First time grain brewer

[chubbytaxman]

Hi all,
I am extremely stoked with myself right now - not only have I managed to sign on to this great information exchange, but I have in my possession a home brew kit (fresh from the store) containing grains, fresh yeast, fresh hops, recipe sheet for an IPA and all associated paraphernalia to get cracking on my first "real" home brew. :super:
I have used the ol' can o' goo before with not too shabby results - aside from the huge headspin after ripping the top of a couple of tallies .. Lol.
That was a number of years ago now ...
I have progressed as above after sampling some "Craft Beer" whilst on holidays in Melbourne recently.
Now the serious stuff - I need to ask some silly questions as the recipe I have is written in gobbledegook to me. Things like:-

Original Gravity (OG): 1.065 (*P): 15.9
Final Gravity (FG): 1.016 (*P): 4.1
Colour (SRM): 8.5 (EBC): 16.7
etc, etc

It goes on to list malts, hops, mash and boiling followed by cooling and adding hops (again) ...

One word .... Help :huh:

I am used to the add can, water, yeast, stir then bottle routine.

Thanks for reading these ramblings - hope they make sense to someone here who can point me in the right direction.

Cheers

Ray

 

[ian_2005]

Welcome aboard

Can you list everything you have to build this brew ?

Where did you get it from ?

Instructions ??????

 

[Cecil Brai]

What do you need to know? Ive been brewing grain for 3 years. At home and professionally. I have a great mentor. Ask away.

 

[yum beer]

OG and FG are hyrdometer readings prior to ferment and after ferment...these inidicate sugar levels and tell you; how much alcohol in your finished beer, progress and when its finished.
The readings given are expected outcomes and depending on mash temps, yeast health, oxygenation and pitch rates;which can vary but should be in that ball park.
OG is your start figure and FG is your finish....you should get a stable reading for 2 or more days to indicate it is finshed, as you would have with the kits.
Colour(SRM) is an indication of what the beer is expected to turn out at. If you look up SRM colour chart you should be able to see the full thing.

Any further qustions, ask.

 

[Yob]

Do your instructions include mash temps and rests etc? Did they mill the grains?

Can you scan and attach the instructions?

 

[TimT]

Hey Chubby! Congrats on making the leap! Agree with the other commenters that a full scan of the recipe could help, but the basics of full grain brewing aren't too hard to get your head around -

1) Crack the grains.
2) Steep the grains in a small amount of water at 68 degrees celsius for around an hour to get the malt sugar into the water - this step is known as the 'mash'. (Tip: heat the water to 77 degrees celsius, when you add grains the water temperature will fall to around 68 degrees)
3) Rinse the grains with hot water to get out the residual sugars until you have the desired amount of beer wort.
4) Discard the spent grains and boil the wort, making additions of hops at the start (for bittering), near the end (for flavouring) and after the end (for aroma).
5) Cool the wort.
6) Add yeast to it and let it ferment away!

That's it, in a nutshell. You'll develop your own method and learn how to perform each of these steps in your kitchen.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Have a look at the 2 pot stovetop method for kitchen, if you own no equipment.

Otherwise, a run down of your equipment (HERMS, RIMS, basic 3V, BIAB/URN) that sort of thing.

 

[SimoB]

Do your instructions include mash temps and rests etc? Did they mill the grains?

Can you scan and attach the instructions?

This is a prob a good start. Then what equipment you have. Then any of these fine gentlemen will elaborate for sure.

 

[sb944]

I haven't waited too long to go to all grain, and my first one seems to have gone pretty well, so it's possible.

This thread got me working towards it:
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/38674-move-to-all-grain-for-thirty-bucks/

After that I did heaps of googling, searching on these forums, biabrewer site (stove top), and after my head was drowning in info, I bought the grain and necessary goods, and I was off.

Basically, to do all grain properly, you need to extract the malts, sugars, hops flavours that you are used to just throwing in from a can. That I know of there are 3 popular methods:
3V - the "standard" method involves quite a lot of equipment to setup, avoid this for now.
Brew in a Bag (BIAB) - requires one huge stock pot, a big gas burner (not your stove), bag. Then it's two steps, a mash and a boil. It's easy, but still hundreds of dollars to setup.
mini-BIAB - requires a much smaller stock pot, your stove top, and the same mash and boil, just using much cheaper gear and for a smaller batch.

I'd say go and invest in the 19L Big W stock pot ($19), a suitable bag, and any measuring bits you need (ie. accurate thermometer) and attempt a 10L batch, pretty much following instructions from the link above. Try to research anything you are unsure about. Likely your grains are for 23L, but you should verify that. If so, just half all the ingredients for a mini-biab and you should be pretty close.

 

[chubbytaxman]

Evening all,

Thank you for the replies so far.
I see a suggestion above that I attach a scan of the recipe I have - this came with the kit when purchased.
I have tried to do this but could not get it to insert the scan, so I have copied it out word for word:-

American IPA - Recipe Instructions

Original Gravity (OG): 1.065 (*P): 15.9
Final Gravity (FG): 1.016 (*P): 4.1
Alcohol (ABV): 6.39%
Colour (SRM): 8.5 (EBC): 16.7
Bitterness (IBU): 61.4 (Average)

Malts
Pale Alet 3.790kg
Wheat 1.100kg
Munich I 0.630kg
Caramalt 0.470kg

Hops
Cascade 60g
Nelson 90g

Remainder of hops can be used to dry hop after fermentation

Mash

Single step mash Infusion at 66*C for 60 Minutes

Boil

Boil for 60 minutes (hop additions)

60 minutes (Boil) Cascade 10g
60 minutes (Boil) Nelson Sauvin 20g
20 minutes (Boil) Cascade 30g
20 minutes (Boil) Nelson Sauvin 30g
5 minutes (Boil) Cascade 20g
5 minutes (Boil) Nelson Sauvin 20g
0 minutes (Flame Out) Nelson Sauvin 20g

Cool to 18*C move to fermenter, check gravity and pitch yeast

Aerate with a sinter stone via aquarium pump or shake the fermenter to mix yeast and air with wort

Fermented at 18*C with Wyeast 1056 - American Ale (14 day fermentation)

When ferment is finished bottle or keg as normal


I would be happy if someone could speak plain english, for now - and in baby steps.
No doubt I will become familiar with the terms and processes as I move onwards and upwards, but I just want a grip on this new venture.

ian_2005 ... I assume you mean the list of contents in the purchase -
100g Cascade hop pellets
100g Nelson Sauvin hop pellets
500g Sodium metabisulphate
1.1kg wheat malt (grain)
640g munich malt (grain)
470g caramalt (grain)
3.7kg traditional ale (grain)
125ml Wyeast
Plus all associated hardware - fermenter, air lock, capper, bottle tops etc ....

I purchased this online via Craft Beer Crusaders (Melbourne) and an A4 sheet of paper with the above recipe is included.


Cecil Brai .. I guess plain english (for the interim) on what to do as this is my first venture with grain brewing.

Yob ... No sorry, only as typed above ..

Tim T ... Thanks for the plain english ... I assume that the grains have to be put in a blender or something and blitzed for a few seconds (they are full grains as supplied).. Then boil them in water ... Am I on the right track??


Again, thanks heaps guys, sorry for being a pain.

Cheers

Ray

 

[Yob]

I assume that the grains have to be put in a blender or something and blitzed for a few seconds (they are full grains as supplied).. Then boil them in water ... Am I on the right track??

*ed: blenders can reduce the grains to powder, be careful with that method unless doing BIAB... dont boil the grains, you need to soak the grains in 66'c water for 60 mins and remove the grains and boil the liquid adding the hops at the times listed.. as a count down... so a 20 min addition would be at 20 mins left of the boil.

you will have trouble getting that all into a 20lt pot mate..

have a look at the videos in Lord Raja Goomba's signature before you go ahead, its a pretty good tutorial

 

[TimT]

I use a blender You can also buy a mill. No end to the things you could buy if you have the money....

 

[chubbytaxman]

Thanks Yob,

I have just been over to have a look at the video you mentioned. Couldnt find any video but I did see the pics and easy to follow step by step process ..
Thinking seriously of giving it a whirl. I have contacted the mob that I purchased the kit from to suss out the grains (full 23L or how much they use at once).
The pointer on not boiling the grains was an eye opener for me .. I would have ended up with mush (lol) ..
Can I assume then that the grains are not required after the initial soaking to get the sugars out?

Thanks Tim T, will ponder on that when the time comes to get this baby happening.

Thanks sb944, am seriously considering a trip to Big W soon ..

 

[andy@67]

G'day Chubbytaxman,

Where are you? Are there any all grain brewers nearby that you can go to watch a brew day with. I went and watched a couple of brew demos at Grain and Grape in Yarraville in Melbourne, it was a great help.
I am in Mildura if you are nearby you would be most welcome to come and watch a brew.

Cheers,

Andrew.

 

[fcmcg]

Yep..once you have mashed your grains...they are not required !
So mash ( 65degree) and then sparge( or not ESP if your brewing in a bag ) and then one that's all done..so are the grains...
I brew 75 litres at a time , so that's a truck load of spent grain for the compost !

 

[ben_sa]

I dont mean to be rude, But you really are jumping in the deep end mate, which is fine, but get your knowledge up before you have a crack...

BEST bet, get along to a fellow brewers brew day. I personally brewed extract for 2 years cos i thought AG was too hard, then i saw the process, and bam, i was away and racing.

I try and brew as close to bin day as possible too, Grain in a bin goes very smelly, very fast

 

[sb944]

That looks like about a 23L recipe, the 19L stock pot is fighting above it's weight to do 11.5L in the fermenter, but here is what I did. If you don't have a 2nd stock pot of around 8L, just get 2x Big W stock pots. If you are near a spotlight/fabric store, get 1.5x1.5 swiss voille fabric, to use as a bag (about $12 worth). Otherwise you need a big grain bag, your local homebrew shop (LHBS) should stock one. Thermometer can be a $10 glass one for now, up to 110C is a good one, as temps of 66C or 85C should be easy to read. A kitchen shop near my work had about 4 that would do the job for under $20.

The grains are a pain. I'd try and get the shop to crush those for you, they usually would in a recipe pack I'd have thought. Otherwise the tips above may work, a rolling pin and patience would probably also work. If you go to a shop, get them to split the recipe into 2 packages for you too, otherwise measure out half of each grain (if separate) and store the 2nd in an airtight container.

Then follow these steps, but google a bunch of it if you don't know what I mean:

• Mash Stage (90 min mash):
• Put 14L of water in stock pot, heat on stove to 72C, turn off stove
• Put bag inside of pot attach to outside all around, pour in grains, mix them with a big spoon
• Measure temp again, should be around 65-67C. If high, let it sit for a couple of minutes lid open, if low, try to add 500ml of boiling water and mix around.
• If in that range, let the grains sit for 2 minutes, then test again, to make sure the settled temp is 66Cish.
• Put the lid on, and insulate it. You want the temp to stay at 66C for 90 minutes. I put it on a towel folded over, then wrap a sleeping bag around it, and put towels over the top if needed. It stays within 1 degree for 90 minutes.
• Sparge stage:
• With about 20 minutes left of the mash, boil up 6L of water in Big W pot 2. After mash time is finished, make sure this temperature is down to 85C. Heat up/cool it to 85C before next step
• Carefully pull the bag up, drain it for 3 minutes over the pot, then move it to pot 2. Think about this process before, ie hot bag, drips a lot
• Mix it around, then check temperature, should be under 75C. Leave it there for 15 minutes, mixing occasionally
• Boil stage:
• Meanwhile, heat up pot 1 to boil. Put lid mostly on to speed up boil, don't fully cover though
• Once 15 minutes of sparge is finished, pull bag out, drain as best as possible into pot 2, then throw it away grain (again hot, drippy)
• Put pot 2 onto boil the same way
• When pot 2 is boiling, add it to pot 1. Pot 1 should have an aggressive boil. If possible remove lid altogether, but never put lid on fully
• Hops stage:
• Hops are described as boil time, so 60 minutes means 60 minutes boil time left. Assuming a 90 minute boil, 60 minute hops are added 30 minutes after boil is going, 20 is 70 minutes after starting etc. You can just add the hops straight into the pot if you like
• Cooling stage:
• Now you need sanitiser, like starsan. The boiling water kills potential infections pretty nicely in the pot and wort, but once it's stopped, infections are possible, so you need to sanitise everything the beer touches after the boil, right through to when you drink.
• So with 5 minutes left, santise the pot lid. Once the 90 minutes is up, put the lid on, turn the stove off. Leave it for 10 minutes there.
• You have a choice here, pitch in the morning and do "no chill" or pitch tonight, meaning you have to get that boiling wort down to 22C
• If you can pitch the next day (ie have 30-40 minutes to spare the following morning), put glad wrap around the edges of the lid to seal it a bit, then put it on the garage/laundry floor to cool overnight, done
• If pitching tonight, put the pot in your basin half full of tap water, and put the pot in. Heat will go out to the water quickly, you'll need to empty the basin and refill at least 3-4 times, every 5 minutes or so. Move the water around a bit to make sure not all the hottest water is sitting up against the pot. Be careful not to splash the wort around, move gently.
• After about 25 minutes of this, refill the basin, but throw in a tonne of ice. You'd have prepared this days earlier, fill lots of plastic containers with normal water and freeze them. Now put them in the basin, and put the pot back in, moving around the water again. Put as much ice in as you can, it will eventually head down to the 20C we need. When you think it's close, open the lid and put a sanitised thermometer into the pot to check.
• Pitch step:
• Once it's down to 20C, put a sanitised sieve over your fermenter, and pour wort through it into your sanitised fermenter. Try not to pour last 1.5L, as it will be mostly "trub" settled to the bottom of the pot.
• Measure OG with a hydrometer
• Your yeast can come from the fridge (where it's been all this time) while getting the wort down to temperature, now open in and sprinkle on the wort.
• Close the lid, you have an AG brew going.
• Make sure it stays as close as possible to 18C for the first 5 days.

And if like me that extra grain sitting around will drive you mad, do the process all over again the next day, and just add the cooled wort into the same fermenter.

 

[manticle]

What equipment do you have?

 

[Yob]

Little by way of mashing equipment from the sounds of it, LHBS should really have been more helpful there...

+1 to watching someone do a brew.. Where are you?

 

[wynnum1]

stovetop method for kitchen could be a big mistake if your not living on your own.

 

[TimT]

I reckon if you know all the steps you have to do, plan them out, and when you've got a day spare in the kitchen go for it. You'll be right!

But since there are different ways of turning large portions of grain and water into beer - 'brewing in a bag', or using brewing urns - the most important question is the one asked above by Manticle, ie, 'What equipment do you have'? Maybe the kit you bought came with some equipment - maybe a bag?

 

[indica86]

I mash in an esky, do high gravity boils in the 19L stockpot, then dilute to 23 litres in the FV.
Works a treat, all I had to buy was the stockpot.
I have sorted my method and will buy bling sometime.

Don't let people put you off, jump in the deep end for sure.
Use some brewing software - Beersmith is great and has a trial use available.
It will tell you how much water at what temperature to use. Same for the sparge water.

 

[chubbytaxman]

Hi all,

This is the not so scarred newbie again ...
I have done some research as well as reading all the helpful posts from all you guys .. Very much appreciated too by the way
On reading your posts above I can answer with these ..

andy@67 ... I am in Brisbane and I will take your advice and seek out a demonstration ..

fergthebrewer ... Thanks mate .. I was wondering what to do with the leftovers

sb944 ... That's just what I needed mate .. Plain English at this early stage until I get used to the jargon. I may have to coax my lovely wife to Spotlight and Big W .. which shouldn't be too hard .. Lol .. I am keen to do half a batch for the first couple of times to "get the hang of it"

manticle ... All I was given was the 23L plastic fermenter, long plastic stirrer, long bottlebrush, bench capper, bottle caps, long plastic tube with a stopper in the end (?), airlock, brewing hydrometer, plastic measuring spoon and a stick on thermometer ... Basic stuff with nothing technical ... Yet (Lol)

Tim T ... I think I have a better picture in my mind now of what to do / how to do it .. If I can get my bum into gear ... Look out long weekend ..

indica86 ... I am not put off in the slightest, rather just lost as to what to do with this AG stuff (first use of the tech words .. lookout here I come) .. Will also give Beersmith a look too


Thanks heaps to all for the valued input ..

 

[andy@67]

Lol. I used to live in Toowoomba which would have been a nice day trip for you. Mildura might take slightly longer though. However I am sure there are plenty of brewers in Brisvagas that will chime in to help out.

Cheers,

Andrew.

 

[chubbytaxman]

G'day all .. again,

Just had a thought - if I split up all the ingredients to make two smaller brews, will I be able to store the Wyeast in a zip seal bag for a few days, or does it have to be used all at once (sealed liquid kept in fridge) ... Gee you guys knew that already ... DOH !!!!

Cheers

Ray

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

The vidds on my post are near the end of the thread, I added them a couple of years after the photos.

 

[chubbytaxman]

Hi Goomba,

I have finally managed to look at the vids you have posted up ... yay!
Very informative and just what a "lay brewer" like me needed. Thank you very much as I now am beginning to understand the process.
I have made contact with my local brewing club (grains) and am off to the first meeting for the year next Tuesday.
Needless to say, I will be up and running soon :beer:
I would like to extend my thanks to you and all those on this thread that have provided thoughts, ideas and views.

Very Happy ... Jan .. Lol

Cheers

Ray

 

[manticle]

It will be good for you to know why you are doing what you are doing.

Malted grain contains enzymes and starches. With the right conditions, some of those enzymes are capable of breaking the starch chains up so they become digestible by brewer's yeast - essentially converting starch to sugar.

Of those conditions, hydration and temperature are most important. Thus you crack the grain so the interior is exposed and easily hydrated and the starch converted with water of a certain temperature over a period of time.

Then you separate the spent grain from the sugary liquid, bring it to a boil to develop colour, flavour and drive off unwanted compounds. During the boil you add hops which add bittering compounds (to balance the sweetness) flavour and aromatics.

You then cool this or allow it to cool in a manner which prevents attack from unwanted micro-organisms so you can add your chosen micro-organism (ie Brewer's yeast).

Ferment under controlled conditions (temperature) to lessen the likelihood of bad flavours, condition then package -either in a bottle or a keg.

In your case, the grain should have been sold cracked and you will probably use a bag to separate the grain from the liquid and boil in the same pot.

 

[hoppymonster]

I did the same than you on my first attempted and kinda rushed it with not gaining all the correct knowledge first, I will tell you now it was a bad idea!! Lol.. First mistake I made was not making a wort chiller! This is very important in the cooling process, get yourself down to Bunnings and buy 2 meters of cooper pipe for $12 its the best investment ever..
Good luck

 

[pommiebloke]

I did the same than you on my first attempted and kinda rushed it with not gaining all the correct knowledge first, I will tell you now it was a bad idea!! Lol.. First mistake I made was not making a wort chiller! This is very important in the cooling process, get yourself down to Bunnings and buy 2 meters of cooper pipe for $12 its the best investment ever..
Good luck

Or just no-chill. That is when you transfer the sweet (ie. unfermented, just-boiled with hops) wort in to a suitable container (20L food grade jerry can - known as a no-chill cube) and screw the lid on tight so no air can get in. Then just leave to cool. You can leave it in the cube for months if you want and when you're ready to ferment you dump the wort in a fermenter and add yeast.

Certainly the way I would go if you're new to the process as it's one less piece of equipment to worry about and one less thing to go wrong. Many people (myself included) never bother with a chiller.