First AG

[Sum1Stu]

I went to my first brewery that sold grain, and was dissapointed that I wasnt able to follow a sinlge recipe that ive found! Ontop of it all they only brew with one strain of yeast, and they use that one strain for over 20 beers that they use. I honestly dont know how the hell they succeed using the same yeast for a lager as an ale....

They only have about 6-7 different types of grains, so I wasnt able to find the famous "American 2-row" that lots of recipes have.

I wasnt able to find the famous "Crystal Malt", or Bisquit Malt, couldnt find flaked oats, or oats of any kind. They did have 6-7 different hops though!

Ive asked them for several more ingredients but they did not carry or even heard of some of the stuff in the recipe section! Felt like I was speaking a different language!

What I did end up buying was Pale Malt, and Wheat malt with cascade hops.

Im thinking of just mashing those two at a rate 3/4 pale 1/4 wheat.

 

[BOBTHEukBREWER]

buy what you want mail order is my suggestion, I buy maris otter pale malt, lager malt, crystal malt amber malt, chocolate malt and rye malt, hops include goldings fuggles cascade, challenger, target, halllertau, mittelfruh

 

[Sum1Stu]

Another quick question, Can I use a candy thermometer to get accurate temps ? ?

 

[Gremlyn]

A candy thermometer will likely have too broad a range to get accurate temps, you want to have a 1 degree resolution on your thermometer.

 

[Sum1Stu]

Yeah I know so how good of a thermometer would i need ?

What if the candy thermometer is in range of 2 degrees ?

 

[squeekysheep]

i use a 30 dollar digital and verify with a candy. make sure you calibrate tho. alo by switching you hops/mash temp & grains. your results can vary lots.

 

[Sum1Stu]

I just bought a digital thermometer, but its for the oven. Would this work on water ? ?

 

[Sum1Stu]

Well its within 1f and has an alarm, pretty good for only 10$!

Im mashing right now its pretty easy to keep it between 150-155, still learning!

I went totally dumb on this one, when im done sparging my grain bag in the sparge water, how long and at what temperature am I supposto boil the hops ?

 

[Sum1Stu]

I want to get the max bitterness out of my cascade hops, and i would like some for aroma and flavour, i know thats only 10min boil, but what temps are we talkin about here ?

 

[Sum1Stu]

Well im 25minutes into the boil, its only at 190f now rising slowly, just added my hops.

This is a small scale brew just to get the feel for mashing temps and holding them there, its pretty hard without twin pots.

I used 15oz Pale Malt, 6 oz wheat malt 1/2oz cascade hops plan to do 60min boil.

The total volume was 3liters mashing, 3 liters sparge, soo that should leave me with what ? A gallon after grain asorbtion+steam ? Ill let you guys know, right now im enjoying the aroma of the cascade hops Gonna prepare an icebath in my sink....

After I get my efficiency I plan to dilute the wort to a normal gravity to produce a 4-5%

 

[bernerbrau]

Which grains do they offer?

If you get a base malt it's probably going to be 2-row. Most barley malts are made from 2-row even if they aren't called that, so your Pale Malt is very likely pale 2-row malt.

Crystal malts are also called caramel malts and you can use the ones with names like carapils, caramunich, etc.

You can substitute biscuit for victory in a pinch.

Flaked oats can be purchased from the grocery store. Just find a round tub of unflavored Quaker oatmeal.

 

[Sum1Stu]

Ahh thx, ill get a full listing of their grain next time, so i know what to substitute with what!

My AG turned out nasty, Its nastily bitter, the hops foamed up during the boil and left Lots of green mucky stuff around the edges of the pot, im not sure if anyone encountered this, but was i supposto take it out ? Because I left it in the wort ?

So I mashed 3liters, sparged 3liters, got 1.030 out of it.

I used Pale malt 15oz, and 6oz wheat malt, what was my eff%? Do i even have enuff info here to calculate that ?

 

[Gremlyn]

Flaked oats can be purchased from the grocery store. Just find a round tub of unflavored Quaker oatmeal.

Make sure that you don't get the quick or instant oats, get the full blown real oats.

 

[bernerbrau]

Your wort will be a lot more bitter than your final beer will be. You should filter out the hops before pitching but you don't need to remove them during the boil.

You need your final volume to tell what your efficiency was. Figuring at 1 gallon, that comes out to 60.6%. Fatty Matty Brewing Recipe Saver > Beer Making Calculators

 

[Gremlyn]

Ahh thx, ill get a full listing of their grain next time, so i know what to substitute with what!

My AG turned out nasty, Its nastily bitter, the hops foamed up during the boil and left Lots of green mucky stuff around the edges of the pot, im not sure if anyone encountered this, but was i supposto take it out ? Because I left it in the wort ?

So I mashed 3liters, sparged 3liters, got 1.030 out of it.

I used Pale malt 15oz, and 6oz wheat malt, what was my eff%? Do i even have enuff info here to calculate that ?

Bitter right after the boil? It'll change dramatically, don't worry. I get green foam during my boil, I expect it's because I use pellet hops and there is more hop dust to that comes out of them compared to plugs or cones.

Is your gravity reading pre or post boil? What volume of liquid did you have when you took that reading? Is this a 1 gallon batch?

Assuming a 1 gallon batch, with the reading of 1.030 you are about 60% efficiency.

 

[Sum1Stu]

I definitly did something wrong, Im calculating 90% eff.

 

[Sum1Stu]

Gravity was after my boil, and i used 6 liters in total for mashing/sparging. I did not filter out the hops

 

[bernerbrau]

Gravity was after my boil, and i used 6 liters in total for mashing/sparging. I did not filter out the hops

You should be fine without the hops filtered out. You need to know the post-boil volume to calculate the proper efficiency. Also make sure your units match up (don't enter liters for volume and pounds for weight).

 

[Sum1Stu]

Ohh, kinda difficult to measure it out though. Does anyone know how to calculate the amount of liters per pot ? ? Its something like 3.94 x height / radius ?

 

[bernerbrau]

Volume of a cylinder is 3.14 * radius * radius * height. For cubic centimeters to liters, divide by 1000. This will only give you an approximation. Make sure you measure the inner dimensions and not the outer.

Alternately you can draw out measuring cups one by one and add up the total.

 

[Sum1Stu]

Yeah, I try to avoid plastic as much as possible especially for warmer liquids.(Since My measuring cup is plastic), I'll go by that formula on my next mash. I really need a better mash bag, the girl who worked there was nice enough to let me have 2 for free, but there like not the greatest mash bags, I want one that is re-usable and has smaller holes

 

[HokieBrewer]

I can't believe no one else caught this.

I used 15oz Pale Malt, 6 oz wheat malt 14oz cascade hops plan to do 60min boil.

I think I know why it was bitter.

 

[bernerbrau]

Ah. Yeah, if you really used 14oz of cascade in 1 gallon of 1.030 wort, you've got a slightly alcoholic hop tea on your hands.

 

[passedpawn]

Gufaawww!

Stu, you need a book. I suggest starting with Charlie Papazian's Joy of Brewing. If you can't get a book for some reason, at least give this web site a good look.

You really need a bit of education. Just a bit, though. Regardless whether one considers brewing an art or a science, there are some basics that just need to be known. Perhaps the best way is to do it once or twice with someone with experience. Or, read the book. Then try to follow a known recipe to the letter.

BTW, paint strainer bags (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) make great reusable grain/hop bags. Good Luck.

 

[Sum1Stu]

LoL ive seen a few recipes using up to 4oz of hops, I was intentionally trying to make it hoppy, but did not read anywhere about filtering them out of the wort after boil.

Thx for advice, and next brew I will most likely try and follow a recipe to the TEE.

 

[mthompson]

LoL ive seen a few recipes using up to 4oz of hops, I was intentionally trying to make it hoppy, but did not read anywhere about filtering them out of the wort after boil.

Thx for advice, and next brew I will most likely try and follow a recipe to the TEE.

Yeah, but did you actually use 14oz.?

If so, I don't think that thing will ever mellow out.....14oz. cascade (~5.5%AA) in a 1 gallon 60min boil is 1955.0 IBU according Rager!!!!!!

 

[Sum1Stu]

Well the hop tea is fermenting well, as for me I need a new appointment to the grain store to make a serious batch. If it helps it was only a 45min boil with the hops added.

 

[Sum1Stu]

Ok guys, on formulating a recipe, what exactly does 10L or 20L mean when talking about a grain ? Size of crush ? Is it all that important cuz at my local brew shop, they dont specify any information, I can however get a look at what theyr selling before I buy it though.

 

[Sum1Stu]

OMG no not 14oz LOOL

FUNNY STUFF, and I wasnt even drunk!! I used 14grams!!

GRAMS I TELL YA!!!

 

[brokenanchor]

The L after the number stands for Lovibond, which is the rating in degrees of the malts darkening ability. The higher the rating the more the malt will darken the beer. The higher the Lovibond rating the higher the temperature was when the grains were kilned, or the longer they were kilned. Carmel/Crystal malts like 10L or 20L are unfermentables, and will add aroma color and sweetness to your beer. It would have been awesome if you had added 14 oz of hops to 1 gallon of wort, but I'm pretty sure it would have been a hop sludge would would have ended up with...even if you did filter it and get 1955 IBU's you still would have only been able to taste about 150ish of them (which is just a damn shame)...probably wouldn't have tasted very good though. Oh and I agree with passedpawn pick up Charlies book if you have time, seriously that book CHANGED MY LIFE. You're really on the right track to making great beer though...and would have gone down in my book as the ballsiest man alive if you really had managed to put 1955 IBU's in a beer.

 

[Sum1Stu]

LOL I still cant beleive you guys actually thought I put that much into it, a beer that most expenses come from HOPS ?

Thanks for explanation on the lovibond.

 

[mthompson]

LOL I still cant believe you guys actually thought I put that much into it, a beer that most expenses come from HOPS ?

I figured it was another unit you switched ounces for, 14 oz. of hops would soak up most of a gallon. But at least you could still salvage the beer...

With a one gallon, 1.030 boil and 14g (0.5oz) for 45 min....Rager says ~60.9 IBU. It's my opinion that it's just as much work to make 5gal as it is 1gal, so don't short yourself on the next batch. Get Charlie's book, or read John Palmer's online version, and don't forget everything on here.

Later,

 

[Sum1Stu]

Well with the right size pots I would be able to do a full scale batch, but with a 3gal and 1gal its impossible

 

[mthompson]

Oh yeah, forgot that was why you did the small batch. Well, luckily turkey is around the corner and most box stores will have the 30qt (eghemmm...28.3L) setups on hand. Although, I don't know how big frying a turkey is up there.

 

[Sum1Stu]

Oh ? What is it show pictures ?

I recently just found a 3-4gal pot in my balcony, Ive cleaned it now I just migth rinse it with some 10% bleach solution and rinse it really reallly well, perhaps mayb even doing a boil to make sure all bleach is gone

I rinse my bottles like 5-6 times with hot hot water after I I use bleach on them. I scatter them in a bathtub and add some bleach in and let them sit for a day, its funny how some people put ciggarettes and beer caps in their bottles, ive even found gum in one

 

[mthompson]

Here's a fryer sorta like mine....

Mine has a square base and didn't come with all that extra stuff. Just the burner, pot lid, and a thing to put the turkey on. I wish I splurged for the basketed combo, cause I have all the free crawdads I want down here.

My pot is 7gal to the rim...I just boiled 6.5gal yesterday with 15 drops of fermcap-s and not a drop of wort spilled out.

I'd also suggest dropping the bleach routine. Get a tub of oxi-clean free to soak bottles and non-metallic accessories, it rinses of easier. Then get a thing of star-san sanitizer....dunk or spray for ~1min, no rinsing required.

Later,

 

[Sum1Stu]

Hmmm looks nice, hope I can find one thats not so expensive. MMmMM fried things

Hmm so oxi-clean and star-san ? Ill see if I run into it, so far I have lots of bottles that are cleaned. I usually only rinse them with water after I use them since no ones mouths are actually touching the bottle.

 

[mthompson]

I think I got mine on sale at the wal-marts for ~$30.

I pour all my bottle into frozen mugs or room temp pilsner glasses, then fill and shake out the water 3 times, then upside down to dry in the dish drying rack. This usually sufficient to rinse the yeast off the bottom. If There are a few that need more cleaning, such as those new additions with labels, they get an overnight oxi-clean bath...the labels fall off, and the glue scrubs off easily.

When bottling I make a batch of star-san in a bucket or cooler, submerge bottles until the container is full, then start an assembly line...shake two out and put on dishwasher rack, put two in...shake next two out, repeat to 54 bottles. Takes about 10 mins. pre-bottling.

Later,

 

[mthompson]

oh, and a lot of people use and debate the fryer set-ups.....Just put on a good oxide layer on your aluminum pot by boiling a full pot for a while. You'll notice a darker section that had the boiling water...then it will be unaffected by your wort, if it was ever in any danger.

You can decide for yourself here and here.

go and learn away!!! Lot's of great info to be had!!!

Later,

 

[Sum1Stu]

Found a great deal on 20qt stockpots, they have a variety of smaller ones, gonna grab one of those.

It is most likely aluminum for that price, but will do as you said BTW am I supposto wipe that white stuff off the inside of the pot ? Seems quite wierd, to just leave it in there....

UPDATE on the beer = It seems this yeast doesnt flocculate well, there is barely a sediment pile on the bottom, ontop of the fact I didnt use carageenan(moss), im dealin with a cloudy beer here that might not ever clear Compared to making coopers extract kits, this seriously has flaws, especially me not being able to select a yeast with desired specifics...