First AG - Questions arising

[Lambros the Stout]

After looking at BrewStew's excellent guide (viewtopic.php?f=30&t=493) and having read a number of books, I went for my first ever all grain yesterday. I decided on a pilsner recipe from CJJ Berry's "Beers and Stouts" book. I now have a fermentation bin which is bubbling along nicely, although the famous pancake is still a work in progress (its been 10 hours since I added the yeast).

I have a few comments/questions on this, which will help the next brew go even smoother:

- Following BrewStew' advise, I stopped collecting wort once my hydrometer was showing 0.990 so as not to collect tannins. However, this reading started only after I had collected 8-9 litres (the recipe was for 18 litres). I added 4 lts of water to this before the boil and eventually ended up with 11.5 litres of wort in my fermentation bin (after boiling). Why did I end up so low in my quantity?

- I should also add that my OG when I took a reading before adding the yeast this morning was 1.41 which I suspect is higher than what I should have as an OG for the pilsner (the recipe didn't indicate what it should be). However, I decided to pitch the yeast as I had already left the wort to cool overnight and worried about infections. I don't intend to add water anymore but would it be possible to do so after the yeast has been pitched (and since I have used 1 campden tablet already would it be ok just to boil the water?)

Any ideas/comments appreciated, as always.

 

[dennisking]

What temperature did you test the wort. If it was at run off temperature you would need to adjust as the hydrometer is set for 20c.

 

[BigYin]

a reading of 0.990 is the correct reading to stop at assuming your wort is coming off at approx 65c - thus equates to a reading of 1.008 if the wort was allowed to cool before measuring the SG :thumb:


Back to the question - only 8 or 9 litres before the reading dropped to 0.990? How much grain did you have?

What was the starting temperature of the mash?
How long did you mash for?
What was the finishing temp of the mash?

How did you sparge? Batch, or fly? (batch you drain off the wort, close the tap, then fill up the tun with more hot water, drain and repeat - fly sparging, you constantly drain wort from the tun while slowly adding hot water in the top of the tun)

If you were fly sparging, did you do it slowly, or quickly?

 

[dennisdk2000]

Re OG reading - best bet is probably to plug the recipe into a calculator like the one on this forum and see what predicted OG that gives you - and I think the reading you took was 1.041, not 1.41, or you'd end up with a beer with ABV in the region of 50%!!

Dennis

 

[johnnie]

I'm not an ag expert, I've only done 8, but I had a similar problem with one of my earlier brews. I didn't collect enough runnings before 0990. A few forum members suggested that I'd sparged too slowly i.e. the runnings weren't coming out quick enough. Since then I've sparged a little bit quicker with no problems. Hope this helps. And well done on your first AG welcome to the Dark Side :thumb:

 

[Lambros the Stout]

I suspect looking at your replies that I have my answer - I tested the OG as it was running through the tap during sparging, and was looking for a reading of 0.990. However, I did not check whether it was 65 c and then adjust accordingly.

Here is some more information:

Mash starting temperature: 67 c
Mash time: 90 minutes
Mash finishing temperature: 64 c

I fly sparged - I did the whole thing manually by putting a piece of aluminium foil with holes over the grain bed and adding water with a jug. However, I was a bit slow at the start with adding water on top so I was collecting more than I was adding back.

 

[BigYin]

temperatures sound fine, and mash time is good - what temp was the water you sparged with?

 

[Lambros the Stout]

It was constantly between 80 and 85 c. I kept taking readings for the temperature to be on the safe side. As I mentioned above, my collection rate was higher than my sparge rate so at some point I added 1-2 lts of water to it.

 

[BigYin]

Could maybe have done with the sparge water a bit hotter - I sparge at 86c - although if your water was at 85c it makes naff all difference!

I've found a reasonably steady sparge, not too fast, but not just a trickle works best for me. Takes maybe 15 to 20 minutes to collect around 25 litres I think :hmm:

 

[Lambros the Stout]

Sounds good - The one thing I need to work on is my sparge and make sure I add as much as I collect on a constant basis.

Do people generally add water to their brew before or just after fermentation? The brew has been fermenting for 36 hours now so won't be adding any water to it but was interested for future reference.

 

[Lambros the Stout]

Instead of making a new topic thought I would post progress here:

2 weeks after bottling my first AG (Pilsner lager) and keeping at around 20c I decided to stick a few bottles in the fridge. Two days later I had to try one...So opened and shared a bottle with my other half. I was very happy with it - It had a great taste, the bubbles were coming up from the bottom and it had a good head. I would say its better than lagers you would buy at the pub and had a refreshing and light taste. Considering I opened it very early (2 days in the fridge) It will only get better (if I can wait!).

Only downer is that I am moving in a big way in 8 weeks so can't really plan my second AG...

Still got a couple of questions:

- Messed it up with my quantities slightly and instead of having 18 lts I had 12 lts. I didn't want to add water to my wort as I wasn't sure if that's what you should do. Is it ok to add water just before you start fermentation?

- Also, I used a campden tablet at the very start and boiled the water to get rid of a few things. As above, I didn't know if the campden tablet I used at the start of my brew would have an effect to any water I added prior to fermentation so didn't want to risk it (water here isn't that great).

Answers as always greatly appreciated :drunk: :drink: