My Virgin Ag Brew Day

[jayandcath]

Well all, today was the day that I christened the AG rig and my beer of choice for the maiden voyage was Batz' Dusseldorf Altbier. Then I thought that if were giving it a run, why not try it out properly. So I made a double batch.
And the good news was that all targets were meet and things went well, apart from Screwtop getting a little confused with the hops. Must of been too much lunch

A fool and his brewstand

Gettin close to capacity

Yes Brett, it is a mans glove


Nice and clean

And tastey apparently

And, the business end

Had to keep an eye on Screwy as well after the starters run out

But all in all, things went very well. The boil off was a little higher than we anticipated (19% actually), the HLT held and adjusted temp very easily the mash tun had great thermal properties, held temps and was cool to touch even after 60mins and if anybody's curious, efficiency was 84%.
And a massive thanks to Screwtop and Bulp who came to observe and drink, thanks fella's.

Jay

 

[Screwtop]

Well all, today was the day that I christened the AG rig and my beer of choice for the maiden voyage was Batz' Dusseldorf Altbier. Then I thought that if were giving it a run, why not try it out properly. So I made a double batch.
And the good news was that all targets were meet and things went well, apart from Screwtop getting a little confused with the hops. Must of been too much lunch
View attachment 21342
A fool and his brewstand
View attachment 21344
Gettin close to capacity
View attachment 21346
Yes Brett, it is a mans glove
View attachment 21347
View attachment 21349
Nice and clean
View attachment 21345
And tastey apparently
View attachment 21348
And, the business end
View attachment 21343
Had to keep an eye on Screwy as well after the starters run out

But all in all, things went very well. The boil off was a little higher than we anticipated (19% actually), the HLT held and adjusted temp very easily the mash tun had great thermal properties, held temps and was cool to touch even after 60mins and if anybody's curious, efficiency was 84%.
And a massive thanks to Screwtop and Bulp who came to observe and drink, thanks fella's.

Jay

Easiest brewday ever, everything went to plan, bit like being in the army "hurry up and wait". The clear runoff amazed me, depth of the grainbed for a double batch meant the wort was clear almost from the start, 84 friggin percent into the kettle for a first AG attempt, hate that. Had a couple of great beers, Jays SNPA clone and his Pils, and a few others including a Belgian Golden Strong which made me rather hop confused :blink: then I went home with Jay's yeast. Brett came to the rescue and returned the yeast after pouring me out at home. Top day brewers, piece a piss this AG brewin Jay !

Screwy

 

[buttersd70]

84 friggin percent into the kettle for a first AG attempt, hate that.

What a jammy beggar :lol:

 

[bulp]

Thanksfor the Brew day Jay, Can't believe we had two brew days since Saturday and the misses is still talking to me, maybe she's just given up . Well done mate you've achieved some awesome results today and from what i tasted earlier can't wait to drink it straight from the fermentor, me and Incider will be around in 7-10 days :icon_drunk: . It is really pleasing to see a simple setup achieving really good results (84% efficiency you *******) i bet your stoked as i was mate congrats. Oktoberfest ere we come baby.

P.s I warned you about that Belgian dissassembler Screwy :lol: , Thanks for the back up mate, some quick beersmithing with the hops really saved the day.

 

[Screwtop]

For those experiencing channelling problems and low mash efficiency - "Have A Butchers" at this



Very little stirring of the mash gives a nice open mash with little flour (mud) on the top, no channeling around the sides, perfect draining and good mash efficiency.

Edit:spling

 

[reviled]

Looks like you all had fun :lol:

Congrats on the efficiency mate!

 

[jimmy01]

Great work Jay.
84% efficiency is excellent

30+ AG's and I still only average 70%

Like the look of your brewstand.
Did you weld that up?


Cheers
Jimmy

 

[yardy]

Nice work Jay,
couple of qs, what size is your tun and how about a pic of the manifold

Cheers
Yard

btw, just goes to show you don't need a fancy rig to make it into the eighties, I consistently get 80 odd B)

 

[AndrewQLD]

Good on you Jay, 84% efficiency is bloody awesome, good to see Screwy didn't confuse the issue :lol: . It's good to have a couple of experienced brewers there on the first day if for nothing else but a bit of reassurance. Grain bed looks great too.

Double batch of Batz' AltBier :icon_drool2: you can't go wrong with that, one of my favorites.

Andrew

 

[Batz]

A virgin brew day without even a small hiccup ! And 84% ! Must have been the recipe :lol:

No stopping you now Jay.

Batz

 

[Jazzafish]

Well done mate,

All the best for the ferment and drinking of a truely awesome effort

 

[jayandcath]

Great work Jay.
84% efficiency is excellent

30+ AG's and I still only average 70%

Like the look of your brewstand.
Did you weld that up?


Cheers
Jimmy

No mate, not at all. The barstard would be on a 70deg lean if I put it together. Very lucky to have a mate who does a lot of Aluminium and S/S work and as luck has likes beer. And to be completely honest the design was drawn up on the lid of one of the S/S pot box's and he called me a week later and told me to come and pick it up. And it worked great.

 

[jayandcath]

Nice work Jay,
couple of qs, what size is your tun and how about a pic of the manifold

Cheers
Yard

btw, just goes to show you don't need a fancy rig to make it into the eighties, I consistently get 80 odd B)

Hey Yardy, The mashtun is 47L and I was amazed with thermal insulation of it. We dropped 22L at 75C in to pre-warm the tun (10mins), and then added 9kg of grain which gave up 66C. After an 60mins the external was still room temp to touch, best buy I have made and here's a picture.


Jay

 

[Jye]

Good work Jay, and you cant go wrong with Screwy there... can you :huh: :lol:

Where did you pick up your tun? Im in the process of setting up my Dad and need one about that size... every beer he likes seems to be above 8% so I think he will need the space

 

[yardy]

Hey Yardy, The mashtun is 47L and I was amazed with thermal insulation of it. We dropped 22L at 75C in to pre-warm the tun (10mins), and then added 9kg of grain which gave up 66C. After an 60mins the external was still room temp to touch, best buy I have made and here's a picture.
View attachment 21361View attachment 21362

Jay

Hey Jay,

again, nice job, whats the mani made from ?

apparently if you don't leave 1/2 inch between the wall of the tun & the mani it will cause channeling, not so with yours though from the photos of the mash.

Cheers
Yard

 

[jayandcath]

Good work Jay, and you cant go wrong with Screwy there... can you :huh: :lol:

Where did you pick up your tun? Im in the process of setting up my Dad and need one about that size... every beer he likes seems to be above 8% so I think he will need the space

Got it from the US Jye, and yes there is a larger model. The one I got is the 48Q (47L) and the manifold is CPVC (I think?, or high pressure PVC) and it all just fits together. The guy selling these is great and sent recipe's and instruction and told me email him if I have any issues, but I'm just going to send him a thanks. All up I paid about $150au, and half was for freight and it got here in 7-10 days (can't argue with that).
www.brewd00d.com
Sorry if the link doesn't work, still learning.

Jay

 

[hoohaaman]

What a beaut setup for your 1ST AG and 84% to boot,how B)

Going for a alt first up,instead of a apa.You sir, have excelled

 

[tazman1967]

Congrats on your first AG.. 84% is awesome. I recently just hit 80%, thats with my new Beerbelly falsie and a fine crush.

 

[dr K]

errrr...
wheres the bag???

seriously good looking and simple set up...well done and enjoy the fruits

k