isitbeeroclock
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I thought I'd post this to encourage anyone else with little brewing experience to give all grain a go. Ability to brew beer is an essential life-skill, or so I tell my wife. I was inspired to try this after spending a day at Derventio brewery (Derbyshire) making some pale ale, try their beers if you see any, especially Cleopatra. I've made some can of wort style beer kits in the past, but the beer was dull. So I've based this on what I learnt on my day at the brewery. I've gone for a small batch size as I don't need to spend much money on equipment, it is safer (5gl boiling hot sticky liquid on the hob, no thanks) and fairly quick to do (took 3.5hrs in total). I looked at a 5 gallon recipe to get an idea of the amounts I needed to use for 1 gallon. I got some grains and hops from Ballihoo (quick delivery) and a 12L stock pot from Aldi for £20.
1 Kg Maris Otter Pale Malt
100g of Crystal Malt
10g Golding hops
3g dry brewers yeast
4.5L mash water + 4.5L sparge water
I mashed in the stock pot at 67C. I decided to put the oven on low and put the pot in there for 60min, stirring and checking the temp every 15mins. This worked really well.
I then poured the liquid into another container catching the grains in a colander. I then sparged this by slowly pouring another gallon of hot water evenly over the contents of the colander.
I took a gravity reading after the sparge, 1.030 (the first lot of mash liquid was 1.050)
I then boiled the wort (7L at start of boil) for 60mins in the stock pot. I added 5g hops at the start and another 10mins from the end.
Once boiled I filled the sink with cold water and ice packs out the freezer. This got the temp down to 27C in about 30 mins.
I took another gravity reading, 1.042. I then poured into a 1 gallon fermenting PET plastic bottle using a sieve (to catch the hops) and large funnel. I poured in 3g (half a small packet) of beer yeast and fitted the airlock. Job done.
I'm puzzled about where all my water went. I thought I've used 9L in total, but 7L made it to the boil. 1.1Kg of grain can't absorb 2L of water, so I probably miscounted somewhere. I was doing this while looking after two small children!
The yeast was working hard with a foam on the surface of the fermenter when I looked earlier. So far so good. Looking forward bottling it and tasting it. Next step, drink Grolsh so I can reuse the bottles.
I'll post again when I have some results. It may not work out, but only one way to find out.
1 Kg Maris Otter Pale Malt
100g of Crystal Malt
10g Golding hops
3g dry brewers yeast
4.5L mash water + 4.5L sparge water
I mashed in the stock pot at 67C. I decided to put the oven on low and put the pot in there for 60min, stirring and checking the temp every 15mins. This worked really well.
I then poured the liquid into another container catching the grains in a colander. I then sparged this by slowly pouring another gallon of hot water evenly over the contents of the colander.
I took a gravity reading after the sparge, 1.030 (the first lot of mash liquid was 1.050)
I then boiled the wort (7L at start of boil) for 60mins in the stock pot. I added 5g hops at the start and another 10mins from the end.
Once boiled I filled the sink with cold water and ice packs out the freezer. This got the temp down to 27C in about 30 mins.
I took another gravity reading, 1.042. I then poured into a 1 gallon fermenting PET plastic bottle using a sieve (to catch the hops) and large funnel. I poured in 3g (half a small packet) of beer yeast and fitted the airlock. Job done.
I'm puzzled about where all my water went. I thought I've used 9L in total, but 7L made it to the boil. 1.1Kg of grain can't absorb 2L of water, so I probably miscounted somewhere. I was doing this while looking after two small children!
The yeast was working hard with a foam on the surface of the fermenter when I looked earlier. So far so good. Looking forward bottling it and tasting it. Next step, drink Grolsh so I can reuse the bottles.
I'll post again when I have some results. It may not work out, but only one way to find out.
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