Have a go at simple AG

[Tony1951]

My biggest pot is only 5.25L, so ended the boil with just under 4L @ 1.070, so liquored back to about 1.050 @ 5L.

I doubt I'll be doing another 5L AG brew, as it's a lot of effort for 8-10 pints!
Tempted to buy a 15L pot & do 10-12L batches of AG occasionally!

I went to Wilco and ordered a 12 litre pot. They used to have a 15ltr one which would have been better, but it isn't in their catalogue now (or wasn't when I bought mine). The price was £17 and they got it in in two days for me. It works fine for a 2 gallon brew, but you might need to liquor up as you put it during or after the boil. The extra 3 litres of the 15L pot would deal with that problem.

I've tried a sample bottle of my first brew and it was quite promising. I'll know better at the weekend when it has been bottled three weeks. :) I've also bought a bag for next time to try and avoid the mess I made straining wort and grain with kitchen implements like straining spoons.....

 

[yeastinfection]

Thanks for putting the pics up. I did mine on Friday and was a little concerned about how it looked. But it looks the same as yours so im a little more confident. It has however stopped bubbling tonight so I'll take a look tomorrow and see what state it's in..

 

[Tony1951]

I think my first AG brew has a chill haze. If I keep the bottles indoors at about 19 - 21 C they are fairly clear. Not as clear as my Cooper's kit brews, but you can see through them. Stored in the garage at about 8 - 10c and they cloud up. Bring it in again and it soon clears up.

I've read that this problem doesn't spoil the beer for drinking and that in time, it may clear up, but no sign of it happening yet. The beer has been bottled for two and a half weeks. Another 23 litre Cooper's IPA that I started fermenting on the day I bottled the AG is now crystal clear and has been handled in an identical fashion. I have not used finings or Irish moss on any of the brews so far.

 

[Covrich]

I think my first AG brew has a chill haze. If I keep the bottles indoors at about 19 - 21 C they are fairly clear. Not as clear as my Cooper's kit brews, but you can see through them. Stored in the garage at about 8 - 10c and they cloud up. Bring it in again and it soon clears up.

I've read that this problem doesn't spoil the beer for drinking and that in time, it may clear up, but no sign of it happening yet. The beer has been bottled for two and a half weeks. Another 23 litre Cooper's IPA that I started fermenting on the day I bottled the AG is now crystal clear and has been handled in an identical fashion. I have not used finings or Irish moss on any of the brews so far.

You didn't use any fining's (like Irish Moss) in the last 15 mins of the boil? that will probably attribute to the haze

 

[clibit]

With beers made from extract, the grain has already been mashed, boiled and chilled. And filtered. When you mash your own grain, you are doing these things yourself, and it's not difficult to leave things in the wort that produce chill haze. The main ways to combat this are:

1. A good boil for a good hot break.
2. Put Irish Moss, Protofloc or Whirfloc in the boil, as this helps to remove proteins during fermentation by clumping them together.
3. Chill the beer quickly after the boil - to get a good cold break, this is important for haze control.
4. Chill the beer before bottling/barrelling, as this will help to drop out the remaining particles that can lead to chill haze.

I think mash PH can also be a factor, but I've never measured the PH of a mash myself. I keep very basic with my brewing, partly cos I'm a pretty basic sort of bloke! Partly cos I like making beer as people will have done at home donkeys years ago, with basic equipment. I'm the opposite of a gadget freak. And the opposite of a scientist. I get haze in my beers sometimes, often though they are very clear. I don't worry about it, it's the flavours and smells that I'm after mostly. I do like the look of a crystal clear beer with a good head though, but I don't reject beer that falls short. I'd rather it tased great and looked a bit rough than the other way round.

 

[clibit]

Blimey, wasn't expecting 8000 hits when I knocked that post out! Delighted that a lot of people seem to have been tempted to try AG, which was the intention.

Has anyone been disappointed by their first AG brew?!

 

[Covrich]

Does anybody actually bother checking their mash with the ph strips or iodine?

 

[clibit]

I never have done. But one day I'll pick up a PH tester. Probably. :-)

 

[Tony1951]

Has anyone been disappointed by their first AG brew?!

I might be - just a bit. Cracked a bottle tonight from the garage which is about 10c just now. I am fine about a bit of haze, but it has some problems I haven't seen before in my kit brews.

It is over carbonated. I think from memory (and I've brewed about fifteen gallons since I did this one so excuse the vagueness) I put in about 85 grammes of white sugar in bulk priming in 10 litres of beer. That is certainly too much. The bottle I opened tonight was pretty foamy and the beer although it has good flavours underneath has a clearly discernible yeasty taste. This could be because in three weeks it still hasn't used all the sugar, or it more likely may have disturbed the yeast deposit by over foaming when I opened it. I might be able to salvage the situation by cooling it right down in the fridge before serving to stop the foaming up.

None of this is the fault of AG brewing - just my own stupidity in over-priming the beer.... :)

I will be doing another AG in the near future as I have a new brewing bag and about 3kg of marris otter, not to mention about half a pound of hops in vacuum packed bags.

 

[clibit]

Yes you want 30-40g sugar in 10L. The frothing will have pulled yeast up from the bottom of the bottle. It'll be perfect next time. :thumb:

 

[Tony1951]

Yes you want 30-40g sugar in 10L. The frothing will have pulled yeast up from the bottom of the bottle. It'll be perfect next time. :thumb:

Actually - I just had an idea. This stuff is in swing top bottles, so it would be no problem to open them - release some gas and then seal them again to settle down with less gas.... Mad? Maybe - maybe not... Input appreciated. I think there is some nice beer underneath all this erupting Co2.

 

[Dads_Ale]

Does anybody actually bother checking their mash with the ph strips or iodine?

I check mine with Ph strip each time. Don't know why I bother as it is always 5.2

 

[clibit]

Actually - I just had an idea. This stuff is in swing top bottles, so it would be no problem to open them - release some gas and then seal them again to settle down with less gas.... Mad? Maybe - maybe not... Input appreciated. I think there is some nice beer underneath all this erupting Co2.

Not mad. In fact you've reminded me I once loosened the caps on a batch of beer that was too fizzy, released gas, and resealed with capper.

 

[Tony1951]

Not mad. In fact you've reminded me I once loosened the caps on a batch of beer that was too fizzy, released gas, and resealed with capper.

I have sixteen 500ml bottles left. I'll relieve the pressure in a couple and leave them to settle down and test in a few days. If it has worked, I'll do the same with the rest.

Thanks for the input.

Maybe I'll bring them inside for a while before hand to let them warm up so they will gas off a bit more before re-sealing.

 

[Padawanrob]

got my 1st small batch AG fermenting after reading this post last Friday, the brew was done on Saturday and is nicely bubbling away as i type, I am a complete newbie to HB and only ever made wine about 10yrs ago, so please be patient If I ask silly questions until I at least build up a bit of confidence, Im sure I am going to be asking a lot of Q's over the next few days/weeks whilst I get my 1st AG batch complete.

 

[clibit]

Ask away, you had the guts to have a go from scratch!

 

[dweb]

Tried my 1st AG on Sunday last.I only have a 8l pot,so I stuck to the original recipe.It was fermenting away nicely on day1&2 and has slowed down today.It`s in a 5 litre plastic water bottle and there`s only 4 litres in it,so i can`t get my ladel in to test FG,so would Saturday be ok for bottling?
I must invest in some muslin bags as the piece of new cloth I used was tricky to hold in place and my missus wasn`t fussed on the smell of hops when she was holding it for me.
I`m going to wait until I`ve tasted a bottle before I invest in a larger pot.I`ve ordered 5x10litre food grade buckets off ebay in the meantime as they`ll come in handy for cider and wine.
I`ve done about a dozen kits before so I`m hoping for a dramatic improvement in taste.
Thanks for the simple guide though Clibit:)

 

[yeastinfection]

ive done2 now and i think im over boiling. ido nt have alot of beer left after the 1 hour boil.how much beer do you guys have in your dj?
is it an idea to only boil for half an hour? so i have more beer :)

 

[stevej]

A 1 hour boil is normal whatever your boil size is you could top up after your boil with cold water a bit to top your level back up
Steve

 

[yeastinfection]

A 1 hour boil is normal whatever your boil size is you could top up after your boil with cold water a bit to top your level back up
Steve

thanks Steve. i did that the first time, wasnt sure about it though. feels like im diluting it.so why 1 hour boil? whats the reason for it?