback on the brew when it's finally tapped would be great as well.

Good luck.

Cheers
Andrew

Unfortunately, my mate has to work but I may call him several times during the day
I'll try to get some photos this afternoon of my system and the starter building up etc.

I'm still torn between sticking to your recipe so I have a reference for future brews and swapping in a bit more of this light crystal instead of the dark.
Maybe I'll just have to pump out another one ASAP using the light while it's still fresh. That way I can compare the two recipes before I empty the kegs. :icon_drool2:

HABAHAGD! :icon_cheers:
Jono.

 

[Hefty]

Well I couldn't take photos last nigt coz the rain kept me from going out to the shed, but, SWMBO is sick so i'm home helping with the kids today and managed to take these:

The whole kit and kaboodle. I still have to sew the bag. Not BIAB, just bag instead of false bottom.
Oh, and I'll be heating the strike and sparge water in a smaller 20L pot on the kitchen stove to save the gas for the boil.

Inside the kettle, showing the elbow barb pick up tube. Hard to tell in this shot but it is angled down to just above the bottom of the kettle too.

Inside the mash tun showing the copper pickup tube. The bag will sit over this so the copper is bent down towards the bottom and has a small protuberence on one side of the end to hold it up about 5mm off the bottom of the tun so it will still drain.

I was gonna take a photo of the starter but it doesn't look very impressive yet. Adding the next build up of starter wort today.

Getting excited!! :beerbang:
HABAHAGD! :icon_cheers:
Jono.

 

[Hefty]

STOP PRESS!!
Because my wife and I are both home sick, brewing has been brought forward to today!!
Mashed in at 1:30pm. 65*C (1 degree high but I'm happy with that for my first time)
Here's the mash in the bag in the tun:


and here's the sparge water heating on the stove inside:


Hopefully more photos to come soon!

HABAHAGD!! :icon_cheers:
Jono.

 

[dpadden]

Awesome Hefty...Hope you're feeling OK, being home sick and all :unsure:

 

[Hefty]

LOL
I know, it sounds like a "sicky" but my sinuses are packed to the rafters and I've been sneezing all day.
You should have seen me when I opened the hops. I sneezed so many times, so fast, I could barely get a breath in between!
My sinuses did clear for a little while though. Probably because I kept my head over the kettle

HABAHAGD!
Jono.

 

[Hefty]

Well, the boil is over half way through and I thought I'd take the chance to post a few more photos.
Measuring out the hops. The scale said 27grams when I lifted the camera for the shot. 27g POR 8.3%

The physical carrying out of the sparge went well but I was a fair bit lower than I had hoped on my mash out temp. Barely got into the 70's and that was with water just off the boil.
I'll have to look into that.
Here are the first runnings to recirculate. Probably not necessary with the bag being so fine but I wanted to be sure.

First runnings to the kettle

FWH into the kettle. I have tried a fair few of my mates brews using FWH and I really like it so I tried it for my first.

 

[Hefty]

Nothing like a good hot break!

Peek-a-boo

SHE WON'T HOLD! SHE'S BREAKING UP!!!

Gotta go. About to go and add whirlfloc.

HABAHAGD! :icon_cheers:
Jono.

 

[AndrewQLD]

Looking good Hefty, I bet your feeling better already.
I wouldn't worry too much about the mash out temp it's not that important for your first few brews.

looks like the boil is up and running and your having fun.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Hefty]

Yeah feeling a lot better, thanks Andrew!
Added whirlfloc at 10 mins to flameout and now I'm just counting down to whirlpool and hot pack for no chilling.

HABAHAGD!
Jono.

 

[woodmac66]

Looks good Hefty!
Sounds like it all went pretty smooth.
Top effort !

 

[Hefty]

Yep, I'm pretty stoked with my first AG experience!!
Just under 4 hours from mash-in to hot packed (including clean up!).
Final statistics:
Pre-boil Volume: 32L
Pre-boil Gravity: 1.032
Post-boil Volume: Estimating 20L after racked off whirlpooled trub as it didn't quite fill a cube I know to hold 23L. 4 ring burner was better than I expected!
Post-boil Gravity: 1.046

HABAHAGD! :icon_cheers:
Jono.

 

[Hefty]

Ok, this could be a long post. Could someone/anyone confirm if this is correct for calculating my efficiency compared to extract potential?
I believe this equation should give me maximum potential gravity points (without the 1.0 in front)

(Weight of grain x extract potential percentage)/ 0.97 (for equivalent weight of dry extract)

(Volume/4)

My answer to this was .59 so 1.059. My post-boil sg was 1.046.

If the above equation is right then dividing the actual by the potential gets me a touch short of 78% efficiency. Does this sound right? I’ll be stoked if it is!
(Hey, it wasn't that long after all!)

HABAHAGD! :icon_cheers:

Jono.