AG3 - here's the plan

[Jeltz]

Well my MO is Bairds and I understand that a longer mash seems to be the way to go as many people haven't achieved their normal efficiency with Bairds.

So overnight BIAB 20L mash followed by a 10 minute 10L "sparge soak" and a 60 minute boil, Water 50:50 RO:Tap boiled beforehand with half a campden tablet.

The Grain

• Pale Malt 4.5kg
  Crystal Malt 150g
  Chocolate Malt 30g
  Wheat, Torrified 100g

The Hops (to be added to hop sock)

• Challenger 25g First Wort Hopped
  Fuggles 25g First Wort Hopped
  Fuggles 25g @ 10 mins

Misc - Irish moss 3g @10 mins

Yeast - S-04

Anticipated Brew length 22L
Anticipated Boil volume 25L


I'll be trying a hop sock this time to see if that reduces the wort lost to the hops and this will be the 1st time I've tinkered with the water, which is pretty hard here.

Brewday is set for Tuesday Night/ Wednesday Morning

EDIT: Updated the hop bill

 

[PD]

:thumb:

 

[Dieseljockey]

Go for it... :clap:

 

[PD]

I use hop socks at the moment because I havent got a hop strainer fitted as yet ( hopefully this week ) They work fine, I have then fastened to clothes pegs around top of boiler !
Certainly the boilers easier to clean afterwards.

I also lift the hop socks out just before I drain the boiler and place them on a filter over a jug, when cool gently squeeze them out, nice lot of hoppy liquid to add back to the wort.

 

[Jeltz]

Well I set the mash off at about 11 and over 90 mins it lost about 1 degree, I'm leaving this one to mash until tomorrow morning, whatever time I wake.

Boil for 60 mins and I've decided to up the hops a little

 

[PD]

Come on Rise and shine your beer wants seeing to !

 

[rich27500]

Looks great. The good thing about hop filters is the hops suck round the filter and then your wort runs clear because the hops catch all the bits. You can make your own from a bit of copper pipe, just hammer one end closed and drill a load of holes in it.

Good luck my brother of the bag!

 

[PD]

I managed to get my hop filter installed for yesterdays brew, a bazooka screen, it worked bloody marvellous, the wort ran very clear. I wasn't too sure of it to start with so I still placed all my hops in socks. Now I have a bit of confidence in the filter, my hops are going direct into the boiler from now on.
So hopefully my wort will run even clearer.

 

[Jeltz]

Well the brew went well.

Again a very efficient overnight mash, 9.5 hours starting at 66.4 and finishing at 60.6. My efficiency is up to the 85% region which considering I'm using Bairds is a pleasant surprise. There was a touch more wort than I was expecting so I boiled for 90 minutes but I could have gotten away with 75 as I topped up a litre in the FV.

I had already decided to increase the hop bill so was running at 25g of each of those stated.

I do have a hop filter made from a stainless steel braided hose but the flow when emptying is a pain. The hop sock was a big winner for me, much of the break material stuck to it while much of the remaining break material was caught by the hop filter and I squeezed out the liquid from the hops as well.

So I have 22L of beer @ 1.054 and have named it Wowbagger Bitter (another homage to HHGTTG)

 

[PD]

Congratulations Nic.I hope your not letting this brewing become a habit......... :shock:

 

[Jeltz]

crafty taste today (day 6) and it already tastes great. Not clear obviously but can't wait for it to be ready.