My First Ag Brew - Thanks Nick :)

[robbiep]

Hi guys,

Yesterday and made my first All Grain beer using Nicks guidelines, but made a few slight changes to his recipe.

2kg of Aussie ale malt
100g of carapils
50g of carared
10g of carafa 3
10g of Simcoe (60mins)
10g of D Saaz (15mins)
US05

It was great to be able to taste along the way and I was boiling the grains and adding the different hops. At the end tasted great, but a LITTLE bitter. Next time I might just use less Simcoe and perhaps only for 30mins instead of 60mins.

It cooled over-night and I stuck it into fermenter this morning.

Really, it wasnt too much effort at all, no more effort than doing a Sunday Roast.

It also left a wonderful aroma in the kitchen for the day 

Ill take a gravity reading in 5 days time.

Cheers,
Robbie

 

[wbosher]

I think Nick's thread on BIAB has brought many of us kit brewers over to the dark side.

It's quite amazing how simple it really is. Obviously there will be some tweaking and playing around with processes, but to get started in AG, it really is a piece of piss.

 

[GalBrew]

It was great to be able to taste along the way and I was boiling the grains and adding the different hops. At the end tasted great, but a LITTLE bitter. Next time I might just use less Simcoe and perhaps only for 30mins instead of 60mins.

Don't worry too much about that, the bitterness will mellow a tad through fermentation and conditioning. Remember it's still only wort at that stage, i'm sure it will taste great! :beer:

 

[mikec]

I think Nick's thread on BIAB has brought many of us kit brewers over to the dark side.

That thread is the gateway drug of All Grain Brewing.

 

[robbiep]

Do you recon its possible to make bigger batches, say 15 liters, using a 15l stock pot?

My thinking would be to use more grain hence more concentrated, and add more water when putting in fermenter.

 

[wbosher]

Do you recon its possible to make bigger batches, say 15 liters, using a 15l stock pot?

My thinking would be to use more grain hence more concentrated, and add more water when putting in fermenter.

You can use two pots.

My recomendation, spend a few $$$ and get a 50L pot. You can do 20 - 25L brews, possibly even bigger. I've done a 25L brew with no probs.

 

[robbiep]

Yeh i thought of two pots..

So the idea of a more concentrated mix with added water in the fermenter wouldnt really work well?

 

[Nick JD]

Do you recon its possible to make bigger batches, say 15 liters, using a 15l stock pot?

My thinking would be to use more grain hence more concentrated, and add more water when putting in fermenter.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=44264

 

[robbiep]

I put my fermenter in an eskey, filled with water and a few frozen water bottles and covered with a wet towel.. i came to check the temperature of the water (in the eskey) and it was sitting at about 12 deg!

Maybe not such as wise idea putting fermenter in an eskey with a few frozen ice bottles!

Took the ice bottles out now, hopefully the water temp will rise.

 

[wbosher]

I put my fermenter in an eskey, filled with water and a few frozen water bottles and covered with a wet towel.. i came to check the temperature of the water (in the eskey) and it was sitting at about 12 deg!

Maybe not such as wise idea putting fermenter in an eskey with a few frozen ice bottles!

Took the ice bottles out now, hopefully the water temp will rise.

Done something similar myself once. :lol: Don't worry, it'll be ok.

Maybe just one bottle at a time.

 

[robbiep]

PHEW!

I took fermenter out the eskey and left on cellar floor. The cellar is sitting at around 24 deg.

When the water temp rises a little, i will put fermenter back in and put one ice bottle at a time.

On a positive note, glad to see the eskey and wet towel works well and doesnt need much ice to keep fairly cool.

I should of actually tested the water temp when using an eskey instead of a water bucket.

 

[joshF]

Also guilty of that. Had a hot day a month or so back, so rang the flatmate and asked her to put a frozen 2L bottle in the water tub surrounding the fermenter. Came home and there were 2 x 2L frozen bottles and 2 x 1.25L frozen bottles with the temperature sitting at about 9 degrees. Needless to say that batch came out shit and overly sweet as the yeast packed their bags and buggered off at that point -_-
Still drank it though

 

[robbiep]

How long do you think the yeast can handle the cold temps for?

 

[robbiep]

would it be advisable to add more yeast (on day 2)?

I'm scared the yeast went to sleep (never to wake up again)

 

[wbosher]

would it be advisable to add more yeast (on day 2)?

I'm scared the yeast went to sleep (never to wake up again)

No, leave it alone. It'll be fine.

If it doesn't kick into life once it warms up just give it a gentle swirl to suspend the yeast again. I said swirl not slosh...important difference.

 

[robbiep]

after taking the fermenter out of 12 deg eskey filled with water, there was hardly any foam / action .

i left the fermenter in the cellar, which is about 22 deg over night, and there was plenty of foam and action taking place

The water temp in the esket dropped to about 16 degrees, so i popped the fermenter back into the cool eskey water, which doesnt have any ice (so wont drop in temp), should only increase in temp slightly

 

[wbosher]

after taking the fermenter out of 12 deg eskey filled with water, there was hardly any foam / action .

i left the fermenter in the cellar, which is about 22 deg over night, and there was plenty of foam and action taking place

The water temp in the esket dropped to about 16 degrees, so i popped the fermenter back into the cool eskey water, which doesnt have any ice (so wont drop in temp), should only increase in temp slightly

Good to hear

If the temp does creep up a little high just put one ice bottle in there, that's usually all I use in my garage. Keeps my beer to around 18 - 20 degrees.

If the temp creeps up above 22, I throw another ice bottle in there. I don't know how deep you have the water, mines only just above the tap - maybe 5 inches or so.

 

[robbiep]

Thanks wbosher, i also took your advice and gave the contents a gentle 'swirl', which also seemed to get things going, so im happy

One thing to take from this little 'mishap', is that and eskey works wonders in terms of keeping water cool / contents cool.. when when it is open and covered by a wet towel.. and required VERY little ice.

Next time, before i put the fermenter in, i will get the eskey to the correct temp, then put in the fermenter knowing that the temp will remain the same for quite some time or increase VERY slowly (which can be easily rectified by adding ice packs.

 

[np1962]

It was great to be able to taste along the way and I was boiling the grains and adding the different hops. At the end tasted great, but a LITTLE bitter. Next time I might just use less Simcoe and perhaps only for 30mins instead of 60mins.

Cheers,
Robbie

I'm hoping that this is just enthusiasm talking and you didn't actually boil the grains.
Nige

 

[robbiep]

Sorry, the grains was left for an hour in 70 deg water, but when i added the hops i cranked the heat up to a roling boil (at this stage, the grain was already removed from the pot)