Super Secret - AG#1 Ringwood's Old Thumper

[caerleon]

Well i have decided to go ahead even thou im short of a few things so im going to have to improvise as i go along.

As i'm originally from Dorsetshire and used to drink the brew when i was at College all those years ago i have decided in honor of my homeland that i will brew a local ale. I did in my youth work for The Badger Brewery sadly only making panda pops and pimm's. Great family run company to work for also gave you 2 crates of whatever Beer they produced or 4 crates of pop :drink:

Old Thumper Recipe (Wheeler) Modified slightly.. :thumb:

Pale Ale 5.200 Kg
Torrified Wheat 0.350 Kg
Crystal Malt 0.250 Kg
Choc 0.035 Kg

Challenger 42g
East Kent Goldings 14g

WLP005 English Ale Yeast
1 Pack of Gervins English Ale yeast (Emergency Yeasties)

I had to wait till all the women were out of the house incase i made a mess of the kitchen. I have my setup working at the moment and about 6 mins till the end of the mash cycle.

A special mention should be given to DennisKing for allowing me to witness him making some Landlords a few weeks ago, which answered alot of questions. Thanks again Dennis!

Will update and post photo's later.

 

[craigite]

:thumb: good luck and well done :thumb: :clap:

Looking forward to pics and update.

 

[caerleon]

Well i have completed the brew ...but i had a bit of a disaster as the Mash Tun filter blocked and i couldnt free it up.I had to make an emergency filter...from our bedroom net curtain :whistle: quickly sanitised of course! then the issue of swapping out the grain.
The disturbance caused no end of problems, i ended up having to decant and re-filter proberbly twice the contents of the bucket to get it clear.

The second problem was i emptied 28 litres into the boiler and ended up with...20!?! I cannot understand where i had gone wrong.
I calculated for 2 litres loss in the boiler and 2 from the boil off, so should have been 24 ltrs left...next time i might put the lid on and vent it slightly or it may have been that i had the door open as it was too stuffy...

Here are the picks as promised...

The Grain Bill

Mashing

Sparging..well by hand

Rolling Boil

In go the last hops

Natures cooler

 

[broadfordbrewer]

Good work Caerleon! :thumb:
I imagine my first AG brew will go the same way. Well done for just going for it!

 

[keith1664]

nice one... has swmbo found out about the curtain yet????

 

[caerleon]

nice one... has swmbo found out about the curtain yet????

No, as luck would have it she gets in after 5 and is's dark and she is off tommorrow to her parents so gives me till Monday to replace it - well i suppose i should replace the both of them so they blend in

 

[caerleon]

I topped up the wort to make 23 Ltrs thinking it might weaken it abit.

It's finally below 30 Deg/C now so it has come indoors...man does it retain heat in those plastic buckets it must be 5 deg outside and it has taken over 4 hours to cool down from 70.

Pitched the pre hydrated yeast at 25 Deg/C and tookl OG reading which i corrected for temp and reads 1064! at 23 Ltrs!!!

 

[micmacmoc]

Thumper is delicious ale! Top fella! 49er next?

 

[graysalchemy]

I had to wait till all the women were out of the house incase i made a mess of the kitchen.

Women Plaural brave man.

Definately my kind of brew. I'm a secret brewer too except I brew at work in my workshop. She still thinks I am brewing the odd Kit. I told her I was very busy at work and needed to go in sunday to get a head start, she doesn't know I spent the best part of monday brewing. :whistle: :whistle:

Well done that man, Secret Brewing is the new extreme sport of the 21 century.

:

AG

 

[robsan77]

good pics :thumb:

 

[caerleon]

Thumper is delicious ale! Top fella! 49er next?

No, i think i might go for a stout - trying to find a recipe for Maundon's Black Adder which is one of the best stouts i have tried to date.

 

[caerleon]

I had to wait till all the women were out of the house incase i made a mess of the kitchen.

Women Plaural brave man.

Definately my kind of brew. I'm a secret brewer too except I brew at work in my workshop. She still thinks I am brewing the odd Kit. I told her I was very busy at work and needed to go in sunday to get a head start, she doesn't know I spent the best part of monday brewing. :whistle: :whistle:

Well done that man, Secret Brewing is the new extreme sport of the 21 century.

:

AG

Yeah, i live in a shared house with 4 other women apart from my GF so it's all very much brew without permission lol they have all tried my kits and they like them. The only comment i got yesterday was that my GF thought a rat had died due to the smell in the house :lol: I said it must be from the Chinese next door :rofl:

 

[evanvine]

I had to make an emergency filter...from our bedroom net curtain

Damn fine piece of thinking on your feet, well done!
A true home brewer :clap:

 

[rickthebrew]

:thumb: Great first brew - I cool the natural way, it would cool quicker if you put it back in your boiler and stuck it in the bath with loads of freezer packs and cold water

 

[dennisking]

Well done Simon glad it went ok, maybe cool down in the bath next time. Oh I forgot, house full of women not much chance of finding the bathroom empty.

 

[caerleon]

Well it was 5 deg/c outside so i thought it would have cooled quicker, but hey-ho! I'm furiously drinking my existing brew so i can get it in the barrel in a few days time...im going to leave it for 10 days until it gets down to it expected stopping OG. I have stired up the yeast and there is a nice 1 inch thick layer cake at the bottom which im planning on re-using. fermention is going really well.

Yes the Bathroom is always a problem

 

[broadfordbrewer]

I'm furiously drinking my existing brew so i can get it in the barrel in a few days time...

:rofl: I'm glad I'm not the only one! I think I'm going to have to buy more bottles (with beer in :whistle: oh the irony) just so I can break this cycle of drinking to make space for more beer.... it's perpetual motion :rofl: :rofl:

 

[dennisking]

How`s the brew coming on Simon, must be near to drinking.

 

[caerleon]

How`s the brew coming on Simon, must be near to drinking.

I have tried it and its not quite ready. Good bitterness and head on it, but slightly cloudy. I have put some geletine in when i racked it, although im trying the gravity method of leaving it with 1050-1060 it should be 5-6 weeks ago so i am trying my best not to drink it. I'm on duty Xmas eve/Xmas Day/Boxing night so i will have to have a pint when i get in before i hit the pillow. If im out your way, i will drop some off for you to try.

 

[dennisking]

That sort of gravity will be better left for a while, would love to sample but don`t go out of your way. Don`t envy you policing the west end on xmas eve.