It's Time.... First Ag

[hupnupnee]

Hi everyone,

After much reading and research I have decided to give the AG a go. To date I have done a few extracts plus grains and of course a lot of kit plus bits. But now the time has come to AG.

I followed the great instructions about building a mash tun. Mine is a small esky plus braid and bung. I frigged around with flanges and treaded pipes for a while but decided the braid and bung was far superior and simple.

I ordered the grain from ESB and the "hops from out-a-space" from Ross.

I have decided on what I think is an ESB. I would love a few comments on the recipe, here it is:

Brewsta: ESB

Recipe Specs
post boil vol. 23.0 L
OG 1.049
IBU 34
Colour 10 EBC
BU:GU 0.68
pre boil vol. 34.0 L
BG 1.033
extract 2.94 kg
grain mass 4.50 kg
Brewday Assumptions
mash efficiency 80%
loss to grain 1.10 L/kg
mashtun equiv. 1.20 L

Fermentables

JW Traditional Pale Malt 3.5 kg 317 HWE mash 5 EBC
Caramalt 0.5 kg 303 HWE mash 50 EBC
Wheat Malt 0.5 kg 318 HWE mash 4 EBC

Hops
Kent Golding (UK) pellet 5.2% 10.0 g 60 8
Fuggle (U.S.) pellet 5.7% 10.0 g 60 8
Kent Golding (UK) pellet 5.2% 10.0 g 30 6
Fuggle (UK) pellet 5.7% 10.0 g 30 6
Kent Golding (UK) pellet 5.2% 10.0 g 10 3
Fuggle (UK) pellet 5.7% 10.0 g 10 3
total hops 60.0 g

Mash Schedule
start
temp grain
mass start
water water
addition target
temp strike
temp minutes notes
20.0 C 4.5 kg 0.0 L 14.0 L 67.0 C 77.1 C 60 Mash In
67.0 C 4.5 kg 5.0 L 25.0 L 67.0 C 67.0 C 10 Batch Sparge
total additions 39.0 L total time 70
loss to grain -4.95 L
total 34.00 L

addition target
temp strike
temp minutes notes
20.0 C 4.5 kg 0.0 L 14.0 L 67.0 C 77.1 C 60 Mash In
67.0 C 4.5 kg 14.0 L 20.0 L 67.0 C 67.0 C 60
total additions 34.0 L total time 120
loss to grain -4.95 L
total 29.05 L

I'll keep everyone posted re progress on the day, and might get a few pics to put up for those that are interested.

Cheers

Tim

 

[Kevin]

hupnupnee:

Congratulations on taking the leap. You won't regret it. :beerbang:

You might want to lower your expectations on the efficiency. 80% is a bit high, and if you do achieve it, you may find some tannins and graininess in the finished beer. 70 to 75% is more normal. And as a first-timer, it is not unusual to get 65%

Sparging at a slow rate of about 60 minutes for the whole batch will help you get the most out of your grain. If you're batch sparging (adding water, draining it all, adding again and repeating) the cumulative time for draining should still be about 50 minutes (allowing the grain to steep for 10 to 15 minutes with each addition as a part of that time).

Then again, maybe you already knew all this....

Kev.

 

[tangent]

looks good
i'd go as far as lessening the wheat and crystal by 1/2 though

looks similar to my 1st AG
right down to the hops

don't get too carried away with numbers etc, just get your temps as close as you can to what you've got planned and you'll get an awesome beer

fresh hops and malt, the smell will drive you wild and your missus will want to hurl
time to remove the can opener from your list of brewing equipment

 

[Tony]

hey hupnupnee

Welcome to the dark side.

I do agree with tangents comments, halv the wheat and caramalt.

even chuck in some darker crystal malts and 50g of chocolate for a bit more color and flavor.

best way is to brew what you have and see how it goes...... and adjust next time..... thats the joy of it.

Oh and the smell of the malt and hops. I will second that!!!!!!!!!!!

every 10 min go inside away from the smell and let your nose clear for 5 min them go back out and the smell will hit you like a stubbie over the head

and yes...... kids and wives generally hate it but i say tough luck

set efficiency to 70% for your first go and keep records of everything so you can adjust later. just use a bit more grain.

enjoy.

cheers

 

[hupnupnee]

Thanks guys,

Well its brew day. The Easter Bunny has been and gone, the kids are happily inspective the bunny footprints and munching on chocolate, and I'm mashing.

All going well so far, except I had a bit of trouble with the temperatures. Initial temperature was 70 so I added about 2l of cold tap water, but I turned away for 5 minutes and it had dropped to about 64. I let if stay there for a while and then got a bit anxious and added 2 more litres of 95* water to bring the temp from 63 to 65. I now have a grain to water ratio of 4l per Kilo. Is this too sloppy?

I must say the aroma is intoxicating, soooo sweeeet, mmmmmmm beeeeeer! Is it too early to crack one open.....

I'm loving this!

Next post in about an hour.

Cheers
Tim

 

[Linz]

Nah, not too sloppy ..for this go


Something to sort for next time, as the others said

 

[Weizguy]

<abbrev> Is this too sloppy?

I must say the aroma is intoxicating, soooo sweeeet, mmmmmmm beeeeeer! Is it too early to crack one open.....
</abbrev>

[post="120599"][/post]​

Not too sloppy, 'ol mate. It's OK to get emotional about your first ag.

It's never too early to crack one open, for a celebration!

Seth out

 

[Jazzafish]

Not too sloppy, 'ol mate. It's OK to get emotional about your first ag.

GOLD! :lol:

Well done on your first AG brew. :beer: You do realise you are now doomed? The world will now revolve around brew day!

With the temperatures, I always take a measurement of the grains temperature and let promash tell me the right amount and temperature of water to add to hit my target. It is always spot on! However I am not and also have a few litres of boiling and cold water on stand by! 4 to 1 will be fine.

Also I find it takes a min to equalise the temperature, so don't be too quick to make changes.

What was the final recipe? did you make those adjustments?

Congrats and enjoy the day. May the sparge flow freely!

Cheers,
Jarrad

 

[hupnupnee]

Back again,

Well a bit more than an hour, but I'm now happily boiling about 23l of wort. I was hoping for more but that is the way it ended up. I'll let you know what the final volume is in the next post.

The gravity into the boil was about 1042. So I'm expecting a few more points at the end of the boil.

I'm a bit worried about the hopps amounts. If someone wouldn't mind having a look at them and let me know that would be great.

Is it time for a beer yet?

I can't believe how good the aroma is from the hops I got from Ross. I have used Brewcraft stuff before for extract boil ups. but it isn't a shade on this hops form out-a-space.

I'll try for some pics as soon as I get the thing in the fermenter.

Cheers

Tim

 

[Ross]

I'm a bit worried about the hopps amounts. If someone wouldn't mind having a look at them and let me know that would be great.

Tim

[post="120663"][/post]​

Hop additions should give you appox 32 IBU - Pretty well spot on...

cheers Ross

 

[Tony]

never too early for a beer.

The sun is up aint it

I usually mash in at 2.5L/Kg so if i have to adjust or add an infusion to keet the temp right half way through the mash, it doesnt water it down.

The enzymes will work better in a thick mash.

Brewing a mild tomorrow...... youve got me all excited. I love the smell.

cheers

 

[hupnupnee]

How do it all end up?

I ended up with about 15l after boil up. This was a lot lower than I thought I would get. :unsure:

I have to work out how to estimate volumes better.

The gravity ended up preboil at about 1042 and post boil a whopping 1080.

The final wort plus added water was 1044 to make up a final volume of 20l.

Wort tasted about as sweet as most kits I have brewed so far but the aroma and taste was decidedly fresher and more appealing.

Pitched SafeAl s04 yeast at about 25 degrees.

Daughter (9years) driven out of house by the smell, kept insisting I turn it off so that she can come inside and eat her easter eggs. She said the smell ruined their taste. I explained to her that she needs to learn to suffer for daddys art. :lol:

All up a great brew day for a first go. Not too much mess, not enough to upset her indoors. And of course I've learnt a bloody bucket full regarding the process. I reckon I can knock a good 2 hours off next time round.

Thanks to everyone who said a few words in support, much appreciated. :beer:

Can't wait to do the next one!!!

Cheers Tim

 

[NRB]

Well done Tim. Keep us updated with tasting notes when they become available.

 

[tangent]

Onya Tim!
Warning - That fresh hop smell is addictive.

 

[hupnupnee]

Brew started actively fermenting by next morning. Today I took a gravity reading and had a taste.

I'm very worried, I think I have an infection. Do AG's smell and taste a bit different to kits and extracts?? Mine has a funny taste, it is not overly displeasurable but it certainly isn't beer like. This wil really sh!t me if I've given it a bug after all that work on Sunday.

 

[johnno]

I'm very worried, I think I have an infection. Do AG's smell and taste a bit different to kits and extracts?? Mine has a funny taste, it is not overly displeasurable but it certainly isn't beer like.

[post="120992"][/post]​

Hi hupnupnee,
Can you describe the smell and taste you are getting a bit more so we can try and work out what it is.

It would be a bummer if it is infected but dont start worrying too soon.

cheers
johnno

 

[hupnupnee]

It's a fruity almost rotten apple smell with a lot a bread dough. I think. I've not had that smell or taste before in any of my extracts, and I taste my brews alot during fermentation.

I'm not at throw out stage just yet, but I'm certainly prepared to start worrying.

 

[Ross]

I doubt it's an infection (let's hope so anyway) - Try not to stress, give it 7 days before having another taste, hopefully will taste far more like beer...

cheers Ross

 

[tangent]

what yeast are you using?
some yeasts don't smell that great when they're working.
an infection usually shows itself fairly quickly with a carpet growing over your wort.

 

[Ross]

what yeast are you using?
some yeasts don't smell that great when they're working.
an infection usually shows itself fairly quickly with a carpet growing over your wort.

[post="120998"][/post]​

Never had an infection at the start of fermentation show itself this way - The most common early infection in my experience is strong medicinal aroma/smell. Once you've experienced this one, you'll never forget it...
Just be patient - you've got fresh grains hops & yeast all reacting together - sometimes it doesn't produce the aroma/taste you might expect...
Remember the tastes & smells - then, whether good or bad, you'll have learn't a little more for the next one...

cheers Ross