Smokestack Brewery AG #1 - Oatmeal Stout

[Ceejay]

2 days until the actual brewday, and my yeast and hops have arrived in the post; time to make a starter and get the yeast partying.

Sanitising jug, funnel, whisk, and lemonade bottle:

I boiled up 1.5l of water with 150g of dark spraymalt. Lovely stuff that is - smells and tastes like malteasers!

"wort" cooling in a sink of cold water with my probe thermometer set to off at 69 deg F (optimum yeast temp 65-68 deg F)

Whisked the wort to get maximum aeration:

Whitelabs WLP004 Irish Ale yeast pitched, lid on, fingers crossed it gets going over the next 36 hours :)

 

[Sean_Mc]

Looks nice mate, can smell from here

What hops are you bittering with

 

[Dieseljockey]

Good luck with your first AG.. :thumb:
All the best.. keep the info coming over the weekend.. :clap:

 

[Ceejay]

Looks nice mate, can smell from here

What hops are you bittering with

The recipe calls for 63g of East Kent Goldings at 4.5% AAA, although the hops I've recieved are 5.2% AAA so I might use less, or I might just go with 63g. I do like things on the hoppy side :hmm:

Cheers chaps. I had a whiff of the yeast vial after I pitched it, and it smells incredible. It just smells like it's going to make a really nice beer! Roll on Saturday. Tomorrow night I'll be toasting the oats and getting the boiler and tun wet just to finally check I've got all the plumbing good and tight, with no leaks. Oh, and picking up the malt from Tucker's Maltings :party:

 

[Sean_Mc]

Have a good day C, remember lots of pics :thumb:

 

[rickthebrew]

Good luck with saturday :thumb: Don`t forget the pics

 

[Baz Chaz]

Good luck with the brew :thumb: enjoy the journey to 'The Dark Side'

 

[Mark1964]

Nice 1 we are brewing too on saturday and sunday will be a very busy weekend

 

[caerleon]

Gratz on your first AG brew - you will never look back!

 

[Good Ed]

All the best ceejay, take your time and enjoy it :

 

[Ceejay]

Thanks guys. Just checked on the yeast starter; it's been about 8 hours since pitching and the lemonade bottle felt like it was about to burst. Loosened the lid with a huge hiss; it's now got a nice head on it and is fizzing like crazy. Going to leave the lid on loose so it doesn't explode in the night! Suffice to say this yeast is in tip-top condition! Smells great too :party:

 

[gurtpint]

Have a blast Ceejay! As others have pointed out, it is extremely unlikely that you'll want to leave these dark tunnels from now on...

 

[graysalchemy]

Good luck with the Oatmeal stout and your transgression to the darkside may the wort be with you :lol: :lol: :lol: .

Interested to see how you get on. Oatmeal stout was my first ag and I am repeating it on Monday.

:

AG

 

[Ceejay]

Hehe, soon I'll be saying "Once you were the teacher, but now I am the master"! I hope...

More (albeit pointless) pics:

My what lovely sacks...

Is it me, but can the "T" in tuckers quite easily be misread?

This is the yeast starter about 30 secs after I de-gassed it and it nearly went all over the floor. If I listen carefully I can hear the yeasties doing Yaeger bombs and mixing up mojitos and B-52s :lol:

 

[Baz Chaz]

Full of fun them yeasties :lol:

 

[rickthebrew]

Is it me, but can the "T" in tuckers quite easily be misread?

Funny you should say that Ceejay.......

:lol:

 

[Ceejay]

*snap* I won! :lol:

Right - equipment is kinda set up. Kitchen's clean, the missus has gone to work and I think I'm ready! Is it wrong that I feel kinda nervous?! Weird. Anyways, got some Howlin' Wolf on the stereo for inspriation. Going to be using the excellent Brewstew's guide to your first AG brew for errr...guidance.

Recipe is thus:

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/recipeview.php?recipe_id=323

Oats were toasted for a good hour and a half last night as my oven is a bit weird, plus I wasn't really sure how toasted is "toasted" :hmm:

 

[Good Ed]

Relax and enjoy it : Howlin Wolf's a good choice

 

[Ceejay]

Boiler's on and the thermometer alarm's set to go off at 78 degrees for strike temp :party: .

Obligatory grain bill shot:

I tell you what, if the smell of this bucket is anything to go by, this is going to be one tasty beverage!

My plastic fantastic 3 tier setup:

Coffee time.

 

[Muddy Funker]

Have a good one. You're right the grains look and I bet smell fantastic!!!