Considering getting into All-grain brewing.

[MaaZeus]

A little update, done mashing. I do not want to brag but after seeing those crazy pulley systems on Youtubes I was a bit worried for a second. For nothing really, honestly compared to stuff I lift at work that bag weighted nothing, easily up with one hand and strainer under it with other. Bah, noodle armed weaklings...

Anyway because I mashed in less water than necessary I decided to sparge a little with cold water tap. I ended up with pre-boil gravity at 25 liters near 1.050. Even though I had to resort to guessing and estimating that seems quite high, after boiling and concentrating it should be even higher, yes? I think I am doing something right. The recipe calls for OG of 1.057, lets see where I end up in. I am now waiting for a boil.

 

[MaaZeus]

Looks good. Don't fret about the mash temp, the lower temp might make a somewhat drier beer than if you'd hit 67, but relax.
As for not mashing full volume, that's FINE.
You'll be guessing at your efficiency and volumes at first (I didn't see you mention testing boiling water for an hour to see what boil off rate you'd have).
If possible, measure your SG once it's cooled, then you can calculate the "Top Off" water to add at the end, as if you were doing an extract batch. Use for instance this calc.

I brewed for a while with a 5G pot, topping off, before getting a larger boil kettle.

Yeah I completely forgot to test that. Since I am starting boiling from 25L I have severely less boiling water than needed, so this is a winged up partial boil. After this I will stick to strict 5 gallon recipes and measure an accurate boil off rate, no more guessing.

 

[BrewInspector]

Sounds like it is working out.

You mentioned clumping and breaking them up... Stir the heated water and add the grain slowly while continuing to stir. If you keep it moving the paddle should mix the grains without forming dough balls.

Might have been more difficult with the loosely attached bag but should be easy enough once that is solved.

 

[MaaZeus]

Sounds like it is working out.

You mentioned clumping and breaking them up... Stir the heated water and add the grain slowly while continuing to stir. If you keep it moving the paddle should mix the grains without forming dough balls.

Might have been more difficult with the loosely attached bag but should be easy enough once that is solved.

Yeah the loosely attached bag was what caused issues. I tried to pour a little bit and stir but the bag kept slipping. So I had to speed things up a bit so I could free my other arm for holding the bag and stirring with another. I'll buy a bunch of clamps the next time I am out in town, this issue won't repeat itself. Good thing this AG bag was free with the kit, I can do all the mistakes I want and learn from them without worrying about losing money.

 

[balrog]

Re: bag. It looks large enough to fit over edge of bucket, and has a drawstring which could then be tightened below the bucket's ridged edge and clamped with those pliers and that *SHOULD* hold the bag in place I would think..

 

[MaaZeus]

Re: bag. It looks large enough to fit over edge of bucket, and has a drawstring which could then be tightened below the bucket's ridged edge and clamped with those pliers and that *SHOULD* hold the bag in place I would think..

Well... that would have been too smart solution for me. But its now boiling and first hops have been added. After this I leave it to cool overnight in the kettle. I cannot use the wort cooler yet vecause I lack the necessary pipes and also because I should have gone to sleep over an hour ago and I have work tomorrow, but I'm too excited about this so the sleep can wait for yet another hour.

 

[MaaZeus]

Now it is the fermenter, topped up to 23 liters and sprinkled a package of US04 yeast on it. The temperature (according to the stick-on thermometer on my bucket) was about 25C which is higher than I'd like but I couldn't wait anymore. I have to leave for this weekend and come back on sunday. Leaving the wort alone for that long would have infected it for sure so I pitched the yeast and placed the bucket in coldest place in my house. Hopefully the temperature drops a couple of degrees before the yeast starts working. The gravity before pitching is about 1.052 so I missed my mark by .005 points. Not bad for my first AG attempt I think, and the sample tasted delicious. I was worried that leaving the wort to cool alone would enhance the bitterness but that was for nothing. The bitterness was just right for me, meaning low enough.

So, now the worst part, waiting. I'll be back around Christmas holidays when this thing should be ready and enjoyed with my family, we'll see what kind of hooch I end up with. My AG journey is now moving along in full speed now. Thanks everyone for tips and advices, they were needed and helpful.

 

[TwistedGray]

Congrats...interesting contraption; what is it?

 

[MaaZeus]

Congrats...interesting contraption; what is it?

Its this one I mentioned above.

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk...iler-chiller-mashing-bag-mash-kit-p-3313.html

As I said I was uncertain how a plastic kettle works but to my surprise it worked really well.

 

[TwistedGray]

Never heard of or have seen a plastic kettle ... interesting

 

[MaaZeus]

A little update, we drank several bottles of my first AG brew and it was almost a glorious success! Actually it tasted so close to the Fullers London Pride that we had to get a few cans of it and compare and it was almost spot on, mine was just eenyweeny bit sweeter. I am convinced that the AG kit was a London Pride clone although the hop addition timetables did not match any of the clone recipes in the internet.

Why I said almost? Carbonation was weak and there was no proper head. I was probably storing them in too cool place (damn you winter and cold house) and yeast became lazy in the bottles. The slightly sweet taste hints that too, even if it has been a few weeks since bottling. But it matters not, the taste was great and now I am making a Citra SMaSH pale ale, just with Viking Malt pale ale malts, which is a local product, instead of Maris Otter. *Edit* and also with US04 that I recycled from above english pale ale instead of US05.

I also bought a bag of Wheat and Pilsner malts for a basic Hefeweizen project where I intent to compare WLP300 and Finnish bread yeast which we use for Sahti. Finnish bread yeast is known for its banana flavor so it should also make a great Hefe yeast, in theory. We'll see eventually when I get around to it.