Petrolhead
Regular.
Having done a gallon all grain a few weeks ago I upped my kit with a Klarstein Mash Kettle and built a brew fridge. I also bought a St Austell Tribute kit as my first full sized brew.
Been away the last few weekends so arriving home mid afternoon yesterday I took the opportunity to get started and immediately put the 10.5 litres of water on with the thermostat set at the prescribed 66 degrees. The Karstein is a great bit of kit for the price and soon had the water sat there waiting although it seemed to allow the water to drift up to 70-72 before letting it cool back down so next time I will probably set the temperature required a bit lower.
Mashed in the grain as per the recipe but it did seem to be a fairly dry mix even though it was of course wet through but I stirred regularly. The kit asked for 10.5 litres but I wonder if I should have added some more water to allow for the grain bucket which sits off the bottom of the kettle.
At the prescribed 90 mins I lifted the grain kettle onto the top of the Klarstein but the sparge water wasn't up to 77 degrees and it took a while on the stove top to reach this temperature which wasted precious time. I am building another kettle so I hope to have the sparge water ready in the future.
Sparging seemed to take an age with the water running through the grain very slowly. Not sure if this is normal.
Klarstein then took the wort up to a boil quickly and held it there for the required 90 mins with no problems nor any need to stand over it. A good thing really as the family were around for Sunday dinner and I was getting a few looks from SWMBO as I kept nipping to the brew shed to keep an eye on things. I had hoped to have finished before they arrived.
The hop additions only added to the great smell which reminded me of the local brewery when I was a kid.
Off at 90 mins and I switched on the chiller coil with water running slowly as I was serving desert and really starting to get some dirty looks. Plus I set the brew kettle to 22 degrees in case I was delayed. However, no problems and I transferred the wort to my fv at around 25 degrees. No time to whirlpool and just had to pick up the brew kettle and pour so sadly quite a bit of crud into the fv but I guess I will just rack off in a few days.
Popped it into my brew fridge and off to clear up from dinner leaving my brewing clean up for tonight.
Checked the fv this morning and it is going like a steam train with an almost constant bubble.
Overall very pleased with my first attempt, no major disasters and I am looking forward to my next brew. However, it did take longer than I expected with the added pressure of a full house expecting to be fed so next time I will start a little earlier.
Been away the last few weekends so arriving home mid afternoon yesterday I took the opportunity to get started and immediately put the 10.5 litres of water on with the thermostat set at the prescribed 66 degrees. The Karstein is a great bit of kit for the price and soon had the water sat there waiting although it seemed to allow the water to drift up to 70-72 before letting it cool back down so next time I will probably set the temperature required a bit lower.
Mashed in the grain as per the recipe but it did seem to be a fairly dry mix even though it was of course wet through but I stirred regularly. The kit asked for 10.5 litres but I wonder if I should have added some more water to allow for the grain bucket which sits off the bottom of the kettle.
At the prescribed 90 mins I lifted the grain kettle onto the top of the Klarstein but the sparge water wasn't up to 77 degrees and it took a while on the stove top to reach this temperature which wasted precious time. I am building another kettle so I hope to have the sparge water ready in the future.
Sparging seemed to take an age with the water running through the grain very slowly. Not sure if this is normal.
Klarstein then took the wort up to a boil quickly and held it there for the required 90 mins with no problems nor any need to stand over it. A good thing really as the family were around for Sunday dinner and I was getting a few looks from SWMBO as I kept nipping to the brew shed to keep an eye on things. I had hoped to have finished before they arrived.
The hop additions only added to the great smell which reminded me of the local brewery when I was a kid.
Off at 90 mins and I switched on the chiller coil with water running slowly as I was serving desert and really starting to get some dirty looks. Plus I set the brew kettle to 22 degrees in case I was delayed. However, no problems and I transferred the wort to my fv at around 25 degrees. No time to whirlpool and just had to pick up the brew kettle and pour so sadly quite a bit of crud into the fv but I guess I will just rack off in a few days.
Popped it into my brew fridge and off to clear up from dinner leaving my brewing clean up for tonight.
Checked the fv this morning and it is going like a steam train with an almost constant bubble.
Overall very pleased with my first attempt, no major disasters and I am looking forward to my next brew. However, it did take longer than I expected with the added pressure of a full house expecting to be fed so next time I will start a little earlier.
