Mr B
Well-Known Member
Hey All
Been reading this site for many months, and planning to make some beer. May as well make this the spot to tell my story and ask questions along the way. By the way, the site is excellent and peoples seem great, informative and entertaining.
I quite like beer, and the nature of making it, which involves chemistry, stainless steel stuff, valves, pumps, water etc is right up my alley. I have never done it before, as homebrew my mates have made always tasted like homebrew. That nasty twang. About a year ago, a fellow brought a keg of his all grain brew to a social gathering. Very tasty, and so I started to do some research.
I have a converted keg and burner stand with three ring burner. I have some other stuff which I could make into a 3v rig, which sounds interesting, however decided to start simple.
Yesterday, making of wort actually happened.
Dr Smurtos Golden Ale, BIAB 20l batch.
The brew went quite well, however a couple of questions have arisen which I would appreciate clarification on.
I ended up with a SG of 1.042, where target was 1.047 (calc), and 18l in the fermentor (target 20l).
The fermentor is a bunnings 30l square drum, and has about 1cm of crap in the bottom. This is after transferring to a cube (20l jerry) which I tipped into the fermentor totally (without tap on it - so just a tip) At the end of the boil (after putting 1/2 whirlfloc in at 5 mins), I gave it a good stir/whirlpool. Left for 10 mins or so, but convection seemed to take over from the whirlpool. Should I wait for it to cool down a bit before whirlpooling? The trub was evenly over the bottom of the keggle, and I obviously sucked some of it into the no-chill cube. Any suggestions on how I can improve this aspect?
I don't really understand how I ended up with 18l in the nochill/fermentor (especially considering the SG - surely it should be higher??). I used Brewmate to calculate strike volume etc. Ended up at 65.3 degrees at end of mash (in kettle with sleeping bag around it). 22l at end of boil, and 2l lost to trub (included in calcs and measured with a measure jug from the kettle during cleaning). My measurements must be off somewhere (btw, no beers during the process). Dipstick used to measure - marked by filling with 2l jug into kettle, maybe this is off.
What does the SG value vs predicted tell you? What could I do better/went wrong? What does this mean for alc content? Low? What do I adjust in brewmate?
I have favored coopers sparkling for the last couple of years, so this wort was interesting, quite hoppy. I also got a James Squire Hop Thief and Fat Yak today out of interest. After smelling and using Hops (Amarillo, but I also have some Cascade) I found these very interesting to drink. Very hoppy.
Anyway, a bit of a ramble, but appreciate any pointers. Going to brew again tomorrow as have enough grain for another Smurto. And it was quite fun
Been reading this site for many months, and planning to make some beer. May as well make this the spot to tell my story and ask questions along the way. By the way, the site is excellent and peoples seem great, informative and entertaining.
I quite like beer, and the nature of making it, which involves chemistry, stainless steel stuff, valves, pumps, water etc is right up my alley. I have never done it before, as homebrew my mates have made always tasted like homebrew. That nasty twang. About a year ago, a fellow brought a keg of his all grain brew to a social gathering. Very tasty, and so I started to do some research.
I have a converted keg and burner stand with three ring burner. I have some other stuff which I could make into a 3v rig, which sounds interesting, however decided to start simple.
Yesterday, making of wort actually happened.
Dr Smurtos Golden Ale, BIAB 20l batch.
The brew went quite well, however a couple of questions have arisen which I would appreciate clarification on.
I ended up with a SG of 1.042, where target was 1.047 (calc), and 18l in the fermentor (target 20l).
The fermentor is a bunnings 30l square drum, and has about 1cm of crap in the bottom. This is after transferring to a cube (20l jerry) which I tipped into the fermentor totally (without tap on it - so just a tip) At the end of the boil (after putting 1/2 whirlfloc in at 5 mins), I gave it a good stir/whirlpool. Left for 10 mins or so, but convection seemed to take over from the whirlpool. Should I wait for it to cool down a bit before whirlpooling? The trub was evenly over the bottom of the keggle, and I obviously sucked some of it into the no-chill cube. Any suggestions on how I can improve this aspect?
I don't really understand how I ended up with 18l in the nochill/fermentor (especially considering the SG - surely it should be higher??). I used Brewmate to calculate strike volume etc. Ended up at 65.3 degrees at end of mash (in kettle with sleeping bag around it). 22l at end of boil, and 2l lost to trub (included in calcs and measured with a measure jug from the kettle during cleaning). My measurements must be off somewhere (btw, no beers during the process). Dipstick used to measure - marked by filling with 2l jug into kettle, maybe this is off.
What does the SG value vs predicted tell you? What could I do better/went wrong? What does this mean for alc content? Low? What do I adjust in brewmate?
I have favored coopers sparkling for the last couple of years, so this wort was interesting, quite hoppy. I also got a James Squire Hop Thief and Fat Yak today out of interest. After smelling and using Hops (Amarillo, but I also have some Cascade) I found these very interesting to drink. Very hoppy.
Anyway, a bit of a ramble, but appreciate any pointers. Going to brew again tomorrow as have enough grain for another Smurto. And it was quite fun