Just Put Down My First Ag

[stef]

So, first AG BIAB today. Went well over all.

Was andrewQLDs pale ale clone. I was using a 40l aluminium pot, plus a voile bag made by the missus for me. Gear worked really well. One point i was worried about is that i dont have a burner- i made up a little insert for the BBQ, so i can use 2 rail burners to save a bit of coin. It worked really well- took a fair while, but did the job.

Only had a couple of probs. The biggest was that i had been reculturing a coopers yeast for about a week, slowly building it up. I've done it before, so i was pretty confident. However, got it out of the fridge this morning and it was infected (really sour/vinegar taste and smell), so after getting some advice on this forum, i got a couple of longnecks and did another quick reculture. No idea if it will work- mixed dregs of 2 pale longeys and about 500ml of pale malt. That was going for about 5 hours, didnt see much action, but hopefully it will be ok. Pitched into wort at about 25 degrees. I'll check tomorrow and hopefully see some action, otherwise i guess i'll chuck a dry yeast in tomorrow.

Second prob was that i missed the FG by 4 points- i ended up on 1.040 and 1.044 was recommended gravity. So thats a little annoying, but i'm not too bothered. I did a hydro sample and got 1.039, so let it boil a bit longer, but obviously i shoudl have just boiled a bit more. Oh well. Just will be a little light. Or i guess i could add some sugar later.

Finally, i got a total of about 21.5 or 22 litres, so about a litre short. Once again, not too worried.

So now its in the beer fridge, working its way down to ferment at 16. Hopefully the yeast works, but i believe its not too much of a big deal if i need to repitch something tomorrow.

Thanks heaps for all the help and advice from everyone on the forum.

Stef.

 

[bcp]

Good job. Welcome to the dark side.

I always keep some DME on hand in case i miss my FG - although 4 points isn't too far off.

Missing the quantity is about learning how much you lose to trub, bag and boil for a given time. That's pretty close.

 

[stef]

Yeah, i was suprised how much trub there was. It was really "fluffy" too- moved around a lot, so i stopped pretty early. I didnt use any whirlfloc either- will use that next time, but its in the mail on the way to me at the moment.

Also, i have some light DME here. Should i add some? Is it a bit tricky to do after the boil though?

 

[bignath]

Hi Stef,

good job on your first AG!

I probably wouldn't bother to add anything to this first batch...You've got closer to your targets than i got with my first AG - particularly in the volume stakes.

You COULD add some more malt. (boil up a little wort, cool and add) but i wouldn't..It will probably achieve the desired boost in gravity points, but it will also change the bitterness balance too. I'd just chalk it up to experience and change the next batch.

Congratulations again on doing your maiden mash beer!

Cheers n beers,

Nath

 

[manticle]

Good work. Check out no chilling - good option for those times you have issues with yeast not being ready.

 

[stef]

was gonna no chill, but no cube... Maybe next time- looks like its heaps easy. Anyone care to share their thoughts on the possibility of my yeast surviving/not surviving?

 

[np1962]

Re-culturing Coopers yeast can be slow to start but once it's going it will go strong.
5 hours in 500ml starter may not have kicked ithe yeast nto ferment mode as yet, will still be building up numbers getting ready to eat all those sugars.
If you are confident of your sanitation methods you could leave it a little longer to kick off.
Just be aware there are other issues with under pitching including stronger ester flavours and clarity issues.
If you are at all worried go ahead and pitch the dry yeast.
Nige

PS PM on the way regards Whitelabs yeast order.

 

[stef]

Hm, wonder if there'll be lots of banana again from underpitching. I've got temp control now- so keeping it down at 16ish degrees to avoid the banana- so hopefully it doesnt come through too much from underpitching.

 

[raven19]

Congrats on AG Brew #1 Stef. 4 points off your OG is not too bad at all!

Time to get brew #2 down and get those xmas stocks up!

 

[stef]

Thanks everyone.

Getting number 2 down asap, but only got one fridge, so it'll need to wait a while...

 

[Hatchy]

Nice work mate, I wouldn't be concerned about missing targets by a little bit. My 1st 4 batches were to see what I'd get rather than aiming for targets. It didn't work too well as far as experiments go but at least I got beer.