HERE WE GO! First AG. Wish me luck

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

IrregularPulse

Hobby Collector
HBT Supporter
Joined
Nov 6, 2007
Messages
62,016
Reaction score
6,922
Just started heating my water for my first AG batch. I think I have everything in order but..No I'm lying. I'm sure I'm missing stuff. But just going for it anyway. I'm sure I'll keep this updated during the day.

Started heating water at 10:15 am

...to be continued

A little Stevie Ray Vaughn for encouragement.
What a beautiful day it is
 
Good luck!

It can seem a bit overwhelming before you actually do your first AG but later today you'll be like, "I should have done that a long time ago."

You'll be fine!
 
Good luck!

It can seem a bit overwhelming before you actually do your first AG but later today you'll be like, "I should have done that a long time ago."

You'll be fine!

This is 100% true. After my first AG I had some definate lessons learned, but the process was still fun and rewarding, and I had an excellent beer as a result.
 
I'm learning so far (mash is well...mashing) That I really need to figure out my burner. I did an hour boil test last night and started with 6 gallons. Between the 45 minutes it took to START boiling and the hour long boil I lost freaking 2 gallons. So my water today is just gonna be heating a ton, then draining into gallon marked ale pails and adding.
 
Good Luck, drinking my first AG currently, even if it is only 3.7%ABV. I think the 3rd batch I will figure it out
 
It was after my first AG that I really caught the fever. Good luck and have fun. Oh, and don't forget to take a gravity reading.
 
Thanks for all the encouragement. To the guy that said "Once through your first AG you'll wonder why you didn tdo it long ago". SERIOULSY!! This is simple! I missed mash tmep by like 4-5 degrees but just mashed an extra 30 minutes. Not really concerned. I think i had the right mindset coming in. "IT WILL BE BEER". Got my pre-boil sample sitting in my sample tube waiting to cool for a pre-boil gravity. Got 8 Gallons of wort in my keggle heating up to a boil. I'll figure out how much I need to boil off. I just went excessive with sparge water knowing I could boil longer if there was too much and since my boil test last showed 2G of boil off on a 6G volume of water.Now the "intimidating" part is over. Just the boil.
Only new step left will be trying out my IC.
 
Keep the posts coming! I will be doing my first AG this week...I have been collecting all the hdwr to make a MLT, got a 10gal pot and an extra bottle of gas for the burner. I have also been hanging on to every word on the forum here to try to get a feel for where the potential potholes may be. Oh yeah, the brew is going to be a smoked hefe...even if it comes out bad it will be good.
 
OOPS, Forgot to put my chiller in at 20 minutes left. Guess the first two hops additions are getting an extra 15 minutes. Amarillo at 45 and 20. now 60 and 35
Saaz still at 5
 
OOPS, Forgot to put my chiller in at 20 minutes left. Guess the first two hops additions are getting an extra 15 minutes. Amarillo at 45 and 20. now 60 and 35
Saaz still at 5

Your hop bitterness will go up a tad bit but I like hops so I would consider the extra 15minutes = more hop bitterness. Mmmmmmm.
 
I enjoy them quite well too so not too worried. Chilling right now. Chiller doesn't quite submerge fully in 5 gallons.
All in All good experience. Will change a couple things and next time I'll be able to have some umbers to work with for setup. Good day. No Rain yet...
 
IrregularPulse said:
OOPS, Forgot to put my chiller in at 20 minutes left. Guess the first two hops additions are getting an extra 15 minutes. Amarillo at 45 and 20. now 60 and 35
Saaz still at 5



You don't have to put your chiller in for 20 minutes. At those temps, it'll be sanitized in 1-2 minutes. I put mine in at flameout and let it sit for about 5 minutes before starting the water.
 
Judging by the fact that you had near 500 posts going into this first AG, I take it this is not your first brew.

Have you been brewing extract for a while?
 
^^ I've done 2 extracts and 1 PM before this. My job allows me to browse for about 40 hours a week between support calls.

I'd ended up wih 6 gallons a 51 points. Only missed OG by 1 point. Prett good for a first attempt. Haven't figured efficency yet.
Checked it this morning. Had to put on a blow off tube as a precaution. Never had this active of fermentation fom my extracts and PM. Looking forward to taking this in a keg to a music festival June 14th
 
Back
Top