My First Ag

[rossp]

(copied from OCAU's Homebrew thread)

Last night I got my first AG brew (DrSmurtos Landlord) 'finished', and this morning pitched the yeast. Here's the lessons for new players that I've learnt over the past 2 days

1. If you sleep in, forget brewing. I slept in and didn't start brewing till after 10am Sunday when I had a deadline of 2pm - not enough time for the first brew. I ran out of time, meaning I had to leave the wort in the kettle intending to do the boil on Sunday night (about 6 hrs between mash & boil) however due to a few dramas popping up the boil didn't get done until Monday, 24 hrs later. Time will tell what effect that's had on the beer.
2. My HLT/urn died, leaving me to heat my mash & sparge water on the kettle. This would have been OK if I only tried to heat the water I needed, not a full kettle. Also, hot water loses temperature really quickly when transferred with jugs - PostModern warned me of this on the OCAU forums but I severly underestmiated. After doughing-in my mash temperature was only about 65 degrees rather than the target 67.8.
3. Boiling wort makes more heat than you expect. Even with it sitting on cement sheets, I've burnt the new decking underneath. It really hurts because I only finished building the deck a few months back
4. Measure out the volume capacity (including deadspace etc) of your vessels before brewing. I mis-judged volumes in my kettle and ended up with way less boiled wort than I expected. I countered this by adding water in the fermenter while trying not to dilute the brew too much.
5. To repeat #1 - AG brewing takes novices longer than expected. Add up the expected time, then double it.
6. To add to #4 - figure out all your MT & kettle deadspace up-front and pump it into BrewSmith so that it can give you proper water volumes.

My pre-boil gravity was 1.034 which is a little shy of Beersmith's estimate. After no-chilling overnight, the OG (after diluting to 16 litres) was 1.040 or therabouts. Estimate for the brew was 1.045 IIRC.

Anyway, even with all the pain I've had over the past 2 days I'm happy to have the first brew down. I can always tip this out if it's shit, and I can easily enough replace my burnt decknig. As odd as it sounds it's been a great experience - I expect this batch to taste like ass but I'll have another go at it next weekend and as long as I can remember these lessons it can only be up from here.

Thanks to all who have gone before me for your advice has given me the will to keep going with this crazy endeavour

I've basically given up on this particular batch. Given how cold it is in Melbourne at the moment I will let it ferment in the cupboard instead of the brewing fridge. I'll brew another batch in the next few days while the above lessons are still fresh in my mind, and with any luck I end up with more accurate volumes and fewer tears spilt over destroying my decking.

Cheers all

Ross

 

[arsenewenger]

Well Done Rossp

sounds like a bit of tough opening experiance but at least you have done it good stuff


I would leave the deck as it is kind of like a tatoo and always something to talk about , give the brew a chance it could still be quite drinkable



AW

 

[Fents]

dont worry i have two sheets of cement sheet under my burner and can still smell treated pine when im about halfway through the boil. raise it on some bricks and it should be ok.

 

[rossp]

Well Done Rossp

sounds like a bit of tough opening experiance but at least you have done it good stuff


I would leave the deck as it is kind of like a tatoo and always something to talk about , give the brew a chance it could still be quite drinkable

Thanks

The burn is right next to the front door - I had moved the kettle there so I could keep an eye on it from in front of the TV *facepalm*. I'll be flipping the boards and re-treating them ASAP - luckly they've only had a few months of weathering not years.

I haven't completely written off the brew; I'm just going to give it slighly less attention than the next brew as I need to get some bottles filled and the 15-16L of this batch just won't be enough

dont worry i have two sheets of cement sheet under my burner and can still smell treated pine when im about halfway through the boil. raise it on some bricks and it should be ok.

My front deck is lovely merbeau, if it was only treated pine I wouldn't have been so upset last night! I'll move out to the carport for the next batch, then look into making a little stand to lift the kettle & burner off the ground. You probably don't remember me Fents but we ran into each other at Daves homebrew a few months back chatting about AG brewing demo days. I skipped the idea of going to a demo and just dove head-on-in with some advice from Dave and other great blokes at Greensborough Homebrew :beer:

 

[Fents]

well done for just getting into it mate. when its ready bring a sample down to the shop, im usually hanging around fri nights or sat mornings/arvo's. go forth and dont look back.

 

[cdbrown]

To add to #4 and #6 you might find that the evaporation rate is much higher as well. If you know what your final volume was and the OG it's easy to modify the losses and the efficiency in beersmith so it's taken into account for the next brew. Also, topping up the volume will just dilute so next time don't worry about that loss, less bottles to fill.

 

[rossp]

To add to #4 and #6 you might find that the evaporation rate is much higher as well. If you know what your final volume was and the OG it's easy to modify the losses and the efficiency in beersmith so it's taken into account for the next brew. Also, topping up the volume will just dilute so next time don't worry about that loss, less bottles to fill.

Yeah there's no doubt that evaporation was a big part of it too - my evaporation rate in beersmith was set to 0% or something absurd like that so I've given it a healthy number that should see me producing more beer than expected (which is preferable to me than coming up short). My post-boil gravity was higher than expected so I diluted it to get closer to my expected gravity. I've probably stuffed up the bitterness by doing that, but we'll see how I go.

If all else fails it was a good way to learn how the mash & sparge process works. It's really quite a bit simpler than I'd expected, you just need to take your time and if the volume calculations are right it'd be pretty hard to screw up.

 

[manticle]

Good work for having a go. Something goes wrong every brewday - it's good luck, just like when a bird shits on you.

My first AG turned out only 15 L due to wort spillage (which happened preboil but I still stupidly added all my hops so the brew was way too bitter).

Don't write it off. Taste it as you go, work out what it needs and do a smaller batch. Ferment and blend the 2 for cold conditioning. I did that with my first (same grain bill, no bittering additions) and it turned out the best brew I've ever done, hands down.

The trick is now trying to work out how to repeat it (made an attempt at the same recipe estimate over the weekend so time will tell).

I can always tip this out if it's shit

Cardinal sin of brewing (infections excepted). Drink and learn.

 

[troopa]

Cardinal sin of brewing (infections excepted). Drink and learn.

Bloody true dat

 

[rossp]

Cardinal sin of brewing (infections excepted). Drink and learn.

Fair call Since it's such a small batch it shouldn't be too big a challenge to drink - by 'tip out' I meant if it's entirely undrinkable, which based on a sample doing my gravity readings shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for all the feedback guys, helps make it all worth it!

 

[drsmurto]

Don't tip it out, Butters will drink it! :lol:

Congrats on the 1st AG, sounds like you have a challenging day but at the end of it, you made beer!

 

[Scruffy]

Don't tip it out, Butters will drink it! :lol:

Has it got East Kent Goldings in it?

 

[warra48]

Congratulations, you're a new dad to your first brew. I'd venture your beer will turn out just fine.

What you experienced is, I think, typical for first time AG brewers. My first batch, an APA, ended up way under volume at 15 litres instead of 23 litres, and my extraction efficiency was not very good, about 65%. I didn't adjust the hopping schedule to allow for all of this (I didn't have BeerSmith at that stage), so it ended up very hoppy.
It was rather drinkable and enjoyable, but only after I quickly learned to love a really hoppy beer. Unwittingly, I probably made an AIPA instead of an APA.

You'll sort all your issues out fairly quickly, and I'm sure you'll be brewing like an expert in no time.
One suggestion is to try and brew the same style of beer for the first 3 or so batches. That way you can gauge your improvement. If you brew varied styles, you're basically flying blind for longer.

 

[drsmurto]

Has it got East Kent Goldings in it?

trust me, that doesnt stop him despite his comments about that hop! :lol:

 

[muckey]

trust me, that doesnt stop him despite his comments about that hop! :lol:

+++++++++++lots to that :chug:

There aint much that'll keep him away from a home brew

 

[raven19]

You will (and have) learn so much more in your first few AG brews, well done and welcome to the dark side....

Piccies?

I reckon you may still enjoy your first AG, as others have said dont tip it yet! and Keep a few bottles aside for sampling down the track...

 

[buttersd70]

+++++++++++lots to that :chug:

There aint much that'll keep him away from a home brew

Free beer is free beer....

Seriously, though, don't tip it unless theres an obvious infection that makes it undrinkable. Sometimes time will make a bad beer right; mixing can solve lots of problems too. tipping should be a lost resort.

 

[rossp]

Settle down guys, I won't be tipping it out unless it's utterly undrinkable (infected, basically). I had to rack it to my smaller fermenter last night; should have put it in there from the start. Fermentation seems to have kept going though which is good.

The reason for the move was to free up the larger fermenter for a CPA clone which I brewed yesterday whilst doing last-minute study for an exam. Other than my manifold coming apart in the mash (hadn't pressed the join well enough it seems) everything went swimmingly. IIRC hit 1.040 out of the mash tun and 1.050 out of the kettle which is a bit higher than expected - will go over my notes tonight and see if I can figure out where that extra gravity came from (and perhaps take another reading... good chance it's user error )