First non-kit BIAB

[pilgrimhudd]

Exciting day of brewing planned!

I'm going to do a 10l batch of the Outback ale this morning, following the recipe but am going to use tap rather than tesco bottled water, I also couldn't find Vermont Ale yeast so bought Gervin as it seems a good all rounder.

Plan is to start with 10L mash (all i can fit in pot with grain bag) and sparge the grain in another pot and top up from that whats boiled off. As it''s my first effort with this kit I am anticipating some teething problems but am really looking forward to it.

Here goes!

 

[Madhouse]

How did it go? Did my first AG yesterday too, definitely learned a lot, although hopefully not at the expense of the beer.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Just starting now! Slight delay with kids nursery etc etc....

 

[Madhouse]

Have fun - had similar issues yesterday and it was gone midnight before I’d finished

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Going ok so far, the I spilt a load of grain into wort so have sieved it a bit to get the worst off it out, grrrrr, anyway other than that there is a lovely hoppy aroma permeating the house at the mo!

 

[matt76]

Have fun - had similar issues yesterday and it was gone midnight before I’d finished

Haha - yep, that was me just a couple of months ago, I remember it well. I'm maybe a little more organized now though not much quicker

Seems like you and @pilgrimhudd have both been having fun (I read both your posts). You've already noted lots of "need to do" this and that, and that's the point, to figure out what you'd do different to improve next time.

Keep at it, no doubt with a little patience you'll soon have some amazing beer to drink

I'm still doing 12L (ish) brews on the kitchen hob with fairly basic gear - a few tips I can share, one newbie to another:

- a grain bag is really useful to separate the grain after you mash, and then you can dunk sparge with it
- I just heat water using the kitchen electric kettle - but I bought a second one so I can heat twice as much
- 5L bottles of Tesco Ashbeck water are great - but I recently realised if I just buy lots of 2L bottles I don't have to waste time measuring it out, I just bung it in a kettle (each of which takes 2L). Weirdly, it was also cheaper!
- You can make a wort chiller for about £25, well with it. Last weekends 12L batch took just 5 mins to cool to 20degC

Best of luck

Matt

 

[Portreath]

Best of luck with your first AG brew, I'm sure it will turn out great. Bet you can't wait to be sipping it already

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Pleased to say the FV is bubbling away nicely! Nice healthy looking krausen, pleased with it so far! It's also looking much clearer than my last batch which is pleasing, could be the protoflac tab or just less faff getting it from the pot to FV.

@matt76 cooled it down to 20c in 5 mins, thats impressive! How did you make that?

 

[matt76]

@matt76 cooled it down to 20c in 5 mins, thats impressive! How did you make that?

It's all in here:
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/holy-heat-transfer-batman-its-a-wort-chiller.79604/

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Thanks mate

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Bottled up the first batch of the outback ale, got 14 pints knew i'd had much less volume than I was supposed to after transferring to my FV. Anyway, got 10 bottles of very clear beer and 4 cloudy when i dropped the end in the trub, tastes decent which is a suprise as I missed my OG big time and had to add some sugar just in case. I don't have a 2nd bucket so syringed sugar water into the bottles for carbonation. We'll see!

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Sorry didn't upload pic, doh!

 

[matt76]

I think 14 pints from 10L is pretty good going.

Last few batches I've got 19 X 500ml (twice!) from 12L, and last night bottled 30 X 330ml also from 12L.

Now you just have to wait patiently while it carbonates and conditions and you'll be rewarded