Have a go at simple AG

[clibit]

Cheers! What is the reason for not using a lid, I thought it would reduce loss of fluid, or am I missing something?

"Pale malts especially contain sulfur compounds that can be transformed during fermentation into dimethyl sulfide or DMS, which has a noticeable vegetal aroma and flavor variously described as being like cooked corn, cauliflower or parsnips. DMS is undesirable in nearly all beer styles. Fortunately, DMS is volatile, and a vigorous boil evaporates it and drives it off into the air with the steam. (Heat also converts the DMS’s pre-cursor, S-methylmethionine or SMM, into DMS.) For this reason it’s important to leave the kettle mostly uncovered during the boil so the steam does not condense and return to the wort. "

 

[kev192]

Kev - I think next time you should use a total of 32 litres of water. If you only have the Burco to heat up water, then this will be tricky, as you won't get 32 litres of water and 4kg of grain into the Burco, obviously. But you should get 25 litres of water and the grain in there comfortably. You could measure the 25 litres into your FV before adding it to the boiler. Heat the water to strike temp then mix in your grains.

fter the mash you will need an extra 7 litres, which you could either boil in a big pan or two, or you could boil the kettle about 4 times. If you could find a way to pour this through the grains to do a bit of a sparge, or dunk the bag of grains in it in a big bucket or something, then great. If not, just add it to the boiler after the mash. When you take the grains out of the mash you should be left with about 21 litres, so you should fit the extra 7 litres in ok, giving you 28 litres to start the boil, and that should be ok in your 32 litre boiler. And you should have about 23 litres at the end, when you transfer to the FV.

cheers clibit, i will try that method, as i do have 2 other 32l stock pots, one with a tap on it. when i used one on the cooker to do the 1st ever all grain it didnt go well, which is why i used the boiler as it was much faster.
when i do the ringwood best i will let you know how it goes

 

[Tony1951]

With my boiler, I try to leave about 5cm between the top of the wort and the lip of the boiler because at at least two points in the boil, foam forms up and rises menacingly towards the edge. This happens more or less at the start of the rolling boil and at the point when I put in wirfloc usually about 45 minutes in. Even with a 5cm margin, I am really on the edge at this time. Maybe my boil is a bit on the vigorous side.

To make up my fluid level, I add boiling water from a kettle after the danger has passed and generally get near to where I want to be. Having said that, my last two brews in the last fortnight have produced nearer 20l than 23l which was my target, but some of that has been down to losses of tub at the bottom of the FV.

 

[davemorton]

Well just got back from my friendly local pub with a 25L pan. I bit bigger than I wanted, but beggars cant be choosers. Now just need to hope that my hops etc. order comes before Friday evening so that I can do my first AG brew on Friday evening.
I presume I am okay using an aluminum pan?

 

[MyQul]

I presume I am okay using an aluminum pan?

Yup, no problem.

 

[fourbob]

Cheers! What is the reason for not using a lid, I thought it would reduce loss of fluid, or am I missing something?

I'm glad somebody asked that!

 

[davemorton]

Belgian Blond Ale

Batch Size (L): 5.0
Original Gravity (OG): 1.063 (Based on 70% mash efficiency)
Final Gravity (FG): 1.013
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 6.57 %
Colour (SRM): 4.5 (EBC): 8.9
Bitterness (IBU): 25.5
Boil Time (Minutes): 90

Grain Bill
----------------
1.100 kg Pilsner (81.48%)
0.150 kg Cane Sugar (11.11%)
0.050 kg Aromatic Malt (3.7%)
0.050 kg Wheat Malt (3.7%)

Hop Bill
----------------
8.0 g Hallertau Mittlefrueh Pellet (6.3% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (start of boil)

Mash at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Ferment at 18-20°C with WLP500 - Trappist Ale

Okay, all my items have arrived, and I am going to give this a go tomorrow evening.
I am going to triple the recipe so that I get around 15L.
So, to put my time plan into simple form for me, I am planning the following, any glaring mistakes please?

Heat up 15L of water in my 30L pan until it reaches 66C. (Am I better off just using 10L then washing the malt with the other five after mashing?)
Add total of 3.6kg malt & 450g cane sugar (is this just plain white sugar?)
After stirring in, insulate in the pan with a blanket for 1hr. (am I best off putting the malt into a sack/bag of some sort?)
Then, add 24g of hops (or should I add a little more as I am not using pellets?) (Should these be put in a bag, or sieved out later?)
Boil for 90 mins.
Cool down as quick as possible. (I am thinking of adding frozen bottles of water and coolbag frozen packs to the water that have had a prior bath in some starsan.)
Pour into FV when about 21c and add yeast.

This sound about right please?

 

[GlentoranMark]

You want your mash to end up at 66 degrees, not the water you add. Calculate the temperature of the water with the following calculator: http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/calc.html. As a rough guide, you need the water at around 72 degrees for a 66 mash

All your other steps are correct

 

[GlentoranMark]

Although I'm not sure about your ice bath step?

Chill the wort by putting it into an ice bath, not put the frozen packs into your wort. You'll run more risk of contamination if you do the latter

 

[clibit]

You need more than 20 litres water to make 15 litres of beer. You need more like 22-23 litres. Half in the mash and half for sparging is about right.

Yes, the sugar is just white sugar.

You will need a bag to put the grain in - I use a muslin bag. Or a big piece of muslin that you can line the pot with and then gather up and lift out with the grains inside.

Check the AA% of the hops, this will affect the exact amount required. It's not an exact science though, the AA wont vary much, and the difference between pellets and leaf hops is not massive.

Frozen bottles etc are good, just don't put them into the beer.

 

[davejhs]

I am attempting my first all grain at the weekend.
Can i heat the water and add to the grains in a spare fermentation bucket containing a bag then wrap in a sleeping bag to keep warm.
Then split the wort into two pans for the boil then bring back together to ferment.
I would like to make around fifteen litres.
One other question the bag I purchased has quite large holes in the base.
Will i need to strain through something finer as the malt looks quite dusty or will it clump together.

 

[clibit]

Yes that is all fine, but add the grains to the water, not the water to the grains.

It sounds like you will need something finer to strain through, like a piece of muslin perhaps.

 

[davemorton]

Cheers for all the answers everyone.

You need more than 20 litres water to make 15 litres of beer. You need more like 22-23 litres. Half in the mash and half for sparging is about right.

In relationship to the water, I was just going off the 5L recipe posted which I had assumed used 5L of water (and ended up with under 5L of beer), so if I use 23 L, do I need to adjust the hops or anything, as I just tripled them from the 5L recipe? Of is it fine, as the final amount of liquid will be 15L? Many thanks.

Also, I ordered some whirlfloc tablets, do I just add one of these about 15 mins before the boil is finished?

Oh. (finally) the White Labs WLP500 Trappist Ale Yeast, I will be okay just adding half this wont I?

 

[clibit]

Just treble everything, the final amount is 15L. The 5L recipe uses more than 5L water, more like 8L.

Yes whirfloc 15 mins from end of boil.

I would add all the yeast. Definitely. But you can harvest yeast from this brew for the next one or two brews.

 

[davemorton]

Instead of sparging, is it possible to just keep rinsing the bag of grain in pans of fresh 68C water? Just thinking it might make less mess/be easier/not make my floor like a giant piece of fly paper.
(or am I just over complicating things?)

 

[clibit]

Yes. Once the mash is done you just need to wash out as much of the sugar from the grains as possible, there are different ways to do that. the main ways are fly sparging, which is spraying water onto the top of the mash, and batch sparging, which is adding another load of water to the mash and leaving for a while, then draining, and maybe doing that again. But any method that enables water to take sugars from the grain is ok. You can put the sparge water in a big bucket, put the grain bag in and stir, for example. take it outside in the garden.

 

[davemorton]

Excellent, well I have another large pan, so I will just use that. Thank you clibit. I should really just brew what you brew, as it must give you the patience of a saint. :

 

[davemorton]

Sorry, cant stop to chat, I'm busy brewing my first AG batch :p

 

[GlentoranMark]

I know the feeling mate and I'm still exited every time I brew. There's something theraputic about doing it from all grain.

You will amake some mistakes but I'm sure you'll produce something far better than from any kit.

 

[thechan]

Those hop prices look hideously expensive. Think I'll stick to buying my ingredients from Brixton

Hey MyQul,

Wondering where in Brixton you buy your malt, hops etc? And what are the prices like?

Thanks!