P.D's Brewery.

[PD]

I'm sure it will, you did a good brew and picture post, and your brewing blog ain't bad either.

 

[PD]

Just opened a St.Peters Red Ruby Ale bottled on the 22 August in a Grolsch swing top bottle.
A very satisfying " pop " when opened, nice bit of " steam " rising out of the bottle neck. Poured lovely and clear with good carbonation and a head that was full and creamy white, contrasting with the rich red amber beer.
The head didn't last too long although the carbonation did.
The taste was flavoursome and I wont try and describe it as I cannot for the life of me describe what I'm tasting. Suffice to say it was very nice and the whole lot went down a treat. I was really impressed how clear this drink is. it shines, and it sparkles. I honestly believe that transferring the beer to a second Fv is advantageous for this beer and I'd say all beers. There was very very little debris in the bottom and I could easily pour to within a quarter inch of the bottom.
The beer gives you a very satisfying few little burps after its drunk.. without being violent.
St. Peters 9 out of 10 and that.s because I will not give a beer a 10....... as yet

 

[PD]

Well my first " Grain Bill " has arrived, ( listen to me talking technical ! )
Ordered from The Malt Miller at the top of the forum pages there should be enough for a few beers. Also arrived was my sack of bird seed that's been placed into my clean dustbin to keep the mice off. Now I've nowhere to put the beer grains ! ! As a temporary measure they have gone in their respective bags on top of the birdseed I think a further bin going to have to be bought.
15 Kg of various Malts and 4 vacuum packs of hops ( into the freezer ), now all I've got to do is decide what to brew ! ( I'm sure I should be doing this the other way round... )
I think I've settled on my next brew being a Black Sheep Ales clone of a Riggwelter and after that possibly a dark Mild. That will leave me with approx 6kg of Maris Otter probably enough for ( squeezing it ) another two brews ( with poss a couple of extra hop packets to be bought depending ) So that's 4 x 23litre brews ( say 152 bottles ) equals 26 and a half pence a bottle..... Happy bunny again.

 

[PD]

Oh bugger..... forgot any yeasts !!

 

[PD]

Yeast has arrived. Can now do another brew whenever now. It will be after Saturday as that's when we are celebrating my wife's birthday with a drunken soiree with friends and neighbours. Got my home brew that I've been saving for the day all conditioned and labelled and ready to be drunk. Its all standing on the garage floor at the moment chilling out. They will be served from a couple of borrowed cool boxes on a bed of ice cubes.
50 pints for immediate drinking with plenty in reserve for seconds ! A gallon of cider (7.7%) ready to be made into some sort of Punch. Them that don't drink can fetch their own tea bags !
I've just poured myself a glass of the Munton's Midas Touch Golden Ale that was bottled on the 9 August. My what a fine pint that's turned into, clear brown'y amber colour fully carbed and a head that's pure white and creamy and long lasting' Leaving lots of lacing too on the glass sides.... ( 5.6% abv )
Taste is full and rounded with no hint of a harsh " bitterness ". Could easily drink a few of these in a night, but I won't. There's a dozen of them in the party stash... I might reduce that number.... :whistle:

 

[PD]

Well the morning after the Big Party..... and I feel great, managed 3 hours sleep after the guests all went and woke up without any queesy feelings or hangovers ! Plenty of home brew drank by all I've got the job of cleaning and storing the empties now... :? Even the tea bag wine was appreciated :shock: and I got left with several cases of crap commercialised beers and cheapo wines in various disguises...
So today is a lazy clean up day and this evening its getting the gear out for Brew day tomorrow. I need to replace some stock!
Have finally decided to brew a Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild, from Graham Wheelers book, as the Riggweltter I was going to brew is apparently not like the shop bought brew.... so more research needed on that.
I'm going to try for a 23 litre brew tomorrow which might be pushing it with the size of my boiler, but if I get enough mashings I should be ok as I tend to loose quite a bit during the boil to I can hopefully top up as I go along.
So nearly 6 kg of Pale Malt and Crystal together with Hops Fuggles and Golding are required,hopefully to produce a brew of around 5.7% although hitting targets is something I desire to, and do not necessarily reach !

 

[PD]

well done my second AG brew today, not without its problems again. Failed to hit my target gravity by quite a way.
still... its bubbling away already in the fermenter so hopefully will get a drink out of it in the end.
Just had a couple of glasses of the Blackberry Nettle tea bag wine to finish a bottle off. No wonder the ladies at the party were giggly ! by gum its a strong one...

 

[Rich747]

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:

So you boil in the top bit and ferment in the bottom bucket?

What is the purpose of the cool box in the middle?

:wha:

 

[PD]

My boiler is at the top, first it is used for water around 80C for the middle blue bucket which is the mash tun. The wort is collected from the mash tun into the bottom bucket.
When all the wort is collected the blue box is removed and the boiler takes its place, wort is added and boiled then cooled and drained off to the now empty bottom bucket. This then is taken to my work bench at the other end of garage and poured into the fermenter, where the brew magically becomes beer ( with a lot of luck ! ) in a week or so.

 

[Rich747]

My boiler is at the top, first it is used for water around 80C for the middle blue bucket which is the mash tun. The wort is collected from the mash tun into the bottom bucket.
When all the wort is collected the blue box is removed and the boiler takes its place, wort is added and boiled then cooled and drained off to the now empty bottom bucket. This then is taken to my work bench at the other end of garage and poured into the fermenter, where the brew magically becomes beer ( with a lot of luck ! ) in a week or so.

Thanks. Is there a thread on here you can recall where it takes an AG brew from start to finish? Wheeler's book doesn't really cover actual amount of mashing water and sparge water. Crossing to the dark side soon but want to get it right!

How much boiling liquid do you start with to finish with 23L?

Questions, questions!........

Cheers

 

[PD]

Pm sent to you.

 

[keithybhoy]

Just read this thread from start to finish and enjoyed reading every bit of it,you do like a beer or two fella lol.I plan on moving to AG but not until im happy with brewing with the kits 1st.Good on ye big guy :) :)

 

[PD]

why I thank you kind sir....
again nothing wrong with 2 can kits, they make great beer and make it easily with little fuss. However the need to progress, go beyond our comfort zone...to boldly go where no man.... er sorry ! is the only reason I moved over to AG. I still intend to make kits ( or my son will ) They are fun.

and re liking beer.... I dont drink a lot actually ( have been tea total for 15 years due to outside circumstances ) even now I don't drink every day I usually only have a couple of bottles at the most at a time.... however I do have a 28yr old plug hole of a son..... and friends.

 

[PD]

:thumb: Just had 40 brand new brown glass bottles dropped off ( well not dropped as such.. ) by my neighbour, the bottle maker.

They are a different style this time and quite attractive, 500ml brown " Stumpies " all nice and clean and warm from the pressure tester. Lovely Jubbly.

 

[Tomcat]

wow what a great diary, most enjoyable. Lots of useful info and insights. Dont suppose you would drop a tea bag wine recipe onto here by any chance - they sound great.

Only just started in this ( again after a lot of years ) so doing 1 tin kit brews at the moment, then will try two tin kits once I have the practice in then on from their

Keep up the good work on this diary and happy brewing in your new ag kit :

 

[PD]

Thank you.
Recipe for tea bag wines with thanks to the original forum member who posted it somewhere.... :thumb:

20 Twinnings fruit tea bags flavour of your choice. Blackberry and Nettle makes a nice easy drinking red wine.

1 bag of sugar

2 litres of grape juice red or white of your choice.

1 tsp of following Tannin, Malic Acid, Yeast Nutrient, and yeast of course ( I used cider yeast as it was all I had to hand )

Boil 20 fruit tea bags in a litre of water for 20 mins ( gently ) pour liquid into demi jon along with grape juice.
Boil sugar in 1 litre of water until dissolved add to demi jon mix well.
add tannin acid and nutrient again mix. When cool sprinkle yeast on top and add air lock
After 2 or 3 days after initial ferment has died down, top demi jon up with boiled cooled water. Leave to ferment out ( 2 or 3 weeks usually ) I then syphon off into 2nd demi jon leave for further 2 weeks then bottle.

 

[PD]

Had one of those crappy days at work, so to cheer meself up a bit, I opened a bottle of the Woodfordes Wherry, bottled on 13th September.
Very clear pint with just a little bottle deposit that stayed put on pouring. A nice amber colour with good carbonation and a nice white head on pouring.
Has a pleasant aroma and I wish I could say of what but I can't...its just nice.
Taste wise is clean and not over powering bitter,very drinkable with a nice " beer " after taste of bitterness but not harsh.
Certainly perked my day up... A very nice kit to make.

Ooops, excuse me... nice little burps produced...

 

[PD]

Well All Grain brew 3 completed.....successfully as well ( for a change )
Decided to re do AG2 Sarah Hughes Red Ruby as what I made I don't think would bare any resemblance to what it should be...
Anyway's its all a learning curve...
But today went smoothly enough, without any disasters and I didn't spill a drop on the floor, which is a big bonus for me. Thank goodness I can brew in the garage and not in the kitchen ! Otherwise it would strain matrimonial harmony !
My wife says me brewing is like comparing a Master Chef to a group of boy scouts going for their first cookery badge.
I ended up with 29 litres of a brew that should be about 6% abv, and it smells wonderful. The aroma is similar to St Peters Red Ruby Ale, one of my fav kit brews.
Took ages to clean up afterwards this time..that sticky wort went everywhere during the boil. My boiler swings between a full rolling spitting volcano to just off the boil, going to have to work on that.
Thanks to member BaldBrewer ( Simon ) my false bottom is now well and truly fixed with stainless steel jubilee clips and it was a joy to see the first runnings nice and clear, without piles of grains flowing through.
The split plastic pipe around the edge decided to uncurl itself when hot water was poured into the Mash Tun to warm the pot, but that's been remedied with a few turns of thin copper wire to hold it in place.
The brew is now safe in the fermenter with S-04 yeast and hopefully when I check it in the morning there will be a healthy ferment....please let their be a healthy ferment...

So books out and start thinking of the next brew!.... its all go.

 

[PD]

Tonight's little tipple....

Coopers Dark Ale. I bottled this 1st July 2012. It was brew No.4 on my return to home brewing.
I was new...the kit was new, I over primed and ended up with alcoholic Dandelion and Burdock. It was still nice tho, and very drinkable. So much so I'm glad I secreted a few bottles away.... Well I found one today. :twisted:... nha nha nha...

And like a grown up schoolboy its calmed itself down , its matured. No more Mister Bubbly get up and come down your nose drink. Its a Stout. Not as heavy on the belly or as bitter as a Guinness. Like a growing up young lad it has now lost its head ( well after half the glass ) There is no lacing sticking to the sides of the glass, and its smoooooth. It still holds its aroma of the aforementioned " pop " but faintly,its semi sweet and just the right carbonation or even a little under carbonated compared to what it was like originally.
Its a pint to sit with,quietly playing dominoes or cards in the bar. Not one for gulping down, there's bags of flavours that come through during drinking and as the after taste. There's no bitterness at all on the tongue. A pint my ol Dad would have liked to sit with, and yes, I too am enjoying sitting with it now.

Will be interesting when I compare it with my second dark ale I brewed at the beginning of July and cut back on the priming sugar. I know it aint flat as the plastic bottles are rock hard......

Can I wait till tomorrow..... :whistle: :whistle:

 

[PD]

Just ordered some new grain from The Malt Miller today for delivery Friday, might be able to get an extra brew on before I start back at work. If not sometime next week as there's no great rush.I've got 2 brews in fermenter's at the moment. Both Sarah Hughes Mild. The first was my cock up brew so I should really rename it ( ready for 2nd Fvessel) and the proper Sarah Hughes which I did on Monday.
I'm going to try a different brew next A Rauchbier or smoked German beer.According to the web blurb :-
Once upon a time, all beers were Rauchbiers, so to speak. The term Rauchbier simply means "smoke beer" in German, and with the ancient kilning methods of drying green brewer's malt over open fires, all grains picked up smoky flavors and passed them on to the beers made from them. Today, however, with "clean" malt being the dominant brewing grist, old-style "smoke beers" have set themselves apart as an atavistic rarity, a throwback to a time gone by. Most Rauchbiers, like most Bavarian beers, are barley-based lagers. They are darkish-amber and opaque, with an alcoholic strength ranging from 4.8 to 6.5% by volume.
Its my first time ordering a full 25kg sack of Maris Otter too, should be fun trying to store it all...