First Foray Into Ag Biab

[kdaust]

I think Ill have some explaining to do to the wife later this week... My beer in the new fathers day fermenter (a kit plus extras APA) hasnt even made it into bottles yet and already I have been sucked into the world of AG.



A package is on its way from Grain and Grape with a grain bag, 4kg worth of malts, chinook, cascade, dry nottingham yeast and dry US safale yeast. And I just picked up a bench capper and 80 tallies last night that are now cluttering the spare room [thanks phoneyhuh]. All I need is a 19L Big W pot and Ill have the makings of an AG white rabbit dark ale clone! :icon_drool2:



The way I figure since getting into coffee about 8 years ago (i.e. excessive drinking, roasting, espresso, plunger, and filter), I cant drink nescafe, I can taste when someone uses old beans, I can taste a burnt espresso, and I can only go to about 5 cafes in the Sydney CBD for a fix. I love making great coffee, and I love cooking great food. So why not have fun making beer from scratch?



On the other hand... I could just hide the stuff under the house for a few weeks and then pretend I got it ages ago? h34r:

 

[loikar]

Great Work!!

It's good to see so many K&K'ers stepping up lately.
It's even better to see people like you that aren't afraid to hike the skirt and get their balls wet by stepping into making beer from grain so early in your hobby.

Well done!

Cheers,

BF

 

[Nick JD]

Great that you've nutted out the process to apply it to your favourite beer. It'll be a corker.

I'm into coffee too!

My first harvest - took them from the cherries today. Next to come off is the mucilage when dry.

My only advice at this stage is for you to check that your thermometer reads 100C in boiling water (after a minute or two in there - rapidly boiling) and 0C in an ice water glass (half ice, half water). It's important for the mash.

 

[kdaust]

Sweet! - I've got two bushes growing at my brothers place (he's got the green thumb), but they're only about 2 years old so no fruit yet.

Recipe idea came from Screwtop in the white rabbit clone thread http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...6063&st=60#
I couldn't get sticklebract from G&G so I think I'll use a bit of chinook. I wanted to get some for another APA anyway, and i figured I can use it as a bittering hop at 11% as well.

Current plan (haven't put this into a calculator yet, so it might change)

12L mash
6L 'sparge'

3kg Ale malt (JW)
480g Dark munich (JW)
200g Carafa special II (Wey)
120g Carapils
100g Pale Crystal (Simpsons)
100g Dark Crystal (Simpsons)

60 minute boil

18g Chinook (60mins)
20g Cascade (15mins)
20g Chinook (dry hop after fermentation)

Chilll in laundry sink (or no chill on back verandah tiles)

Dilute to OG 1.054ish

Nottingham ale yeast

 

[Nick JD]

Sounds tasty.

 

[kdaust]

So Ive utilised the BIAB designer spreadsheet (many thanks to IanH :beerbang: I also used the kit and extract version last brew) and have a few rough figures now. Given Im planning on a high gravity boil and dilution I wont be able to fit the full amount of water in my pot, but I guess it still approximates the IBU, EBC, and FG figures for a given ferment volume. The final volume is not really important to me and I cant change the grain bill now because Ive ordered it already.

For 18L nominal volume, I have:
OG 1.051
FG 1.013
IBU 34.7 (changed bittering hop addition to 15g Chinook)
EBC 52.8
5% abv

No idea whether it will be anything like white rabbit dark ale, but hopefully a nice drop nonetheless.

 

[kdaust]

Brewed this last night.

Ended up with 15 litres of 1.057 gravity wort this morning after no chilling outside. The temp only dropped to 30deg C overnight so im waiting now for it to drop to pitching temps.

Screwed the recipe a bit. Forgot my second lot of chinook was dry hop, so dropped it in at 5mins with the cascade. I adjusted to 5 for flavor additions based on peoples experience here with no chill.

Didn't take pics last night, but I'll take a few this morning.

 

[RdeVjun]

Nice one kdaust! I wouldn't worry about the recipe variation, it should be excellent beer. :icon_cheers:

 

[kdaust]

Pics...

 

[Bizier]

Good work man. There is a certain personality of person who is better at homebrewing, you look like a perfect candidate. You could buy these kinds of things and sit on the couch and consume them, or you could go to stupid lengths to make them yourself. Yes, you don't need to, but, importantly, it is within your capacity to do so, and you will learn all sorts of stuff along the way.

You will also only be able to now buy your beer from a handful of outlets, and will begin to act like a nazi in a whole new arena.

I moved to Perth, I miss Sydney coffee.

 

[ben_harvey]

I think I sense a caffinated beer on the horizon...


Maybe you could call it "Father" <_<

 

[kdaust]

Worked this time.

Cheers guys. I ended up diluting it out to 1.054. I think the extra 20g of chinook has pushed the IBUs up about 40-50? I'll see how it tastes in a couple of weeks when I take another gravity sample.

 

[bowie in space]

Well done, remember your wife will always forgive you :icon_cheers: It's (only)? beer equipment.

Congrats on going AG, if you love great coffee and good food you really have no other choice than making beer from scratch. It's easy and tastes great.

I would like to see that fermenter filled a little more though!

Nice floor boards too

 

[yum beer]

looks good,

Id take the krausen collar off your FV to decrease the headspace a little.

other than that it looks like you stole my brew gear, Fv Mashtun.....
well done

 

[kdaust]

Collar came off when I pitched the yeast.

Unfortunately my brewing had coincided with higher ambient temperatures in sydney. Sitting at 20C this morning, and given my house is at 18 I don't see it going lower.

Looks like I might need that fridge controller a bit quicker than I had planned. Won't help me for this brew though. Oh well. Silver lining is my APA sitting in bottles will carb up now.

 

[kdaust]

Pulled the fermenter out from the cellar tonight (ok, so it was under the house) and noticed there was no krausen... Got a bit worried that it had been too cold for the yeast.

But when I checked the gravity it was down to 1.012

Might be done sooner than I thought!

 

[Nick JD]

Taste good?

 

[Silo Ted]

Go you good thing ! Great to hear youre not spending much time mucking around with kits but jumping into the first stages of proper brewing.

If & when your interest leads you to a 3V system, wait until council clean day, then come home from the brew shop, hardware, Reece street curb and show darling wife all the good gear you 'found'.

We're all very good at deceiving our partners when it comes to the acquisition of brewery bling

By the way, what's with that freaky cool looking fermenter? How does the co2 escape to stop the tub from swelling ? And does the wort pool in the feet ? (that could be a spot to focus on when cleaning)

 

[felten]

That's the new coopers DIY kit fermenter

 

[kdaust]

Taste good?

Nice and malty. A bit bitter for a white rabbit (ish) dark ale. But given my experience on the APA [it was very bitter in fermenter, but mellowed in the bottle] I'll wait until I've bottled it and taste it carbed before I judge it.

That's the new coopers DIY kit fermenter

Yeah. Got a kit for Father's day.

The fermenter has a rounded bottom on the inside, so easy to clean (no hole through to the feet). The lid just sits on top and the CO2 gets out through the gaps.