My first all grain brew day

[Cheshire Cat]

Graham Wheeler must be wrong then

 

[The Baron]

I have the greatest of respect for Graham Wheeler who was one of the pioneers in UK homebrewing and sadly is no longer with us but many of his books where written not in the past few years and things change. I will say again that cleanliness and sanitisation are the things that keep spoilage away. I know which I deem as the safest method for me and putting freshly boiled wort into a sanitised container and excluding all the air is in my opinion better than cooling the wort down while exposed to the air. The boiled wort is used by some to even sanitise the container they use although I advocate sanitisation as well by using proprietary cleaning/sanitising products also there has been a improvement in these products since Graham wrote most of his books. Spoilage is due to infection with poor brewing process and not the heat of the wort whether it is cooled immediately or left to cool in a sanitised container with no air to further contaminate it

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Thanks for that Baron but since I've chilled I've not had spoiled beer. I also try to brew on a rainy day so reducing the risk of airborne yeast etc. I live in Cheshire so quite a lot of rain lol.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

PS not on a water meter also.

 

[Jake Michael]

Sorry a wort chiller is not essential to prevent spoilage, good sanitation/sterilization and a strong process is, there are many people who no chill and never have a problem me being one I went away from wort chillers as they waste too much water and no chill is so simple.

Sorry to hijack this thread with a slightly off topic question but I'm considering doing no chill however I wasn't sure if I'd either need to reduce the amount of bittering hops or move the 60 minute addition to say a 40 minute addition. Will the longer amount of the time the wort stays hot for result in a higher amount of bitterness being extracted from the hops?

 

[The Baron]

Sorry to hijack this thread with a slightly off topic question but I'm considering doing no chill however I wasn't sure if I'd either need to reduce the amount of bittering hops or move the 60 minute addition to say a 40 minute addition. Will the longer amount of the time the wort stays hot for result in a higher amount of bitterness being extracted from the hops?

PS not on a water meter also.

PS not on a water meter also.

PS not on a water meter also.

The water meter was one of the reasons that I started No Chill and also to save time on brew day I also mash and boil for no more than 45 mins to save time as well. Do what you feel comfortable with as everybody finds a process that works for them good luck with the brewing

 

[The Baron]

Sorry to hijack this thread with a slightly off topic question but I'm considering doing no chill however I wasn't sure if I'd either need to reduce the amount of bittering hops or move the 60 minute addition to say a 40 minute addition. Will the longer amount of the time the wort stays hot for result in a higher amount of bitterness being extracted from the hops?

Hi Jake I remove my hops before putting the wort in the no chill/FV this will keep your IBU's as per your recipe however brewing recipe builders like brewers friend etc do have a calculation to allow for leaving the hops in but I do not know how accurate they are and you are correct in that if you did do it that way less hops are needed as the IBU'S will rise as extraction of alpha acids happens until the temp of the wort drops below 80c approx.some forumites do it that way and a experienced hand would be better to advise on how to adapt the hop amounts

 

[foxy]

Sorry to hijack this thread with a slightly off topic question but I'm considering doing no chill however I wasn't sure if I'd either need to reduce the amount of bittering hops or move the 60 minute addition to say a 40 minute addition. Will the longer amount of the time the wort stays hot for result in a higher amount of bitterness being extracted from the hops?

I doubt the bittering hops should take a hit, the late additions will make a difference in no chill, you can try and work it out or try the argon method. When I have no chilled I go for the argon method.
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/late-hopping-and-no-chilling-guide.55801/

 

[The Baron]

Yes agree the bittering hop early additions will be nearly spent but late additions will still have more to give so use the calc advised or remove at flameout depending on your recipe

 

[Jake Michael]

Hi Jake I remove my hops before putting the wort in the no chill/FV this will keep your IBU's as per your recipe however brewing recipe builders like brewers friend etc do have a calculation to allow for leaving the hops in but I do not know how accurate they are and you are correct in that if you did do it that way less hops are needed as the IBU'S will rise as extraction of alpha acids happens until the temp of the wort drops below 80c approx.some forumites do it that way and a experienced hand would be better to advise on how to adapt the hop amounts

At what temperature do you transfer to the FV / is there a maximum temp that a standard FV bucket cannot hold the wort? Obviously I'm not going to risk pouring boiling wort into an FV due to the risk of scolding myself but is there any reason why I wouldn't be able to pour it in at say 80 degrees C?

 

[foxy]

Just bog standard HDPE is about 64 C, although people put 80 C into HDPE cubes. There is a chart on line with the info in about all the different plastic temperature parameters.

 

[The Baron]

At what temperature do you transfer to the FV / is there a maximum temp that a standard FV bucket cannot hold the wort? Obviously I'm not going to risk pouring boiling wort into an FV due to the risk of scolding myself but is there any reason why I wouldn't be able to pour it in at say 80 degrees C?

I remove my hops then let the wort cool to 80c before transfer to my FV and then seal and leave to cool either outside or my garage whichever is coolest

 

[crowcrow]

All grain brew day 3 is in the garden. I've seen people complain about the temp control on the klarstein but wrapped up like this it seems pretty steady - drops to 63 then back to 67c - not too bad. Before I wrapped it it used to go to 72 when the heater kicked in again.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Hi crow crow, I have just put a brew on a witbier well that's the plan, just mashing now new ground for me, that jacket looks good what is it, good luck with your brew

 

[crowcrow]

Jacket is just a couple of spare towels from airing cupboard held on with pegs. Seems to do the job!

 

[crowcrow]

Sparge complete, nearly up to boil. Def a great day to brew in the garden!

 

[Rodcx500z]

Sparge complete, nearly up to boil. Def a great day to brew in the garden! View attachment 20770

Yep nice day for brewing just coming to end of mash then a 10 min dunk sparge get the boil on beer time nowt to do today no driving tomoz hey ho thats a fair owd grain basket

 

[Dutto]

As anyone will tell you, I love improvisation!

It is a necessity from my childhood that has been carried into my dotage!

Well done!

 

[crowcrow]

4 days of dry hopping, into the kezeer which I dialled down to 1c, and now into the keg. Will be drinking next weekend I think.

 

[thewelshwizard1]

For chilling the wort, I bought a copper wort chiller of fleabay years ago, the same guy still makes them and sells them on eBay for £30 including post.

I just drop it in the boiler 15 mins before end of boil to sterilise it, then feed tap water through it - every time I use it i'm still amazed at how well it works. It'll cool the wort from boil to 35C in about 20 minutes with a fairly slow flow of cold water, it probably takes another 20 - 30 mins to drop it to 20C, but tap water is usually about 12C so it'll usually drop to 20 in less than an hour easy.

Before fermentation is the highest risk of infection, so you want to get it cooled and pitched as soon as possible, really this is to avoid your brew sitting for hours at warm temps where infections thrive.

Once fermentation begins the conditions for bacteria just get harsher as the yeast does it's thing. (PH drops and alcohol content increases, CO2 provides a protective blanket preventing exposure to oxygen)

Fridges are great for lagering and storing a keg at drinking temp but nowhere near as good as a copper coil when it comes to crash cooling!

Can't beat a good wort chiller tbh, I made my own years ago and it's still my trustee coil, saves time if your an eager beaver brewer