I lost my virginity today!

[Outback]

Well yesterday to be precise. My first AG brew, using a robo with intact cherry.
First brew was a stone and wood clone. Rookie error meant I used too much sparge water and even after a longer boil time still ended up with too much wort. Pretty miserable efficiency add well. Wort tastes very sweet, I'm a bit concerned.

Onward and upward, set the timer to have strike water ready this morning. Mashed in at 7.00 for a Kilkenny red.
I was more careful of required volumes and all went smoothly. Efficiency improved to 65%, tasted "nice" as it went into fermenter.

Third times a charm. Like all young fellas when they work out what is REALLY all about I couldn't wait to crack on. I decided to run the grain through the mill twice, i didn't adjust the gap between crushes, i just reckoned there were a few grains sneaking through unmilled. efficiency 73%, and you could drink this for breakfast.

Doing three brews in quick succession let me learn and improve"now" rather than forget next time, so I'm glad I did it this way. I'm currently running at capacity now fermenter wise, Just need to be patient for a little while.

 

[Ben Davies]

Well yesterday to be precise. My first AG brew, using a robo with intact cherry.
First brew was a stone and wood clone. Rookie error meant I used too much sparge water and even after a longer boil time still ended up with too much wort. Pretty miserable efficiency add well. Wort tastes very sweet, I'm a bit concerned.

Onward and upward, set the timer to have strike water ready this morning. Mashed in at 7.00 for a Kilkenny red.
I was more careful of required volumes and all went smoothly. Efficiency improved to 65%, tasted "nice" as it went into fermenter.

Third times a charm. Like all young fellas when they work out what is REALLY all about I couldn't wait to crack on. I decided to run the grain through the mill twice, i didn't adjust the gap between crushes, i just reckoned there were a few grains sneaking through unmilled. efficiency 73%, and you could drink this for breakfast.

Doing three brews in quick succession let me learn and improve"now" rather than forget next time, so I'm glad I did it this way. I'm currently running at capacity now fermenter wise, Just need to be patient for a little while.

Onya mate will take a few brews to get your robo brew dialed in. Im sure there are a few on here who have same system so you can learn off them.

 

[kalbarluke]

I wouldn’t worry too much about missing the exact measurements or about the sweetness. Your final product may not be an exact clone but it’s still probably going to taste nice.
I made tarted up kit beers and partials for 20 years and, like you, I’ve just started my AG journey. I have done six brews now and my first one was also a SnW pacific ale attempt. I undershot my numbers a bit but it still turned out really good. Now I’ve gone down the AG path, it’s unlikely I will ever do kits again unless I need quick keg fillers.

 

[solidute]

I wouldn’t worry too much about missing the exact measurements or about the sweetness. Your final product may not be an exact clone but it’s still probably going to taste nice.
I made tarted up kit beers and partials for 20 years and, like you, I’ve just started my AG journey. I have done six brews now and my first one was also a SnW pacific ale attempt. I undershot my numbers a bit but it still turned out really good. Now I’ve gone down the AG path, it’s unlikely I will ever do kits again unless I need quick keg fillers.

X2 here. I have only brewed slightly twisted versions of the s&w to sample different types of hops while i perfect my technique.

 

[DrewCarey82]

Well yesterday to be precise. My first AG brew, using a robo with intact cherry.
First brew was a stone and wood clone. Rookie error meant I used too much sparge water and even after a longer boil time still ended up with too much wort. Pretty miserable efficiency add well. Wort tastes very sweet, I'm a bit concerned.

Onward and upward, set the timer to have strike water ready this morning. Mashed in at 7.00 for a Kilkenny red.
I was more careful of required volumes and all went smoothly. Efficiency improved to 65%, tasted "nice" as it went into fermenter.

Third times a charm. Like all young fellas when they work out what is REALLY all about I couldn't wait to crack on. I decided to run the grain through the mill twice, i didn't adjust the gap between crushes, i just reckoned there were a few grains sneaking through unmilled. efficiency 73%, and you could drink this for breakfast.

Doing three brews in quick succession let me learn and improve"now" rather than forget next time, so I'm glad I did it this way. I'm currently running at capacity now fermenter wise, Just need to be patient for a little while.

Been looking for feedback on the Robo, is it easy to set up watched a clip and all seemed straight forward? I notice generation 3 can do a 30 litre batch which is awesome.

 

[Outback]

I've had mine for the best part of a month, since then I've watched youtube video I could find. Because I work for myself, time is a big issue, so I decided to pretty much take the weekend to play with the new toy. I would have to say the Robo performed flawlessly. It is priced to get people like me into AG, and it worked, without it I would stick to extracts and FWK.

I guess the final result will be known in a couple of weeks but I'm looking for the next brew to try.

 

[JDW81]

Well done mate. Don't get too hung up on efficiency, being consistent is more important. If you consistently hit 65% efficiency you'll make much better beer than if you swing between 80% and 60%. Each system has it's own sweet spot efficiency wise, and it takes a few brews to work out where yours sits.

Make sure you keep good notes of each brew day, and what you did so you know what you have changed/can compare to what you did last time. It will help you iron out problems much quicker than just "winging" it.

JD