My First Partial

[BRAD T]

Thanks for the advice PoL and TL,
I will leave it in the primary for another week and see how it looks then rack to a cube for cold conditioning. TL in answer to your question I ended up doing a full boil( including hops) of just over 23ltrs , it came down to a touch over 19.5 ltrs at the end of the boil.

Cheers
Brad :super:

 

[Trough Lolly]

G'day Brad,
No probs - congrats again on your departure from kit only brewing - it's a lot more effort but worth it, IMHO...

Cheers,
TL

 

[BRAD T]

Hi TL,
I really enjoyed the process and I am thinking about what I will do next, whether to do another partial to refine my technique, or perhaps try AG, I was considering a Schwarzbier or Vienna Brown Lager as it is starting to get a bit cold here now for ales, even with a heater pad or my home made hot box( which will be tied up for the next month or so with the cider for SWMBO). I see you are in Canberra as well, is the HBS at Kambah the only one here?

Cheers
Brad :chug:

 

[Trough Lolly]

Hi Brad,
Yeah, the cooler weather has triggered an English Bitter, Irish Red and a dry stout here in the brewery! I need to balance that lot, however, so a Skunk Fart Pale Ale is next on the production line!
When I launched into partials etc, I did recipes of beers that I liked to drink (duh!) and had made a few times. That way, I had a reasonable idea of what it should taste like - especially if you can taste the same beer either from a good brewer or commercial (non-megaswill) outfit. The reason for that was so I could work on my brewing techniques and once you have a good feel for the method, etc, you can then launch into the beers that you'd like to drink and have never tasted - and if your brewing method is sound, a reasonably accurate recipe of that style will deliver the beer you're after, as opposed to a beer that you think is what that style is all about.
You sound like me, enjoying the process - I get as much a kick out of making a beer as drinking it! Am I obsessed!?!? h34r:

Does any of that make sense? It's early in the morning and I'm only on my first coffee! :blink:

As for shops, Brewyourownathome in Kambah, run by Bro Shoppe from the Canberra Brewers Club is a good starting point for not only brewgear, but helpful and friendly advice. Colin is only too happy to help out starting mashers and of course, he'll toss a membership form at you if you aren't a member of the Canberra Brewers Club already!
He gives discounts to club members and the savings in a year can easily cover the cost of club membership - sorry to launch into a recruitment drive!! There's a bottle shop in Phillip (Georges Liquor) that sells kits and bits and has a good range of boutique beers as well. I've also heard of another place called brews 'n butts but I've never been there...
Cheers,
TL

 

[BRAD T]

Hi TL,
Thanks for the encouragement, I guess I am becoming obsessed because I am not just doing to make cheap beer( there is enough cheap beer on the market) I suppose I get satisfaction out of it. Thanks for the tips on Canberra Brewers Club, I was wondering about that, I did try to follow the link in one of your posts but kept getting:"Web page unavailable". I will try again tonite.
Colin at BYOAH has been very helpful to me but so far has not mentioned the Brewers Club. I think he is in the U.K. at the moment. He was going to try and find a recipe for Ram Rod Clone for me, or at least drink a few and try to work it out.

Cheers
Brad :beer:

 

[Trough Lolly]

Sorry about the dodgy link h34r:
Good to see you registered - welcome! - The club meets every first Thursday at the Griffin Centre - the last room (ie the one at the servo end of the building) is where the club members gather. Kick off is around 7:30pm or when the person with the key to the room turns up! If you want a membership form, just ask anyone there and they'll either steer you in the right direction or put a beer in your hand, or both !

I believe the group will be tasting English Ales at the May meeting tomorrow....I can't make it since the missus is on night shift and I'll be Mr. Mom again <_< . Ah, well, at least I have the best part of 22L of English Ale at home, so I'll have one anyway :chug:

Cheers,
TL

 

[BRAD T]

Hi TL,
Unfortunately I can't make it to the meeting tomorrow nite either, I work most thursday nites but I would still like to join the club as there are other get togethers that I may be able to attend. I see that there is a get together this sat., not sure if I can make that either , I was going to go to BYOAH on friday for a snoop around (I find it quite interesting having a browse thru the shop) and I will ask about a membership form then. Maybe if I can get there on sat. and you are there I can get to meet you.and perhaps partake of an ale with you.

Cheers
Brad :beerbang:

 

[BRAD T]

Hi all,
Been out of the ether for a few days, too damn busy at work with all those bloody politicians etc. around for the Budget. However I have been continuing to look after my brews, would appreciate a little advice on bulk priming. I have had this particular brew(ESB) in the fridge for a week to CC ( OG 1057, racked to cube for 2ndary at 1012, FG 1008) I am bringing it back up to 20deg. and was going to bulk prime, what reccomendations do you have for what to use and how much?

Cheers Brad :unsure:

 

[Jovial_Monk]

I like dry wheat malt extract as a priming sugar--really helps with head rentention.

Start with 180g per 20L batch

Jovial Monk

 

[BRAD T]

Thanks JM,
I will give it a try.

Cheers Brad :beerbang:

 

[BRAD T]

Well All,
I couldn't wait, I just had to crack a bottle of this one, even though it had only been in the bottle for a week.
I must say that I am pretty impressed with the results, I guess it will only get better.

:beerbang:

 

[buddingbrewmaster]

I hope i'm not hijacking this thread.
I'm doing my second kitless brew.
I have got my last one ( bohemian pils). in the secondary and am about to cc.
I made the mistake of boiling all the malt extract in not enough water which darkened the wort. I found out later that i didn't need to boil all the malt just some of it then dissolve the rest at the end of the boil.
Anyway my next brew is in 2 days is going to be an APA.
I got the recipe off the grain and grape website like my last one.

Base Malt 4.0 kg Light Malt Extract (dry)
Grains - 300 g Crystal Malt, 80 g Wheat Malt, & 20 g Roast Malt.
I'm going to just steep the grains and strain into the fermenter.
For 23 litres this should be a high OG ( I'm guessing a bit over 1.060?) :blink:
I did my IBU calculations on the G&G website. For a OG of 1.060

10gms Northern brewer (9.5%)AA 60mins for 12 IBU
20gms Cascade (6%)AA 60mins for 15 IBU
30gms Cascade (6%)AA 15mins for 11 IBU
27gms Cascade (6%)AA 5mins for 4 IBU
23gms Cascade (6%)AA 1min
I'll dry hop in the secondary with 20gms(for how long).
So i calculate around 42 IBU. Oh i'm using only hop pellets.
I love my hops but is this over doing it? I want it with heaps of hops flavour and not overly bitter. I'm using Dry yeast ( Safale US-56 )

I know the OG affects the IBU's you get out of the hops. But is this the OG of the boil, or the OG once i have diluted it into the fermenter
My big question is if i only boil up about 1kg of malt in around 7 litres of water and do my hop additions then dissolve the rest of the malt after flame out. Are my calculations correct.
Do i need to use Irish moss to clarify. I didn't think it was that important for an APA to be clear.
Anyway i have looked all over the site and could't find an exact question like this one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This site is great and keep up with all the great info. :beerbang:

Cheers.

 

[buddingbrewmaster]

Sorry about the length of my post i just want to get this Beer to be great.

 

[buddingbrewmaster]

Oh and by the way brad how did your beer taste after a few weeks.

 

[BRAD T]

Hi Buddingbrewmaster,
It tasted bloody fantastic, I just wish I hadn't been so greedy and drank it all. I took a few bottles to my father in law, he had the last one last week and said it was even better than the first couple.

Cheers
Brad T

 

[Guest Lurker]

Hi BBM

Time to download some demo or free brewing software when you start generating recipes that complex.

That amount of malt in 23 l will give a starting gravity of roughly 1.079, definitely more than 1.060.

It is the gravity of the boil only that determines hop utilisation. 1 kg of DME in 7 l gives a gravity of 1.054, so that is about the right amount to include in the boil.

The hop amounts need to be calculated from that gravity. If you look at the table in How to Brew, utilisation should be about
22% for 60 mins
11% for 15 mins
4% for 5 mins

So applying that to the hop amounts indicates your current IBU estimates are over estimated a bit and total IBUs would be around 33 ish, but you could try a few different software packages and look at the range.

 

[buddingbrewmaster]

Thanks GL.
I guess i'll check the IBU's from some different sources.
Thanks for the advice.
Congrats Brad T i can't wait to taste my first partial mash.
It tastes great in the secondary right now.

Cheers guys.

 

[Jazzafish]

Continuing from what Guest Lurker said...

download yourself Beer Smith of Pro Mash... my beer smith has run out so I'm onto promash at the moment... I prefer Pro Mash so far but they both have their ups and downs.