Pavalijo
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2020
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So here goes with AG01 after 11 kits over the past 12 months.
I gained courage having read the @clibit thread. Having read it from start to finish I decided to follow his Citra Pale Ale recipe rather than the simple smash.
His recipe was for a 10L batch which I upped to 15L batch and is:
Marris Otter 2.250kg (83.33%)
Caramalt. 0.150kg (5.56%)
Wheat malt. 0.150kg (5.56%)
Dextrose. 0.150kg (5.56%)
Mash at 66*C 60 minutes.
Hops:
7.5g Columbus leaf (17.1%AA) @ 60 minutes
11.0g Citra leaf ( 14.4% AA ) @ 15 minutes
21.0g Citra leaf ( 14.4% AA ) @ 5minutes
21.0g Citra leaf ( 14.4% AA ) @ 0 minutes
Safale US-05 yeast.
I actually added 8g of Columbus and 12.5/23g of Citra as the AA content stated on the packs was 16% and 12.8% respectively - first request for advice (although comments on all aspects very welcome) - did I do the correct thing by adjusting the quantity of hops based on AA content?
I would also add one third of a Britewort (Carigneen) tablet at 15 minutes.
I had acquired 25L of Tesco Ashbeck. Because this is a pale hoppy beer I thought I should add Gypsum. After seeking advice on here I added 8.9g to 20L. No further additions - I’ll get into that later when I get my head into a state where I can absorb and retain the Strange Steve thread! My litmus paper suggested that the Gypsum had made little or no difference to the Ph 6.5 of the Ashbeck.
I had purchased a Young’s large mash bag, a Thermapen and accurate scales. Here is part of the assembled gubbins:
I had assembled a 3 pot system comprising a Peco Electrim mash/boiler bin (£25 on eBay and in good nick), a 19L pot for dunk sparging with (£15 inc postage from eBay, rather thin but ok for sparging). The third element was a smaller pot we already had, together with a large colander that fits snugly inside - for a thorough drain without having to squeeze.
Here are the three pots outside under the gazebo (on the right is the third pot with colander and the grain draining inside it):
I added 12L of the Ashbeck to the Peco and switched it on. Whilst it warmed up I weighed out the hops and checked the weight of the grain bill that my daughter’s fiancé had supplied. Spot on!
I reckoned that I needed to add the grain at 76*c to achieve a 66*c mash. I added the grain gradually whilst stirring, happy that I had no dry spots. I was wrong with the strike temperature and stirred in another 1.0L of boiling water that I had already boiled in readiness and that got me to just above my target at 66.5*c.
I then wrapped the Peco in two blankets and two sheepskin rugs and stood it on Cellotex insulation:
The photo also shows the third pot with colander. And two bananas.
During the 73 minutes I mashed (13 minutes more than intended) I twice opened the bin and stirred. I also put 8.5L of Ashbeck into the sparge pot and started heating that on the hob, targeting 85*c. At first stir after 25 minutes the temp had stayed at 66.5*c; at 48 minutes 65*c and at 66 minutes 64*c. The sparge water wasn’t quite ready yet and after 73 minutes I removed the grain bag and dunked it into sparge water at 86*c. After stirring thoroughly this dropped to 74.5*c.
Leaving the grain in the sparge water I took the Peco out to the brewery (ie the gazebo) and turned it to heat at full power. I stirred up the sparge 12 minutes after adding and it had dropped to 72*c already - must improve on that by insulation. Another 6 minutes later I gave a good agitation and removed the bag into the drain colander/pot and added the sparge water to the Peco. I had intended a slightly longer sparge than 18 minutes (do I need to sparge for longer?) but the wort in the Peco reached hot break so I added the sparge at that point. 15 minutes into the boil I added the sparge water drained by the colander. The grain was very dry, and whilst I didn’t want to add anything gained by squeezing I wanted to see how much that would yield - so I squeezed but got almost nothing.
I took a pre boil sample which I cooled to 20*c in the fridge and took the reading at 1.034
The boil went as planned, skimming the hot break with a sieve and adding the hops on time, along with the Britewort at 15 minutes. I added the brewing sugar at 60 minutes (start of boil).
The Peco showed 20L at the start of boil (I had previously checked the stuck on plastic scale), so I had lost 1.5L in the 2.55kg grain bill - 0.6L per kg, a little less loss than I had anticipated (I allowed for 2.0L). At the end of boil I estimated that I had 18L in the Peco. The Peco had cut out twice (quickly reset) and I’m not sure that the boil was quite as vigorous as I expected. I had estimated 3L loss in boiling and 1.5 to 2L of loss in the trub, so I may end up with more wort than intended. Next time I will insulate the Peco with yoga mat.
After 60 minutes I turned off and stirred in the final hops. After 10 minutes I tilted the Peco away from the tap and did a vigorous whirlpool stir. After another 17 minutes I began emptying. I had been looking for a bazooka filter to push into the Peco tap but couldn’t find one (I did find links on here but they were both out of date).
So with some trepidation I opened the tap with the sanitized sparge pot under it. Initially I got a good flow of relatively clear wort. For about 1 minute! Then almost nothing. I would later find one hop bud blocking the tap, so I definitely need to sort this. So - out with the siphon tube which allowed me to get most of the wort out. When I got to the trub in the bottom I tipped up the Peco and used my sanitised turkey baster to get as much of the remainder as I could.
The lid went on the sparge pot that was now to be employed to cool the wort. Into the sink it went and after three changes of water I added every freezer block that we possess:
After 65 minutes the wort had reached 21.5*c. I checked the OG which was 1.040, versus a target per @clibit recipe of 1.044.
However when I poured the wort through a sanitised filter bag (Sainsbury veg bag) the scale inside the SS Chronical (the scale is at 0.5 US gallon intervals so not great) suggested I had around 16.5 litres, 10% more than the 15L batch I intended.
I rehydrated the US-05 yeast and pitched it at 21.5*c.
Over the following 3 days I had a very vigorous fermentation which ended on day 4 - at 1.014. I had a look inside to find a scaly thin yeast layer on the top. I gently stirred this in and by the next day had very slow bubbling again. This is still going on day 9 of fermentation and I’m not going to touch it again until it stops.
Lessons learned/future improvements/advice requested:
I will report back with a taste test in due course........thanks for reading.
I gained courage having read the @clibit thread. Having read it from start to finish I decided to follow his Citra Pale Ale recipe rather than the simple smash.
His recipe was for a 10L batch which I upped to 15L batch and is:
Marris Otter 2.250kg (83.33%)
Caramalt. 0.150kg (5.56%)
Wheat malt. 0.150kg (5.56%)
Dextrose. 0.150kg (5.56%)
Mash at 66*C 60 minutes.
Hops:
7.5g Columbus leaf (17.1%AA) @ 60 minutes
11.0g Citra leaf ( 14.4% AA ) @ 15 minutes
21.0g Citra leaf ( 14.4% AA ) @ 5minutes
21.0g Citra leaf ( 14.4% AA ) @ 0 minutes
Safale US-05 yeast.
I actually added 8g of Columbus and 12.5/23g of Citra as the AA content stated on the packs was 16% and 12.8% respectively - first request for advice (although comments on all aspects very welcome) - did I do the correct thing by adjusting the quantity of hops based on AA content?
I would also add one third of a Britewort (Carigneen) tablet at 15 minutes.
I had acquired 25L of Tesco Ashbeck. Because this is a pale hoppy beer I thought I should add Gypsum. After seeking advice on here I added 8.9g to 20L. No further additions - I’ll get into that later when I get my head into a state where I can absorb and retain the Strange Steve thread! My litmus paper suggested that the Gypsum had made little or no difference to the Ph 6.5 of the Ashbeck.
I had purchased a Young’s large mash bag, a Thermapen and accurate scales. Here is part of the assembled gubbins:
I had assembled a 3 pot system comprising a Peco Electrim mash/boiler bin (£25 on eBay and in good nick), a 19L pot for dunk sparging with (£15 inc postage from eBay, rather thin but ok for sparging). The third element was a smaller pot we already had, together with a large colander that fits snugly inside - for a thorough drain without having to squeeze.
Here are the three pots outside under the gazebo (on the right is the third pot with colander and the grain draining inside it):
I added 12L of the Ashbeck to the Peco and switched it on. Whilst it warmed up I weighed out the hops and checked the weight of the grain bill that my daughter’s fiancé had supplied. Spot on!
I reckoned that I needed to add the grain at 76*c to achieve a 66*c mash. I added the grain gradually whilst stirring, happy that I had no dry spots. I was wrong with the strike temperature and stirred in another 1.0L of boiling water that I had already boiled in readiness and that got me to just above my target at 66.5*c.
I then wrapped the Peco in two blankets and two sheepskin rugs and stood it on Cellotex insulation:
The photo also shows the third pot with colander. And two bananas.
During the 73 minutes I mashed (13 minutes more than intended) I twice opened the bin and stirred. I also put 8.5L of Ashbeck into the sparge pot and started heating that on the hob, targeting 85*c. At first stir after 25 minutes the temp had stayed at 66.5*c; at 48 minutes 65*c and at 66 minutes 64*c. The sparge water wasn’t quite ready yet and after 73 minutes I removed the grain bag and dunked it into sparge water at 86*c. After stirring thoroughly this dropped to 74.5*c.
Leaving the grain in the sparge water I took the Peco out to the brewery (ie the gazebo) and turned it to heat at full power. I stirred up the sparge 12 minutes after adding and it had dropped to 72*c already - must improve on that by insulation. Another 6 minutes later I gave a good agitation and removed the bag into the drain colander/pot and added the sparge water to the Peco. I had intended a slightly longer sparge than 18 minutes (do I need to sparge for longer?) but the wort in the Peco reached hot break so I added the sparge at that point. 15 minutes into the boil I added the sparge water drained by the colander. The grain was very dry, and whilst I didn’t want to add anything gained by squeezing I wanted to see how much that would yield - so I squeezed but got almost nothing.
I took a pre boil sample which I cooled to 20*c in the fridge and took the reading at 1.034
The boil went as planned, skimming the hot break with a sieve and adding the hops on time, along with the Britewort at 15 minutes. I added the brewing sugar at 60 minutes (start of boil).
The Peco showed 20L at the start of boil (I had previously checked the stuck on plastic scale), so I had lost 1.5L in the 2.55kg grain bill - 0.6L per kg, a little less loss than I had anticipated (I allowed for 2.0L). At the end of boil I estimated that I had 18L in the Peco. The Peco had cut out twice (quickly reset) and I’m not sure that the boil was quite as vigorous as I expected. I had estimated 3L loss in boiling and 1.5 to 2L of loss in the trub, so I may end up with more wort than intended. Next time I will insulate the Peco with yoga mat.
After 60 minutes I turned off and stirred in the final hops. After 10 minutes I tilted the Peco away from the tap and did a vigorous whirlpool stir. After another 17 minutes I began emptying. I had been looking for a bazooka filter to push into the Peco tap but couldn’t find one (I did find links on here but they were both out of date).
So with some trepidation I opened the tap with the sanitized sparge pot under it. Initially I got a good flow of relatively clear wort. For about 1 minute! Then almost nothing. I would later find one hop bud blocking the tap, so I definitely need to sort this. So - out with the siphon tube which allowed me to get most of the wort out. When I got to the trub in the bottom I tipped up the Peco and used my sanitised turkey baster to get as much of the remainder as I could.
The lid went on the sparge pot that was now to be employed to cool the wort. Into the sink it went and after three changes of water I added every freezer block that we possess:
After 65 minutes the wort had reached 21.5*c. I checked the OG which was 1.040, versus a target per @clibit recipe of 1.044.
However when I poured the wort through a sanitised filter bag (Sainsbury veg bag) the scale inside the SS Chronical (the scale is at 0.5 US gallon intervals so not great) suggested I had around 16.5 litres, 10% more than the 15L batch I intended.
I rehydrated the US-05 yeast and pitched it at 21.5*c.
Over the following 3 days I had a very vigorous fermentation which ended on day 4 - at 1.014. I had a look inside to find a scaly thin yeast layer on the top. I gently stirred this in and by the next day had very slow bubbling again. This is still going on day 9 of fermentation and I’m not going to touch it again until it stops.
Lessons learned/future improvements/advice requested:
- I really enjoyed the day. It took 5 hours start to finish and being mostly retired I’m not bothered about speeding that up too much!
- Learn more about water treatment.
- Was my adjustment to hop quantities based on AA content correct?
- Allow less for grain retention of water - can always add back in.
- Allow less for trub loss - can always add back in.
- Insulate the Peco with removable yoga mat to achieve better boil and more stable mash temperature (still adding the rugs and sheepskin during mash).
- Insulate the sparge bin to achieve more stable temperature.
- Improve the Peco tap with added bazooka filter.
- I added a whole 11.5g pack of yeast - more than needed but I don’t need any for the next brew (will try a different yeast) and my query is - can overpitching do any harm?
- I was targeting 15L at 1.044 and got 16.5L at 1.040. Can anyone tell me from the figures on here what %efficiency I achieved? I need to learn how to do that!
- What OG would I have achieved if I had used less water and hit the desired 15L batch size? My simple maths might suggest 1.044, the target quoted in @Clibit’s recipe, in which case I’m a happy bunny!
- Build a new brew shed.....
I will report back with a taste test in due course........thanks for reading.
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