Lost My Ag Virginity Today.

[bonj]

We haven't met yet but I will look forward to a sample at the swap.

Sounds like a plan! Looking forward to meeting you.

Enjoy it..You've worked for it..

:beer:

I'm sure I will. The aroma this morning after transferring to the fermenter was magic :super:

 

[bonj]

Sorry delboy, forgot to reply to your post in all the excitement.

Well the aroma is amazing.... at every step. Mashing.... Mmmmm.... hop additions.... yumm... transferring to fermenter... heavenly.

I think the orgasmic part is when you taste the first glass. Only had a few profanities... like going to make the first hop addition and realising the hop sock was inside the house... shit! And squeezing a jerry full of hot wort is a bit painful... had to use insulation on my legs.... shit that's hot!

Pretty cruisy really... It didn't even phase me when a tiny piece of the brick I was using to hold the lid on the HLT broke off and went into the water.... bah! It'll be boiled anyway. Must get a lid to fit for next time. Hang-on, that's tomorrow... maybe the brew after.

so is it as orgasmic as they say? did you work up a gallon of panic swet? how many profanities were used?

 

[NRB]

Good work!

 

[winkle]

On ya mate, no going back from here. Sounds like I'll need a few of the APA to remove the taste of VB Mid from my mouth.

 

[bonj]

Update:

Here are a couple of photos from the brewday on Friday:

Was set to do another brew today, but the rain has put a stop to it. Wet bricks and fire don't mix. Rescheduled for Wednesday.

 

[Pumpy]

No going back now Bonj , the mashin bug will only bite harder now .

At least the if the burner slips Queenslanders will see the fire burning for miles around.

instead of the XXXX brewery

you can call it the 'Fourtyre Brewery'


pumpy

 

[PistolPatch]

Bonj, I'm sure everyone here would say, "Man I just love what you've done with your backyard!" Make sure you put those pics in the, 'How High Tech Is Your Brewery" thread - a work of art mate

I'm hoping the black bit on the ground isn't where the trial run of tyres went horribly wrong or anything :unsure:

And don't let browndog, Ross and Jye lead you astray into brewing their bloody hop monsters!

Good on ya mate! Sorry the rain held you up today.

Pat :chug:

P.S. When using, 'Bonj's Brave Brewery,' what psi should you set your tyres at?

 

[InCider]

Wet bricks and fire don't mix. Rescheduled for Wednesday.

Fire and bricks are fine, I'd seek some advise from a sparky though!

 

[Pumpy]

Bonj, I'm sure everyone here would say, "Man I just love what you've done with your backyard!" Make sure you put those pics in the, 'How High Tech Is Your Brewery" thread - a work of art mate

I'm hoping the black bit on the ground isn't where the trial run of tyres went horribly wrong or anything :unsure:

And don't let browndog, Ross and Jye lead you astray into brewing their bloody hop monsters!

Good on ya mate! Sorry the rain held you up today.

Pat :chug:

P.S. When using, 'Bonj's Brave Brewery,' what psi should you set your tyres at?

Bonj ,

How can people people be so cruel , although it must be hard work putting the tyres back on your car after every brew .

Watch that tyre second from the top the Police may pick you up on that one .

Ps if it rained now is a good time to rush out and plant some flowers in the back yard .

Pumpy

 

[bonj]

:lol:

Well, I can tell you that the tyres are running at atmospheric pressure... a couple of them even have the steel belt sticking through the rubber!

Fortunately I no longer have any of those tyres on my car... and they wouldn't fit on a Ford Focus anyway!

Burning Rubber Brewery? :beer:

edit: Oh and who said I had to reschedule? I went down to the hardware store, picked up some dry bricks, and I'm brewing under cover!

Nothing can stop me now... mua.hahahaaaa

 

[browndog]

Bonj, that is one classic setup there mate. I love it.

cheers

Browndog

 

[bonj]

I'm really slow, and I only just got the bit about the black bit on the ground. It's actually black soil. Nasty stuff, and cracks like crazy when it's dry. You may be able to see a timber post behind the "brewstand/table". That's the actual fence line... build a fence or brew.... easy question!

 

[Josh]

Learnt a couple of lessons... like that I need to calibrate a dipstick so I know the volume for my kettle.
I had planned on doing it, but forgot... oh well.

So now I have around 20L of APA wort at 1.063 SG

Congrats on going AG. The setup looks great too.

I almost always have less volume and higher OG. I just top up the fermenter until I hit the OG I want. I don't bother with doing the calcs pre boil, I just adjust to suit at the end of the boil in the fermenter.

So you could have added 3-4L of water to bring the OG down to something like 1.056? Not sure exactly without doing the calculations, but you get the idea. It's like adding 5L to a fresh wort kit.

Cheers,

Josh

 

[bonj]

Congrats on going AG. The setup looks great too.

Thanks. It was highly improvised, but I'm pretty happy with it. A stand and pump are definitely on my wishlist. Save me having to lift the full mashtun onto the chair.

I almost always have less volume and higher OG. I just top up the fermenter until I hit the OG I want. I don't bother with doing the calcs pre boil, I just adjust to suit at the end of the boil in the fermenter.

That's good to know. I actually added 6L to the kettle because it just didn't "look right". I'd still like to get it calibrated, so I can work out the boil off for beersmith.

So you could have added 3-4L of water to bring the OG down to something like 1.056? Not sure exactly without doing the calculations, but you get the idea. It's like adding 5L to a fresh wort kit.

Where do I find those calculations? I quickly looked the other day, but didn't want to stuff anything up, so I just put it in the fermenter as is. My 2nd AG which I did on Sunday ended up with 19L. I'm okay with that because it's pretty close to a full keg.

Another thing that I need a bit of a refresher course on after doing the 2nd AG on Sunday is sparging. I'm batch sparging, but it takes a fair while to collect the runnings. Not sure how long that should take. I can't do a mashout with this tun because it is too small. Maybe with a smaller grain bill, but with 6.5kg, I'm pretty close to the limit. How much water do you normally use for a mashout? And what is the consensus on temperature? John Palmer says not higher than 76.7degC (170degF), but I've heard alot of people using 95degC and not worrying about astringency, which to be honest, I wouldn't know how to detect.

-Bonj, the apprentice AGer.

 

[Josh]

Thanks. It was highly improvised, but I'm pretty happy with it. A stand and pump are definitely on my wishlist. Save me having to lift the full mashtun onto the chair.

That's good to know. I actually added 6L to the kettle because it just didn't "look right". I'd still like to get it calibrated, so I can work out the boil off for beersmith.

Where do I find those calculations? I quickly looked the other day, but didn't want to stuff anything up, so I just put it in the fermenter as is. My 2nd AG which I did on Sunday ended up with 19L. I'm okay with that because it's pretty close to a full keg.

Another thing that I need a bit of a refresher course on after doing the 2nd AG on Sunday is sparging. I'm batch sparging, but it takes a fair while to collect the runnings. Not sure how long that should take. I can't do a mashout with this tun because it is too small. Maybe with a smaller grain bill, but with 6.5kg, I'm pretty close to the limit. How much water do you normally use for a mashout? And what is the consensus on temperature? John Palmer says not higher than 76.7degC (170degF), but I've heard alot of people using 95degC and not worrying about astringency, which to be honest, I wouldn't know how to detect.

-Bonj, the apprentice AGer.

I did a spreadsheet with some calculations on it so I can adjust if I want a higher or lower OG. PM me with your email and I can send you what I use for recipe calculation and adjustments.

I have a 15L cooler for my mash tun. I simply take runnings, boil them up and add back into the tun for my mashout. Pretty simple and gets a good temp. Am in the market for a larger cooler. BCF at Auburn have some of those 37L ones for $80 so I'm pretty close to getting one of those.

 

[PistolPatch]

I've just sent you a PM Bonj re water calcs etc.

I'm glad to see your mention (I think in another thread) that the set-up is really stable as I must say I was a little worried about that. Phew!

And I know that black soil well. It's as bad wet as it is dry.

Spot ya,
Pat