Ready To Try My First Ag Brew

[Benno-5]

Finnally after quite a few months of building my HERMS it is finished and ready to go. Tested it out today with water and it seems like all is working well.

This will be my first AG brew, (next weekend I hope), so I am after a recipee in detail that would be suitable for my first AG. An Aust pale ale would be preferable.

How much water should I use in the mash, and how much for the sparge?

If anyone is in the area (Eltham Melbourne) and would like to beeak it in with me that would be appreciated.

cheers

Benno

 

[Pumpy]

Finnally after quite a few months of building my HERMS it is finished and ready to go. Tested it out today with water and it seems like all is working well.

This will be my first AG brew, (next weekend I hope), so I am after a recipee in detail that would be suitable for my first AG. An Aust pale ale would be preferable.

How much water should I use in the mash, and how much for the sparge?

If anyone is in the area (Eltham Melbourne) and would like to beeak it in with me that would be appreciated.

cheers

Benno

There are some really good recipes people have posted in the recipe secton you could choose from , I dont think you will be getting people putting there name to a poor recipe on this site .

Benno download a copy of 'Beersmith' you can use it for two weeks before you buy and it will tell you the water too use it is invaluable .

Sorry It is a a bit far for me but I am sure you will get someone to help you from Victoria .


Pumpy

 

[Keifer]

Wow, first AG and straight into HERMS!? Hope it goes well for you

 

[Benno-5]

When adding hops to the boil do i simply add them straight in and strain the wort into fermenter or shoul they be added in a sock?

 

[Brad_G]

On my first couple I just added them straight in, but found it annoying getting the wort out of the kettle. Cycloning helps (stirring and letting the hops settle in the middle), but the hopsock is worth its weight in gold. saves time and the hassle cleaning. By all means, give it a go without on your first if you dont have access to one.

Hope it all goes well for ya.

Brad

 

[razz]

G'day Benno-5. I dough in with 3 lts per kg of grain. The grain will absorb approx 1 lt per kilogram. You need to add enough sparge water to get your kettle up to the preboil volume, check the gravity of the final runnings when finished spargeing, don't go under approx 8-10 gravity points. How's that ? Clear as mud !

 

[bindi]

G'day Benno-5. I dough in with 3 lts per kg of grain. The grain will absorb approx 1 lt per kilogram. You need to add enough sparge water to get your kettle up to the preboil volume, check the gravity of the final runnings when finished spargeing, don't go under approx 8-10 gravity points. How's that ? Clear as mud !

If he can build a HERMS what you have said will be "Easy as"
Go for it, and let us know how it goes, another one caught in the trap.

Edit: Can't spell like most witches.

 

[fixa]

Go for it!!!! just popped my cherry recently. Nothing better.
I echo the others sentiments. Beersmith is your friend.

 

[Benno-5]

OK, so if i use 5kg grain, i will need to strike with approx 15 lts. I was thinking about 31 litres total would do the job. Therefore 5 litres absorbed by grain leaves me with 27 litres. Take out 10 percent evaporation and im left with 23.3 litres into the fermenter. Does that sound about right?

 

[Whistlingjack]

That's the way I calculate it. Simple arithmetic for me...

Only I get 7% evaporation and I leave 2 litres of hop trub and hot break in the kettle. This gives me about 21 litres into the fermenter.

 

[Benno-5]

now i think im on track. Hopefully I pump out a good one

 

[razz]

Trub or no trub Benno-5, that is the question. I pump the whole lot into th fermnter and after 7 days rack of approx 2 cups of sediment.

 

[Whistlingjack]

I guess this is the point where it gets complicated.

Hot break consists of proteins precipitated during the boil. These proteins can cause problems at later stages in the production cycle, eg chill haze.

Whirlpooling helps, but I just let the boiled wort settle for about 30 minutes (or until the temp drops to about 80C)

The pick up in my kettle is raised to allow the wort to syphon out so the hot break is not drained. The other advantage is that the hop trub won't foul my plate chiller.

 

[Benno-5]

so I should leave the dregs in the kettle. My tap on the kettle is a few cm above the bottom.

If the wort I produce is to strong, ie gravity to high, can I simply add water to reduce this befoer pouring into the fermenter?

 

[Screwtop]

Onya Benno-5, big leap straight into HERMS. Good luck, a tip - boil for 90 min, get as much water as you can through your grain bed, but do watch the gravity of the runnings so that you don't go below 1.010. Better than adding water to the fermenter. Beersmith has a boil off calculator if you get heaps of pre boil volume. You can always boil hard to reduce the volume. Add bittering hops when there's 60 min of boil time left.

 

[Benno-5]

I take it that 1010 is a reading taken at 100 deg, And equates to about 1050 at 20 deg?

In this case would i be better to have more water in the HLT and stop the runnings when the wort reaches 1010?

 

[tangent]

there's so many variables with each system, the best way is to just do a brew and see how much you end up with in the fermenter.
If the OG is higher or lower than you 1st thought, you'll just get a stronger or weaker beer. You can always add water or DME if you're that concerned about hitting your targets.
Me, i just like beer to come out at the end

 

[devo]

there's so many variables with each system, the best way is to just do a brew and see how much you end up with in the fermenter.
If the OG is higher or lower than you 1st thought, you'll just get a stronger or weaker beer. You can always add water or DME if you're that concerned about hitting your targets.
Me, i just like beer to come out at the end

I'm with you all the way on that Tangent.