AG#1. EB's BuzzBee Bitter.

[Moley]

Oh dear, I came on to read about a successful cherry popping and find this

Did you manage to salvage anything more? Would you care to describe what you did?

 

[snail59]

Well it's not gone exactly to plan some errors in calculations some under estimations regarding losses but were there 1st AG brew under my belt. So here are the pic's.

First of all first brew of the day while the HLT warmed up

Grains and hops weighed out ready to go.

Liquor up to temp at 75C Grains all mixed together and added to liquer in stages well stired no dough ball remaining so mash on at 65.7C.

Need to work on the Mash tun lost 2.7C over the 90mins so will have to redesign that. Only took 1.5lts to get clear runnings from the tun.

So time to sparge.

First Gravity reading 1.072.

Last Gravity Reading 1.002

This could have been where it started to go wrong. I may not have sparged long enough. Think I need to slow the speed of my spargeing down as this only took 30mins and I didn't get as much wort as expected. Also need to make some kind of measure in the boiler as I dont know how much wort was collected but it was less than half full so 14/15lts max.

Rolling Boil me thinks

30mins into the boil so in go the hops

Got some time to kill so time for 3rd brew of the day

15mins from the end of boil and in goes the cooler to sterilize

Boil over wort cooled time to collect what little is remaining and leave the fith behind.

.
So we ended up with 9.5lts of wort. To this has been added 900g of honey in 1.5lts of water another 4lts of filtered water have been added to give 15lts of wort with an og of 1.052. Just waiting for the last few degrees to cool and then will pitch the yeast.

So leasons learnt. More initial Liquor in HLT i under calcutated this. Slow the sparge to generate more wort. Hops soak up twice as much as expected. Dont forget to alow for the losses to the grains.

Not sure how this will turn out now hope it has been rescued but only time will tell.

 

[Muddydisco]

Looks good. :thumb: 15ltr @ 1.052 aint bad for the first, may be a little more bitter than normal but still should be very drinkable.
One question how much water did you prepare to start with?? For that brew I need 35 ltr of water 10ltr for the mash and 25ltr for the sparge.

 

[snail59]

Looks good. :thumb: 15ltr @ 1.052 aint bad for the first, may be a little more bitter than normal but still should be very drinkable.
One question how much water did you prepare to start with?? For that brew I need 35 ltr of water 10ltr for the mash and 25ltr for the sparge.

That was my first error I heated 11lts for the mash. I have 2lt dead space in the HLT and needed 9lts for the mash. Then I only heated 20lts for the sparge so only had 18lts to sparge with. Think I ran the sparge too fast as I didnt use all the liquor in the hlt before I hit 1.002 and decided to stop sparging. In hind sight could have carried on a little longer as no need to stop before reaching .998. Didnt alow for losses to the grains and underestimated both the losses to hops and evaporation during the boil and as I started with less wort than expected evaporation would be greater as a percentage.

 

[snail59]

Yeast pitched so now we wait :pray:

 

[Dunfie]

Good job - looks like you had a good day. :clap:

 

[Muddydisco]

Now you can work out your losses and adjust for the next time :drink:

 

[Cussword]

Keep at it mate, it can only get better :thumb:

 

[tubby_shaw]

I guarantee it'll be the best beer you have ever tasted((barring infections) :thumb:
As md said take into account your losses for next time, use this as a learning experience and it'll just get better and better

 

[Moley]

Stick with it, it will get better.

It's a steep learning curve but you know what you didn't get quite right first time.

With my own first 2 or 3 mashes I found I didn't have enough sparge liquor and was boiling kettles to add to the HLT. Now I always have too much and would rather throw some excess down the sink when I've finished.

It does sound like your sparge was too fast, and I think it would be very useful if one of the site crew or an experienced brewer could put together a “How To” batch or fly sparge.

It will still be the best damned beer you've ever tasted :

 

[corby_brewer]

As all of the above say Mick, stick with it. I guarentie your next brew will go like clockwork. And it will still be better than an shop brought beer.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

My first time was a disaster, I now do 46L with my eyes closed.

It gets easier :thumb:

BB

 

[snail59]

Thanks for the encoragement guys : . I know where I went wrong and know how to correct the misstakes. It's not like I cant explain why it went wrong. Bit like bike racing if you knew why you had crashed it was OK it was when you had no idea why you crashed that was when you got scared . Thanks to all for there help and advice youve all been a great help :clap: : :drunk: . To anyone reading this who is thinking of going AG do it ive had great fun building the brewery and even with todays little hicups its been fun.

 

[rickthebrew]

Mick - just as every one above has said, first few brews can have there ups and downs as you get the feel for your kit and the whole process - I sparge slowly (45mins plus) and when the gravity starts getting to low I add some more water and the stick the lid on for another 15mins or so - seems to work so its a kind of mix of fly and batch sparge. Would be good to see a proper sparge guide with pics from a more experienced brewer as Mr. Moley said.
Also your brew will taste great :thumb:

As brewdays go you had a good day especially for a first attempt - when brew days go **** up they can really go **** up, boilers breaking down etc etc etc :lol:

so well done :clap: you deserve a :drink: or two :whistle:

 

[snail59]

Thanks Rick :thumb:

If your so convinced it's going to taste great I will send you a pint when it's ready :rofl:

 

[rickthebrew]

great - i`ll send you one of mine as well :thumb:

 

Well done Snail, that's the hard one out of the way.
My "fly" sparge normally takes 20 - 30 mins for 25ltrs and I get a Brew House Efficiency in the eighties.
It is a great shame in this world that you cannot have two first brews any more than you can have two first pints.
It will taste wonderful.

 

[Tony]

hey snail! Looks to me like you did a mighty fine job there. I still learn lessons every brew I do, I'm sure we all do!
It'll be an amazing pint and more importantly, it'll be all your own work!

Good man! :

 

[snail59]

The Yeasties seem to have made themselves at home over night.

I never had a yeast head that large that quick with a kit brew.

 

[snail59]

Quick update folks.

Took a sample to check the gravity and it's down to .012 so think we should have finished fermenting. Not very clear but it has only been 7 days and I didn't use Irish Moss or Protafloc. Had to have a quick taster from the trial jar. Loads of honey taste slight bitterness at the back but better than either of my kit brews at this stage. So looking promising.