My first AG brew!

[00bygrees]

After 3 kits I decided it was time to go down the full AG route...so I jumped in with an attempt at something in the style of Old Hooky.

Grains:
3kg Maris Otter
410g Flaked Maize
245g Crystal 60L
100g Black Malt

Hops:
20g Challenger (90mins)
20g East Kent Goldings (15mins)
12g Fuggles (10mins)
30g East Kent Goldings (Dry Hop 4 days)

Others:
330g Sugar (15mins)
1 Protofloc Tablet (15mins)
S-04 Yeast


I started by heating 37.5l water to 82°C. After transferring 12l of this to my mash tun I got 72.5°C, which after adding the grains was 66°C.

60 minute mash later, I'd only lost a degree, so was happy with the DIY mash tun!

My sparge water (~25l) was heated to 86°C, which settled at 75-77°C when added to the grains. A quick stir and drained out into the boiler.

This gave me a pre-boil volume of 32l - my pre boil gravity was 1.030.

A 90minute boil later - I used a copper wort chiller and I had an S.G. of 1.042 approx 27l of wort. I transferred 24l to an FV and the rest had to be discarded.

By this time it was 12:45 A.M.
It turned out I didn't leave the wort chiller in quite long enough...and pitched the yeast at 26°C.
It seems to be fermenting well though - the airlock is bubbling away at a steady 20.5°C.

My plans are 7 days primary 7 days secondary and then kegging with a small amount of priming sugar.


This was calculated using brewers friend - the predicted gravity at each stage so far has been spot on - the only difference was I ended up with about 4l more wort than expected. I was therefore thinking of reducing my sparge volume for the next brew - would this make sense?

So how did my first AG brew go?
I was pretty pleased with it all, and enjoyed every minute - the smell was amazing! Can't wait to try it now :thumb:

 

[MyQul]

Glad you enjoyed your first AG brew day.

Good choice of yeast for a beer in the style of Old hooky. I've been looking into the posibility of bottle culturing the hook norton strain to discover it's similar to S-04

You could have possibly kept the extra wort, frozen it and used it for starters

 

[Dads_Ale]

Glad you enjoyed your first AG. You have done really well and obviously done your research :)

I would get a bigger FV so you can use that extra wort....:)

:thumb:

 

[Crystal_Ball]

I drank my first pint of Old Hooky Wednesday night in a pub and quite liked it. will be interested to see if your brew turns out similar or better?! I could be reverting back to your recipe at sometime.

 

[wfr42]

Sounds like a good brew day.

Hope you enjoy the finished product!

 

[jayjt29]

Great post mate, no stopping now :) personally I've never put my brews into secondary, always just let it ferment out then move to a cooler place for a few days before bottling/kegging.

Enjoy
Jay :)

 

[00bygrees]

Thanks for the comments all - I'll keep the thread updated with progress!

Glad you enjoyed your first AG brew day.

Good choice of yeast for a beer in the style of Old hooky. I've been looking into the posibility of bottle culturing the hook norton strain to discover it's similar to S-04

You could have possibly kept the extra wort, frozen it and used it for starters

Ah, I didn't realise that. I will bear it in mind for the future!

Great post mate, no stopping now :) personally I've never put my brews into secondary, always just let it ferment out then move to a cooler place for a few days before bottling/kegging.

Enjoy
Jay :)

I've not put any of my kit brews into secondary. I'm still not 100% whether I will or not...I'll mull it over for the next few days!

 

[jayjt29]

I've never had a problem with it and it saves time and more cleaning!

Cheers
Jay

 

[00bygrees]

Forgot to add in the original post, the IBU is 33 and the SRM 14.5 (or should be according to the calcs, anyway!)

Took a sample today after a week, it was 1.009 down from 1.042 so 4.33%. I've decided not to transfer to a secondary - I'll be kegging it next Sunday.

I'm unsure of how much to prime this with in the barrel. I don't really want much carbonation...any suggestions?

 

[00bygrees]

Kegged it today - F.G. was 1.006 so I'm looking at just under 4.8%.

I've added 50g of sugar to the barrel as priming sugar, hopefully it'll give me the result I'm after. 2 weeks now in the warm then I'll move it into the garage to condition further I think!

 

[00bygrees]

This has turned into an excellent pint. Lovely malty, nutty goodness! Nice creamy head which stays throughout the pint, and crystal clear. Not had a chance to compare it to the "real thing" yet, but I don't really need to in order to tell how nice it is!

 

[Notlaw]

This has turned into an excellent pint. Lovely malty, nutty goodness! Nice creamy head which stays throughout the pint, and crystal clear. Not had a chance to compare it to the "real thing" yet, but I don't really need to in order to tell how nice it is!

Nice... that looks a fantastic pint. Love the glass too. It might only be ten to eleven in the morning, but that looks so good, I could sup that right now..!!