Move To All Grain For Thirty Bucks

[MarkBastard]

Wyrt, originally. Ye Olde English.

It's this kind of crap that makes using brewing words in a beginners thread a bad idea.

 

[lespaul]

Thanks for the great post.

Just bottled my first BIAB today, and was wondering what level of carbonation is "normal". I racked after 4 days and bottled after 7 days total. When I bottled my brew was completely flat. I've mostly made wine and spirit washes previously, so carbonation wasnt really an issue.

maybe im getting confused on what you meant by your post...but the carbonation only comes after you bottle and add the priming sugar... :huh:

even then it doesnt carb properly until after 1 or more weeks at around 20C

 

[crozdog]

Thanks for the great post.

Just bottled my first BIAB today, and was wondering what level of carbonation is "normal". I racked after 4 days and bottled after 7 days total. When I bottled my brew was completely flat. I've mostly made wine and spirit washes previously, so carbonation wasnt really an issue.

Welcome to AHB, and brewing with grain!

Hope you added a teaspoon of sugar to each long neck! It's normal for your beer to be flat when you bottle. The extra sugar you add to the bottle provides enough food for the yeast left in the beer to carbonate the beer in the bottle.

In future you might want to leave it for a few more days before bottling as the yeast cleans up after itself; more yeast will drop out leaving a clearer finished product & less chance of producing bottle bombs. That said, if you've got a stable FG over several days, you can bottle it, I prefer to be patient

Forgot to add:
You will have some carbonation after a week, but to allow em to gas right up, you're best to leave your newly filled bottles for 3+ weeks before cracking them. This will also allow the beer to settle a bit and mature. The end result is some patience will be rewarded whereas impatience will lead to disappointment. B)

 

[humper_zim]

When finished fermenting, and racked, and just leaving it for a while for the yeast to clean up after itself, does it matter what the temp is (within reason of course), or is it still best to keep it at ~18 degrees?

mike

 

[lespaul]

When finished fermenting, and racked, and just leaving it for a while for the yeast to clean up after itself, does it matter what the temp is (within reason of course), or is it still best to keep it at ~18 degrees?

mike

you still want it about 18C...although anything less than 23 should be fine.
if you have a fridge you can crash chill the whole fermenter at about 2C for another week, which will mean a better taste and clarity.

 

[humper_zim]

you still want it about 18C...although anything less than 23 should be fine.
if you have a fridge you can crash chill the whole fermenter at about 2C for another week, which will mean a better taste and clarity.

Yup, thanks

 

[mattcarty]

hey hey

inspired by this post i am going to give my first AG a go.

going to kick off with Dr Smurto's Golden Ale as my mate Lobo did it and i loved it.

so with recipes how do I adjust a recipe on AHB to only a 9L brew? i am guessing i want to use less grain and hops or do i still use the same amount of hops?

answers or link to information would be great

thanks

carty

 

[manticle]

I'd scale everything down appropriately. 1/2 size brew = half ingredients amounts. There may be some technical utilisation differences with volumes (I'm unsure) but for your first I don't think they will be significant enough to worry.

 

[whitegoose]

I'd scale everything down appropriately. 1/2 size brew = half ingredients amounts. There may be some technical utilisation differences with volumes (I'm unsure) but for your first I don't think they will be significant enough to worry.

Would you still pitch a whole packet of dried yeast?

 

[manticle]

Not if it was a full 11.5 - 15 g pack and I was brewing an ale, no. If it was a lager then yes. Unused dried yeast can be kept in the packet, wrapped in glad and kept in the fridge quite successfully for a while.

 

[whitegoose]

Not if it was a full 11.5 - 15 g pack and I was brewing an ale, no. If it was a lager then yes. Unused dried yeast can be kept in the packet, wrapped in glad and kept in the fridge quite successfully for a while.

Sweet... and as I'm gearing up for my first ever mash using this technique... would you say I need to worry about pH?

 

[manticle]

A brewer more expert than I might give better advice. I've done around 12 full volume AG brews now (maybe more) and only one turned out shite. I have not yet worried about my mash pH.

Water chemistry etc is something I intend to start exploring at some point so I'm not suggesting it is unnecessary ever- just that keeping it simple at the beginning is a good thing and you can make very tasty beer without concerning yourself about pH. Get your grain brewing processes down pat, then explore how to tweak them I reckon.

 

[gsmedia]

Welcome to AHB, and brewing with grain!

Hope you added a teaspoon of sugar to each long neck! It's normal for your beer to be flat when you bottle. The extra sugar you add to the bottle provides enough food for the yeast left in the beer to carbonate the beer in the bottle.

In future you might want to leave it for a few more days before bottling as the yeast cleans up after itself; more yeast will drop out leaving a clearer finished product & less chance of producing bottle bombs. That said, if you've got a stable FG over several days, you can bottle it, I prefer to be patient

Forgot to add:
You will have some carbonation after a week, but to allow em to gas right up, you're best to leave your newly filled bottles for 3+ weeks before cracking them. This will also allow the beer to settle a bit and mature. The end result is some patience will be rewarded whereas impatience will lead to disappointment. B)

Cheers for the info. Next time I'll be a little more patient and bottle later. Maybe.

 

[whitegoose]

A brewer more expert than I might give better advice. I've done around 12 full volume AG brews now (maybe more) and only one turned out shite. I have not yet worried about my mash pH.

Water chemistry etc is something I intend to start exploring at some point so I'm not suggesting it is unnecessary ever- just that keeping it simple at the beginning is a good thing and you can make very tasty beer without concerning yourself about pH. Get your grain brewing processes down pat, then explore how to tweak them I reckon.

Awesome - that's what I thought. Thanks

 

[mattcarty]

I'd scale everything down appropriately. 1/2 size brew = half ingredients amounts. There may be some technical utilisation differences with volumes (I'm unsure) but for your first I don't think they will be significant enough to worry.

cool thats what i was thinking so thanks for the confirmation

cheers
carty

 

[jello]

Awesome tutorial. Thanks heaps for the time and effort.

If I wanted to apply this method to a recipe from the DB, could I use the same amount of water for the boil, and then add additional water when transferring to the fermenter?

 

[MarkBastard]

Awesome tutorial. Thanks heaps for the time and effort.

If I wanted to apply this method to a recipe from the DB, could I use the same amount of water for the boil, and then add additional water when transferring to the fermenter?

You can pretty much follow this guide but probably use more hops, then after you turn the heat off dump a 1.5L tin of liquid malt extract into the pot and let it dissolve. Then when you transfer to the fermenter top up with water to the usual level. This is known as a partial mash.

 

[jello]

So even if I use one of the recipes from the RecipeDB (which I assume already has the quantities of ingredients for a 23l brew), I should then add an additional 1.5L of LME? Isn't that excessive?

 

[MarkBastard]

So even if I use one of the recipes from the RecipeDB (which I assume already has the quantities of ingredients for a 23l brew), I should then add an additional 1.5L of LME? Isn't that excessive?

Sorry if you use all the ingrediants from the full recipe you don't need to add the 1.5L of LME.

But that said there's no way you'll be able to mash the 5 odd kg of grain in a stove top pot anyway, so it's a moot point. If you follow an all grain 23L recipe you'll need a 40L pot and I don't think the best stove will boil that.

 

[jello]

Bugger. Thanks.

Looks like I'm still going to need a bigger pot anyway. I don't think the one I have is 15L. Oh....and a themometer, and a grinder,....and voile. My poor wallet.

Can't wait to try this.