ohitsbrad
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Monday my friend and I did our first all grain brew and I feel inclined to share the experience. Been putting together equipment over the last few months. Did a lot of research on AHB and many ideas for bits and pieces have come from everyone here. It was a big relief that it all worked.
The recipe:
Decided on a forgiving American pale ale
88% BB ale malt
8% Weyermann munich I
4% Weyermann caramunich I
Mash at 67deg. Sparge at 75deg.
OG 1.058
Assumed 70% efficiency
60min boil
24L boil volume - ended up with about 27L.
19L batch size - ended up with about 22L, but hit 1.058 OG spot on. Guess my efficiency was better than 70%?
Cascade, Amarillo and Simcoe at 20mins and 5mins for approx. 42 IBUs. Dryhop with 60g or so.
2 x US-05 dry yeast. Fermenting at 19 deg for two weeks before bottling.
My hot liquor tun:
It's a 25 litre bucket with tap and lid from TWOC. I drilled holes for the element and the temperature probe, and insulated it with expansion jointing from Bunnings.
Heating 18 litres of mash water with a 2200 W element controlled by a Mashmate temperature controller (DEI-106):
My mash tun:
36 litre esky from BCF. Fitted a 450mm long stainless steel braid and half inch brass valve, and a weldless bi-metal thermometer. Fittings were from around home and Bunnings. Found leaks at both holes when I was pre-heating. Added some softer washers and made sure not to over tighten and was fine.
Mashing in:
Ending up mashing in with about 20 litres of water since I had to add some boiling to get the mash temp up to 67deg. This yielded 15 or 16 litres into the pot.
Recirculating at the end of the mash:
Used the "no tier method". Don't have a stand so much as a table, so I sit the mash tun on the ground when mashing in and sparging, and then lift the mash tun onto the table when draining.
Draining:
Sparged with about 12 litres but unfortunately only hit about 70deg.
Batch sparge done and brew pot 27 litres full:
I have a 4 ring burner from BCF which I bought for about $50.
Used a 500 micron hop sock. Forgot to add whirlfloc! Oh well. Cooled with an immersion chiller. I used a 350 L/h 900mm head Waterwerks submersible pump in a bucket of iced water to pump through the chiller and out into another bucket. Took about 40mins to get down to 24 deg on a 40 deg plus day. Guess thats ok. The pump was from Bunnings for $15 or $20.
Aeration:
I aerate with an aquarium pump, sterile filters and air stone.
Yeast added and fermenter into the fridge at 19 deg. Fridge is controlled by a Fridgemate.
There we go! I just hope next time it takes less than 8 hours! And of course that it tastes that much better for my efforts. Thanks brendanos for the inspiration, AndrewQLD for the great info on batch sparging, and suppliers at TWOC, Craftbrewer and Mashmaster.
The recipe:
Decided on a forgiving American pale ale
88% BB ale malt
8% Weyermann munich I
4% Weyermann caramunich I
Mash at 67deg. Sparge at 75deg.
OG 1.058
Assumed 70% efficiency
60min boil
24L boil volume - ended up with about 27L.
19L batch size - ended up with about 22L, but hit 1.058 OG spot on. Guess my efficiency was better than 70%?
Cascade, Amarillo and Simcoe at 20mins and 5mins for approx. 42 IBUs. Dryhop with 60g or so.
2 x US-05 dry yeast. Fermenting at 19 deg for two weeks before bottling.
My hot liquor tun:
It's a 25 litre bucket with tap and lid from TWOC. I drilled holes for the element and the temperature probe, and insulated it with expansion jointing from Bunnings.
Heating 18 litres of mash water with a 2200 W element controlled by a Mashmate temperature controller (DEI-106):
My mash tun:
36 litre esky from BCF. Fitted a 450mm long stainless steel braid and half inch brass valve, and a weldless bi-metal thermometer. Fittings were from around home and Bunnings. Found leaks at both holes when I was pre-heating. Added some softer washers and made sure not to over tighten and was fine.
Mashing in:
Ending up mashing in with about 20 litres of water since I had to add some boiling to get the mash temp up to 67deg. This yielded 15 or 16 litres into the pot.
Recirculating at the end of the mash:
Used the "no tier method". Don't have a stand so much as a table, so I sit the mash tun on the ground when mashing in and sparging, and then lift the mash tun onto the table when draining.
Draining:
Sparged with about 12 litres but unfortunately only hit about 70deg.
Batch sparge done and brew pot 27 litres full:
I have a 4 ring burner from BCF which I bought for about $50.
Used a 500 micron hop sock. Forgot to add whirlfloc! Oh well. Cooled with an immersion chiller. I used a 350 L/h 900mm head Waterwerks submersible pump in a bucket of iced water to pump through the chiller and out into another bucket. Took about 40mins to get down to 24 deg on a 40 deg plus day. Guess thats ok. The pump was from Bunnings for $15 or $20.
Aeration:
I aerate with an aquarium pump, sterile filters and air stone.
Yeast added and fermenter into the fridge at 19 deg. Fridge is controlled by a Fridgemate.
There we go! I just hope next time it takes less than 8 hours! And of course that it tastes that much better for my efforts. Thanks brendanos for the inspiration, AndrewQLD for the great info on batch sparging, and suppliers at TWOC, Craftbrewer and Mashmaster.