It's Brew Day!

[welly2]

I think I've got everything.

 

[Yob]

Pot?

 

[wbosher]

Pot?

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[welly2]

Pot?

Nah, we're drinking beer today.

 

[welly2]

It's progressing nicely. I just checked the mash temperature and it's a little lower than I'd have liked but it should be fine (I think). But the quilt I wrapped round it seemed to keep it all nice and warm. I'm going to get a couple of camping mats for next time though. 7 minutes left and then will be cracking on with the boil! Exciting!

 

[wbosher]

Good job mate. Fun innit

 

[Dan Pratt]

Liquid hops?

 

[fletcher]

Liquid hops?

nah they look like the ones i think i got from dave's home brew? they're 100gms of pellets

 

[fletcher]

what's the recipe mate?

EDIT: keep posting photos please...helps me pretend i'm there or at home brewing rather than being at work :icon_cheers:

 

[welly2]

Good job mate. Fun innit

It is too! What I'm missing is a beer.

 

[welly2]

what's the recipe mate?

EDIT: keep posting photos please...helps me pretend i'm there or at home brewing rather than being at work :icon_cheers:

Here's the recipe:

4.5 kg Pale Malt
400g Munich Malt
100g Crystal Malt
1 x US-05 dry yeast

26 litres of water
24g of Pride of Ringwood at 60 minutes
24g of Cascade at 30 minutes
12g Cascade at 15 minutes

I tested the pre-boil AG. It came in at 1.039. I'm not sure if that's good, bad or neither?

Here's progress (it's on the boil now)

 

[bum]

Bloody hell, mate. It's 4 o'clock and you haven't even burned yourself yet.

Worst first batch ever.

 

[welly2]

Bloody hell, mate. It's 4 o'clock and you haven't even burned yourself yet.

Worst first batch ever.

I've not even had a beer yet Heading down for a quick schooner after these first hops go in though.

 

[Byran]

Bloody hell, mate. It's 4 o'clock and you haven't even burned yourself yet.

Worst first batch ever.

I went and bought myself some heavy duty rubber gloves for playing around with the hot grain bag. Works a treat.
( I have burnt myself numerous times.......)

 

[wbosher]

Nice stack of books. Been doing some reading during the mash :lol:

 

[fletcher]

i always find i'm under gravity according to brewmate pre-boil, but i guess that's due to me not taking into consideration the volume and temperature and whatever else. i'm usually WAY off, but then post boil i'm right on track.

looks like it's going great mate.

 

[yum beer]

Don't forget to put that tap back in the fermenter......that'll f*#k your day right up.

 

[nu_brew]

Don't forget to put that tap back in the fermenter......that'll f*#k your day right up.

Been there done that!

 

[welly2]

Ok! An update and some thoughts from my first AG batch.

First some more pictures

My kitchen is pretty much destroyed! We accompanied the brew session with some nice cheese and meat and some single malt whisky. May or may not skip the whisky next brew day.

26 litres of water went in and I've finished with just under 20 litres although there was a bit of a spillage when I was wrapping up the urn in my quilt. I kept on knocking the tap and lost a bit of wort through that. I think I may purchase some camping mats and make a permanent(ish) fixture to the urn.

Pre-boil gravity was 1.039 and it measured 1.043 into the fermenter. I was expecting 1.046 and it was the first time using the refractometer so that might not have been perfectly calibrated but anyway, something for next batch.

The boil took bloody ages to cool - probably about half an hour, if not a little longer. I got it down to 20c although when it first went into the fermenter and I added the yeast, I noticed it was closer to 24c, so either the stick on thermometer isn't accurate, the other thermometer I was using isn't accurate or possibly all the wort wasn't 20c, only the bit I measured. It's sat at 18c now and there is a nice foamy head on the fermenter - about an inch thick so am pleased with how quickly that has come around.

The siphoning was a little tricky and I got a bit more of the trub in the fermenter than I would have liked. Will this have any significant affect on the fermenting process or the taste of the beer? It's all sat in the bottom of the fermenter and it's looking clearer that I expected given the trub.

Also, the airlock in my fermenter isn't bubbling away particularly furiously. It does have some bubbles in it but they're not doing much. I wonder if there's an air leak? Should I try and fix that or leave it be?

Overall, it was a great, fun afternoon, I really enjoyed making the beer and I'm excited to have another brew day soon! I'm going to try a stout of some description - would welcome some recipe suggestions! There's definitely room for improvement in my process but I think it's mostly good. I learned a lot from it. Need to figure out a quicker method for cooling the wort though. I'd welcome any advice for that too!

Cheers!

 

[citizensnips]

Don't try and fix the airlock situation now, wait till next brew. Judge by the krausen activity and gravity samples..they will tell you whats going on.

 

[welly2]

Don't try and fix the airlock situation now, wait till next brew. Judge by the krausen activity and gravity samples..they will tell you whats going on.

Ok, I'll leave it be then. It's looking pretty healthy - the krausen isn't quite as frothy as my Cooper's DIY kit was but then that took 3 or 4 days to develop and this has only been going for a day and a half now. I shall be patient!

 

[welly2]

So I've bottled (most of) my first BIAB beer. I'm heading out to the pub for a break. I think I've learned a fair bit from this first batch and planning on starting my next batch sometime this week. The biggest issue this beer is going to have is it's going to be cloudy. I've got so much trub in my fermenter, I couldn't avoid getting it in the bottles. But that's fine, I'll just say it's an american pale ale style wheat beer. I'm going to be much more careful next time and I'm going to get an auto-siphon this week in preparation. That's mainly where I went wrong, with the siphoning. The few test tastes I've had, it's got loads of flavour and I think it'll be a really tasty beer if the sediment doesn't overpower it. Anyway, we shall see. I'm very excited about it and can't wait for 3 weeks time when I can have my first taste!

Well, onwards and upwards and I'm off to find a stout or porter recipe!

 

[jyo]

Mate, bottle the whole lot at once. You've just sucked litres of air into your fermenter that contain all sorts of bugs. You wan't this process to be a quick one.

 

[MartinOC]

Mate, bottle the whole lot at once. You've just sucked litres of air into your fermenter that contain all sorts of bugs. You wan't this process to be a quick one.

Wot he said.

Rather than getting an auto-siphon, get yourself another fermenter & a "little bottler" (one with a spring-loaded cut-off on the bottom). Transfer from your primary to the second fermenter that has your bulk-priming sugars in the bottom (the act of siphoning should do the mixing thoroughly enough). Then put your little bottler on the tap of the second fermenter & bottle everything in one-go. Needless to say, everything needs to be sanitized.

If you always keep a fermenter empty, your bottling experience will always be a quick/pleasurable one & you're less likely to drag-over excess trub into your bottles.

 

[welly2]

Ok, all bottled. Will have to see how those last couple of bottles do which were the ones I bottled after the pub. I did keep the lid on the fermenter but anyway, we'll see. Thanks for the tips guys! It's still a learning experience at the moment so won't be totally devastated if this one doesn't work out to be the best beer in the world! The next one will though