Urn For Biab

[wbosher]

Just started mashing at 4pm (NZ time). The problem I have is that I may need to wait until about 7pm when my son is in bed before I can start the boil.

Is that 90mins or so in between the mash and boil going to make any difference?

 

[thylacine]

Just started mashing at 4pm (NZ time). The problem I have is that I may need to wait until about 7pm when my son is in bed before I can start the boil.

Is that 90mins or so in between the mash and boil going to make any difference?

Not to many. eg. http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=30815

 

[wbosher]

Hmmm...not too happy with the pre-boil SG, only 1.030. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

 

[wbosher]

First AG brew done last night.

Pre-boil SG was only about 1.030 so thought that was a bit low. After the boil it was 1.055 but had boiled down to 15L.

I watered it down to try to get the volume up a bit, so added 3L to get it up to 18L. OG is 1.045, so I'm pretty happy with that. It's a bit lower than the recipe says but still ok I think.

Pitched us-05 and it's away...fingers crossed.

 

[bignath]

...and it starts.

Congratulations man! I'm sure it'll be the best beer you've made to date!

Keep us updated with it's progress.

Cheers,

Nath

 

[wbosher]

Took a quick look this morning and was quite surprised at what I saw. The yest was churning up the beer, it looked like someone was stirring it. A bit of googling put my mind at rest that this is quite normal, just never seen it with any of my kit beers.

Another thing that surprised me was the heat that was generated. The stick on thermometer said 20oC, but the ambient temp was only about 10oC after a very cold night. I realise that the accuracy of the thermometer may not be 100%, but 10 degrees is a lot more than I would have expected.

Anyway, looks like it's ticking along nicely.

 

[bignath]

 

[wbosher]

Just took a FG reading and it's quite low 1.006, probably because I watered it down to bring the volume up a little...guess I won't do that again. Is supposed to finish up at around 1.012, which it probably would have if I hadn't have messed with it.

I suppose I'll have a dry, thin beer. At least it looks and tastes like beer, that's a start.

 

[seamad]

Have you checked your thermometer? If its reading high you may have mashed lower than you thought resulting in the lower than expected fg.

 

[wbosher]

No I haven't checked it but I have two thermometers that read exactly the same - one glass and one digital. I will check it before my next brew.

I suspect it was because I watered it down in the fermenter. The target OG was pretty much spot on, give or take a point or two, at around 1.055. Just miscalculated the water volumes and put too little water in initially, resulting in only 15L instead of 20L. Topped up to 18L in the fermenter with an OG of 1.045.

I think if I had just gone with the 15L instead of topping it up, it would have been pretty much perfect.

What sort of effect will a low FG have on the final result. Thin and dry as I suspect it might be? Is 1.006 really that low?

This is only my first FG reading, hopefully it won't go even lower...

EDIT: Actually, I've just done some reading and from what I seen 1.006 is quite common for a pale ale...hopefully will be ok.

 

[wbosher]

Bottled it tonight. Had a wee taste and it's not too bad, maybe a little sweet. Don't know if that's the malt or the Cascade. Not too sure what Cascade tastes like.

Anyway, might turn out to be an ok beer for my first AG attempt.

 

[Diesel80]

Bottled it tonight. Had a wee taste and it's not too bad, maybe a little sweet. Don't know if that's the malt or the Cascade. Not too sure what Cascade tastes like.

Anyway, might turn out to be an ok beer for my first AG attempt.

My first AG was pretty average, ask Hippy he was unfortunate enough to try it , though he did pick out the positives and focus on them.

Now a few more brews to the good and having learned the system I brew with I am comfortably turning out nice, very easy to drink beer. Starting to get some people asking me where I bought the beer I gave them to drink.

Problem now is I really need to brew double batches as I can't brew too often and almost run out of beer now. Damn seagull mates.

It's a slippery slope mate but one worth traversing.

Cheers,

D80

 

[bignath]

Bottled it tonight. Had a wee taste and it's not too bad, maybe a little sweet. Don't know if that's the malt or the Cascade. Not too sure what Cascade tastes like.

Anyway, might turn out to be an ok beer for my first AG attempt.

Certainly won't be the cascade. I get a "sweetness" from a couple of hops, but i don't get it with Cascade.

 

[thedragon]

Not trying to be cheeky, but my first ag was better than any k&k that I'd done. But maybe I am lucky having been exposed to many Saturday morning brews at grain & grape.

 

[wbosher]

Certainly won't be the cascade. I get a "sweetness" from a couple of hops, but i don't get it with Cascade.

I'm not sure sweetness is really the word I was looking for, don't really know what it is, just unusual. Probably just used to the harshness of kit beers and that was missing.

I'm sure it'll be quite drinkable once carbed up.

My next brew I'm going to do basically the same, but make it a little more bitter by adding more hops at 60mins. Also going to add little more grains and mash at a higher temp to try get it a little thicker. Looking forward to experimenting.

Just downloaded Beersmith, that looks like it's going to be a lot of fun playing around with.

 

[stux]

I'm not sure sweetness is really the word I was looking for, don't really know what it is, just unusual. Probably just used to the harshness of kit beers and that was missing.

I'm sure it'll be quite drinkable once carbed up.

My next brew I'm going to do basically the same, but make it a little more bitter by adding more hops at 60mins. Also going to add little more grains and mash at a higher temp to try get it a little thicker. Looking forward to experimenting.

Just downloaded Beersmith, that looks like it's going to be a lot of fun playing around with.

Maybe you should consider a lower temperature, 64, 65C etc

Would result in a drier beer with a lower FG

 

[wbosher]

Maybe you should consider a lower temperature, 64, 65C etc

Would result in a drier beer with a lower FG

I don't want a drier beer, I want something with a bit more body. I understand that higher mash temperatures will achieve that. The one I've just made is quite thin with a very low FG.

 

[wbosher]

Just tasted my first AG beer after two weeks in the bottle. Bloody nice!

Not as bitter as I like my beer, but still really nice...and no twang. Not as thin as I thought it might be, but I've recently discovered that my Coopers hydrometer is completely fckd, it's about 5 points out, must have become waterlogged. Binned it and got a glass one. That would make the FG about 1.011.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out, good head and body (get your mind out of the gutter

).

Can't wait until my 2nd one is ready, just bottled it an hour ago. That's got more bittering hops than this one had, so should be good.