First ever brew.

[ChrisInBucks]

Morning all,

I did my first ever brew (went straight in for an AG) yesterday and had a whale of a time. Went for a Tradition London Bitter kit with an expected OG of 1.043 to ease myself in.

Positives:
- Nothing went horrendously wrong and all the equipment worked well
- Hit an OG of 1.040 @ 20 litres which I was very happy with all things considered
- Whilst tied to the recipe of the kit (more ingredients en route) I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and the freedom you have to experiment with different processes
- I took over the kitchen for the whole day and my girlfriend hasn't yet left me!

Negatives/Learnings:
- Use time more wisely, all in all I was at it for 9 hours
- Immersion chiller sprang a leak into the wort during chilling stage, didn't tighten the jubilee clip enough
- Started raining cats and dogs with 10 minutes of chilling left, had to just stand with an umbrella over the kettle due to lack of space (moving house early 2021)
- Really struggled with mash tun temperatures (too low) which very nearly ended with a stuck sparge, overshoot and allow to cool next time

And as I am typing this, I can hear the fermenter bubbling away in the cupboard so fingers crossed for a successful first brew.

Photos attached but any tips for next time would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Deadhead]

Looks great! Good setup for first ever brew!

 

[NormanHurst]

Nice one. As one recent recruit to another - don't panic if the bubbling stops by midweek. All will be well!

 

[ChrisInBucks]

Thanks both. Yeah I've read a fair bit about fermentation but just gonna see how it's doing at the end of the 2 weeks and go from there. In the meantime, I can fit another brew in!

 

[Gerryjo]

Looks good for your first attempt. That looks like an igloo cooler which should be fine at holding temps. I normally preheat the mash Tun with a kettle of boiling water prior to use and this stops it sucking out the heat from your strike water and lowering your temps. Nice one..

 

[ChrisInBucks]

Looks good for your first attempt. That looks like an igloo cooler which should be fine at holding temps. I normally preheat the mash Tun with a kettle of boiling water prior to use and this stops it sucking out the heat from your strike water and lowering your temps. Nice one..

Great idea, I'll definitely give that a go next time. Had a few issues with mash and sparge temps but I'll get there - looking forward to the next brew day already!