First all grain beer help

[SnailAle]

Gday guys,

I just bought myself a guten mash tun and want to do my first AG beer, mind you I've never made a beer before. Can anyone recommend or better yet direct me to a good first beer recipe to try?

I have no idea what's easy or hard but I do enjoy pales, IPA, Irish red ales, porters, pilsners, stouts etc. Pretty much anything that's not like a mainstream beer at your local pub.

Any suggestions or advice would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance all.

 

[Hermies]

Look up DrSmurtos Golden Ale its the go to recipe for a beginner or anyone who likes a good beer . Remember one thing sanitise anything ,anything that touches your wort after the boil , also try and keep ale temps around 18 or 19 degrees this will stop unwanted phenols like green apple flavour .A good ale yeast is recommended like US-05 this a dry yeast but a good soldier .
What part of Aus are you in ? that is are you in Aus ?

 

[2cranky]

Hey Snail,
Buy the BeerSmith app. It's only a few bucks.
Search the recipes through the app and use filters: search all grain sort by rating.
Pick what you like.
Watch all the YouTube on setting up BeerSmith for your brew rig.

- keep everything clean. Use sodium perc. Use starsan as well.
- have fun.

 

[SnailAle]

Thanks guys,

I'm in Vic, heading to Melbourne tomorrow was going to pop into grain and grape and grab some stuff there.

I'll look up drsmurtos beer and that app.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Cleanliness is the gods. Read as much as your heart desires. As above post on the two key sanitation chemicals.
Sodium percarbonate for cleaning and Phosphoric acid for sanitation.
As for styles and recipes the world is your oyster. Explore and search different styles to refine for your personal preferences.
Oh, and, drink in moderation of coarse.

 

[SnailAle]

So i went to grain and grape on the weekend and grabbed some grain for a smurtos golden ale.

Just a couple more questions, with an AG beer do I still need to add carbonation drops, is there a better option or with AG beers does it happen naturally?

Also, I've got a guten which requires me to preset all the steps, when I'm sparging, what temp should I hold the wort at while the grain is being sparged?

Lastly, still not sure about the mash out thing, coukd you technically argue that holding the wort at x temperature while fly sparging is kinda killing two birds with one stone? If that makes sense?

 

[evoo4u]

Re carbonation drops - if you're bottling, you need to add some fermentable to kick off the secondary fermantation in the bottle, whether you're using extract brewing or all-grain brewing. The wort in the bottle needs some extra fermentabes for the yeast to chomp on. Yeah, you can use the carbonation drops if you wish, but I just use a teaspoon of sugar, which is cheaper, and for me, just as convenient.

Re the mashout - If I mash at, say, 64C, for 60', then at the completion (I have a 3V HERMS setup) I'll set my PID to raise the mash temp to 76C and hold, then sparge with hot water also at 76C, simply to maximise the extraction of all available sugars. Raising the temp at mashout is probably not a really crucial thing, but it does help to increase efficiency.

 

[Hermies]

Hey Snail Ale when are you going to brew this beer ?

 

[SnailAle]

Hey Snail Ale when are you going to brew this beer ?

Not sure, potentially after work one night this week but more than likely Saturday.

 

[Rocker1986]

AG is just a method of producing wort; it's actually the only method, extracts are done this way too but concentrated down into the syrup. Once it's been fermented it's beer just the same as beer produced from kits or extracts, so yes you will need some sugar in some form or another in the bottles for carbonation.

An AG brew day takes about 4 - 6 hours so I'd be brewing it on Saturday if I was you. I don't know what your work hours are like but for a first attempt being rushed is the last thing you need.

 

[laxation]

From what I've understood, mashout isn't really necessary - and you can get the same result by buying a bit more grain to start with. Is that true?
I haven't bothered with it, just trying to keep things simple..

 

[mtb]

From what I've understood, mashout isn't really necessary - and you can get the same result by buying a bit more grain to start with. Is that true?
I haven't bothered with it, just trying to keep things simple..

One purpose of the mashout is to accelerate conversion of any remaining enzymes in the wort. If you do a 90min mash you're probably fine, but without an iodine test, you can't be sure. Might be worth doing a mashout in your next batch and seeing if you hit a higher OG.

 

[Hermies]

When I first started all grain I used an esky and could never reach mash out temps and still produced award winning beer . Conversion of sugars is almost complete within 20 to 30 minutes for these modern day malts . I usually use a refractometer to check my mash conversion, OG and FG . Since doing it this way I have increased my efficiency in the brew house etc........Check out Qld Kev's post he sparges with cold water and check out Gash Slugs later videos on the Robobrew where he forgets to heat up sparge water and rinses the grains with cold water and his OG increases ...wtf .

 

[SnailAle]

When I first started all grain I used an esky and could never reach mash out temps and still produced award winning beer . Conversion of sugars is almost complete within 20 to 30 minutes for these modern day malts . I usually use a refractometer to check my mash conversion, OG and FG . Since doing it this way I have increased my efficiency in the brew house etc........Check out Qld Kev's post he sparges with cold water and check out Gash Slugs later videos on the Robobrew where he forgets to heat up sparge water and rinses the grains with cold water and his OG increases ...wtf .

I guess if you think about it, washing sugars off grain can probably be done and with anything. I'm just a long way from being able to question the rules which is why I'm being reliant on you blokes!

Another one i forgot to add, how long should i set aside for the sparge? Again because I have to preset the times and temps in my guten it'll all have to run concurrent so I'll need to plan in advance the time and volume.

 

[Hermies]

Its not so much questioning the rules as it is finding what works for you , which comes down to trial and error .My first all grain day was a little nerve racking but I made it a little easier by writing down every little step even down to the tools that I was going to use . It was a little creatures clone man it turned out better than the original . Once you achieve mash out , fly sparging usually takes around an hour to get good efficiency out of your system . I have done it in less time but I ended up with poorer efficiency .

 

[evoo4u]

Another one i forgot to add, how long should i set aside for the sparge? Again because I have to preset the times and temps in my guten it'll all have to run concurrent so I'll need to plan in advance the time and volume.

I believe it's beneficial to sparge as slowly as possible, and for me (from memory - I've not actually timed it) this is about 12 to 15 minutes, sparging with around 22 litres heated water.

 

[rossbaker]

I have a mate with a robo brew who starts ramping up to the boil as soon as he hoists the malt pipe for sparging. Seems to work well and saves time. You could even set your temp to just below boiling during the sparge in case it is taking you a bit longer than you thought.

 

[Bribie G]

I haven't mashed out for years. After sparging, the enzymes reside in the wort anyway so they can do their work as you ramp up the temperature on the way to the boil.

If you are bottling in brown homebrew PET bottles, CSR sugar cubes in the blue box are a fraction of the cost of carb lollies and The Universe has decreed that one cube will fit perfectly through the top of the bottle whilst giving a perfect dose and total consistency across a brew.

 

[laxation]

If you are bottling in brown homebrew PET bottles, CSR sugar cubes in the blue box are a fraction of the cost of carb lollies and The Universe has decreed that one cube will fit perfectly through the top of the bottle whilst giving a perfect dose and total consistency across a brew.

That's good to know...

 

[SnailAle]

Can I ask follow on this.

When my first beer has finished fermenting, say after consecutive days on the same FG, how long do I need to leave it in the fermenter before bottling?

I assumed itd just be a couple of days for yeasties to settle down then leave in the bottle for a month or two but the more I read the more confusing it is as it seems to be very variable (days up to months).