Have a go at simple AG

[Underbrew]

I did many 10 litre brews in my Wilko stock pot and it worked fine. I later managed to push it up to 11.5 litres, which meant that I could copy a 5 gallon/ 23 litre recipe from a book / online and simply halve all quantities. As MyQul said, it's easier to put the grains in the bag for the mash, drain the bag and pour the wort into another container, such as your fermenter, then dunk the bag of grain into the sparge liquor for 10 mins and combine the two lots of wort in your pot for the boil.

Amazing, thanks. I'll be giving it a try today.

 

[dleary]

Most commercial beers are drunk around this time. I recall (from the OP on this thread) that AG is unlike the "never-never land of kits" in the sense that it is drinkable much earlier. This is especially true of the fashionable highly hopped beers using hops like Mosaic.

didn't know Mosaic was fashionable just picked it by chance after reading a description of the flavour it gives, anyway looking forward to my next all-grain brew!

 

[Martybhoy]

Mosaic is a great hop. I really like it

 

[Yellow Ox]

I did many 10 litre brews in my Wilko stock pot and it worked fine. I later managed to push it up to 11.5 litres, which meant that I could copy a 5 gallon/ 23 litre recipe from a book / online and simply halve all quantities. As MyQul said, it's easier to put the grains in the bag for the mash, drain the bag and pour the wort into another container, such as your fermenter, then dunk the bag of grain into the sparge liquor for 10 mins and combine the two lots of wort in your pot for the boil.

Do you use a standard 23 litre (actually 30 litre) fermenter with 11.5 litres or a smaller one please?

 

[Underbrew]

I've did 10 litres on Tuesday and stuxk in in a 23 litre fermenter so I'll let you know how that goes.

Just out of interest what sort of SG should you expect from a 10 litre batch using 2kg of MO? Mine came out at about 1042, seems a tad low, I know it depends on a lot of factors just interested to know how far off the mark I am this time!

 

[Oneflewover]

I've did 10 litres on Tuesday and stuxk in in a 23 litre fermenter so I'll let you know how that goes.

Just out of interest what sort of SG should you expect from a 10 litre batch using 2kg of MO? Mine came out at about 1042, seems a tad low, I know it depends on a lot of factors just interested to know how far off the mark I am this time!

Using the calculator on this site it looks like you got 66% brewhouse efficiency which isn't too shabby for first go. At 75% (most recipes seem to be based on this) brewhouse efficiency you'd have got 1.048

 

[Sandimas]

Even after a few years of BIAB AG I'm still only getting 68%.

People worry about efficiency too much: grain is cheap, so long as you get consistency each time then the cost of extra grain for a lower efficiency is minimal.

 

[MmmBeer]

Do you use a standard 23 litre (actually 30 litre) fermenter with 11.5 litres or a smaller one please?

No I bought a 15 litre FV. Don't often use it for beer anymore, other than the B&M kits, but it still comes in useful when I am making wine.

 

[MyQul]

Using the calculator on this site it looks like you got 66% brewhouse efficiency which isn't too shabby for first go. At 75% (most recipes seem to be based on this) brewhouse efficiency you'd have got 1.048

I've noticed a lot of UK recipes are based on 72% and lots of American recipes even lower at 65%/66%.

 

[Baggins]

Just wanted to note that I too have been inspired by this thread and brewed my first all grain yesterday. Many thanks to clibit for starting the thread and everyone else that has joined in with great comments, questions and advice. I got OG of 1040 which I think is the target for the Dry Stout kit I bought. I haven't got to grips with mash efficiency yet and just hoping I finish at 1010 and it tastes good. I see I could have saved by buying the ingredients separately but it got me started so no complaints.

 

[BigFran]

This is the original post that got me into AG brewing.
I would like to thank Clibit for making the process so easy to follow.
Thanks
F

 

[ryderkellan]

Thanks for a great post. First ag batch maturing and first taste superb...

 

[matt76]

Hey there!

Having just bottled my first kit brew I'm planning to dive straight into AG - my plan is to x3 this recipe, so 3kg Maris Otter, end up with 15L in the FV etc etc

This is all driven mainly by having a larger FV - my kit brew was 5USGal so about 19L. I fear a 5 or 10L brew would get lost in there! Also, first brew yielded only ~13-14L at bottling due mainly to dregs etc (possibly some user error too!). So I can't really afford to lose 5L out of a 5 or 10L brew!

But now I'm thinking of the practicalities of heating this volume of wort to boiling on a regular gas hob - first brew required me to boil 2.5USGal water (9.5L) but the hob seemed to struggle to get it those last few degrees up to boiling point. Pure water can be pre-heated 2L at a time in the electric kettle, but can't really do this with wort!

How much can I play around with the water volumes in this recipe? I think 9L water for the mash is doable, but could I get away with much less water for steeping/lautering/sparging(???) at 80degC and top up later with cool water in the FV?

Alternatively, once the mash is done could I just bring this up to 80degC and steep it from there? Then get the grain out, proceed with boiling the wort and adding hops as required. Finally top up with cool water to help cool the wort quickly and keep an eye on the gravity as I do so. Would this work or am I missing something elementary?

Other Options:
1. Go buy a smaller FV and do a 5 or 10L brew
2. Stick with current FV and do a 10L brew
3. Suck it up and take on the laws of thermodynamics with my original planned 15L brew (I'll have to science the s*** out of it! ;-) )

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Matt

 

[MmmBeer]

Hey there!

Having just bottled my first kit brew I'm planning to dive straight into AG - my plan is to x3 this recipe, so 3kg Maris Otter, end up with 15L in the FV etc etc

This is all driven mainly by having a larger FV - my kit brew was 5USGal so about 19L. I fear a 5 or 10L brew would get lost in there! Also, first brew yielded only ~13-14L at bottling due mainly to dregs etc (possibly some user error too!). So I can't really afford to lose 5L out of a 5 or 10L brew!

But now I'm thinking of the practicalities of heating this volume of wort to boiling on a regular gas hob - first brew required me to boil 2.5USGal water (9.5L) but the hob seemed to struggle to get it those last few degrees up to boiling point. Pure water can be pre-heated 2L at a time in the electric kettle, but can't really do this with wort!

How much can I play around with the water volumes in this recipe? I think 9L water for the mash is doable, but could I get away with much less water for steeping/lautering/sparging(???) at 80degC and top up later with cool water in the FV?

Alternatively, once the mash is done could I just bring this up to 80degC and steep it from there? Then get the grain out, proceed with boiling the wort and adding hops as required. Finally top up with cool water to help cool the wort quickly and keep an eye on the gravity as I do so. Would this work or am I missing something elementary?

Other Options:
1. Go buy a smaller FV and do a 5 or 10L brew
2. Stick with current FV and do a 10L brew
3. Suck it up and take on the laws of thermodynamics with my original planned 15L brew (I'll have to science the s*** out of it! ;-) )

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Matt

What is the size of your largest pot? To get 15L in your FV, you will need at least a 19L pot. Alternatively you could split between two pots, which should get over the limitations of your hob. Most of the stove top brews I did were 11-12L, done in a 15L stock pot. You need to maintain a vigourous rolling boil in an uncovered pot to drive off all the nasties.

 

[matt76]

What is the size of your largest pot? To get 15L in your FV, you will need at least a 19L pot. Alternatively you could split between two pots, which should get over the limitations of your hob. Most of the stove top brews I did were 11-12L, done in a 15L stock pot. You need to maintain a vigourous rolling boil in an uncovered pot to drive off all the nasties.

Brew kettle is 18L. I think the pragmatic answer is do a 10L brew.

FV is about 26.5L (7USGal) - any problems with this much air space above 10L of fermenting wort?

 

[RichK]

My first AG has been bottled 2+ weeks now. The sludge is settling nicely to the bottom :) but there is way way more than I'm used to (even when I did a bit of partial mashing). Any ideas? Is that normal? I may have forgotten the protofloc - could that have been a cause? Any suggestions welcome. TIA

 

[MyQul]

My first AG has been bottled 2+ weeks now. The sludge is settling nicely to the bottom :) but there is way way more than I'm used to (even when I did a bit of partial mashing). Any ideas? Is that normal? I may have forgotten the protofloc - could that have been a cause? Any suggestions welcome. TIA

This is normal for small batches. See my solution to this in post 10

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/my-first-kettle.79126/

 

[proost]

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.

What temperature should it be fermented at?

Could I use Vienna Pale Malt?

.

 

[MyQul]

What temperature should it be fermented at?

Could I use Vienna Pale Malt?

.

Ideally between 18C-20C (although youll be fine higher/lower with some of the most common yeasts like S0-04,US-05 and Nottingham.)

Yes you can use 100% Vienna malt

 

[proost]

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.

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.

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.