My First A.g Tomorrow

[datman510]

ive started the boil........ one tip for all you thinking of stating AG.. give you wife/girlfriend $100 and tell her to Fark off for the day!!!!! whts this do? can you give me a hand for a sec? oooh that stinks what is it? can i make a sandwich?........................... GET RID OF HER!!!!!!!!

G

 

[matti]

Hahaha....
Get her involved or get her busy elsewhere.
I had the same problem a couple of years ago.
I then asked her if she would rather have me home or should I take up golf again.....
Problem 1/2 solved...
Though I must admit I tend to brew when she is out rather then when she is home.
Luvely as they are......
You will find that once your a little better organised you'll have time for sandwich making and and mowing the lawn etc.
happy brewing

 

[datman510]

could i get some advise please just finished the all grain brew but only managed to finish with 17 lts? i used promash to calulate everything and ive come up 9 lts short? what should i do? top it up with water?

 

[Frank]

could i get some advise please just finished the all grain brew but only managed to finish with 17 lts? i used promash to calulate everything and ive come up 9 lts short? what should i do? top it up with water?

Check the SG of the cool wort (place tube in fridge).

What alcohol level are you aiming for?

What yeast are you using?

 

[datman510]

the sg is 1051

not sure dont care about the alcohol level today was more about my first AG but falling that short is concerning me.

yeast is safale us-05

 

[Frank]

the sg is 1051

not sure dont care about the alcohol level today was more about my first AG but falling that short is concerning me.

yeast is safale us-05

Add 1L of water, this should drop SG to 1.048, giving ABV 4.7%, if ferment down to 1.012.
Don't add any more than that, beer will be too thin.

Go back over you procedures at the end of the day. Don't stress, better to have a tasty 18L than watery 26L. Your beer will have a higher IBU witht the smaller volume though.

 

[datman510]

ibu? could you please explain?

 

[Frank]

ibu? could you please explain?

International Bitterness Units.
Level of bitterness from your Hop additions.
Hop addition has now been concentrated. Nothing too be concerned over. I am sure it will be fine.

 

[white.grant]

Relax its your first ag, plenty more where they come from .

First couple of brews are a bit experimental. You'll still need to dial in your rig so you know just exactly how much you'll be losing to dead space in your tun and kettle evaporation rate. Beersmith defaults to 4% of boil but I find I lose a lot more. Say if you lost 3l in your tun and another 3l to evaporation and 3l to trub, there's your shortfall. You'll want to add this into your calculations for next time.

You can add more water to the wort to make up volume but this will impact upon you specific gravity, if 1052 is higher than you wanted then some dilution will be fine.

cheers

grant

 

[datman510]

thanks guys, so in short i should sparge an extra 9 litres next time? believe it or not that was the only problem.... so far

 

[Frank]

thanks guys, so in short i should sparge an extra 9 litres next time? believe it or not that was the only problem.... so far

Your efficiency might be a bit lower than the recipe you were following as well.
If you stilll have your mash handy, I am assuming you have not cleaned up yet. See if you can drain off enough wort to fill your hydrometer tube and check the SG (and taste). This will see if you have left any sugars behind. If the SG is only 1.002 or around this number, you have sparged as much as required and will need more grain to start next time. If your SG is higher sparging with more water next time is required.

 

[warra48]

Falling short on your first AG seems to be a common occurance, and I fell short on my first AG by about the same amount as you. I think the grains absorb more than the mythical 1 litre/kg, IMHO closer to 1.5 litres/kg.
Did you allow for dead space in your mash/lauter tun in your calculations? I suggest a test run in your tun to see how much liquid is left behind when you drain it. You need to add this back into your calculations.
I also suggest you work out where in your kettle you reach your desired volume. I have a copper pipe, marked with my dremel, in 1 litre increments. However, I can wing it in my kettle, as the rivets from the handles give me an exact 30 litre reference point.
Depending on the intensity of your boil, you may have boiled off more than you anticipated.
How much did you lose to trub in the bottom of your kettle? That could be as much as 2 litres. Again, you need to allow for that in your calculations.
IBU = International Bittering Units. I recommend you get a program, such as BeerSmith or Promash, which calculates your predicted IBU's based on the recipe you are designing, and your anticipated volumes. If you have collected significantly less volume than you anticipated, but used your planned quantity of hops, you are likely to end up with a rather bitter beer, and you need to reduce the amount of hops used.
Good luck with your next one, you'll get on top of all these issues as you continue, but I suggest you keep notes of what you did, so you can fine tune your processes.

 

[datman510]

Your efficiency might be a bit lower than the recipe you were following as well.
If you stilll have your mash handy, I am assuming you have not cleaned up yet. See if you can drain off enough wort to fill your hydrometer tube and check the SG (and taste). This will see if you have left any sugars behind. If the SG is only 1.002 or around this number, you have sparged as much as required and will need more grain to start next time. If your SG is higher sparging with more water next time is required.

so can i check the OG at mash temp?

 

[datman510]

Falling short on your first AG seems to be a common occurance, and I fell short on my first AG by about the same amount as you. I think the grains absorb more than the mythical 1 litre/kg, IMHO closer to 1.5 litres/kg.
Did you allow for dead space in your mash/lauter tun in your calculations? I suggest a test run in your tun to see how much liquid is left behind when you drain it. You need to add this back into your calculations.
I also suggest you work out where in your kettle you reach your desired volume. I have a copper pipe, marked with my dremel, in 1 litre increments. However, I can wing it in my kettle, as the rivets from the handles give me an exact 30 litre reference point.
Depending on the intensity of your boil, you may have boiled off more than you anticipated.
How much did you lose to trub in the bottom of your kettle? That could be as much as 2 litres. Again, you need to allow for that in your calculations.
IBU = International Bittering Units. I recommend you get a program, such as BeerSmith or Promash, which calculates your predicted IBU's based on the recipe you are designing, and your anticipated volumes. If you have collected significantly less volume than you anticipated, but used your planned quantity of hops, you are likely to end up with a rather bitter beer, and you need to reduce the amount of hops used.
Good luck with your next one, you'll get on top of all these issues as you continue, but I suggest you keep notes of what you did, so you can fine tune your processes.

As i was falling short i used a strainer to get as much as possible from the bottom of the kettle.

I should have measured the amount of water taken from the mash but didnt and will next time for sure.

i allowed 2 lts using beersmith for tun and trub.

My boil was exactly 100c the whole way through.. so it wasnt intense no boil overs or anything.

thanks for your help mate

 

[matti]

At room temp.
Look at the neck of hydrometer.
It may state the temperature it is calibrated to

 

[Frank]

so can i check the OG at mash temp?

Your gravity at preboil will always be lower than once you have finished, due to boil concentating the sugars. OG (original gravity) refers to SG (specific gravity) in the fermenter.
All SG readings should be performed around 20 C, so you might have to cool it down in the fridge first, or leave it sit on the bench.
You need to think of the process for what the different SG reading will be.
In the initial mash very high reading.
Last runnings into the kettle very low, close to 1.000.
Start boil lower than final reading.
You can take an SG reading at any stage to give yourself a bit of a guide to how the sugar conversions and dilutions are going. The sample can then be poured back into your pots. Never pour a sample back into your fermenter though once yeast has been pitched yeast.
I hope that wasn't too confusing.

 

[datman510]

got it, sorta :lol:


another question whys the finished product so damn dark? its supposed to be a LCBA clone? is this normal for an AG brew?

 

[Frank]

another question whys the finished product so damn dark? its supposed to be a LCBA clone? is this normal for an AG brew?

Just had a look on the recipe DB. Did you follow the exact grain bill? Shouldn't be too dark, are you looking at the fermenter, or in the hydrometer tube? Some of my beers still any up darker than anticipated.

 

[datman510]

my lhbs gave me everything i asked for in weight, some of the grain was equivilant stuff (not exact but pretty much the same so im told) and im looking through the fermenter

 

[Cocko]

Larry, dont stress my friend!!

I am only doing BIAB but it sounds like you had a good first AG - Grats!!

Also thanks for the tip on SWMBO - Funny as... "Whats that smell" Why can't you come and do this?" - GOLD!

As warra said, there a few things you can't account for until you run up your system = Boil off, kettle loss etc!

My $0.02 = Just be hapy you made some AG beer, ferment it, bottle/Keg it AND enjoy it!! Easy....

Anyways, well done mate and I hope turns out well for you!!

Cocko
:icon_cheers: