Have a go at simple AG

[clibit]

If it's been fermenting for 2 weeks or more and the OG is 1008, just check again a couple of days later and if still 1008 then you can bottle it. Some people are ending up with a litre or so less than 5 litres, which means the boil is evaporating a lot away. Next time add half a litre to a litre to the sparge stage and hopefully you won't need to add so much water to the FV, if any. Maybe turn the heat down, as ful heat under 5 litres of wort may be more than needed.

 

[Slid]

What's the shipping on the home brew company like?

I used this supplier shortly after I started brewing again and the shipping cost did not put me off. Service was good, too. I was attracted by the cheap malt extract cans. £ vs Euro exchange rate could be on your side, here.

 

[Tony1951]

Such horrible weather here today that I thought I should do some brewing and I just had another go at the simple recipe from Clibit, only this time I used a bag to simplify the business. All proceeded nicely, but I seem to have created a monster in the wort. This thing looks like some science fiction 'life form' from a 1960s B movie.

I think the 'thing' in the wort is the remaining protein from the barley, but I don't remember it looking this vile last time.

The process was done better this time. Temperature of mashing was between 60 and 62 so I think this wort will ferment further than my last one which stopped at SG 1015. The hops were 10g Goldings and 10g of salvaged citra dry hop remains that were boiled for 1 hour on a rolling boil with a flavour dose of 20g of Cascade for the last five minutes. The malt was 2KG of Marris Otter and the water volume is a nominal 10 litres. I am going to use a 7g packet of Cooper's Ale type yeast which is meanwhile working away in a starter.

The wort is cooling now in the sink with cold water running around the pan, but it don't 'arf look UGLY.....

Tony

 

[clibit]

How much you making, 5L, 10L?

That protein is a good thing, it means you got a good boil and a good hot break. 60-62 is a tad low, 63-65 better, for future reference, even if you want a low FG. 67-69 is the high end. 65-67 is down the middle.

Sounds like a nice combo, what yeast you got?

 

[Tony1951]

How much you making, 5L, 10L?

That protein is a good thing, it means you got a good boil and a good hot break. 60-62 is a tad low, 63-65 better, for future reference, even if you want a low FG. 67-69 is the high end. 65-67 is down the middle.

Sounds like a nice combo, what yeast you got?

It's a ten litre brew and I got nine litres of finished wort out of the twelve I started with. I made it up to ten litres and the OG is 1050 which if it finishes OK will be plenty strong enough for me, being potentially about 5.6% before carbonation if I got my sums right. I tasted the trial jar and it is bloody lovely, just teh right degree of bitterness for my taste and plenty of fruity cascade flavours. Very pleased. It is in the FV now at 25C and cooling. I will ferment it at 22 which I think is about right for the Cooper's kit yeasts. If you remember, I have been saving them from the kits by re-using my old yeast trub for the last four brews, so I have a few on hand.

Thanks for the info on temperature. It was about 68C at the beginning of the mash and was 62 by the end. Sorry about the misinformation in the post above. Don't know how that happened. I had read that beta amylase (which I think is the one I need for maltose production) is happy at 55c - 65c, but maybe I got the wrong end of the stick. Anyway, I think got about 75% of my water back at the end of the process from my start of 12 litres and making it up to ten with fresh water has still left a liquor of SG 1050.

VERY much neater process this time, partly because of my previous experience on the first AG and partly because the bag REALLY simplifies the straining. So much easier and so many fewer sticky drips about on the kitchen floor. I had malt right through the house last time, and had I not been married to a saint, I would have had a stock pot on my head by the end... :)

Thanks for all the inspiration and advice Clibit. Huge fun and very satisfying.

 

[clibit]

Well thanks for the great feedback - starting at 68 and ending at 62 is absolutely fine. In fact some people do that on purpose, I think. Good to hear it tastes great and that the bag made a huge difference. You're on the road now, you know what you're doing. I had to decide how much detail to put in the simple guide, and went for pretty minimal so people weren't deterred. I felt that things could go slightly awry in terms of volumes but that first brew would show how simple it is and how good the beer can be and teach people what to change the second time. You are now just a litre away from the correct volume after two brews. Add a litre at the start next time and you should be really close. 1050 is a good strength, for me at least. I make a lot of beers around that level.

Let us know what the beer turns out like. :thumb: :drink:

 

[Tony1951]

I had to decide how much detail to put in the simple guide, and went for pretty minimal so people weren't deterred. I felt that things could go slightly awry in terms of volumes but that first brew would show how simple it is and how good the beer can be and teach people what to change the second time.

And you were dead right not to over-complicate it. That is why so many people have had a go and got the bug. I doubt I would have ever tried it if you had gone on about alpha amylase and beta-amylase. It was the simplicity of the recipe that made it a goer.

I just had a couple of bottles of the last AG I made about a month ago. It isn't perfect, because I got the temperatures too high and made too many malto-dextrins, so it stopped fermenting at 1015 or 1016, and it isn't clear either. It has a chill haze, but it is REALLY nice. I used Citra as the hop and the measures of hop weight were done in handfulls, but the taste is gorgeous.It has great potential that simple recipe you posted. Also, stove top working is dead simple and cheap, though for me, a bag is worth the extra coppers.

 

[clibit]

A bag is definitely worth the money. I actually made mine for about £2. Two for £2 actually. It's as homemade as it gets, but it works.

If you make a simple AG from 100% grain you get the real fresh grain flavour, which you can't get from extract alone, I think. I have just barreled a 23 litre brew that was made by doing a 10L Ag and then adding a Harvest Pilsner 1.5kg kit can. It tastes brilliant. The hops are lovely, and I used liquid yeast. You wouldn't know it wasn't 100% grain. So that's a way to make a 5 gallon brew using a small stove top batch. Or you could add a can of light extract, £4.95 from the Home Brew Company and other places like Geterbrewed. Or some dried extract. 10L is usally enough for me, there's just those occasions hen I want more, to supply visitors.

 

[Tony1951]

A bag is definitely worth the money. I actually made mine for about £2. Two for £2 actually. It's as homemade as it gets, but it works.

If you make a simple AG from 100% grain you get the real fresh grain flavour, which you can't get from extract alone, I think. I have just barreled a 23 litre brew that was made by doing a 10L Ag and then adding a Harvest Pilsner 1.5kg kit can. It tastes brilliant. The hops are lovely, and I used liquid yeast. You wouldn't know it wasn't 100% grain. So that's a way to make a 5 gallon brew using a small stove top batch. Or you could add a can of light extract, £4.95 from the Home Brew Company and other places like Geterbrewed. Or some dried extract. 10L is usally enough for me, there's just those occasions hen I want more, to supply visitors.

Good idea that about combining an AG brew with a one can kit or extract. I think I might prefer to just use the malt extract - about 1.5kg or maybe a kilo of DME and hop the stuff myself.

Yes - I actually don't drink a great deal myself, but I really enjoy making beer. Most of mine is drunk by my sons and also I have been trying to get ahead of my needs because my youngest son is getting married in mid May and I want to take some supplies down to the wedding for the three days we will be down there with the whole family staying in a rented farmhouse.

Yesterdays brew is bubbling away merrily. Sounds like a
1950s motorbike almost. Blup, blup, blup....

Cheers

 

[clibit]

Yes, using malt extract rather than a kit makes sense as it gives you control over the hopping. IBUs and flavour. And cheaper, you can get DME online for £5 a kilo. And LME for £4.95 for a 1.5kg tin, from some places. I think I'm going to try the Maltmiller LME at some stage, £6.60 for 1.5kg or £14 for 3.5kg. It's in small jerry cans rather than tins and might be a nice fresh extract. Their stuff always seems to be good quality:

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=5

I've just kegged a partial mash beer that I used a 1.5kg Youngs Harvest Pilsner kit with, and it's tasting good already. They are a good reasonably priced option, £8.25 in the Tesco sale, delivered to the Tesco round the corner. Very pale and lightly flavoured.

 

[ceejam]

Well I checked the FG today as it looked like fermentation had slowed.

Looks like 1010, which given the 1050 starting gravity makes it around 5.3%.

I used US-05, which went off like a rocket.
The sample tasted good - better than other samples I've had at this stage!

Think I'll get it bottled tonight so I can take a couple of bottles away next weekend for some mates to taste.

Can't wait for my 15L pot to arrive to get the next brew on!!

 

[clibit]

Well I checked the FG today as it looked like fermentation had slowed.

Looks like 1010, which given the 1050 starting gravity makes it around 5.3%.

I used US-05, which went off like a rocket.
The sample tasted good - better than other samples I've had at this stage!

Think I'll get it bottled tonight so I can take a couple of bottles away next weekend for some mates to taste.

Can't wait for my 15L pot to arrive to get the next brew on!!

Hopefully it's clearing now? Convert?

 

[ceejam]

Oh yes & yes. After 9 days it tastes better than some kit brews after 9 weeks!!

Ready to bottle, cleared quite well from where it started!

View attachment ImageUploadedByTapatalk1430858950.814622.jpg

This is the dregs with a bit of yeast, alongside a Cooper's Mexica Cerveza I made last year.
View attachment ImageUploadedByTapatalk1430858980.593401.jpg

8 500ml bottles now conditioning!

 

[Padawanrob]

If it's been fermenting for 2 weeks or more and the OG is 1008, just check again a couple of days later and if still 1008 then you can bottle it. Some people are ending up with a litre or so less than 5 litres, which means the boil is evaporating a lot away. Next time add half a litre to a litre to the sparge stage and hopefully you won't need to add so much water to the FV, if any. Maybe turn the heat down, as ful heat under 5 litres of wort may be more than needed.

The reading is a stable 1.007, it has been in FV 10 days, it smells in my wifes words 'like a pub' so Im pleased with that, Im losing a fair bit each time I do a trial jar to measure though so my 5 ltrs is reducing all the time:cry: I dont return to the FV is this right to do?

now should I bottle and does 30g of sugar sound ok to do a batch prime?

thanks again for your advice:-D

 

[Slid]

The reading is a stable 1.007, it has been in FV 10 days, it smells in my wifes words 'like a pub' so Im pleased with that, Im losing a fair bit each time I do a trial jar to measure though so my 5 ltrs is reducing all the time:cry: I dont return to the FV is this right to do?

now should I bottle and does 30g of sugar sound ok to do a batch prime?

thanks again for your advice:-D

Yes, I would not recommend adding the stuff from the hydrometer jar to the main brew.

Is 30g of sugar OK? Well, maybe a tad less for a beer. Maybe 20g?

Batch priming has never appealed to me as adding a bit of sugar using a funnel, a spoon and a ramekin is by far the least tedious aspect of bottling, for me.

Good on you for doing a proper AG - I will do it one day :whistle:

 

[Padawanrob]

Yes, I would not recommend adding the stuff from the hydrometer jar to the main brew.

Is 30g of sugar OK? Well, maybe a tad less for a beer. Maybe 20g?

Batch priming has never appealed to me as adding a bit of sugar using a funnel, a spoon and a ramekin is by far the least tedious aspect of bottling, for me.

Good on you for doing a proper AG - I will do it one day :whistle:

thanks for the info, would you be able to advise the measurement of water to boil for the sugar for the batch prime?

thanks again

 

[Slid]

thanks for the info, would you be able to advise the measurement of water to boil for the sugar for the batch prime?

thanks again

I would put the sugar in a mug, add boiling water in a small quantity and stir to dissolve, then add. I think it is the practice to rack from the FV (DJ) to a bottling container (in this case another DJ). But if you dont have one, it may not matter much. The brews I have done using actual grain have all cleared very nicely.

At the risk of sounding pompous, if you are going to bottle this beer, it seems a lot easier to me to put a funnel in each bottle in turn and add half a teaspoon of sugar. But hey-ho - everyone has their way of approaching it, I suppose.

 

[clibit]

Just a very small amount of water is needed to dissolve the sugar..

 

[yeastinfection]

Can a Smash be done with anything?
I have loads of amirillo hops left and would like to make some more brews before it goes off..what other grain could I use? Oh and how long do hops keep.im assuming it's vacuum sealed for a reason.

 

[clibit]

In a smash you can use any hops, any yeast and any base malt. This means pale malts like Maris Otter, Golden Promise, Halcyon, Pearl and Optic, Mild ale malt, Pilsner malt, lager malt, Munich, Vienna.

If you keep hops in the freezer, and as airtight as possible, they will keep for a year or two.