Have a go at simple AG

[MyQul]

It's not generally best practice to half fill a barrel, not sure if smaller ones are readily available. If I had to do it, I would try and purge some of the excess oxygen from the headspace by adding some CO2 and partially venting.

He could just use 3 mini kegs

 

[dwhite60]

I've read through this entire thread over the past four days.

I started homebrewing in 1990. Reading through this proves there is always something to learn.

Thanks to everyone who has participated in this thread. If you're new to all grain brewing or
just want to try it, it's worth reading through this thread.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[MyQul]

I've read through this entire thread over the past four days.

I started homebrewing in 1990. Reading through this proves there is always something to learn.

Thanks to everyone who has participated in this thread. If you're new to all grain brewing or
just want to try it, it's worth reading through this thread.

All the Best,
D. White

Well done! I suggest you consider packaging your beer in easy/mini kegs.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/easy-keg-5l.57568/

 

[dwhite60]

Well done! I suggest you consider packaging your beer in easy/mini kegs.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/easy-keg-5l.57568/

I REALLY like the mini-kegs. I just don't have a fridge to keep them in. Well, I do but the wife keeps, like, FOOD,
in it.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Well done! I suggest you consider packaging your beer in easy/mini kegs.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/easy-keg-5l.57568/

When you have finished reading through that monster thread move on to this

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49462

.

 

[MyQul]

When you have finished reading through that monster thread move on to this

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49462

.

I also suggest he gets into kvieks

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/kveik.75453/

By the time we've finished with him, he wont have had any time for any actual brewing

 

[Chippy_Tea]

By the time we've finished with him, he wont have had any time for any actual brewing

 

[dwhite60]

I see where you guys were going with this.


There's a thread on another homebrew forum entitled "One Gallon Brewers Unite!"

It's over 150 pages. If you are into small batch brewing though, it's great.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[BeerisGOD]

So, Ive just bottled my first AG brew, seems ok, it is quite week but the flavour that is there seems good, it is slightly sweet and very clear already, just got to wait a few weeks now.
On my next brew I intend to make between 10l and 15l BIAB would this be ok to put in a 25l barrel? I found the whole bottling process a bit of a faff and would like to avoid it, in the past I have done 23l kits into a barrel and it seems a lot easier to me!
Just wondered if putting a small amount into a large barrel would effect the carbonation and would it mean there would be more oxidisation?
Or can you get a 15l PB?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Yes 'cheers homebrew' do the smaller barrels. I too found bottling a faff and tbh i prefer the smoother mouthfeel from the barrel.
I use these with premium kits too but use the one can each batch.
I found just a purge an hour once racked and a shot of s30 co2 toward the end of the barrel (1/3)was good enough to keep the beer.
But as for the larger vessel with a small batch i couldnt comment although it looks like from a previous post its not advisable

 

[TrubWolf]

After about 25 years since I last brewed I’m returning to it and have been amazed how the equipment available to the home brewer has moved on.
All of the recipes I brewed then were from Dave Line’s book (Brewing Beers Like those you Buy) and enjoyed “attempting” to recreate my favourites brews (Harveys Best/Ruddles County among many).
I now plan to start AG and have seen the great selection of recipes on-line and compared to those in the book.
If anyone is familiar with the book - I have a question that has been bugging me:
Most, if not all of Dave’s recipes used grain + significant amounts of refined sugar - Can anyone explain why this was the case (My guess is that it keeps the size of the grain-bill down) but maybe there is a more subtle reason?
Thanks

 

[MyQul]

After about 25 years since I last brewed I’m returning to it and have been amazed how the equipment available to the home brewer has moved on.
All of the recipes I brewed then were from Dave Line’s book (Brewing Beers Like those you Buy) and enjoyed “attempting” to recreate my favourites brews (Harveys Best/Ruddles County among many).
I now plan to start AG and have seen the great selection of recipes on-line and compared to those in the book.
If anyone is familiar with the book - I have a question that has been bugging me:
Most, if not all of Dave’s recipes used grain + significant amounts of refined sugar - Can anyone explain why this was the case (My guess is that it keeps the size of the grain-bill down) but maybe there is a more subtle reason?
Thanks

Welcome to the forum

I dont have that book but my guess would be that a lot of older recipes for English ales used lots of invert syrup/sugar. I believe this was either to keep costs down or because grain was restricted for food around the war (first/second) so brewers used invert sugars. Back when that book was written invert sugar would have been hard to come by for HBers so Dave suggests using table sugar instead (There's a similar thing in Brew your own british real ale by graham wheeler)

 

[jMac]

I believe this was either to keep costs down or because grain was restricted for food around the war (first/second) so brewers used invert sugars.

Interesting. I’d have thought sugar (an import) would have been more restricted during the wars than barley (a local crop). Could be that increased sugar additions were actually a consequence of the lifting of restrictions post WW2. But that’s just a WAG.

 

[TrubWolf]

Welcome to the forum

I dont have that book but my guess would be that a lot of older recipes for English ales used lots of invert syrup/sugar. I believe this was either to keep costs down or because grain was restricted for food around the war (first/second) so brewers used invert sugars. Back when that book was written invert sugar would have been hard to come by for HBers so Dave suggests using table sugar instead (There's a similar thing in Brew your own british real ale by graham wheeler)

Thanks it’s good to be on the Forum - Lots of interesting stuff on here
The book was 1st published in 1978 and he talks of refining his recipes over the previous 20 years so that makes a lot of sense about the post war austerity years.

I think I will maybe start with one of his recipes and see if I still have the knack before moving onto just grain .....

 

[MyQul]

Thanks it’s good to be on the Forum - Lots of interesting stuff on here
The book was 1st published in 1978 and he talks of refining his recipes over the previous 20 years so that makes a lot of sense about the post war austerity years.

I think I will maybe start with one of his recipes and see if I still have the knack before moving onto just grain .....

One thing you could do is use golden syrup instead of the sugar as it's partially inverted

 

[MyQul]

Interesting. I’d have thought sugar (an import) would have been more restricted during the wars than barley (a local crop). Could be that increased sugar additions were actually a consequence of the lifting of restrictions post WW2. But that’s just a WAG.

Tbh, what I wrote is based on stuff I half recall reading about the low ABV% of English ales

Edit: Heres an article I found on the effects of rationing on brewing so may go some way to explain all the sugar in Dave's recipes

https://www.beeradvocate.com/articles/10412/brewing-in-wwii/

 

[Baggins]

Thanks again for this thread. I tried AG BIAB autumn 2018 and made 6 stove top batches before weather got too warm for fermentation. In November 2019 I bought a 25Kg bag of Simpson's Maris Otter and got my 4th batch into FV yesterday. Its great, got PH meter, buffer colutions, salifert kits, CRS, etc (what a great thread that is Too!)
I wondered if anyone had thoughts on my wort cooling method. I aim for 13.5 L in FV which requires a top up after boil as my Wicks stock pot not really big enough for 13.5L, so I make a 1L ice cube of treated tsp water (Kelly's ice cream tub) at start of brew day and use that plus about another 3L of treated but not frozen tap water to raise the volume and bring down wort the last 10C from 30C to around 20C. This speeds cooling and I figure as I use tap water treated with camden tablet for LME kits so why not(?) Seems to work OK.

I usually treat 20L of tap water with 1/2 campden tablet, varying amounts of CRS, Gypsum and Epsom salts.

I thought I might try keeping 4 litres of bottled spring water in fridege as an alternative, maybe freeze a litre of that. I haven't got a cooling coil and dont really want another thing to clean and store. The bath worked well but seem a bit of waste.

At this time of year 3 changes of kitchen sink followed by ice cube and extra water gets me from Boil to Yeast in about 30 minutes.

I guess I'm just wondering why I haven't read of others doing this and why such emphasis placed on boiling all of the wort. Is there a flaw in my method(?)
Sorry for long thread. BTW i made a London Pride clone yesterday. Here's hoping...

 

[Richie_asg1]

With Christmas out of the way I need to get another batch on. I am heading to AG but haven't made a chiller yet so your ice cube method could be a stop gap and give me a chance to try it out.
I have seen a couple of people doing it so it does work. Possibly the reason why most don't is they have a chiller, and prefer to use more sparge water to get more out of the grain instead. If you were to BIAB then sparge to get your full kettle limit and then add ice blocks you would probably need some LME or something to account for the weak brew.
Also bagged cubes would be quicker than one large block, but maybe an infection risk as well? I've seen some pretty grim ice makers. Your one big block sounds safer.

 

[Baggins]

Thanks richie_asg1, (Richie?) The wort is extra stong during boil in readiness for dilution. I read earlier in this thread about doing that to increase batch size beyond capacity of stock pot. Came out at 1.064 from boil and 1.052 in FV, bit strong for Pride really, maybe it will be ESB! I couldn't dilute beyond 13.5L as FV only 15L.
Strangely I hadn't thought of using icecube bags or similar. Might try that. The big block melts in a few minutes, it doesn't quite freeze through in the time it gets.

 

[Llamaman]

I’ve used the ice block method before. It works well once you’ve learnt to judge (calculate? Pfffft) how much ice to add to hit the right temp.
I use ‘Lock and Lock’ tubs that have been Starsan’d. You could use ice cube bags but you wouldn’t be able to sanitise them (probably minimal risk, but an avoidable one). Ice cube trays would be better - you can sanitise the tray and put sanitised cling film over the top if you’re being extra cautious.
But plastic tubs are just nice and easy - just avoid splashing yourself when you drop a large block of ice in the hot wort!

 

[Skittlersteve]

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]

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.

Could you tell me where you get your maris otter from, at that price? Cheers