First brew in 2 years

[killspice]

2 good mates recently got kegerator setups for their birthdays which got me keen to get started brewing again (and hopefully if I brew enough I can convince swmbo that a basic keg setup might be a good next birthday present - I hate bottles).

Just after I brewed my last brew (~2 years ago) I bought a 37L ali crab pot and 3-ring burner to do full volume biab instead of the maxi-biab I was doing (woollies 19L pots on the stove), so I'm trying out the new setup as well. Fingers crossed I don't mess it up too much.

I'm going to be doing Tony's Bright Ale recipe and 10degC off strike temp right now - probably too late to be doing it, but the wife is working (Valentines day florists are cray cray) and the spawn is away (grandma ftw) so it's the best chance i'll get.

 

[Tahoose]

Welcome/welcome back.

How did the brew day go?

 

[Tahoose]

Welcome/welcome back.

How did the brew day go?

 

[Bribie G]

Back in the saddle.

Congrats.

 

[Yob]

Looks like you're off to a flying start, if you get resistance to the kegs, get SWMBO to help bottle, should have the kegs shortly after.

 

[killspice]

I made a few mistakes, but the taste of the OG reading and now the smell in the fermenting fridge makes me think it'll turn out alright.

It took ages with a 75m mash, 10 min ramp, 10 min mash out and 90m boil (Pils malt + no-chill), so I wasn't done until 1am. I don't plan on doing that again.

Mistake 1: I undershot my mash temp by a few deg (65.6 was the target, but after doughing in it was in the 64 range). I might need to adjust my beersmith profile (or measure better) as I had hit the expected strike temp. I added a litre of boiling water to compensate but was limited by space. By the end of the mash it had dropped to ~62 which was also a bit lower than I used to use when mashing indoors. I'll try to insulate it better next time.

Mistake 2: I didn't sparge, doing the mash out I thought I sould skip the sparge. Ended up with an efficiency of 68%. I'll either destroy my grains more in the thermomix or sparge next time to get a few more points. In the end I still hit 20L @ 1.048 into the fermenter so it wasn't that bad and will still end up on-style (~5% after bottle conditioning) assuming I get near the expected FG (this is where my mash temp worries me a bit).

Mistake 3: I no chilled in the kettle in the fermenting fridge overnight, but since I finished at 1am I am pretty sure it was too warm when siphoned to the fermenter (maybe 30-40deg). I didn't want to stick my thermometer in to check and risk contamination. I am pretty sure I ended up pitching at ~24deg, but it's been in the fridge the whole time so has dropped down to the target 16-18 now.

 

[indica86]

68% is fine.
You'll work out what works for you.
I got 77.5% today.

 

[Bribie G]

Pitching warmer doesn't matter too much as long as you get down to your ferment temperature fairly soon. Yeast is busy breeding up and doesn't impart any off flavours at that stage, in fact the yeasties would prefer you to keep the temperature up around 30 degrees.

You are out of luck, yeasties. :lol:

 

[killspice]

It seems the low mash temp and slightly high initial temps meant I have hit a 1006 FG after 11 days. Estimated FG was 1014 so it'll end up at about 6% after bottle conditioning instead of the expected 5%. I'm just crash chilling now for a couple of day before I bottle.

I am getting a fusel-y taste when checking the gravity - it is not overpowering as the hops are still there, but it's a bit of a alcohol hit at the tip of the tongue. I did drop it to 16 as soon as possible, and rose to 20 for the last 3 days to try clean it up a bit, but I think it just took too long to drop to the correct temp. Is there much I can do about this?

I also did a DSGA on the weekend too, which is now cubed (my first cube chilling) and waiting for me to bottle the bright ale and collect ~100ml of slurry to repitch. I wasn't sure what to do with the hops after cubing so ended up taking the hop sock out during the whirlpool, so I think it will be missing a lot of aroma, but fingers crossed it is still good. I do have a bit of Amarillo left so I might dry hop a couple of days into the fermentation to make up for it.