First attempt at DSGA

[CosmicBertie]

Even though I have a 50L pot which I brew in, I still mash in with 23L of water. Once the mash is finished I lift the bag and give it a squeeze, then dunk it into another pot, which has 10L of water, for 10 mins. This is then added to the boil pot.

So you dont have to do full-volume mashing. If this is your first foray into all-grain (you dont specify that, just the first attemp at DSGA), then just mash all the grains together. Once you have your process nailed then make small adjustments.

I'm all for experimenting. In fact my whole brewing process is built on reading other peoples processes and then adopted and adjusting them to fit my equipment and lifestyle/time. As much as love making my own beer, i really dont want to be brewing ALL day, so I've tweaked my process and can knock out a batch in 4 hours.

Others will scoff at or lambast me for some of the things I do (yeast handling, mash schedules, hop additions, transfers, etc), but I've yet to notice anything detrimental and my beers tend to turn out pretty good (*parp parp* goes my own trumpet).

 

[technobabble66]

For the record: Brew #4, AG BIAB #2.
So still v new to it all. & this is my first AG w this setup (30L Birko). By comparison, it's the 3rd time i've steeped crystal, so the extra effort seemed relatively simple. Next time i think it'll all go into one big fat Mash up (unless the swappers in July are blown away by the malt character of this brew. Unlikely).
But that was part ofthe reason for doing the DSGA - keep it simple & just get the hang of my basic AG process.

I think i'm gonna have to shell out &, more importantly, find the space for a 20L vessel. I bought the esky as a brilliant bargain on eBay, then realized it's almost twice as big as i ideally want. And my other big vessel is a 9L pot - too small. So i think i might need to suck it up & finally get one of these goddamn 19L BigW pots (or another esky, 20-25L this time).

In total, this batch has taken 5.5 hrs on sunday & 2 hrs monday to get from water & grain to wort in fermentor. (1 hr on monday was spent reading & faffing around with volume/gravity adjustments, so hopefully to required generally). Not toooo bad, but still a bit long. As you said, i don't want to spend all day watching wort boil.

Yeah - it's all about the experimenting. There's just not enough time to brew all the beers i want, let alone drink them !!

 

[technobabble66]

Quick question:

I'm going to dry hop this tonight with 20g Motueka flowers.

What's the best way to dry hop with flowers?

I have a few concerns. I normally just throw in pellets - works fine.
With the flowers, if i do this, will they just sit on the surface & do nothing? If they sink (will it be too late by the time they sink to add anything to the beer?) is it likely they could clog the outlet?

I've done some searching, & it seems a weighted hop sock or stocking was generally used a few years ago. Also, some brewers decided chopping the flowers up was the go.
I don't have a stocking or weight, but could get them by tonight if necessary.

Thanks in advance!

[btw, this batch is devoted to the july case swap, so it's in the vested interest of at least 21 others out there to ensure this works! ]

 

[technobabble66]

Anyone willing to throw in an answer? Is the chopping recommended?

 

[CosmicBertie]

The only time i've dry hopped with whole flowers, they floated on the surface. I didnt encounter any adverse effects and there was plenty of hop aroma/flavour in the finished beer.

 

[technobabble66]

CB to the rescue!
Thanks again, dude.

Hops away, in they go!!

 

[manticle]

I've had the opposite experience. I'd use a stocking if it's not too late. One small piece of flower is enough to clog a tap.

 

[technobabble66]

Yeah, i had doubts again at the last second & piked. (sorry, CB - i had flowers blocking my urn when i cubed this batch, so i decided i didn't want to risk repeating the disappointment).

I had grabbed a mesh laundry bag yday just in case (it's a great look, 38yr old guy wandering around the women's underwear section in kmart at 9:30 at night <_< ). That went into a pot this morning & boiled for 10 min w a shot glass (which cracked sometime during the boil :angry: ). The 20g motueka flowers went into the bag with the glass, then into the fermentor, & disappeared from sight.

Eagerly awaiting the results! :icon_cheers:

 

[CosmicBertie]

Nothing wrong with getting advice from more than one party and then making an informed decision, especially after its also borne from experience too.

The only time I've brewed with flowers they all stayed onto during the boil and when I dry-hopped. YMMV.

I cant understand why you'd use a shot glass though...a teaspoon may have been better.

 

[technobabble66]

Thanks
Yeah - i eyed off the cutlery, but wasn't 100% sure it wouldn't start rusting in the acidic wort/beer over the 1 1/2 wks the flowers will be in there. Might go the spoon next time.