First All Grain Brew - Ideas Welcome

[Rhyno]

Hi guys,

So, i've decided after a few kits and a successfull extract brew that i fancy having a go at my first all grain brew. After having a search round i have enough bottles to do upto 15 litres.

Was wondering if anyone had a good first timer recipie that they would care to share. I'd be happy to brew anything between 10 and 15 litres. Also any tips and guidance would be much appreciated.

Also keen to hear the best technique for sparging as this is the only part of the process i am currently unfamiliar with.

Thanks in advance :)

 

[Sadfield]

Best first timer recipe is use nothing but 100% pale malt, a hop you like and an appropriate yeast. Getting comfortable with the equipment and technique is enough, and a single malt, single hop brew will still be very drinkable, especially as you're already familiar with the fermentation side of things.

Sparging all depends on how you are doing this brew? BIAB, All-in-one system or a separate mash tun?

 

[Rhyno]

It would probably have helped if i’d specified haha. Sorry.

I have a separate mash tun and a *decently sized boil kettle.

 

[Sadfield]

I'd batch sparge first time out, as there is less danger of over-sparging, less fiddling trying to balance flow rates.

 

[simon12]

What type of beer do you like? I agree on batch spare as its more consistent and simpler.

 

[Sheepish]

If you like wheat beers, a hefeweizen's an easy start, for a 12 litre batch...

1.5 kg wheat malt
1 kg pilsner malt
1 hour mash @67 degrees
1 hour boil
Hallertau mittlefruh @ 60 minutes to bitter to 15 IBUs
Mangrove Jack's M20 Bavarian Wheat yeast, ferment @21 degrees.
OG 1.049
FG 1.013

Very easy, 1 hop addition, no worries about clearing, it doesn't seem to matter if you miss the gravity numbers ;-) ...and very tasty.

 

[ACBEV]

I'm going to suggest something radical, at the other end of the scale to Sadfield and Sheepish, but just as simple! A real humdinger of a beer, that will grow your beard an extra inch overnight.

A 19th century Porter.... That will slap your chops.
OG: 1.063
FG: 1.017
ABV: 6.2%
IBU: 62
EBC: 63

Recipe for an 11 liter batch....
You will need 18 liters of tap water, leave 24 hours in an open bucket.

Ingredients...
2kg Maris Otter Malt
1kg Brown Malt
100g Chocolate Malt
60g Goldings Hops (Pellets)
1 Pack of Wyeast London Ale III (Slap the pack at start of brew day)
1 Britewort Tablet

Method...
1. If your boiler has dead space (i.e. your boiler has a tap). Fill the boiler with tap water to the bottom of the tap pipe on the inside (don't use from your 18L brewing water).
2. Put 8L of your brewing water into the boiler and heat to 85c.
3. When your water is at 85c, empty the 8L of water into your mash tun.
4. When your water in the mash tun has cooled to 75c, mash in your malt.
5. Take a temperature reading of your mash, it should be close to 67c (don't worry if mash temp. is a bit lower or higher, 65c to 70c will be fine).
6. Put mash tun lid on and leave for 1 hour (1st mash).
7. While the 1st mash is mashing heat the other 10L of brewing water to 70c.
8. After 1 hour slowly drain off 1L of wort into a jug (put this back into the mash tun). Then slowly drain off wort into a bucket, until the wort stops flowing (keep mash tun lid on while draining).
9. Add the last 10L (70c) of brewing water to the mash tun and mash in again.
10. Put mash tun lid on and leave for 1 hour (2nd mash).
11. After 1 hour slowly drain off 1L of wort into a jug (put this back into the mash tun). Then slowly drain off wort into a bucket, until the wort stops flowing (keep mash tun lid on while draining).
12. Discard any dead space water in your boiler (if boiler has a tap! see No. 1).
13. Put collected wort into the boiler and bring to a boil.
14. When the wort starts to boil add 40g of Goldings hops.
14. After 30 minutes of boiling add another 20g of Goldings hops.
15. After 45 minutes of boiling add 1 Britewort tablet.
16. After 60 minutes boiling, turn off boiler and cool to 18c.
17. Empty wort into fermenter and pitch yeast, put lid on with an air lock.

Ferment for 2 weeks (18c)
Prime beer and bottle condition for 2 weeks (18c)
Mature for another 2 weeks at least (12-15c)... Will get tastier over time...

 

[Clint]

Why is your boiler desperate?
ACBEV...does the porter recipe work out doubling the malt bill and adjust hops/ibu for volume accordingly?

 

[ACBEV]

Clint... Yes it does... The original recipe used black malt instead of chocolate, but I thought that might be a bit harsh, so I use a little extra chocolate. I also reduced the IBUs a bit from 72 to 62 in the recipe above.

This is my recipe for a 22L batch...
2kg Maris Otter Malt
2kg Mild Ale Malt
2kg Brown Malt
200g Chocolate Malt
90g Goldings @ 60 mins
40g Goldings @ 30 mins

The 19th century grain bill was very close, but I've slightly rounded the weight to whole kg/g. Also the two pale malts in my recipe is an attempt at replicating historic pale malt.

One word of warning... The diastatic power is just over 30 if using my recipe with Mild Malt, may be want to use 4kg of maris otter

 

[Sadfield]

Nice recipe there and I'm sure it'll makes an excellent beer for a first brew. However, I'd have a very slight reservations over brewing something dark on a first brew, purely as the end product may mask any issues that could originate from the mash, such as haze or astringency. I always recommend something simple with a familiar hop and yeast as it makes it easier to pick out flavours that shouldn't be there. More as a precaution in the unlikelyhood there's an issue.

Plenty of ways to skin a cat though.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

 

[Honk]

Best first timer recipe is use nothing but 100% pale malt, a hop you like and an appropriate yeast.

I second this, have a play round with the brew calculator linked at the top of the page to play around with the ibu for different hops. If you say what style s you like we could probably advise accordingly.

Sorry to hear about your boiler

 

[Stephenj]

As per other advice here and elsewhere, best advice I can give as a newcomer of about 8 AG BIAB is keep it as simple as possible to reduce any unnecessary issues, as you will always forget, overlook, take your eye off something in the process. Also brew something you like and that you drink regular-ish, that way you know how similar/close/off your brew is and adjust in future brews by adding more bittering/end hops to get the taste you want.

I personally would recommend a single grain or 2 at a push brew, with simple hop additions (I don't necessarily mean only 1 or 2 hop types, but more about when you add them), that way you're not looking at timers and clocks every 10-15 minutes; hop additions at boil start, then just at end or near the end makes the brew day a lot less stressful and gives you time to take in everything and double check you have prepared the next step.

Brewers Friend is great to use by the way. I get most recipe ideas from there and on here. Search for what you like, even a clone of a beer you like, as someone will have already done it. If it is too strong/bitter adjust it and then it tells you everything you need. Once you have the recipe, stick it on here, everyone will tell you how mint it is (some will say change it a little based on experience) and away you go.

Hope this helps. Free samples always welcome when you're done as well :smile6:

 

[Norfolk79]

I agree with trying to keep it simple. I did brew a Mosaic SMASH (which had 2 hop additions to the boil) and it actually was one of the best brews I've done to date, so don't think simple recipe means ordinary beer

 

[foxbat]

Graham Wheeler's Exmoor Gold or Summer Lightning clones are very simple and very highly regarded. Both recipes show up in a google search if you don't want to buy the book.

 

[MickDundee]

Another vote for a smash here. Just don’t do what I did and whack a load of hops in for the full boil without paying any attention to the effect on IBUs.

 

[Rhyno]

Why is your boiler desperate?
ACBEV...does the porter recipe work out doubling the malt bill and adjust hops/ibu for volume accordingly?

haha didn’t mean to put desperate. Was meant to say decent sized. Damm auto correct.

 

[Rhyno]

Some great responses guys thank you :) will price up the recipies mentioned and let you know how i get on :)

 

[Scaggs]

To resurrect this thread, I have 4kg of Maris Otter left over from my Christmas order but don't like to brew anything less than 5 gallons. Could I just use this to get around 4% abv or should I wait until I can get more grain and follow a recipe? I have a few hops in the fridge I can add

 

[Zephyr259]

Maris Otter only can make a very tasty beer, the Timothy Taylor Landlord clone is basically 100% pale malt since the black malt only colours it. What hops do you have on hand?

 

[foxbat]

To resurrect this thread, I have 4kg of Maris Otter left over from my Christmas order but don't like to brew anything less than 5 gallons. Could I just use this to get around 4% abv or should I wait until I can get more grain and follow a recipe? I have a few hops in the fridge I can add

4kg of pale malt would give me about 4.9% for 5 gallons but that number is because of my efficiency and choice of yeast not yours. Do you know what efficiency you get? Do you have any numbers from previous brews?