AG#1 Burton Bridge Top Dog Stout clone

[ash]

The time has come to take the next step up from extract brewing to AG after adding a mash tun to my collection of brewing equipment (cheers Corby Brewer).

I have decided on a Burton Bridge Top Dog Stout clone for AG#1. It was between this and a Ringwood 49er clone, but got a Speckled Hen clone conditioning at the moment, so thought i'd go for a stout. Brew day is tomorrow (Friday 17 September).

Sorry, can't post the exact recipe (from GW book, so would be breaking copyright) but contains pale malt (obviously), torrefied wheat, chocolate malt and challenger hops.

I'll try and keep you posted throughout the day and hopefully i'll get chance to put some pictures up at some point.

:

 

[Baz Chaz]

Hope it all goes well ash :thumb:


we'll maybe compare notes tomorrow night :lol:

 

[markp]

Nice one ash....been tempted a few times by that one myself
Have a good first AG, steady away and you'll be fine :thumb:

 

[ash]

Kicked off at around 08:30 this morning, got a break whilst mashing.

Here's the grains:

and the grains weighed out:

Time for coffee (it was a bit early for a beer) :!:

More photos to follow. What an amazing smell from the mash tun!

None of the mash tun pre mash i'm afraid, wanted to get the lid on ASAP as lost a bit too much temperature, probably as i spent too much time adding the grain agonising over ensuring there were no dough balls.

 

[Sean_Mc]

Welcome to the darkside Ash and have a good day :thumb:

 

[ash]

Grabbed a beer before the sparge! :

 

[ash]

This is my set up by the way (clearing the garage out is my next mission when I get another day off :!: ):

Nice rolling boil ready for the hops:

I only collected 19l (i'm brewing 19l, but will be quite a bit short after the boil) before it went down to 1008, so will need to make some adjustments next time (when I figure out what the adjustments need to be)!

Time for another beer! :drink:

 

[ash]

Imersion chiller goes in:

Wort flowing into the FV:

Job done! :clap:

OG: 1063 (don't know what went wrong there, should have been 1050) :wha: gonna be stronger than expected! :shock:

Great day, not as difficult as I expected (assuming it turns out ok) :!: :pray: no major disasters obove those previously expeiences from extract brewing ie forgetting to put the hop filter in the boiler :| . Not the first time and probably won't be the last :!:

 

[Baz Chaz]

Nice one ash :thumb: glad to hear all went pretty well, hope the end results a good 'un :party:

 

[markp]

Nice one Ash.
Looks like you didn't sparge quite enough wort through, being a bit short of volume at a higher gravity. You could've liquored back to get the desired gravity and more beer

The first few brews are a learning process and will get you familiar with your equipment and losses etc ......and you'll still get mighty fine beer in the process

 

[ash]

Nice one Ash.
Looks like you didn't sparge quite enough wort through, being a bit short of volume at a higher gravity. You could've liquored back to get the desired gravity and more beer

The first few brews are a learning process and will get you familiar with your equipment and losses etc ......and you'll still get mighty fine beer in the process

The thing is, i did liquor back to get to the desired volume (19l to fit my corny). Recipe was for 19l. All a learning experience.

 

[markp]

Nice one Ash.
Looks like you didn't sparge quite enough wort through, being a bit short of volume at a higher gravity. You could've liquored back to get the desired gravity and more beer

The first few brews are a learning process and will get you familiar with your equipment and losses etc ......and you'll still get mighty fine beer in the process

The thing is, i did liquor back to get to the desired volume (19l to fit my corny). Recipe was for 19l. All a learning experience.

Ahhh, missed that bit.....great efficiency then :clap:

 

[hairybiker]

So did you collect 19l in the FV @ 1.063? Or 19l in the boiler?

Anyway higher OG is always better than lower OG :

 

[ash]

19l from the mash tun in the boiler, I then added 4l of water to the boiler to allow for boil off and deadspace. Still had to add more water to the FV though to get 19l.

The wort in the FV is 1063.

 

[rickthebrew]

well done ash - good to see another AG#1 brewday - :

 

[highwayman]

The first few brews are a learning process and will get you familiar with your equipment and losses etc ......and you'll still get mighty fine beer in the process

Mark's right..but you did really well Ash.... :clap: :clap: Looks like you and Baz have cracked it...No leaks..No taps left open Must just be me that had a bad day on my first AG brewday then :whistle:

 

[corby_brewer]

Nice one Ash, just glad the MT and Burco went to a good home mate.
Keep up the good work.
No looking back now.

 

[Baz Chaz]

Hows the head in the FV this morning ash

the foam on brew I made looks much 'cleaner and neater' this morning than the kit stuff

 

[ash]

Haven't really done a kit for a while (did extract more recently) so can't really remember what sort of head i got with kits. Its also certainly darker than i'm used to as its a stout. Fermenting well though, down below 1020 and already tastes good; think its going to be a cracker when its finished! :pray:

 

[rickthebrew]

think its going to be a cracker when its finished! :pray:

It will be