AG#2

[matt76]

So, I had 1kg maris otter left over from AG#1, plus some hops (fuggles + EKG)..... With AG#1 still in the FV (nearly ready for bottling) could I do something with what I had rather than rush to buy more stuff.....

3 aims:
1. Practice & improve my working process
2. Try a variation on AG#1 ("Have a go at simple AG"), see what difference it makes
3. Learn! E.g. can I tweak AG#1 and make it more hoppy like an IPA?

The only changes to AG#1 were downsizing from 10 to 5L, and a lot more hops (relative to the amount of grain & water!). A little bit of Googling tells me there's a few well known IPA's that are little more than this - dare to dream.....

Honestly I was pretty comfortable second time round knowing how much, what to do and when - if anything a little too over-confident and haphazard! ;-)

I got the process down from about 5.5 to 3.5 hours - pretty good considering 1hr to mash plus 1hr to boil the wort.

A grain bag helped a lot when it came to separating the grain from the wort - much quicker & easier than spooning it into a sieve!

On reflection 5L is too small a brew - ok, it fits the 1kg grain I had left over, but it's barely any more effort to do 10L which is about optimum for the resources I have for the time being. With such a small brew I had to liquor back in the FV, though it was pretty quick to cool such a small amount of wort.

Well, practice makes perfect - for sure AG is nothing to be afraid of. Fingers crossed, if all goes to plan, in a few weeks I'll have two similar brews to compare and enjoy - one a pale ale, the other more hoppy and IPA-ish :-)

 

[Dutto]

Congratulations!

However, if I ever managed to trim 2 hours off my brew-day I would spend the next month wondering "What essential have I forgotten?"

Don't worry. I'm sure that it will turn out fine!

 

[matt76]

Congratulations!

However, if I ever managed to trim 2 hours off my brew-day I would spend the next month wondering "What essential have I forgotten?"

Don't worry. I'm sure that it will turn out fine!

Very kind of you to say so, sir - thanks for the vote of confidence.....

(.....he says, while wondering why - 24hrs+ later - there is a disturbing lack of activity from the airlock)

 

[matt76]

So, I just tried a bottle of this now it's carbonated...

During the brew I added EKG and Fuggles at 60, 5 & 0 mins and then dry hopped after 14 days...

Well, I was aiming for an English IPA which it ain't - it's really not got that hoppiness.

But what I got was a 5.75% English bitter, and I'm pleased with it - straw/hay flavour, maybe a little fruity ester and a fairly dry finish. It's a bit hazy but I can improve on that in the future.

I'm surprised it's quite a bit darker than AG#1 (same ingredients but more hops), I assume it's picked up some colour from the extra hops???

Overall I'm pleased how this turned out, especially as I feel like I've learned tons in the weeks since I brewed this. AG#3 is conditioning in bottles, AG#4 is in the FV and AG#5 is in the pipeline - yeah, I think it's safe to say I'm now one with the dark side

Cheers,

Matt

 

[BrewHouse]

Hi Matt,

Well done on getting a few successful brews under your belt.

Remember that, just because the beer is carbonated, it doesn't necessarily mean it is ready. The yeast will go on tidying up any off flavours for some time. This is one of the disadvantages of small batches - the beer is often drunk before it really has had time to peak. If you have the discipline, put a few bottles away and test at intervals. You may be astonished at how a beer can change over time. At 5.75%, I would probably leave it at least a month to develop.
My last 6% IPA was crystal clear and properly carbonated after a couple of weeks but very mediocre. 4 weeks later it was heaven.

Brewhouse

 

[matt76]

This for the tip @BrewHouse

To be honest I knew this already (something I've been asking about recently actually) but good to have it reiterated.

This is actually the second bottle I've tried, no surprises it's improved a lot over the first but will leave the rest now to condition properly.

I've also since figured out that 12L batches are about right for me, yielding a healthy 20 x 500ml bottles.