1st Attempt at AG

[spook123_uk]

Well I did my 1st attempt at AG yesterday.. To say it went badly was an understatement.

It was the Craftybrews AG Sitra Kit. Supposed to be a 4.8% session US IPA with Citra and Simcoe using maris otter and crystal malts.
I grossly misjudged the strike water temp for mashing and wound up with an incredibly low mash temp. I forgot to take the grain into account and wound up a low temp mash with too much water (after using the kettle to try and get the temp up). I decided not to bin it and press on with sparging. In the end I achieved a low pre boil gravity of something stupid like 1025 which was disappointing to say the least... especially as I was looking for a lot higher.

Anyway... Lesson learnt for the next batch..

In an effort to save this batch, I simply dumped half a kilo of light spraymalt into it which beefed it back up and carried on with the boil (which went as expected).

In the end, I've come out of the kettle with 20 litres and an OG of 1047 sh. The chiller I have worked great and got me to 20 degrees from boiling in less than 30 mins.. Once cooler, I pitched the yeast and threw it in the brew fridge.... It might taste like crap or it might not.. There's only one way to find out! I've got 2 corny's spare at the moment so I might as well go the distance on it and I'll take my lessons learned and get another straight on when the brew fridge is freed up...

Onwards and upwards (I hope!).

 

[clibit]

If you ended up with 1047 and the boil went ok, chances are that it will come out nice. Get the fermentation right and it should be fine. You mash water strike temperature needs to be something like 6 - 10*C higher than the intended mash temperature. What was the target OG?

 

[MyQul]

I use this strike temp calc which is pretty accurate

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/calc.html

 

[spook123_uk]

Cheers Cilbit.

Target OG was 1045 so I've overshot a little. It started off with a 1053 OG but I threw a few litres of water in to bring it down. I had had enough by the end of the mash and and couldn't be bothered measuring so threw the bag in!

The fermentation part I have nailed from doing kits. I can maintain a constant beer temp (using brewpi). It's not as active as I usually find on the 2nd day in but it IS active. There's a 2 inch layer of Krausen that can be seen though the bucket and globs of air fairly consistently from the airlock.

 

[clibit]

Good rescue job. :thumb:

 

[TheRedDarren]

Yea, cracking rescue job there mate.
Nothing's knackered until you give up.
All grain is simple but also quite complex, in the sense that you need to nail several different aspects. If you're anything like me you'll need to make mistakes to learn, so it's all good.
Like you say, onwards and upwards!
Keep us informed to how it turns out, I'm sure it'll be lovely.

 

[spook123_uk]

If it don't make me I'll drink it! I'm always the same.. I have to make the mistakes to get it right so there will be a lot of them!

Will let you know how it's going in a couple of weeks. If I can get it fermented and in a corny without tasting vile I'll be happy :lol:

 

[Dads_Ale]

It is surprising how much boiling water you have to add to bring the mash temp up even a few degrees.
Now you know what went wrong AG2 will be a breeze...:smile:

 

[MyQul]

If it don't make me I'll drink it! I'm always the same.. I have to make the mistakes to get it right so there will be a lot of them!

Will let you know how it's going in a couple of weeks. If I can get it fermented and in a corny without tasting vile I'll be happy :lol:

I'm the same. I made it, I'm drinking it!

The only beers I've thrown are ones thats were so full of fusils they just tasted like nail polish remover - and I still drank a few bottles anyway "just to make sure it was undrinkable" :lol:

 

[HebridesRob]

If it don't make me I'll drink it! I'm always the same.. I have to make the mistakes to get it right so there will be a lot of them!

Will let you know how it's going in a couple of weeks. If I can get it fermented and in a corny without tasting vile I'll be happy :lol:

I don't think I ever have a brew day where I don't make a mistake: Forgetting the Irish Moss, forgetting late hop addition, using the wrong water treatment. Last brew day I had prepared water for sparging in one fermenting vessel and Chlorine based cleaner in the other. Threw the wrong one out and wasn't too far away from heating up some cleaning fluid to sparge with. The only thing that stopped me was I noticed some bubbles on the surface.

 

[spook123_uk]

Well... Here's an update on the ******* son of a failed mash..

It's going strong in the fermenter. I have a 33 litre fermenter with only 20 litres of liquid in there and the Krausen (I assume as I haven't opened the lid) is blowing up the airlock once a day. That's a good 6 inches or more above liquid level.
I'm replacing with a fresh clean one every day and will syringe some out to take a reading to see how it's going on Thurs I think when it will hit the 7 day mark in the fermenter.

At this stage, it's progressing aggressively(!) and not smelling of anything other than a fermenting brew... Fingers crossed!

 

[spook123_uk]

8 days into fermentation and it's down to 1012. Nice and pale... Not as hoppy as I was trying to get but VERY drinkable.
Just gave the father in law a snifter out of the sample tube and he reckon's I've cloned Wye Valley HPA. On reflection... It takes just like it!

I think this batch is well and truly rescued. I'll give it a couple more days to see if the gravity goes down any more (it has stopped bubbling in the air lock), cold crash it at 1o C for a few days then keg it.

It's looking good.

 

[TheRedDarren]

There ya go see!!! What did we say?!

I should have been a bit clearer in my other post, I said AG is simple but also complex... What I really meant was AG is simple enough, getting the absolute perfect brew is a bit more complex.
As you've discovered, it's hard to make an undrinkable beer!

Nice one mate, what's the next brew going to be?

 

[clibit]

From disaster to perfect unexpected clone beer! The sheer joy of all grain. :thumb: :shock:

 

[jeg3]

My most recent brew - which has just finished primary - was my first attempt at an AG wheat (a dunkelweisen), and I didn't put enough rice hulls in to stop the wheat from setting, so ended up with 61% efficiency. So OG was 1.046 rather than 1.051. Even so, it smells good and it'll be 4.5ish rather than 5ish.

So what? I'm not entering a competition - as long as it meets my expectations it gets drunk. If it's below par, it gets drunk anyway and the lesson is learnt!

 

[BrannBrew]

So what? I'm not entering a competition - as long as it meets my expectations it gets drunk. If it's below par, it gets drunk anyway and the lesson is learnt!

Exactly what my outlook is. I do give a few bottles away to work colleagues and family, mainly because I find it hard to drink 40 pints worth of the same drink, work colleagues are now asking when my next batch is ready!

 

[spook123_uk]

Here it is all bottled. I've got a keg full too so should see how it's turned out in a few weeks..
I'll now be turning my attention to a punk IPA clone... Maris Otter + Chinook, Nelson Sauvin, Ahtanum and Simcoe. Hopefully will get on it later this week or early next.

 

[clibit]

Looking good. Still taste good? It should clear pretty well after carbonation has finished. Nice colour. :thumb:

 

[spook123_uk]

still tasting pretty good. Fingers crossed!

 

[Stephan]

If I were being super critical I would have let it clear a bit more before bottling. But then again I am probably remembering my competition days. Judges can be very fussy. Although I never took the all the `exams` I was often invited to assist the judges and my opinion was respected. We tasted some fine brews and also some that one had to be `discrete` about. It was the same with home made wine-some were glorious-others???