alien13
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 22/9/08
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Hey,
So last Thursday, with the help of my dad, I did my first AG using a scaled down version of the Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale. The reason for choosing this is that it seemed relatively simple as it used (almost) 1 type of grain and 1 type of hop. I put the info in to BeerSmith (I'm sort of getting the hang of it), and came out with something like this a few days before doing it:
Anywho, come brew day, we got everything ready, I filled the pot (19L) with 12L of hot water from the tap (~60C) and put it on the stove. I heated to ~66.5C and put in the grain bag and the grain. Gave it a stir around a few times, getting rid of clumps,etc and took another temp. reading. It was a bit below 64C so I heated it up a bit to 64C, wrapped it in a towel and covered tightly with a sleeping bag for an hour. (Mash in: 10:35 -- Mash Out: 11:35 -- Running out to buy 1g incremental digital scales for hops: 10:50)
Once it had done in the pot, took the bag out and placed it in another pot (19L) to drain/squeeze out more liquid. Did a quick sparge with some water and once we got as much as we could out, placed it all back into the original pot. Took a sample and cooled it down to measure the gravity (put the pot back on the stove during this time to bring it to the boil).
Pre-boil: approx 13L (I know the boil from the recipe is higher, but that was just to get the recipe sorted out and estimates down)
The gravity came out at about 1.054. Not quite what I was expecting from the print out (1.037). But wasn't complaining at this stage so continued on.
The boil got rolling and I started the count down, add the hops as I went along. I'd just like to throw in here, that smelling hops (pellets) for the first time, or any hops for that matter, the aroma that came off them when I weighed them was amazingly strong, it was not what I was expecting.
At the end of the boil, after everything was added and done, we gave the hop bag a bit of a squeeze and I did a quick volume check with my trusty metal ruler.
Post-boil: approx 9L (give or take)
Filled the laundry trough with water and lots of ice. About an hour later it came down to ~20-22C. Good enough for an overly excited me.
Took another gravity check. ~1.074 post-boil. Okay than.
It was into the fermenter, put some details into BeerSmith to dilute down to ~1.054 and pitched the yeast (1/2 packet/~5-6g).
Put it away, wrapped in a towel + sleeping bag with an ice bottle. So far to this day its stayed around 18-20C on the stick-on thermometer, but inside it is usually a bit cooler (after checking via water tests a week before).
It's been bubbling away, and is slowing down a bit now. There is a nice froth/foam head on it at the moment (good or bad?), and hopefully in a day or two it will be good to go. I will take another sample on Thursday (unless anyone recommends otherwise?) and check what it's at.
I hope it all goes good and I can say that it's been a great success, but I guess either way, it's been a fun learning experience, and something I want to do again (and again...).
Sorry for the long post, but just wanted to share the experience with everyone here (new and old).
Also, if someone could show me how to work out efficiency that would be great!
Cheers,
Nathan
[tl;dr] We made beer. It was fun!
So last Thursday, with the help of my dad, I did my first AG using a scaled down version of the Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale. The reason for choosing this is that it seemed relatively simple as it used (almost) 1 type of grain and 1 type of hop. I put the info in to BeerSmith (I'm sort of getting the hang of it), and came out with something like this a few days before doing it:
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 11.00 L
Boil Size: 15.63 L
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 9.3 EBC
Estimated IBU: 28.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.25 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 91.84 %
0.20 kg Wheat, Torrified (3.3 EBC) Grain 8.16 %
5.00 gm Nelson Sauvin [12.60 %] (80 min) Hops 15.6 IBU
5.00 gm Nelson Sauvin [12.60 %] (20 min) Hops 9.0 IBU
7.00 gm Nelson Sauvin [12.60 %] (5 min) Hops 4.1 IBU
11.00 gm Nelson Sauvin [12.60 %] (0 min) Hops -
0 Pkgs SafAle American Ale (DCL Yeast #US-05) Yeast-Ale
Anywho, come brew day, we got everything ready, I filled the pot (19L) with 12L of hot water from the tap (~60C) and put it on the stove. I heated to ~66.5C and put in the grain bag and the grain. Gave it a stir around a few times, getting rid of clumps,etc and took another temp. reading. It was a bit below 64C so I heated it up a bit to 64C, wrapped it in a towel and covered tightly with a sleeping bag for an hour. (Mash in: 10:35 -- Mash Out: 11:35 -- Running out to buy 1g incremental digital scales for hops: 10:50)
Once it had done in the pot, took the bag out and placed it in another pot (19L) to drain/squeeze out more liquid. Did a quick sparge with some water and once we got as much as we could out, placed it all back into the original pot. Took a sample and cooled it down to measure the gravity (put the pot back on the stove during this time to bring it to the boil).
Pre-boil: approx 13L (I know the boil from the recipe is higher, but that was just to get the recipe sorted out and estimates down)
The gravity came out at about 1.054. Not quite what I was expecting from the print out (1.037). But wasn't complaining at this stage so continued on.
The boil got rolling and I started the count down, add the hops as I went along. I'd just like to throw in here, that smelling hops (pellets) for the first time, or any hops for that matter, the aroma that came off them when I weighed them was amazingly strong, it was not what I was expecting.
At the end of the boil, after everything was added and done, we gave the hop bag a bit of a squeeze and I did a quick volume check with my trusty metal ruler.
Post-boil: approx 9L (give or take)
Filled the laundry trough with water and lots of ice. About an hour later it came down to ~20-22C. Good enough for an overly excited me.
Took another gravity check. ~1.074 post-boil. Okay than.
It was into the fermenter, put some details into BeerSmith to dilute down to ~1.054 and pitched the yeast (1/2 packet/~5-6g).
Put it away, wrapped in a towel + sleeping bag with an ice bottle. So far to this day its stayed around 18-20C on the stick-on thermometer, but inside it is usually a bit cooler (after checking via water tests a week before).
It's been bubbling away, and is slowing down a bit now. There is a nice froth/foam head on it at the moment (good or bad?), and hopefully in a day or two it will be good to go. I will take another sample on Thursday (unless anyone recommends otherwise?) and check what it's at.
I hope it all goes good and I can say that it's been a great success, but I guess either way, it's been a fun learning experience, and something I want to do again (and again...).
Sorry for the long post, but just wanted to share the experience with everyone here (new and old).
Also, if someone could show me how to work out efficiency that would be great!
Cheers,
Nathan
[tl;dr] We made beer. It was fun!