1st Ag yesterday

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AnonyBrew

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I did Ed's Haus Pale Ale & I think it should come out ok.

8.7 lbs. 2-row
2.2 lbs. Vienna
0.5 lbs. Crystal 20L

1.5 oz. Cascade 4.1% pellets at 60 min.
0.5 oz. Cascade 4.1% pellets at 30 min.
1 oz. Saaz 2.7% whole leaf at 15 min.
1 oz. Saaz 2.7% whole leaf at 5 min.

Nottingham re-hydrated in 1 cup of tap water
(didn't boil the water - should I be scared?)

1 tablet of Whirlflock at 15 min.

I used 1 tablespoon of 5.2 pH stabilizer in the mash. Mash settled at 154F & only dropped to 151F after one hour. I used 180F batch sparge water. The first 5 qt. infusion wouldn't fit in my 5 gallon cooler so I ran off a little wort before adding it.

Gravity from 1st runnings = 1.062
Gravity from 2nd runnings = 1.024
Pre-boil combined gravity = 1.045

OG into the fermenter = 1.053

Ended up with 6.5 gallons from the mash & sparge. Added one quart of water to get 6.75 gallon predetermined target. I still only ended up with 5 gallons in the fermenter (target was 5.5 gallons). I think the leaf hops absorbed quite a bit of water. I only have a 30 qt. kettle so 6.75 gallons is about the max. I used 3 drops of the foam control stuff to help with boil overs.

I though about adding some water to get 5.5 gallons, but decided to leave it alone. The water would not have been boiled beforehand.

The primary is now sitting in a fermentation chiller at 68F.

Beersmith adjusted the grain bill when I entered a lower efficiency.

The Cascade hops I got were only 4.1% instead of the 6.6% called out in the recipe so I changed the schedule to 1.5 oz. at 60 min. then 0.5 oz. at 30 min, then I added some whole leaf Saaz (all I had on hand)....1 oz. Saaz (2.7%) at 15 min. Not sure if that was a good thing to do. I was trying to stay close ot the 30 IBU called out in the recipe. Next time I need to pay attention to the AAU when I buy the hops & get more if it's low.
 
Thanks. Quick question on the batch sparge.

After stirring in, how long should the infusions be left to sit before draining the tun?

The temp. I was seeing during the 2nd batch infusion was near 170F and was making me nervous about extracting tannins/astringency.
 
170 degrees is fine. I think you want it between 168 and 175. I dont think you'd notice any issues unless it was over 175...not sure though.
 
Soperbrew said:
Thanks. Quick question on the batch sparge.

After stirring in, how long should the infusions be left to sit before draining the tun?

The temp. I was seeing during the 2nd batch infusion was near 170F and was making me nervous about extracting tannins/astringency.

Nice work! Sounds like things went fairly smoothly for you. After only a few AG's, you'll find you can do it in your sleep.

For the sparges, just mix it up real well, let it sit for a few minutes and start the sparge. You've completed conversion, now you're just washing as much sugar as possible from the grains.

Have you viewed Yuri's AG video?(sticky at the top of this thread) It's quite helpful.
 
Since I have extra leaf Saaz lying around, should I dry hop it in the secondary for a week? Was thinking I'd just toss 1 oz. in loose.

Too much? not enough? don't do it? or what?
 
Are you going to keg it? If so, wait and taste it. You an alway dry hop in the keg with a herb ball.
 
I'm not a kegger quite yet; I deal with billions & billions of empty grolsch bottles.

I see the point however so I'll go without a dry hop on this first batch so I get to know the beer before tweaking it.

Thanks.
 
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