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johnno

It's YUMMY
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I got some DME (lots) and Cascade pellets and 300 gms of Crystal and some WYeast 1056 and Im going to attempt my first steep/boil this weekend.
Yeast is going fine now stepping it up tommorow.
Next I'm making a robust porter (jayse posted the recipe before summer) but I'm going to use the same yeast as I noticed on their site that you can use it for that style. I woud like to use the 1028 but cant at the moment due to financial commitments. ANd I'm getting some jerries to CC.
The fun of brewing. Got to have that one or two drinks a day.

cheers
 
did a steep/boil yeasterday. worked out pretty easy. the biggest problem i had was cooling the wort post-boil.

i was using a smaller pot (instead of the keg i used before), and it would only boil with the lid on so i didnt want to risk using my wort chiller if i couldnt sit it in the boiling wort for 10 minutes. anyway, it ended up taking about an hour to cool the 14l of wort i did boil, and im sure i aerated about 3 or 4l pouring it out while still a bit hot.

oh well. i tasted before pitching the yeast and it still had a pretty sweet taste and just a tiny bit of harshness. hopefully it was just me worrying and expecting it to be there.

what i used was:
1.5kg light dme
1.5kg light lme
500g amber dme
500g dex
400g 45L crystal
notingham yeast
nugget and cascade hops.

planning on using the yeast cake from the primary to ferment a part mash oatmeal stouot. doing this as much to experiment with my brewing as much as to try this style of beer. all for fun right?
joe
 
G'day Joe,

In my experience the brew always tastes a bit weird immediately after the boil/cool. It must just need time to settle etc. By the time I'm taking my next gravity reading somewhere near the end of fermentation it has come good... unless I've buggered up a recipe of course :eek:

Shawn.
 
how big's your boil pot, Johnno?
 
wee stu,
Biggest I've got at the moment is 12 litres. Going to have to manage with that somehow.
The keg that will be made into a boil pot is coming soon. I will have to use an angle grinder which will be fun as I've never used power tools before.
Just way to expensive for a decent large pot.

cheers
 
Johnno,

for an extract boil/grain steep, you'll find that 12L is plenty big enough to boil in. I do partial mashes and only boil 8L in a 10L pot and have produced winning brews. Just up your bittering hop quantity a fraction, as the high OG in the pot hinders alpha acid utilisation. Another trick is to boil half the extract for the full boil and add the remainder in the last 15 mins. This keeps your boil OG down, reduces the amount of extract that will be caramelised in the boil and will keep your colour more true to the style you're after (unless, of course, the caramelised effect is what you're after!)

Next comes partial mashing and the all-grain! Good luck, and enjoy the smells that turn your house into a brewery!

Cheers - Snow
 
Johnno,

You've probably been told this before, but just to get you through in the short term it is probably worth your while investing the $20ish in one of the BigW 19 litre stainless steel pots. I'm about to move from mine up to my converted keg now I've made my wort chiller (that was fun!) but while it isn't the best ever quality it has done well for me over the last 2 years. I still see them in Big W when I'm there from time to time so you should be able to get one. 19 litres means you can boil half your wort easily which means your recipes will be much easier to design. For the sake of between 20 and 30 bucks...

My 2 cents...

Good luck with it all,

Shawn.
 
Thanks for that Snow,
I was trying to figure out a way of doing it. I was thinking somewhat along those lines. Brew and learn--brew and learn

cheers
 
Gough said:
19 litres means you can boil half your wort easily which means your recipes will be much easier to design. For the sake of between 20 and 30 bucks...
How long does it take the average kitchen stove to bring that kind of volume up to a boil? 1 hour? 2? Not being picky or negative, just letting johnno know that it might take some time to get the boil started unless he has some kind of uberstove.
 
PM said:"How long does it take the average kitchen stove to bring that kind of volume up to a boil? 1 hour? 2? Not being picky or negative, just letting johnno know that it might take some time to get the boil started unless he has some kind of uberstove"


I've got a gas stove and usually boil 15-16 litres of water plus ingredients. Start with hot water out of the tap - in my case 50 degrees from my hot water system and it takes 30 minutes to get it boiling. I keep the lid on while it is just the water in there until it is boiling and then remove it for the rest of the boil.

Shawn.
 
i made the mistake of starting with coild tap water and it did take a while probably 1+ hours. however starting with hot water or adding some boiling water from a kettle, and having an efficient way of cooling, should cut down on the waiting time significantly.
joe
 
Johnno since u havent realy used power tools use a cutting disk with cutting the top and take it easy dont forget those saftey glases and earmuffs or plugs .

And take your time cant have u hurting yourself or messing it up and i agree a keg is a cheap way to get a kettle
 
I've never used the hot water tap in cooking or brewing (with the odd exception when in a mad rush). Ever seen inside a hot water service? An experiment for you to try. Fill a glass with water from the hot tap and let it cool to room temperature. Do the same with a glass from the cold tap. If you can't tell the difference between them once they're the same temp, then fine, use the hot water tap to fill your kettle. Unless your water heater is pretty new, you'll taste the difference.

In any case, johnno's almost got his keg boiler. Looking forward to your "first use of power tools" post, johnno :)
 
OK PM. Don't want to be pedantic but...

Yes I have seen inside a 'hot water service' and yes they can be nasty. Mine is a 'continuous' hot water service ie: no storage tanks for nasties to grow in, and 'instantaneous' hot water when I want it, not lying around costing me money and using fossil fuels unnecessarily. My hot water is coming direct from the pipes just the same as my cold. Ever seen inside your water pipes? Pretty filthy both hot and cold as a general rule. Full of gunge and close enough to blocked most of the time unless they're brand new. We either use 'pure' water or we are compromising through the taps. It aint perfect but it is good enough for me so far... I respect your argument, just putting my view forward.

Shawn.
 
ahem,
Kowing me I will probably get lazy. By the time i purchase an angle grinder and figure out how to use it as well as drill a hole with a drill it will be ages. I might go around to the metal workshop and get them to do it. I think there are still a couple of small operators in the neighbourhood that the yuppies havent scared or bought out yet.
Either way it will be interesting.

cheers
 
johnno said:
By the time i purchase an angle grinder and figure out how to use it as well as drill a hole with a drill it will be ages.
Some entrepeneurial type out there should start a course: "Brewing for the hand tool challenged" - reckon there might be at least a couple of takers. ;)

I've got two 19L pots - one from Big W and one from a local cheap shop. From memory the one from Big W has welded handles and the other riveted. Stopped trusting the welded handles on a big pot full of boiling wort once I got the other one.
 
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