timcunnell
Regular.
Hi guys - after the success of my HBC Brown Porter (my first crack at AG/BIAB) and the "Fursty Ferret" clone that is conditioning nicely as we speak, I thought I'd have a pop at one of these trendy, super-hoppy numbers, so ordered myself the American Pale Ale from HBC. I brewed this yesterday, and seemed to go okay!
Strike water used for mash - 23 litres
Mash temp - 66.5c (dropped to 66.0 over one hour)
Dunk sparged in 8 litres at 80.0c
1 hour boil.
Target SG on recipe : 1051
Achieved SG : 1051 (yay!)
Pre-boil volume 27 litres
Post boil - 23 litres
In fermenter - 21 litres
I had a possible issue with this brew! The mash went great - I've got my wrapping technique down to a fine art now with the spare duvet, and temp only dropped 0.5c in 1 hour. However, when I lifted the grain bag out to dunk sparge in another fermenter containing 8 litres at 80c I didn't strain the bag much, so only had maybe 15 litres of mash liquid in the boiler, with the rest held in the grain then ended up going into sparge. I added all the sparge water back in the boiler and strained off the grain bag pretty well in the end, so I ended up with my target of 27 litres pre-boil. And I was at least happy that I nailed the target SG of 1051. I just don't know if there will be too much non-fermentable sugars? I guess time will tell!
Also I had a question about aerating the wort. I trained my cooled wort via a tap from a height from the boiler to my FV - which seems like a good way of aerating. However, I found it was still a little too warm to pitch, so I tucked the FV away in my brew fridge to bring the temp down to 20. I also left the yeast packet in the brew fridge to get it to the same temp. I then pitched the yeast about 5 hours later. Now here's the question - I didn't re-aerate the wort. Is that okay? I wasn't sure if - when aerated - the wort basically remains aerate for long?
Anyway - aside from these little issues, all went really well and I have to say the wort certainly smells amazing! This kit uses a lot more hops than any kit I've done previously. So hopefully it'll end up being a nice little drink!
Strike water used for mash - 23 litres
Mash temp - 66.5c (dropped to 66.0 over one hour)
Dunk sparged in 8 litres at 80.0c
1 hour boil.
Target SG on recipe : 1051
Achieved SG : 1051 (yay!)
Pre-boil volume 27 litres
Post boil - 23 litres
In fermenter - 21 litres
I had a possible issue with this brew! The mash went great - I've got my wrapping technique down to a fine art now with the spare duvet, and temp only dropped 0.5c in 1 hour. However, when I lifted the grain bag out to dunk sparge in another fermenter containing 8 litres at 80c I didn't strain the bag much, so only had maybe 15 litres of mash liquid in the boiler, with the rest held in the grain then ended up going into sparge. I added all the sparge water back in the boiler and strained off the grain bag pretty well in the end, so I ended up with my target of 27 litres pre-boil. And I was at least happy that I nailed the target SG of 1051. I just don't know if there will be too much non-fermentable sugars? I guess time will tell!
Also I had a question about aerating the wort. I trained my cooled wort via a tap from a height from the boiler to my FV - which seems like a good way of aerating. However, I found it was still a little too warm to pitch, so I tucked the FV away in my brew fridge to bring the temp down to 20. I also left the yeast packet in the brew fridge to get it to the same temp. I then pitched the yeast about 5 hours later. Now here's the question - I didn't re-aerate the wort. Is that okay? I wasn't sure if - when aerated - the wort basically remains aerate for long?
Anyway - aside from these little issues, all went really well and I have to say the wort certainly smells amazing! This kit uses a lot more hops than any kit I've done previously. So hopefully it'll end up being a nice little drink!
