Have a go at simple AG

[b_smith_90]

There's a glossary button near the top of the page but it isn't in there.

AG stands for All Grain which means using grains instead of Liquid (LME, as in most beer kits) or Dried Malt Extract (DME).

 

[JapanBrew]

I just like the effects of ABV.

 

[Personal91]

If you've made a few kits and/or extract brews, why not have a go at a simple AG brew, to see the difference it makes? A small batch of AG beer is not difficult and you will discover the difference and feel the joy and pride of making it from scratch. All you need for 5 litres is 1kg of Maris Otter, or other pale malt, a packet of hops, and a sachet of yeast. You just need a thermometer, a decent sized pan and something to strain the grain from the wort. A big sieve, or a piece of cloth in a colander. A bag that fills the pan and,drapes over the sides and holds the grains, made from muslin or voile, is ideal. You also need a hydrometer to check the gravity before and after fermentation.

Recipe:

• 1kg Maris Otter (about £1.50)
• One packet of hops (any you like - EKG, Citra, Amarillo, Galaxy, Fuggles, First gold etc) (About £3-4, but you will only use 15g of the 100g, so cost is around 50p)
• One packet of yeast, 3g dried yeast is enough. (50p ish)

Method:

1. Heat 3 litres of water to 75C in big pan.
2. Pour in the pale malt while stirring - get rid of lumps.
3. Check temp is 65-70C - adjust if necessary with cold or boiling water.
4. Wrap a thick towel round the pot and leave alone for one hour.
5. Strain into a bucket or other vessel through sieve, or colander lined with cloth.
6. Heat another 4 litres of water to 80C and add the grains back to it. Leave 10 mins, stir, and strain the liquid to your bucket. You should have about 6 litres, which will reduce when you boil it for an hour.
7. Dispose of grains, add wort to pan and bring to boil.
8. Add 5 grams of hops when boiling point is reached.
9. 55 Mins later add 5 to 10g of hops, depending on your hoppiness requirements, boil another 5 mins and switch off.
10. Cool the wort in sink, with lid on, add to sterilised FV/demijohn via sterilised sieve to catch hops, and top up the level to 5 litres if necessary. Pitch yeast at around 18 - 20C.

[Measure the amount of water added if you top up the FV, and add this amount to the sparge water next time you brew]

Here's a youtube video that shows the method quite well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPRLc9-C73Y

You should get 8 or 9 x 500ml bottles of lovely beer for about £2.50. It takes me about 3 hours start to finish, making 10 litre batches in this way (see below).

10 Litre option: You can just double all the quantities and make 10 Litres, which is what I do most of the time, it's a good amount of beer. About 18x500ml bottles, or 27x330ml bottles. You just need a 15ish litre pot.

If you've never made an all grain beer it's really worth giving this a go.

teach me your ways....

 

[Chrislane]

Had my first go at AG tonight using this method. Just finished after bang on 4 hours (its a good job the wife is out tonight!)

5 litre batch using 1kg pale malt and 100g crystal malt. I like a hoppy beer but a bit concerned i have gone a touch overboard:
5g fuggles @ 60 mins
5g fuggles @ 30 mins
5g fuggles @ 10 mins
8g cascade @ 0 mins

Gravity came out at bang on 1.050

Fingers crossed!

Only just got round to trying this, having sampled a bottle at the end of June by which stage it just wasn't ready. It has surpassed all my expectations. Without a doubt it is the tastiest beer i have brewed since i started home brewing. The only problem is the lack of quantity - i only now have one bottle left! Need to brew more next time!

 

[BeerisGOD]

Only just got round to trying this, having sampled a bottle at the end of June by which stage it just wasn't ready. It has surpassed all my expectations. Without a doubt it is the tastiest beer i have brewed since i started home brewing. The only problem is the lack of quantity - i only now have one bottle left! Need to brew more next time!

I was gonna say after all that effort, time and expense it would be better to have a larger qty of beer.

 

[BeerCat]

I was gonna say after all that effort, time and expense it would be better to have a larger qty of beer.

After about 10 5l batches i got fed up and got a bigger pot. Otherwise would need about 30 demijohns. Good to see this thread still going. Its what turned me onto the dark side.

 

[MyQul]

After about 10 5l batches i got fed up and got a bigger pot. Otherwise would need about 30 demijohns. Good to see this thread still going. Its what turned me onto the dark side.

I managed about 2 or 3 5L batches before I moved to 23L brewlengths for the same reasons

 

[bobukbrewer]

I brew 27L batches for my 2 favourite recipes but when I experiment I brew 12 L batches - so if it turns out luvly I got quite a few 500 ml bottles - never had an undrinkable one yet....

 

[BeerCat]

Funnily enough i have thrown loads down the drain. I drink for fun after all not punishment. After about 80 brews i did a 5l extract cascade pale ale and first bottle has me thinking the rest will follow where that one went.

 

[Chrislane]

I was gonna say after all that effort, time and expense it would be better to have a larger qty of beer.

I have a 15l pot so will have a go at a 10l batch next time round

 

[bobukbrewer]

When I say "never had an undrinkable one" I am being modest, they are all better than the beer in most pubs here in the UK.

 

[Chrislane]

I have a 15l pot so will have a go at a 10l batch next time round

I did a 10l batch tonight. Seemed a lot calmer second time round. Only problem this time was cooling the larger volume down. To the extent that it is still too warm to pitch the yeast, so i am leaving it in the garage to cool overnight and i will chuck the yeast in in the morning.

 

[Chrislane]

I did a 10l batch tonight. Seemed a lot calmer second time round. Only problem this time was cooling the larger volume down. To the extent that it is still too warm to pitch the yeast, so i am leaving it in the garage to cool overnight and i will chuck the yeast in in the morning.

I have thought about this a bit more overnight and have a question about removal of hops from the wort. I boiled for 60 mins and added hops at various intervals (60mins, 20 mins, flame out). I then chilled the wort in the sink, and managed to get it down to about 40 deg after an hour, at which point i wanted to go to bed. So i strained it into a FV which went into the garage overnight to finish cooling down. In doing so i have removed all hops after an hour of cooling. Is that "correct"? I appreciate brewing is more art than science, but just want to make sure i'm not missing a step in my interpretation of the AG brewing process.

Thanks

 

[bobukbrewer]

I often remove hops at flame out - but I do put a lot in......

 

[JapanBrew]

I think overall it's a better practice. Some say leaving a lot in over a long period will give it a grassy or bad taste.

 

[Pope]

I have a general question about this method of brewing:

At stage 8, it says to heat 4 litres of water to 80 degrees C. What is the purpose of that? Also, what difference would it be if instead of doing that, you were to mash the total boil volume of water at 65 Degrees C?

 

[MyQul]

I have a general question about this method of brewing:

At stage 8, it says to heat 4 litres of water to 80 degrees C. What is the purpose of that? Also, what difference would it be if instead of doing that, you were to mash the total boil volume of water at 65 Degrees C?

This 4 litres is known as the sparge water. There are a number of different ways of sparging but what they all do is wash any remaining sugars off the grain.

If you watch the little video in OP he does indeed mash the total boil volume. But then he puts the grain in seive on top of a bucket and pours some of the wort back through the grain to wash off residual sugars in a similar way to a sparge

 

[Pope]

This 4 litres is known as the sparge water. There are a number of different ways of sparging but what they all do is wash any remaining sugars off the grain.

If you watch the little video in OP he does indeed mash the total boil volume. But then he puts the grain in seive on top of a bucket and pours some of the wort back through the grain to wash off residual sugars in a similar way to a sparge

I thought it was to sparge, I just wanted to confirm. I've done two BIAB brews now and both times I have done this, without knowing for sure why.

Thanks for the answer.

 

[MyQul]

I thought it was to sparge, I just wanted to confirm. I've done two BIAB brews now and both times I have done this, without knowing for sure why.

Thanks for the answer.

If you dont do a sparge you might not hit your targer OG. You can do a no sparge but you'll probably need to add more grain

 

[Flatline9]

If you need to ferment fast use S04 yeast. It can ferment out fully in as little as three days. Also the lower the OG the faster the ferment as there's less sugars to consume. So if you stick to brews around 4% using s04 you can get it in and out the fermenter in 3 or four days

You've probably been asked about this before, but I don't want to scroll through 100 pages to find the answer! How do you find the final beer with such a short time in the FV? I have always been under the impression to leave the beer for longer to "clean up" diacetyl and other byproducts?