Have a go at simple AG

[cheapbrew]

Sounds like a nice brew Honk.

Are the Styrian goldings the three way mix, or Aurora, Bobeck, Celeia separate?

 

[Honk]

When I ordered them online it said Styrian goldings hop pellets (Bobeck) but the packet just says Styrian goldings hop pellets. I can't remember why I chose that particular hop I know nothing about hops and will pick some for a particular recipe next time.

Wort is taking an age to cool to pitching temperature despite being in ice water, meanwhile in true blue Peter fashion I'm trying one I made earlier.

 

[JapanBrew]

Wort is taking an age to cool to pitching temperature despite being in ice water, meanwhile in true blue Peter fashion I'm trying one I made earlier.

The best investment I made with gear was my plate chiller. It uses a tad bit more water but I capture it, clean my items with it then send it out to my garden to be used to water my plants.

I did a batch today and the boil tun was reading 90 degrees but coming out of my chiller was 24 degrees.

 

[bobukbrewer]

by plate chiller do you mean a little metal thing with 2 ins and 2 outs ?

 

[JapanBrew]

by plate chiller do you mean a little metal thing with 2 ins and 2 outs ?

Yep. You might be tempted by the price to get a 20 plate, short chiller but don't. Shell out the extra for at least a 30 plate long. They chill way faster.

 

[Honk]

Started my second batch yesterday to use up just over a kilo of marris otter then about 20 percent additional crystal added, late in the boil I added a few glugs of maple syrup and some mulled wine spices. 1 demijohn full of my Christmas experimental beer is now bubbling away furiously.
Not sure what it's going to end up like but it's a fun experiment. Starting sg was 1060 ish.
Much easier second time around especially as I could get all the water for this in one pan and not have to worry about Sparge water.
I think I will do a few more experiments of this type varying the crystal percentage and hops (amounts and types) to see how it affects the end product. The spice addition is a one off though and once bottled won't be sampled till Christmas eve.

 

[chub1]

I have posted elswhere on this , but did my first batch today using Clibit's instructions:thumb:

 

[ga3ryc]

hi clibit im wanting to move from extract to ag, and was wondering can a 23l batch be made the same way as I would steep my grains in an extract brew ie like massive teabags. if not what extra equipment would I need
cheers

 

[bigfrogs]

I'm going to give this a go tomorrow and It will be my first AG brew as I have only used pre made all in one time kits in the past.I have gone for 750g MO and 250g of larger malt with cascade hops to see if I can get a nice light citrusy brew.Here's hoping...

 

[wfr42]

hi clibit im wanting to move from extract to ag, and was wondering can a 23l batch be made the same way as I would steep my grains in an extract brew ie like massive teabags. if not what extra equipment would I need
cheers

Clibit doesn't post here any more...just has a very helpful legacy thread.

I have a peco boiler which is the same size as a fv that i biab with.

I never did extract brewing - what kit you have?
I know @MyQul does maxi biab - making a concentrated wort and then diluting for fermentation, which may be what you are alluding to.

 

[Honk]

Went to bottle my first ag today which was pitched 13 days ago but it was still at 1020 so going to give it longer, smelt like beer though, amazing! Batch 2 still fermenting and Batch 3 is in the oven steeping as I type which is an attempt at a brains sa clone.
Ga3ryc look into biab brewing which is what I'm doing now but on a small scale (15 litre pot) time for me to go stir those grains.

 

[wfr42]

Went to bottle my first ag today which was pitched 13 days ago but it was still at 1020 so going to give it longer, smelt like beer though, amazing! Batch 2 still fermenting and Batch 3 is in the oven steeping as I type which is an attempt at a brains sa clone.
Ga3ryc look into biab brewing which is what I'm doing now but on a small scale (15 litre pot) time for me to go stir those grains.

What temp did you mash at for your first batch?

My first one finished very high after I misread the instructions and mashed at 70 degrees extracting lots of non fermentable sugars...was eventually a very good pint just below 3%...

 

[GlentoranMark]

You will find it hard to control temperatures as it's only a 5L batch. My first batch was horrible (still got drank) but each subsequent brew you will improve.

Yes, doing 23L is just as similar, in fact easier and more productive. Tit takes the same amount of time to do a 23L batch as it does a 5L batch. There are few things you can change but the idea is similar - extract the sugars we want from the grains and boil hops to bitter. When you buy a kit, you are saving the mashing and bittering steps and why kits are so much easier but we have no control over the beer and just have to accept the way it is. That's the beauty of AG, you can customise a beer whatever way you want and produce something really special.

 

[Honk]

I did wonder if I mashed at too a high temperature, my notes said 68 but after I posted a note here that evening saying it was taking a long time to cool I realized the thermometer was playing up. I reracked it to a new bucket and a few more days before minikeg / bottling won't harm it. Batch 3 is now cooling in the sink. The process is getting easier, I cooked and eat tea during the boil.:thumb:

 

[JapanBrew]

I did wonder if I mashed at too a high temperature, my notes said 68 but after I posted a note here that evening saying it was taking a long time to cool I realized the thermometer was playing up. I reracked it to a new bucket and a few more days before minikeg / bottling won't harm it. Batch 3 is now cooling in the sink. The process is getting easier, I cooked and eat tea during the boil.:thumb:

If you can control your mash, start at 64 degrees and over the hour raise to 68. At the end, take it up to 75.
I use an electric hot plate attached to my STC-1000. But the inkbird will work just fine.

 

[ga3ryc]

hi mate , yes that's what I meant ( concentrated wort). think my kettle is about 20l tops, don't know if it would be big enough for 23l batch tho. I have been buying extract, grains, yeast, hops separately but would prefer to do it from scratch

 

[ga3ryc]

Clibit doesn't post here any more...just has a very helpful legacy thread.

I have a peco boiler which is the same size as a fv that i biab with.

I never did extract brewing - what kit you have?
I know @MyQul does maxi biab - making a concentrated wort and then diluting for fermentation, which may be what you are alluding to.

didn't know how to tag lol, responded somewhere on this thread

 

[Razor]

Not sure if I have done something wrong here or not but I started a 5l batch yesterday using 1kg of Maris Otter 15g of Fuggles 5 at boil and 10 at 55mins got it cooled and ready to pitch took a gravity reading and it was only 1028 added the yeast anyway but isn't the OG a bit low? Is there any way I can raise it now that fermentation has started? This is my first AG brew.

 

[JapanBrew]

You'll have to walk us through how you did your mashing. Give us times and temps and your sparging, rinsing the grain, levels.

 

[bigfrogs]

I'm going to give this a go tomorrow and It will be my first AG brew as I have only used pre made all in one time kits in the past.I have gone for 750g MO and 250g of larger malt with cascade hops to see if I can get a nice light citrusy brew.Here's hoping...

Well I made it yesterday all seemed to go well.Mashed with 3lts of 75c which took the mash to 68c and left for an hour rapped in 2 bath towels then sparged with 4lts of 80c water for 10 mins which took the mash to around 72c. The og was 1.052 after topping up to just over a gallon and it is bubbling away in the fermentor.Oh I pitched 3g of safale US-05 at 19c.Does this og sound ok or should it have been a bit lower??