P.D's Brewery.

[PD]

Carbonation depends on several factors, from the amount of priming sugars added, the temp the bottle is stored the length of time etc. including whether the beer had totally finished fermenting. Any slight alteration in these things will cause differences in the amount of " pop "
Its like playing russian roulette.....

 

[PD]

Been playing with my boiler this afternoon now that I've wrapped it in a camping mat. Uninsulated it took exactly 60 mins. to come to a rolling boil with water. With 1 layer of camping mat it took 52 mins. Not a great saving but a saving none the less, however it holds a more fierce boil with the insulation on.
Made a wooden boiler stick so I can measure how much water is in the boiler and by a huge amount of mental arithmetic I can work out how much I run off into the mash tun etc. It will also serve as a good stirring stick for the grain.
I've also ordered a mash tun and wort chiller of tinternet, together with some tubing from Vossy, and a better digital thermometer than the 99p one I picked up from the Range... it don't work ! well it may be the battery requires changing I'll see. ( the temp of my palm ranges from 24 degrees to 70 ! )..

The Wherry is bubbling away nicely and has a large deep layer of foam on top. The temperature is around 24 degrees while the yeast is working and doing its stuff.
Otherwise not a great deal done as my dog has been poorly since last night and being a lot, so cleaning up after him and keeping him company has been the order of the day, looks like he might have got over his sickies late this afternoon.

 

[PD]

Part of the growing stash. Sad to say I have to reduce this over the next few weeks ........ as I'm running out of space ! all bottles in ranks of three

Let battle commence !

 

[Davybarman]

You have some drinking to do!! :thumb:

Samples always accepted also :whistle:

 

[PD]

my thermometer was the only parcel to arrive today so still awaiting my mash tun chiller and pipes.
I've took my temperature and I seem to be well....
I spend an hour this afternoon making up and printing a generalised idiots guide to my brew day from setting up the equipment to dismantling it at the end of the session hopefully so I don't forget anything. I've place an order from The Homebrew company for a grain mash kit as a first run, I think they are expensive as such, hopefully I can order some bulk grains for later brews. I've picked as a style an English Pale Ale to start with as son says can we have an easy drinking brew as most of my bottles ones are a little specialist and heavy ( % abv are around 5.5 plus ).
When the mash kit arrives I can see the recipe and will input the details into the software BrewMate. I will try for a 23 litre brew but until I see how that fills my boiler and leave me with a good safety headspace I'm prepared to do a 19 litre brew.
I'm working all this weekend so brewing will not be done till Monday or Tuesday.

 

[Andy.H]

Part of the growing stash. Sad to say I have to reduce this over the next few weeks ........ as I'm running out of space ! all bottles in ranks of three

Sod that, buy more shelving

 

[PD]

Well every thing has arrived and come together. I have the rudiments of a brewery set up at last.
The set up takes 10 mins to put together plus the time to untangle me garden hose pipe and run it up to the garage for the chiller ! It uses 2 portable workbenches to stand the boiler and mash tun on with the wort collector/fermenter standing on the floor. Very compact and not intrusive ( I'll try and post a pic tonight ) When done all packs away neatly in the garage so nobody can complain.... ha wanna bet !
Only extra expense I incurred was a short hose pipe and connector as it seems a shame to use Vossey's excellent hose for that. I bought this so I can simply connect the garden hose to the chiller This assembly when dismantled can stay in the clean and warm garage and not get messed around in the garden.
Later I am going to have a run through with water to check for leaks etc and to walk through the brewing process wasting nothing but water.

The Wherry is finally finishing off in the fermenter its foam ring has nearly all gone.However I will still be leaving it alone for 5 + days before I decide to bottle it or put it into 2nd FV ( depends on how clear it looks ).

Time for tea then a play.

 

[Andy.H]

Nice one... don't forget the photos of your maiden voyage :)

 

[PD]

Took me 10 mins to set up ready to brew. No leaks and everything went well cooler took the temperature down from a boil to 21 degrees in around 35 mins so I can live with that.


ere we go ere we go..... :thumb:

 

[Andy.H]

How much would you say that lot has cost you to put together?

(if you don't mind me asking of course)

 

[PD]

Bought mash tun and boiler and chiller brand new with all fittings already done ( taps false bottom.strainer etc ) £180 ish rest is just bits and bobs from kit brewing. Savings can be made if you DIY of course, but for me....water and electrics... :nono: :nono:
To help with the costs I banged in a few kits before I decided to try AG so I didn't have to buy any for a couple of weeks and that paid for the chiller.
Only thing I'm missing which I had on my list is a whirlygig sparge arm, but I will manage with tin foil and jug method or I might do re-mash method. ( Son wants to buy a sparge arm for christmas present)

Oh plus £7 for short hose pipe and connector, and some tubing from Vossey off the forum. ( £15 )

Not the cheapest method of building set up, but when your ham fisted like me it has to be done. The biggest expense was my cool box as there doesn't seem to be any on offer around here at the moment of a size around 40+ litres. Then to convert with new ball valve tap would be extra £25, a stainless steel bottom £30. I paid £90 for a 42 litre one complete with fittings.

I don't think my boiler is the best and most long lasting one, but for me its sufficient and large enough for the use I will be giving it ( couple of brews a month say ) because I still intend to do some kit beers until I'm experienced enough for making up own recipes.
I am using the BrewMate software ( free of the internet ) which is simple to understand and get to grips with although I've been told its not the best and can be misleading.

But hey ho its for fun and enjoyment. Certainly drew a crowd of neighbours to my garage last night and that was only brewing water ! We went through quite a few home brews while having a giggle...

 

[PD]

got a surprise delivery from a near neighbour this morning. He works for a large local glass manufacturer. He brought me 60 lovely fresh brown 500ml glass beer bottles.... :party: Still slightly warm and straight out of the pressure tester.

Must be worth a bottle of brew or two....

 

[Davybarman]

Nice to have friends like that :thumb:

 

[PD]

First impressions

Well my first grain kit arrived this morning, ( belatedly ) from The Homebrew Company.
It took a few days to arrive ( was notified by the company that it was despatched last Wednesday morning ) arriving late afternoon the following Monday.

What do you get for your money ? Well first impressions are a little disappointing I must admit. After removing vast amounts of cardboard packaging ( good ) you are left with one plastic bag of ingredients. Everything is inside this sealed clear plastic bag. The loose grains yeast proto-flock tablet, hops and importantly what is described as full instructions. As this is going to be my first venture into AG I was understandably looking forward to these full instructions. I've got my brewing software ready on the computer waiting for me to input the details of the brew etc I've never really looked at grains or hops before and was interested in seeing them.
So ..... er the instructions are pushed inside this big sealed plastic bag and to get at them you have to cut into it. I don't expect to be brewing for several days so that means the crushed grains are exposed to the air. Ok in we go and full instructions yeast packet and hops removed. The bag then resealed with tape the best I can.
Full instructions...... consisted of one A4 sheet of paper.
The top half was a reprint of the description of the companies web site of the type of beer the " kit " will produce. Nothing new here then.

3 lines informing me of
1 OG
2 FG
3 pot %abv

This vast information then followed by " Batch sparge calculations" ( 3 lines )

All this followed by the detailed instructions for the brew.... 6 lines of text telling me the re mash method of mashing times and temps.
then the last 2 lines telling me to add the hops at appropriate times Boil cool and ferment. oh and a " don't forget to add your yeast " warning.
That's the detailed instructions... no list of what grains are included, their individual weights etc ( or combined weight as a matter of fact.)
Floating in the big grain bag was 3 packets of what I guess are the vacuum packed hops, each with a sticker saying 60 min 10 min and 0 min. what hops they are I haven't a clue, it doesn't tell me.
So my brewing soft-wear is redundant on this occasion. and my knowledge of what the beer will contain is zilch.

Hey ho its a kit... so you don't need a breakdown of what grains and how much, what hops and weights etc do you... ! yes you do.

Anyway's I've transferred the now opened bag of crushed grains to a more sturdy container ( my bird seed dustbin )... I hope I don't mix them up otherwise this brew will have to be called Tweet Ale or The Dickie Bird Brew or similar..
My brewing soft-wear has been put away till another time.

Must make sure I don't loose this piece of paper with the detailed instruction on...

Am I impressed.................er No actually I'm not.

 

[PD]

Racked my Woodfordes Wherry into a second fv this evening. Started on 03/09/12 at 1.044 and finishing at FG 1.014 giving me a 4% abv brew. Very happy with that as it makes for easier drinking....
The brew was nice and clear with a lovely aroma and I could have bottled there and then but hey ho into a 2nd fv for a few days to get even clearer. Those auto syphon's are very good takes me less than 5 mins to syphon 19 litres off and I don't wet me lips......
well I did actually, had the smallest taste possible.. very drinkable now. lol.

 

[PD]

Well I finally went All Grain today.....
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=29310

Not without its problems I've got to say but most of them were down to me making silly errors. I need to sort my mashing routine out as I lost a lot of volume along the way and I think it was caused by a simple maths problem when adding 14 litres of water then 6 litres then 6 more etc etc I think I got lost .....
My major concern was the boiler... it boiled 19 litres of wort great and I got a good rolling boil ... for 10 mins short of a 90 min boil. Then the power kept knocking out and we limped along for the last 10 mins with me switching it off for a min back on boil for 2 mins then knocking off etc I guess it's something to do with a thermal override somewhere inside the heating element or thermostat.
But we got there in the end and I've now got 19 litres of 1.044 % PIDDLES DRIBBLE in the fermenter Had a nap after all that and now its clean up time !

Gawd that worts sticky and gets everywhere....

 

[PD]

as a celebratory meal my wife cooked me a beef casserole with creamed potatoes carrots and peas and good ol'yorkshire puddings.
To go with it I had a glass or two of my recently made Blackberry and Nettle tea bag wine. I'd recently bottled it and got half a bottle left over which I'd placed in the kitchen for cooking with. ( a big dose went into the casserole too )
I've got to say I was impressed with the young wine very clear and a lovely red colour. It shows an alcoholic level of 13.5% from gravity readings and you could confirm that by drinking it.
To say it was made using only tea bags I'm well impressed and I think there's going to be a few more of these made.

So if any one has found a mix of tea bags that will give a WHITE wine I'd be obliged I seem to be only able to source reds at the moment.

I put this wine into 4 plastic " pop" type bottles with screw caps thinking they would either be drunk quickly of thrown away even quicker. The next lot will go into proper wine bottles with corks, the wine made certainly warrants it....

 

[PD]

Racked off my first all grain 19 litres of Piddles Dribble today looks clear tastes ok. however the yeast was a bit high ranking ! and lots of it. never seen so much yeast especially when I made from kits. The brew will be left in a 2nd Fv for another week.
Picked up a 40 litre cool box today for the princely sum of £3.99p from the local charity shop. No use as a mash tun as there's absolutely no insulation in it
but for that price its cheaper than the plastic storage boxes ! It will do as a wet brewing box for jugs and bowls etc.
Also collected a bottle of Videne antiseptic no rinse sanitiser that I'd ordered from the chemists yesterday. £9.87 for 500ml, at least in the strengths home brewers use it it will last a lengthy time.

 

[PD]

Today I bottled all my Piddle.....

My first AG brew Piddles Dribble that is. 32 bottles of a lovely clear beer. It had no detectable off flavours at all, unlike my kits have for a few days and tastes like a good beer.
After all the mistakes and problems during my mash I'm rather pleased....... :

 

[fbsf]

Nice one Sir - hoping mine comes out the same! :