First AG Brew

[cwrw]

Just done my first AG brew today (a Duvel style ale)- took 8 hours till all was cleaned and put away! I hope to improve on this next time as I had one or two hiccups, one concerning a shortfall of boil water as my grains absorbed more than the forum calculator gave and I also c**ked up with the sparge temp as the grains plummetted my 70c to 54c and I had to improvise and stick additional hot water into the mix. Water water everywhere!
On top of all this I ended up with a brew that was too dark - I used caramalt (as recommended by the supplier) instead of light crystal malt 2.5L.(what else could I have used...please advise?).
I'll learn....in the end (I hope!)

 

[Sean_Mc]

Well done cwrw, welcome to the darkside :thumb:

 

[31bb3]

Well done mate how does it feel to make propper beer :grin:

 

[rabbie]

You won't look back, that's for sure.
Now comes the hard bit, waiting for the first taste
I highly recommend you get another brew planned as soon as possible.

As for the colour, I'd say you could have gone 100% pilsener/pale malt, maybe added a bit of wheat. Duvel is 100% pilsener malt :thumb:
Now you see the beauty, you can tweak your recipe all you like next time...

 

[highwayman]

I also c**ked up with the sparge temp as the grains plummetted my 70c to 54c and I had to improvise and stick additional hot water into the mix.

I did exactly the same thing..on my first AG Brew ...but..you did right..adding Hot water.... :clap: So don't worry your beer will turn out okay...Mine did

 

[cwrw]

Thanks for all the supportive comments ....it's much appreciated! :thumb:
I'm sure you've all been through the baptism of fire and scalded your hands (quite literally!) and are well familiar with the anticipation of the birth of a baby beer .....well she's got a lot of collic at the moment and is farting away like nobody's business in the ferment vessel ...I hope there's no follow-through! :shock:

 

[cutnrun]

Congrats!!

it seems that there are a few of us dark side converts at the moment!
Luckily my first go didn't involve any scolding. however i did manage to get wort over everything including my phone that i was using as a timer!

very sticky stuff that wort!!

rabbie is right though time for AG#2 asap!

 

[gurtpint]

Congratulations! Hope it's going to be a good one.

 

[rickthebrew]

All this brewing going on hopefully i`ll squeeze a brewday in tommorrow :P

 

[Baz Chaz]

I found my first brew not quite as expected, a little dark :wha:


so made my next one a bit different :thumb: that one's more like my personal preference :clap:


but there's the excuse for making the next brew ........... you've just gotta keep trying out more recipes :lol:

 

[cwrw]

Thanks all .....it's really encouraging to hear from you and great for my motivation to start planning my next beer :clap: - I reckon I'll crank out a Chimay White in my next venture....a bit different, so why not!
Good to belong to a motley crew of rogues! :drink:

 

[gurtpint]

You always learn something new. Yesterday I learned that a proper wind protection for my gas burner would be a good idea as my improvised one wasn't working that well and I had the flame go out a few times and probably wasted some gas too. My brew day was around 9 hours (as with my first batch) from the weighing of grains to getting the cleaning done, so you 8 hours isn't half bad!

 

[cwrw]

You always learn something new. Yesterday I learned that a proper wind protection for my gas burner would be a good idea as my improvised one wasn't working that well and I had the flame go out a few times and probably wasted some gas too. My brew day was around 9 hours (as with my first batch) from the weighing of grains to getting the cleaning done, so you 8 hours isn't half bad!

Cheers!

 

[phettebs]

Congrats cwrw!

Good luck with the Tripel next!!

 

[Screwy]

I ended up with a brew that was too dark - I used caramalt (as recommended by the supplier) instead of light crystal malt 2.5L.(what else could I have used...please advise?).
I'll learn....in the end (I hope!)

All Cara/Crystal malts are dextrinous malts that add both colour and body to the finished beer. (These malts are low in fermentability, leaving dextrins (unfermentable sugars) in the finished beer = higher FG = more mouthfeel). CaraPils is a very lightly kilned malt, you could use it, but Belgian beers usually have a dry finish. Recipes for Belgian Golden Ales that I have made in the past have used only Pils Malt and some Demerera Sugar (higher fermentability) to dry the beer out.

Hope this helps,

Screwy

 

[cwrw]

I ended up with a brew that was too dark - I used caramalt (as recommended by the supplier) instead of light crystal malt 2.5L.(what else could I have used...please advise?).
I'll learn....in the end (I hope!)

All Cara/Crystal malts are dextrinous malts that add both colour and body to the finished beer. (These malts are low in fermentability, leaving dextrins (unfermentable sugars) in the finished beer = higher FG = more mouthfeel). CaraPils is a very lightly kilned malt, you could use it, but Belgian beers usually have a dry finish. Recipes for Belgian Golden Ales that I have made in the past have used only Pils Malt and some Demerera Sugar (higher fermentability) to dry the beer out.

Hope this helps,

Screwy

Thanks for that; what I've been doing is following a recipe from a clone brews book, but I'll improvise more next time,Cheers :thumb:

Thanks for the comment Phettebs - nice to finally get off the ground :grin: All the Best,Cwrw