Bought myself a Brewzilla and took the plunge into AG. First time using was a fortnight ago where I did the Totally Tropical recipe from James Morton. So slightly delayed report here.
9th January 2021
Used Safale US-05 Yeast and re-hydrated (2 packs) whilst preparing.
Put Brewzilla together and cleaned through. Then put 33 Litres in and batch treated water. I then drained off 13L into Sparge pot. I put this on the hob and heated up to around 80C so it would cool slowly.
Meanwhile heated Brewzilla to about 69C then Mash in and hold at 65 for 75 mins. I used all the screens including the second bottom screen on the mash pipe and the top screen to hold the grain down.
I used the re-circulation pump during Mash and just made sure the flow didn’t go too far above grain. Flow seemed reasonable so left it about half speed.
Mash out – then up to 75C and sparged to 28L
75 min boil added hops at 15, 10 & 5. Protofloc at 10.
Cooled down for 75C steep but overshot, the chiller with a whirlpool arm was very fast. So brought back up to 75 and steeped for 30 mins.
Cooled to 18C put on the whirlpool before transferring to FV and pitching yeast.
OG was 1.044 – a bit under projections. About 22L.
Fermentation went like a train.
I racked after 10 days- settled at 1.005 so actually ended up about 5% and it smelt like Lilt! Dry hopped for three days. – seemed to kill the lilt smell but smells like a good citrus IPA.
Lost a fair amount to trub but managed about 20L with careful tilting on the FV.
So lessons learned, be careful cooling to steep, it drops very quickly. OG was lower than expected, not sure if this was bad in the end as the yeast took FG right down. Dry hopping, I think I need to think about a hop bag, maybe easier to manage.
Fairly happy with Brewzilla – overall really enjoyed the day and can’t wait to try the first brew.
9th January 2021
Used Safale US-05 Yeast and re-hydrated (2 packs) whilst preparing.
Put Brewzilla together and cleaned through. Then put 33 Litres in and batch treated water. I then drained off 13L into Sparge pot. I put this on the hob and heated up to around 80C so it would cool slowly.
Meanwhile heated Brewzilla to about 69C then Mash in and hold at 65 for 75 mins. I used all the screens including the second bottom screen on the mash pipe and the top screen to hold the grain down.
I used the re-circulation pump during Mash and just made sure the flow didn’t go too far above grain. Flow seemed reasonable so left it about half speed.
Mash out – then up to 75C and sparged to 28L
75 min boil added hops at 15, 10 & 5. Protofloc at 10.
Cooled down for 75C steep but overshot, the chiller with a whirlpool arm was very fast. So brought back up to 75 and steeped for 30 mins.
Cooled to 18C put on the whirlpool before transferring to FV and pitching yeast.
OG was 1.044 – a bit under projections. About 22L.
Fermentation went like a train.
I racked after 10 days- settled at 1.005 so actually ended up about 5% and it smelt like Lilt! Dry hopped for three days. – seemed to kill the lilt smell but smells like a good citrus IPA.
Lost a fair amount to trub but managed about 20L with careful tilting on the FV.
So lessons learned, be careful cooling to steep, it drops very quickly. OG was lower than expected, not sure if this was bad in the end as the yeast took FG right down. Dry hopping, I think I need to think about a hop bag, maybe easier to manage.
Fairly happy with Brewzilla – overall really enjoyed the day and can’t wait to try the first brew.
