Very First AG #01 Basic bitter - ish!

[screamlead]

Whahooo - Just spent the last 7 hours doing my first ever AG brew!
Target OG was 1049 and i hit 1052 so with a little dilution i got it spot on i think.
Pics to follow later
Recipe i used was a version i saw on here for basic bitter but i used my own malted and roasted barley.
4Kg basic malted barley
1Kg mixed light/medium/dark and almost burnt barley all self crushed and ground too.
23 ltr brew, 100 gr Fuggles.
Hit the mash temp spot on after heating to 77c then mashing in - got a gr8 grain bed and a nice slow flow when mashing out and sparging with the tinfoil on top. Ran clear after 1.5 ltr took just over an hour though.
Only major problem i had was with the hop strainer after the boil and cool - it didnt work only a tiny trickle came out so ended up using a strainer - false bottom needed i think.
My copper twin cooler worked a treat dropping the temp from boil to 30c in just 25 mins.
Made up a starter with LME this morning and added safl04 english ale yeast then stuck it on my stir plate to get going and it was bubbling away with a good head by the time it came to pitching into fermenter.
All in all a good day.

 

[Ceejay]

Nice one, mate. Good to get the first one under your belt and it looks like it all went according to plan :

 

[31bb3]

Congratulations on the first of many :

 

[orange]

Well done. I had a change of hop filter after my 1st brew because of the same thing. Now runs much better. :

 

[Aleman]

I had the same problem with my brew yesterday. . . . Although I had 85L to get out the the boiler at less than 1L per minute . . . With a pump :shock: What I suspect was my issue was that there wasn't enough leaf hops to provide a filter for the pellet hops, and it all just settled solid on the hop stopper.

Well done on your first brew :clap: :clap: overcoming all the obstacles and malting / roasting your own barley :thumb: . . .. We really need to get a 'Not Worthy' Smilie

 

[screamlead]

Pics = AG set up - outside of course nice sunny day

The grains =

Strike temp hit with electric boiler running off genny

Doughing in -

90 mins later start of sparge

Clear runnings -

Leftover grain

Bucket full of wort

Start of boil

More hops at 60 mins

Coils in 15 mins to go -

Cooling =

SAFL 04 Ale yeasties on the go -

Phew all done and in the fermenter now !!! :

 

[screamlead]

Opps forgot the obligatory SG shot -

 

[Mark1964]

Thats the biggest screwtop jar ive ever seen. Nice one on the brew :thumb:

 

[Cyclops]

That coldbreak in the trial jar? I had some at the beginning of my brew today, but after the 1st 5 or so litres it had none. Did you recirculate the 1st runnings?

 

[Muddydisco]

Well done that man, it's took you long enough to get everything ready. I bet you can't wait to get a pint down you :

 

[gurtpint]

Beautiful. Well planned, well done!

 

[dennisking]

:clap: Well done, bit of top British culture in Turkey.

 

[Good Ed]

Nice one :thumb: it must be nice to brew on the roof in the sun

 

[screamlead]

That coldbreak in the trial jar? I had some at the beginning of my brew today, but after the 1st 5 or so litres it had none. Did you recirculate the 1st runnings?

No thats my yeast starter made with light malt extract(only thing i have got!) 1 ltr screwtops - only thing i could find here with a flat bottom for my stirplates. Yep recirculated first runnings too - was suprised how clear it ran after only 1 ltr, the grains must have been crushed to perfection - really nice grain bed once i had finished too.
Only major problem i had ws trying to run 2 elements at once off my genny - used same extension cable - so it blew after 20 mins but had got the temp up to 85c so wasnt bothered, i used that to start off my water heating rather than using the gas. But when i used the gas it had no problem with a rolling boil i had to turn the regulator down once up to temp and the connection at the gas ring blew off once too after i had turned it off - it was set on three so loads of pressure i think but fixed it and the gas was off so no accidents!

 

[screamlead]

Quickie question about the yeasties and fermentation - i have used the SAFL 04 Windsor ale yeast for this. it took off great and had a massive foaming head and steady bubbling from the fermenter. It has been going for 4 days now and has slowed down very considerably - is this normal? i was figuring on 7 days primary and then transfer to secondary after that?
There is quite a big head space in the primary FV so relucatant to take the lid off in case i damage it etc.
Your thoughts please guys
Thanks
Scream

 

[luckyeddie]

Yep - perfectly normal.

Windsor usually ferments very aggressively, then peters off very quickly. I brewed an ESB on Tuesday and it was still going like a rocket last night, but this morning primary fermentation has slowed to a crawl.

Take your first gravity reading today. I'm going to.

 

[micmacmoc]

Great stuff! Love the tea chest mash tun(?), you could start a skiffle band. Looks a lovely brew up.

 

[screamlead]

First check on the brew after the bubbling action has dropped dramatically -

Looks like beer!! :

Pic from refractometer using my Fuji S7000 in macro mode - i read 6.8 brix ish which i work out to be 1.027 SG and a drop from OG of 1.052 of 25 points.
Not being an absolute beer connisour? i reckon it has a slight chocolatly smell along with a deffo beer one and tastes - well to me malty and very strong beery flavour! so all looking good so far! :thumb:

 

[screamlead]

Great stuff! Love the tea chest mash tun(?), you could start a skiffle band. Looks a lovely brew up.

Ha Ha that tea chest is a cut down packing box i had and used it to insulate the tun as it is very thin - but seems to work fine.

 

[31bb3]

First check on the brew after the bubbling action has dropped dramatically -

Looks like beer!! :
Thats a lovely colour mate it'll nice sat on that rooftop supping away