Intermediate Stovetop Techniques

[RdeVjun]

I kinda like that Hanka grain note - but I see where you're coming from. Will try this next batch!

Have you tried the Floor Malted stuff?

Yep, the Floor- Malted Weyermann Bo Pils, that's the stuff I've been using, drank my way through a couple of sacks- worth now, my FSM it was a mammoth effort!
IMO the thing is with Munich Helles in comps at least, there's not a lot of room for even the palest spec malts without them becoming bleedingly obvious, so apart from single infusion, which is quite OK as far as a beer goes with BoPils, decoction is about all there is to brighten things up. Having said that, a few % of Melanoidin or a handful of Munich will get it over the line for most brewers if they're not into decoction, its a near as shit an' a goose.

 

[going down a hill]

my 2 cents worth here.
When hanging the bag....
I was getting wort everywhere when I hung the bag...now I do this and it is heaps cleaner...plus easier.
I just lift it up for about a minute to get the first rush of wort out then slip the fridge shelf underneath and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
Then I do a bit of sueezing etc etc.

up to the individual though.

This idea helped my brewday on Sunday. No mess and my effeciency went up. :beer: cheers

 

[rbtmc]

Anyone tried dry hopping this brew? It's been in the fermenter for a week and I have some Saaz left over. Thoughts?

 

[RdeVjun]

Anyone tried dry hopping this brew? It's been in the fermenter for a week and I have some Saaz left over. Thoughts?

Nah, I wouldn't. Keep the leftovers for the next batch, it probably isn't to style- very few, if any, lagers are dry hopped.
By all means be creative with your brewing, but in the initial stages I'd just stick to the recipe, otherwise it can become difficult to untangle the effects of creativity from faults in process. :icon_cheers:

 

[thylacine]

This idea helped my brewday on Sunday. No mess and my effeciency went up. :beer: cheers

BigW pot with a Woolies sourced cooling rack. Note each corner has a 'leg' which neatly locks the rack onto the pot. Initially used bulldog clips rather than pegs.

 

[MarkBastard]

I still love my urns and enjoy the dead simple procedure of full volume BIAB but I wouldn't be at all surprised if many new brewers getting into AG using Nick and Rde's (and others who have posted) methods just not seeing why they should invest more cash and go onto other systems. I reckon we should definitely try to get one of the guys to brew at the system wars day for the upcoming Brisbane Home Brewing conference. :icon_cheers:

This is just my personal opinion:
I went from stovetop partials (almost the exact same principle as Nick's methods except you use a bit less grain and add a tin of liquid malt extract at flameout) to all grain in an urn and I like the urn process a LOT more. Having a tap alone was very handy. Each to their own and all that but it's my opinion that going to an urn made my brewing experience a lot more pleasurable. Being able to brew outside the kitchen was also a bonus for me.

 

[Nick JD]

I just mashed in without adding the bag. With a 55C strike and too much grain - so I pretended I did an acid rest.

Then I slopped grain and gritty liquid all over the kitchen floor transfering it into a bucket which was too small, so I got another bucket and slipped on the gritty acid rest liquid and did the splits a little bit and now I have a groin strain and the mash is like, now about 40C, in two buckets and the voile bag is still hanging on the Hill's Hoist.

So I get it into the pot with the bag in it finally and start adding coffee kettles of boiling water while measuring the temperature, but I forgot to check that SWMBO had left the kettle on "75C" for her morning tea, so the first 2L hardly brought the temp up at all.

So I keep adding boiling water and looking at the thermomenter and it says 61C finally - and the mash is finally looking the correct colour and not all floury and in the 50s - and I have about 2 inches of freeboard.

The final batch of boiling water got it up to 64C and there's about 5mm (no shit) of pot showing. An 18.7L mash in a 19L pot.

What's not to like? :lol: