Have a go at simple AG

[MyQul]

Another question, sorry!
I am planning to make a 10l batch, do I have to double up on the water or can I add it to the fermenter at the end?
Have you any idea what strength this is likely to be?
Thank's.

You'll need to double up on grain, hops and water. It is possible to make a concentrated wort then dilute it in the FV. But it's not a simple as just diluting the concentrated wort with the other half of the water in the FV

Depending on your efficiency (of extracting sugars from the grain) and the attenuation of the yeast it will be about 4% ABV. Brewmate tells me a 70% efficiency with 75% yeast attenuation will give you 4.22%ABV

 

[matt76]

Depending on your efficiency (of extracting sugars from the grain) and the attenuation of the yeast it will be about 4% ABV. Brewmate tells me a 70% efficiency with 75% yeast attenuation will give you 4.22%ABV

As MyQul says, it depends on efficiency - I just bottled my 10L brew last weekend, my first all grain brew, and it's come out somewhere between 5.8-6.3%.

Take your time, plan your brew and brew your plan - just follow the instructions, it really is very simple. Good luck!

 

[proost]

You'll need to double up on grain, hops and water. It is possible to make a concentrated wort then dilute it in the FV. But it's not a simple as just diluting the concentrated wort with the other half of the water in the FV

Depending on your efficiency (of extracting sugars from the grain) and the attenuation of the yeast it will be about 4% ABV. Brewmate tells me a 70% efficiency with 75% yeast attenuation will give you 4.22%ABV

Thanks for that, I normally do kits and add about 600g of various grains but I'll definitely try this.

 

[proost]

You'll need to double up on grain, hops and water. It is possible to make a concentrated wort then dilute it in the FV. But it's not a simple as just diluting the concentrated wort with the other half of the water in the FV

Depending on your efficiency (of extracting sugars from the grain) and the attenuation of the yeast it will be about 4% ABV. Brewmate tells me a 70% efficiency with 75% yeast attenuation will give you 4.22%ABV

Thank's, not too sure my stock pan will be bigger enough. Might just stick to the 5l brew

 

[Dave 666]

My next AG brew will be an attempt to make a much more concentrated wort (and hop addition) then balance the difference by adding extra & iced water to the FV, a duel purpose experiment seeing as the iced water would aid cooling time.

My plan is a concentrated 13\14 (ish) boil wort (due to pot capacity) with enough grain to be able to dilute to make about 18 litre of 5% brew. I guess the best way to check a lot of the progress as I dilute is to study the gravity reading (allowing for temp correction) as I go and simply stop once I reach the desired gravity reading. The only concern is ending up with a watery tasting brew doing things this way but surely if I work out the measurementas and timing right it should work as per plan. But I'm thinking that other elements come into play if planning a concentrated wort to then water down in the FV. Such as steep time, boil time etc?.

 

[MyQul]

Thank's, not too sure my stock pan will be bigger enough. Might just stick to the 5l brew

How big is your stock pan?

 

[Gulpitdarn]

Well I've had a go at AG brewing as per Clibits recipe on message #1.
Added 100 gram of chocolate malt and only 5g + 5g hops. SG was 1060. Then just before adding yeast I went and put in 500g of Dark muscavado brown sugar, a taste revealed a hell of a sweet beer , SG 1093, what's this going to turn out like?? am I right that it'll be summat like 15.5 % alcohol?

 

[Oneflewover]

I reckon it'll be sweet and pretty unbalanced if your bittering isn't high enough. It'll be pokey though!

 

[TheBigWoo]

I've finally taken the plunge and made my first AG brew. 5 litres with 1kg Maris Otter and EKG hops as per clibit's initial post. It was much easier than I thought and although it does take time, about 4 hrs from start to finish, there is plenty of time in between each stage to do other things. Hopefully I'll have something drinkable for Christmas.
So, for all the folks that are watching this thread wondering if its too complicated or too much work, get yourself a big pot and give it a go. You'll not regret it, I've a 10 litre brew lined up for next week, with maybe a bit of Crystal Malt.

 

[proost]

How big is your stock pan?

15 litres

 

[MyQul]

15 litres

So is mine. I have the '12L' (it's actually 15L to the brim) Wilko one. I easily do 10L brews in it

 

[proost]

So is mine. I have the '12L' (it's actually 15L to the brim) Wilko one. I easily do 10L brews in it

 

[proost]

I made this today, doubled up to 10L.
My Wilcos stockpot was just the right size.
Only thing was the OG was 1.034

 

[cushyno]

I made this today, doubled up to 10L.
My Wilcos stockpot was just the right size.
Only thing was the OG was 1.034

Ok, so you may have not hit your intended OG, but there's a fair chance you can get down to around 1.006 with a low gravity wort. That's about 3.6% ABV and it'll be drinkable beer that you made from scratch.
There is so much to learn and the first few brews can be so hit or miss. I'm just loooking back at my last two brews and trying to understand why my brewhouse efficiency has gone down. In order to understand why, I have to look right back to the reasons why my brewhouse efficiency was high for my first couple of brews (I got lucky). It's a steep learning curve and getting consistent results takes plenty of practice. If it helps, my first couple of brews I mashed thin and low (lots of water - 4.5L/kg - and around 62°C) so resulted in high ABV. However, I've made better beer since with improved body, flavour and clarity, but the ABV has suffered for a similar amount of grain. It's a balance.

 

[proost]

Ok, so you may have not hit your intended OG, but there's a fair chance you can get down to around 1.006 with a low gravity wort. That's about 3.6% ABV and it'll be drinkable beer that you made from scratch.
There is so much to learn and the first few brews can be so hit or miss. I'm just loooking back at my last two brews and trying to understand why my brewhouse efficiency has gone down. In order to understand why, I have to look right back to the reasons why my brewhouse efficiency was high for my first couple of brews (I got lucky). It's a steep learning curve and getting consistent results takes plenty of practice. If it helps, my first couple of brews I mashed thin and low (lots of water - 4.5L/kg - and around 62°C) so resulted in high ABV. However, I've made better beer since with improved body, flavour and clarity, but the ABV has suffered for a similar amount of grain. It's a balance.

Well it's the first time I've tried AG, so it will just be a learning curve. I will definitely be trying this again but I think I will try a more vigorous boil and measure out the water more accurately next time (I ended up with 10.75 of wort )

 

[Gulpitdarn]

Well I've had a go at AG brewing as per Clibits recipe on message #1.
Added 100 gram of chocolate malt and only 5g + 5g hops. SG was 1060. Then just before adding yeast I went and put in 500g of Dark muscavado brown sugar, a taste revealed a hell of a sweet beer , SG 1093, what's this going to turn out like?? am I right that it'll be summat like 15.5 % alcohol?

Okay, so I have syphoned the beer off the heavy sediment into a clean demijohn for a few short days. SG was 1,012 which was to my suprise, I thought the high alcohol would kill the yeast too early. Works out Alcohol is around 10.5% I'm happy with that but beer needs some more flavour as it tastes very burnt, probably too much chocolate malt.

Still very drinkable as this is how I like it, so not a waste of time. I've taken very careful notes ready for the next brew. Need more experience with All Grain brewing before I'm a convert.

 

[braziliain]

Okay, so I have syphoned the beer off the heavy sediment into a clean demijohn for a few short days. SG was 1,012 which was to my suprise, I thought the high alcohol would kill the yeast too early. Works out Alcohol is around 10.5% I'm happy with that but beer needs some more flavour as it tastes very burnt, probably too much chocolate malt.

Still very drinkable as this is how I like it, so not a waste of time. I've taken very careful notes ready for the next brew. Need more experience with All Grain brewing before I'm a convert.

Dark beers often benefit from long periods of conditioning. Those harder burnt flavours and the heat from the alcohol will likely fade and the complexity of the beer will develop. It might be worth labelling them up, stashing them away, concentrating on the next effort and then trying them again in 6 months.

 

[Meza]

I had a go with this recipe this evening .

Used 1.2kg of Marris otter and 90g of frozen fresh hops scrumped this summer from a Cotswolds pub garden. Rehydrated half a pack of Mangrove Jack's M44. Got 6l in the demijohn at 1.050 SG. Took just under four hours all in. Let's see what comes out.

 

[MyQul]

I had a go with this recipe this eveningView attachment 16569 View attachment 16571 View attachment 16572 .

Used 1.2kg of Marris otter and 90g of frozen fresh hops scrumped this summer from a Cotswolds pub garden. Rehydrated half a pack of Mangrove Jack's M44. Got 6l in the demijohn at 1.050 SG. Took just under four hours all in. Let's see what comes out.

Looks good. The only thing I would say about using wet/fresh hops is unless you've used them before you wont have the slightest clue what the IBU will be, so you're beer may be too sweet or too bitter. Wet hops are best left for the aroma/flavour additions and use some bought hops for the bittering addition

 

[Meza]

Looks good. The only thing I would say about using wet/fresh hops is unless you've used them before you wont have the slightest clue what the IBU will be, so you're beer may be too sweet or too bitter. Wet hops are best left for the aroma/flavour additions and use some bought hops for the bittering addition

Very true! This was a bit of a gamble brew, I had the hops, yeast and grain and wanted to do something with them, and didn't have any other pellet hops left.

Good point about the flavour, I had thought about the bitterness but didn't consider on the flip side it could end up too sweet.