My First Ag Brew !

[seemax]

Hi all, fairly new to this site, and only into home brew for about 4 months. Started with a few kits, then extract, was hooked badly, then straight into AG. Banged up a mash/lauter tun with an esky, got a cheap 35L pot on ebay and made myself a wort chiller from 8m of 1/2" copper tubing left over from a recent reno job.

My first attempt was a Scottish Ale, inspired by a part mash recipe from the Jovial Monk website. A blend of pale, amber & wheat. Nottingham dry yeast (not ideal, should have gone with Windsor or SafAle). Mash at 67C for an hour, boiled for 90min with a mix of Fuggles and Goldings. A week in primary, 5 days in secondary, primed with dextrose and bottled.

Results after 2 weeks ...

Low carbonation which suits the style, forms a small head when poured, but disappears within a minute (seems to be the case for all my beers - am i missing something??). Overall it is probably my best tasting beer, I find the blend of malt / hop to be spot on. Could be slightly more aromatic. Quite happy and certainly inspired me to keep going (much to the dismay of my wife!!!)

This week I've completed the Jaycar temp master kit and got it setup on the fridge so I can finally start playing with lagers (tried a few lagers in the cold laundry, but it jumped between 11C - 16C and the result was average, very estery/cidery).

I'm going to try a classic Pilsner loaded with Saaz (my fave hop), perhaps even try a decoction...I'll post the results in the next few weeks!

Happy brewing...
Stef

 

[capretta]

pics or it didnt happen!

 

[Screwtop]

Hi all, fairly new to this site, and only into home brew for about 4 months. Started with a few kits, then extract, was hooked badly, then straight into AG. Banged up a mash/lauter tun with an esky, got a cheap 35L pot on ebay and made myself a wort chiller from 8m of 1/2" copper tubing left over from a recent reno job.

My first attempt was a Scottish Ale, inspired by a part mash recipe from the Jovial Monk website. A blend of pale, amber & wheat. Nottingham dry yeast (not ideal, should have gone with Windsor or SafAle). Mash at 67C for an hour, boiled for 90min with a mix of Fuggles and Goldings. A week in primary, 5 days in secondary, primed with dextrose and bottled.

Results after 2 weeks ...

Low carbonation which suits the style, forms a small head when poured, but disappears within a minute (seems to be the case for all my beers - am i missing something??). Overall it is probably my best tasting beer, I find the blend of malt / hop to be spot on. Could be slightly more aromatic. Quite happy and certainly inspired me to keep going (much to the dismay of my wife!!!)

This week I've completed the Jaycar temp master kit and got it setup on the fridge so I can finally start playing with lagers (tried a few lagers in the cold laundry, but it jumped between 11C - 16C and the result was average, very estery/cidery).

I'm going to try a classic Pilsner loaded with Saaz (my fave hop), perhaps even try a decoction...I'll post the results in the next few weeks!

Happy brewing...
Stef

Boy you got bit bad Stef :lol:

I like Nottingham for Scottish Ales. Don't worry about head retention problems until you get all of your other processes down pat. The more you brew the more you learn and the better the beers will be.

Screwy

 

[seemax]

pics or it didnt happen!

Don't believe anything you read on the 'net eh?!!

Here's the pics to prove it, actually these are from my latest brew - Dry Irish Stout that is currently in secondary and almost ready for bottling (I see why people keg now....)

Cheers

 

[capretta]

mmmm nice
is that just a cloth "false bottom" in the mash tun?

also beware of infections using the wort chiller. i used to use a similar one (powered by a fish tank pump recirculating in the sink) but cause i couldnt stop crap falling into the chilling wort and i got a few infections as a result and ended up just leaving the lid on and using the conduction method (immerse pot in cold/icy water)..

i would have thought it hard to believe if you had never taken a few photos of your rig "in action"! hahah