First All Grain Brew

[Superdiscobreakin]

Hi
First solo AG brew last night. TT landlord clone from Graham Wheeler.
Had a great time but got so involved I forgot to take any photos.
Couple of questions:

I was brewingto 19L so had 8.2L for the mash and 18.7L (26.9L - 8.2L) to sparge into the brew pot as per the recipe. However, I appear to have come away with circa 16L. My MT is a homemade bucket in a bucket that when filled with the 8.2L didn't appear to have enough water above the false bottom to accomodate the grain. I therefore added more from my remaining 18.7L on the basis the same amount of water would be used overall. Have I made a fundamental error here in that grain absorbtion would account for the 3L difference? I was caught off guard with this so didn't measure exactly how much extra water was added.
Was aiming for OG 1042 at 19L, but hit 1050 at 16L.
Had a taste and tasted good.
MT only had 2 degrees loss over 90 mins so happy with that.
Used Safale 04 pitached at midnight, and bubbles are through the airlock every two mins or so at present which i think is pretty good.
Generally happy, learnt alot about my set up and where can improve and be more efficient, and that I need a calibration tool to ensure I have enough water!
Cheers guys, any advice, recommedations, gratefully received.

 

[Mark H]

Hi mate, you need to take into account the deadspace in your boiler and mashtun.

Brewstew explains it all better than i can in the following link. Its a great guide for beginner AG brewers, i found it a great help.

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=493

 

[pittsy]

welcome , i would of ended up with around 15 litres myself , i need 32 litres to get 19/20 litres back .

 

[Duxuk]

A quick calculation suggests that your efficiency is spot on. You can therefore happily liquor back to 19l knowing that it will be just as it should be. So well done. that man :drink:
Next time you will know to add a few more litres of water to hit the target first time. At least this time you can be sure you got all the good stuff and didn't over sparge. :thumb:

 

[dennisking]

:clap: Congrats on your your trip to the dark side.

 

[Superdiscobreakin]

Hi thanks for your comments.
It's 12 days since the brew day and the FV was bubbling away nicely over the first 5 days or so.
To clarify my OG post boil was 1050 vs an expected 1042
I checked the FG today and was at circa 1018 vs expected 1010.
Of course only collected 16L as opposed to 19L.
Is there anything to be worried about or is it just due to the lesser collected volume?
Grateful for your help.
Cheers

 

[andyd]

No cause for concern I don't think. In my experience I would be surprised to see it come down to 1010, maybe 1012-1015 is more likely. You don't say what your mash temp was, a higher temp might lead to a higher FG. 1018 still seems a little high so wait a while longer to see if it drops a few more points and as usual bottle once your FG is stable.

Good choice of first AG by the way, I've made this several times, always very pleasant.

 

[graysalchemy]

Welcome to the Darkside young Padawan :twisted: :twisted:

 

[Rolfster]

Hi thanks for your comments.
It's 12 days since the brew day and the FV was bubbling away nicely over the first 5 days or so.
To clarify my OG post boil was 1050 vs an expected 1042
I checked the FG today and was at circa 1018 vs expected 1010.
Of course only collected 16L as opposed to 19L.
Is there anything to be worried about or is it just due to the lesser collected volume?
Grateful for your help.
Cheers

Have you tried giving it a stir? Or moving it somewhere warmer in?
Might help it finish off.

Your OG would have been 1042 if you had got 19L out of it. So if you liquor back (or top it up to 19L) you would have the strength beer you were aiming for.
Looks like a good brew!

 

[Superdiscobreakin]

No cause for concern I don't think. In my experience I would be surprised to see it come down to 1010, maybe 1012-1015 is more likely. You don't say what your mash temp was, a higher temp might lead to a higher FG. 1018 still seems a little high so wait a while longer to see if it drops a few more points and as usual bottle once your FG is stable.

Good choice of first AG by the way, I've made this several times, always very pleasant.

I measured mash temp at 67 degrees down to 65 degrees after 90 mins

 

[Superdiscobreakin]

Have you tried giving it a stir? Or moving it somewhere warmer in?
Might help it finish off.

Your OG would have been 1042 if you had got 19L out of it. So if you liquor back (or top it up to 19L) you would have the strength beer you were aiming for.
Looks like a good brew!

As it's been in the primary for 2 weeks I thought it had gone past the stage of stirring?
It has been in the spare room at about 20 degrees for two weeks.
Can I liquor back to 19L two weeks down the line?
I'm happy to put this down to learning and I'll (hopefully) get some drinkable beer out of it.
I have read you shouldn't bottle below a certain FG, am i okay to bottle at 1018, so long as it remains constant?

 

[Rolfster]

Personally I would give it a stir with a well sterillised spoon, and take another reading in a few days.

As for liquoring back it should be fine I think, I normally boil some water and put some hops in it as it cools......
I am a bit of a hop head!

I would be tempted to leave it alone though if I was you. It will be a cracking ale!

 

[brewtim]

As it's been in the primary for 2 weeks I thought it had gone past the stage of stirring?
It has been in the spare room at about 20 degrees for two weeks.
Can I liquor back to 19L two weeks down the line?
I'm happy to put this down to learning and I'll (hopefully) get some drinkable beer out of it.
I have read you shouldn't bottle below a certain FG, am i okay to bottle at 1018, so long as it remains constant?

After 2 weeks you should be tasting it, if it's too sweet then give it a stir (just stir gently to avoid introducing oxygen). If it tastes fine then bottle/keg (if the FG is steady).

You could just stir it anyway and see if it drops over another day or two just to make sure that the yeast has finished.

 

[Dads_Ale]

Hi thanks for your comments.
It's 12 days since the brew day and the FV was bubbling away nicely over the first 5 days or so.
To clarify my OG post boil was 1050 vs an expected 1042
I checked the FG today and was at circa 1018 vs expected 1010.
Of course only collected 16L as opposed to 19L.
Is there anything to be worried about or is it just due to the lesser collected volume?
Grateful for your help.
Cheers

I had similar issues with not being able to get down to the desired FG when I was brewing a few years ago.
Decided his was probably due to too higher mash temp. When I started again recently I dropped the mash temp to 65 and have found the FG is now just right. I also used a new thermometer as I had lost my original one, when I finally found it and used it I found it was under-reading by 3-4 degrees compared to the new one, which means I was well over 67 degrees with my old brews.