My First Partial Mash!

[Fents]

So im in the midst of my first partial...and while im waiting gonna let ya know whats going on.

Sat Arvo, Coopers Longneck in hand andd The mash is..well...mashing... h34r:

Just thought i'd let ya'll know my first recipe.

First of all massive, massive thanks to Dave down at Greensborough HBS. Such a legend of a bloke and helping me every step of the way from recipe to instructions. If anyone live in the Northside of Melb go check him out hes a master.

Anyways here it is :

Dave's Aussie Partial Pale Ale

1.65KG Ale grain
.250KG Medium Crystal Grain
.100KG Wheat Grain

1KG LDME
1.5KG Light Liquid Malt

15grams Pride of Ringwood @ 60min
10grams Pride of Ringwood @ 45mins
20grams Goldings @ Final

US-56 Yeast.

I've got the grain mashing away nicely at 66c in a plastic bucket covered in towels. The Sparge and Boil is next and i cant wait. NO MORE KIT EXTRACTS FOR THIS DUCK!!

Also massive thanks to this site, its a wealth of information and without it i would be screwed!

Cheers and happy beers ya'll!! :chug: :beer:

 

[Hubby]

Nice one Fents! Enjoy You're right about Greensborough HBS being a great find ... he was excellent when I finally went there when I was living in Melb. Great to see things don't change. Is he still carrying liquid yeasts ... if so, try one for your next partial (or all grain?) and see if you get an even nicer brew :beer:

Also massive thanks to this site, its a wealth of information and without it i would be screwed!

Ditto :beerbang:

 

[Fents]

Cheers Hubby. Yea Dave carries all yeasts...Liquid, Powder etc, this is just the one though that we both decided would do my brew best.

Easy Campisie!

Onto the boil now - 1st lot of POR are in!

Qusetion tho for an experinced brewer - I had my mash temp at 66c but because i had it in a bucket covered in towls it would drop occasionaly. Never went below 64c and when it dropped i'd just top it up with water from the kettle to get it back to 66c, so i ended up with about 14 litres of wort as opposed to the 12 litres recomended (3 Litres per 1KG grain mash and 3litres per 1KG grain sparge)...Is this OK?

Also when i was sparging i couldnt fit all the grain into the Siv, so i did it in batch's, i tried not to make the sparge water splash but it did a bit...Is this all good too?

 

[Jye]

Qusetion tho for an experinced brewer - I had my mash temp at 66c but because i had it in a bucket covered in towls it would drop occasionaly. Never went below 64c and when it dropped i'd just top it up with water from the kettle to get it back to 66c, so i ended up with about 14 litres of wort as opposed to the 12 litres recomended (3 Litres per 1KG grain mash and 3litres per 1KG grain sparge)...Is this OK?

The thinner mash will have very little/no effect on the end result, if it was a full mash the beer maybe a bit thinner. But the larger boil volume will give you better hop utilisation which is good.

Also when i was sparging i couldnt fit all the grain into the Siv, so i did it in batch's, i tried not to make the sparge water splash but it did a bit...Is this all good too?

Another minor problem and nothing to worry about. Good luck with the rest of the boil and post some pics if you can.

Jye :beer:

 

[tangent]

easy peasy, don't stress.
good work getting it back up to 66C. right idea.
bit high water to grain ratio but i'm sure it'll be ok.
batching is better than overloading.

noice work Jye

 

[Fents]

Im now addicted to mashing. Couldnt stop thinking all weekend about ways to improve my next partial. Think i need a proper Mash Tun (maybe an esky) for my next round rather than a bucket wrapped in towls, just somthing that holds the temp at 66c better...also somthing with a tap on it maybe so i dont aerate when i sparge through a siv....suggestions?

Heres some pics from my first APA partial :

The Recipe :

The Boil :

The overflow boil :

The chill :

The MESS!:

Final Shot :

Cant wait to taste it

SG was 1.040

 

[razz]

The force is strong in this one, he shall soon join the dark side.

 

[DrewCarey82]

Esky's a must you can get a 20 litre esky which is fine for partials for about $40 from bunnings.

I paid $30 for a 15 litre one and have been cursing myself ever since.

 

[Fents]

The force is strong in this one, he shall soon join the dark side.

Hahahaha can you tell that bad? I havnt felt passionatly like this about a hobby for ages! Let me master the partial before i go AG tho..

DrewCarey - Do the bunnings eskys have taps on them so i can run a hose from the esky tap into my brew pot and just pour my sparge water over the grains whilst there still in the esky so i dont need a Siv?

 

[DJR]

Esky's a must you can get a 20 litre esky which is fine for partials for about $40 from bunnings.

I paid $30 for a 15 litre one and have been cursing myself ever since.

A 20 litre is all good for an average AG mash as well (about 5 kilos or so max), but think about what you want to do since a 35-40L jobby can be had for not much more. Once you start doing partials, in no time you will join the dark side, everyone on AHB seems to do it nowadays.


Edit: from your other question, not all of them have taps and besides you've got to put something else in there that will form a filter, like some stainless braid. That's usually the easiest way. The plumbing should only cost about $50 if using brass.

 

[pint of lager]

Well done on the brew.

Those wort stains only get harder to remove off the stove. Scrub them off as soon as possible.

Do you have a lid for your boiler? When you are chilling, it is better to have a lid on.

Insulate your bucket a bit more, and do a bigger mash. The temperature stays pretty stable.

A bucket in bucket zapap makes a good setup for sparging. Use some hose running from the tap to the boiler which is of course positioned below the boiler.

 

[Fents]

Thanks for the tip on the lid when chilling, i was wondering that when chilling, yep i have a lid and will use it next time.

Yea wort stains came off sraight away, the girlfriend nearly had a fit lol.

Might sound like a newbie but can you or someone explain the bucket in bucket thing, ive read it but dont understand it.

 

[DarkFaerytale]

cool pics fents, i just started partials as well, did my 4th yesterday, doing a small batch of all grain next (13L) but by my second mash i decided to make one of these

http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD.html

does a great job, just like in the pic in the link i syphon mine out from the top, have not had any problems it was very easy to make, make sure you use a hacksaw tho, copeing saws don't cope! heh

-Phill

 

[tangent]

i found the missus didn't get so cranky when i had a boilover on the sideburner of the bbq outside rather than in the kitchen.

 

[pint of lager]

The zapap bucket setup was popularised by Charlie Papazian in "The Joy of Brewing".

If you do a google, there are heaps of websites with pictures.

Basically, you get two buckets and nest one inside the other. The outer bucket has a tap fitted. The inner bucket has lots of holes drilled in it. The holes don't do the filtering of the wort, it is the grain husks that do the filtering, the inner bucket forms the false bottom and holds the husks back.

Fit the tap as low as it will go and still be able to turn the backing nut.

You may want to remove some of the webbing on the inner bucket so it nestles as far down as possible.

Insulate the lot with layers of bubblewrap or camping mattresses or whatever else you have cheap.

You will need to use an extra litre or so of water when mashing in to fill the dead space between the two buckets.

You mash in the inner bucket, then open the tap when ready to start sparging. Run some plastic tubing from the tap to your boiler which you position below the tap.

A 20 litre zapap is plenty big enough for most standard all grain batches.

 

[Fents]

Hmmmmmm....now i dont know weather to go with an esky or bucket in bucket option...

Descisions Desicions

 

[pint of lager]

Depends on what you have lying around. If you have a few spare food grade buckets, then this is a really cheap and easy way to get into bigger batches.