My First Ag Brew Day

[Benno-5]

Well today was the first and the cherry is poped. Bloody hot in the shed today. Found a few small problems with my herms. The first was the leaking $80 pump from ebay which was meant to be a hot water pump. Whgen the temp got over 50 it started dripping and as we got hotter we got a trickle. Collected it all and back into the brew though.

The second was the rate at which the mash would heat up through the exchanger in the HLT. Very slow. I think I need a lid on the mash tun.

Other than that all has gone well so far. The wort looks and smells great. Hopefully the gravity is right after the boil then I wont need to adjust it. We are 30 mins into the boil at the moment. I think as soon as I get a new pump and a lid this well become a regular sunday job.

 

[peas_and_corn]

well done for going for your first AG! there's always problems with the first brew, but it gets easier from here.

Sorry to hear about the pump, doesn't sound like it lived up to what the seller claimed it to be

 

[razz]

Well done Benno-5. Do your self a favour and order a March pump from G&g this wek, 20% off mail orders only. $269 less discount.
No affilliation.

 

[Benno-5]

Well done Benno-5. Do your self a favour and order a March pump from G&g this wek, 20% off mail orders only. $269 less discount.
No affilliation.

I got that email as well. Thats exactly what i will do. $215 thats not to bad.

 

[razz]

A distributor in Knox also sells on this forum, forgot his handle, last pump I ordered from him came with 240 volt plug and bracket. Not sure about the G&g model.

 

[razz]

SpecialK is your man Benno-5 !

 

[Benno-5]

SpecialK is your man Benno-5 !

SpecialK can you give me a price??

 

[razz]

Perhaps a PM would get a faster response.

 

[Benno-5]

all done. Gravity was at 1050 which was the target. Only problem was that there was 16lt not 22.5. I started with 34 litres in the hlt. I am missing about 5 litres or so. Maby lids are a good idea. I topped up with water to 22lt and then added 1kg of dme and gravity back to 1048. hmm.

 

[Coodgee]

HERMS system is pretty full for a first ag brew. but on the other hand you are going to master everything all at once

 

[PistolPatch]

Congratulations Benno!

Getting your volumes right can be a PITA when you start out. Lids are great on HLT and Mash Tun but definitely not on your kettle.

Make sure you keep a vigorous boil going. Don't do what I and many others have done - try to slow the evaporation rate down from the kettle. This defeats the purpose of boiling.

I also wouldn't worry too much about efficiency for now. Efficiency should not be a high priority when starting out. Learning your volumes is important. Do a few brews and get to know your equipment. Keep that boil going! Don't be worried about using top up water, ending up with a smaller batch or if you end up with too much, even tipping the extra down the sink. With a few brews under your belt, you'll get your volumes sorted out and then you can explore other areas with confidence.

I can't beleive you started on a HERMS! My eyeballs would have been spinning trying to keep up with all that was going on! You've done really well Benno.

Good on ya :beer:
Pat

 

[Benno-5]

thanks guys. I have to say it has taken 6 months of research mostly from this site and from other sites referenced by this site. Building it was the relitievly easy part. It was getting my head around the process involved with a herms system, rests and different temps and the purpose of those rests that took a little understanding.