New Brewer

[OldGazza]

Having brewed beer kits numerous times, always successfully,i have ordered ingredients for Durden Park original porter, taking the next step to grain brewing. I have all neccessary fermentation bottling equipment etc.
I do not have a mash tun or cooling equipment as yet. Can i do this in a large pan on the cooker, i am aiming to make a couple of gallons only this time and if the result is good aim to purchase proper equipment.
I would appreciate any advice on mashing, sparging cooling with the basic gear i have got. Come on you Heath Robinsons lend me hand.!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks oldgazza

 

[Frisp]

OG
I would love to offer words of wisdom on this one but Im a bit short on experience.
I know you can make a MT setup with two buckets set inside each other. The one which holds the grain has holes drilled in the bottom so you can sparge .
If you have a big pot to hold your 2 gallons and you can get it to bil continuously for about and hour, you should manage a good Hot Break. Its getting the cold break which will cause you anxt. I would say you need some kind of immersion chiller. I made mine out of 10mm copper pipe from Focus.
Im sure some of the gurus will be along in a bit to tell you how you can do it with minimal kit.

 

[Wez]

Yep Frisp is right, you're talking about doing a mini-mash, the best thing to do would be to adopt the two small buckets inside each other approach the outer bucket fitted with a tap low down and the inner bucket has lots of small holes drilled in the bottom. Insulate it with whatever you have during the mash and run off into a large pot that you can boil on the stove :thumb:

 

[EskiBrew]

I have heard of people mashing in the oven (set very low or warm but off) and then straining through a large sieve. Very heath robinson and you might get the feeling that AG is really hard because of the faffing you will have to do.

For about a fiver you could buy a cheap coolbox. If you use it for the mash then pour the contents through a sieve into a soup pan for the boil then no need to modify it to begin with. If you decide not to go AG then you have a spare coolbox to transport your kit beer next summer

 

[jamesb]

For about a fiver you could buy a cheap coolbox.

Don't. Spend a few quid more and get a decent one.

I use the 7 quid cheap job from ASDA and it's a bit of a pain. Although I'm looking to get a thermbox for xmas :pray:. The cheap ones at 24l need a lot more extra insulation and you're quite restricted with your grain bill. I can't really get more than 5.5kg grain with a 2.5:1 liquor ratio.

 

[OldGazza]

Brew went ok, mashing with large pan in oven was fine and managed to maintain a good level 66deg, but had problem with 2 bucket sparging. Drilled 2 mm holes in bucket bottom but after inital small flow they were clogged, should i drill bigger holes next time or put grain in muslin bag, any ideas. Seem to have a good 40mm of gunk in bottom of demijohn now fermentation is slowing down, looks excessive, is that because my wort didn't filter very well through the grainbed as i had to agitate it to get it through. Will it have detrimental effect on taste or clarity of finished beer.All advice greatfully received.

 

[Jonnyv]

Congrats on your first AG

Don't worry about the sediment - that happened when I first did a mini mash. If you have another demijohn you could syphon it off the sediment but you're risking leaving too much yeast behind and getting a stuck fermentation.

The trick with your lauter tun is to drill more holes - don't drill bigger ones as it'll allow grain to come through and you won't get a good run off.

Failing that a grain bag would do the same job but I'd try more holes first.

 

[Kingfisher]

Well done OG :thumb: I can't help with the question as I'm only a novice myself but I got a lot of satisfaction from my first AG and my latest No.7 is the best yet for clarity and efficiency.

 

[Wez]

Welcome to the dark side OG :thumb:

 

[OldGazza]

I think the hard part may be waiting 6 month in bottle maturation time,
an impatient oldgazza.

 

[Wez]

6 months maturation, what did you brew?

 

[OldGazza]

Durden Park recipe for 1750 original porter. Came out at 10.75 sounds like serious stuff.

 

[Vossy1]

Oooh...good call...let us know how it turns out :thumb:

That's some way to start AG

 

[Wez]

:shock: :shock:

Superb :thumb:

 

[BrewStew]

congrats! that's definitely not one of the easiest brewdays i've seen but i reckon you've cracked it!

the rest will simply fall into place the more you do it

 

[OldGazza]

Thanks for the support fellas. i reckon i may have to sneak a bottle by xmas knowing me, will let you know the results

 

[MEB]

If i were you i wouldn't touch the stuff for 6 month's. It's a bit crap for the first 3, gets good at 4, by 5 it's bloody awesome. I'll let you know what it's like at 6 months in 20 sleeps.

 

[OldGazza]

Durden Park 1750 porter seems almost fermented out,only very occasional bubble through air lock now gravity is 10.25. OG was 10.75
is it stuck or is that right for something that pokey

 

[Wez]

Thats a 50 point loss, so from 1.075 a 66% attenuation, i'd let it glug away a bit more :thumb:

 

[Vossy1]

I agree with Wez. It probably needs at least 10 days in primary and then it will continue dropping points in secondary.
What yeast did you use OG ?