Now I'm off to buy Mr Beer.
It was good fun, though. Nobody mentions the smells. It smells so good, especially that first hop addition, but everything else, including the crushed grain.
Had a few problems though. The first was my grain mill, amaco's finest pasta roller. I was too eager to get started to build a hopper and all that nonsense. I just put it on a plate and spooned the grains into the top. After about an hour of this, i made a high tech hopper out of a granola bar box and some scotch tape. I was pressing this pasta roller down onto a plate to stop it slipping around and cranking with the other hand while jiggling the hopper to get the grains out. Today my shoulders are killing me.
I also probably oxidized the wort before it had cooled. I tried to get the whirlpool action going and bubbled it a little. The problem was that there was far too little wort. While it was boiling I think someone came in and stole some. I boiled up 7L (7.4 qts) of water for the sparge and the mash and put just under 3L (3.2 qts) into the fermenter. I was aiming for 5 - 6 litres.
My guess is that the boil was too vigorous, I'll try and tone it down next time. The other thing is that I was boiling my first runnings before the sparge had come out. Perhaps with a decent sized batch it takes as long as the sparge for those first runnings to boil, but not when you've only got 2 litres.
Also, my gravity was 70. That's is a little higher than I was aiming for (I'm doing a British pale ale). Either my hydrometer's on the blink, I've misread it, or I've boiled off most of the wort. I just chucked it in the fermenter, pitched the yeast and went to bed.
I'm guessing that I boiled off most of my wort. Should I throw some boiled water into the fermenter?
Next time, I'm scaling back the heat a little, perhaps waiting till I've sparged before beginning the boil.
Any comments / suggestions welcome
Thanks
Phil
It was good fun, though. Nobody mentions the smells. It smells so good, especially that first hop addition, but everything else, including the crushed grain.
Had a few problems though. The first was my grain mill, amaco's finest pasta roller. I was too eager to get started to build a hopper and all that nonsense. I just put it on a plate and spooned the grains into the top. After about an hour of this, i made a high tech hopper out of a granola bar box and some scotch tape. I was pressing this pasta roller down onto a plate to stop it slipping around and cranking with the other hand while jiggling the hopper to get the grains out. Today my shoulders are killing me.
I also probably oxidized the wort before it had cooled. I tried to get the whirlpool action going and bubbled it a little. The problem was that there was far too little wort. While it was boiling I think someone came in and stole some. I boiled up 7L (7.4 qts) of water for the sparge and the mash and put just under 3L (3.2 qts) into the fermenter. I was aiming for 5 - 6 litres.
My guess is that the boil was too vigorous, I'll try and tone it down next time. The other thing is that I was boiling my first runnings before the sparge had come out. Perhaps with a decent sized batch it takes as long as the sparge for those first runnings to boil, but not when you've only got 2 litres.
Also, my gravity was 70. That's is a little higher than I was aiming for (I'm doing a British pale ale). Either my hydrometer's on the blink, I've misread it, or I've boiled off most of the wort. I just chucked it in the fermenter, pitched the yeast and went to bed.
I'm guessing that I boiled off most of my wort. Should I throw some boiled water into the fermenter?
Next time, I'm scaling back the heat a little, perhaps waiting till I've sparged before beginning the boil.
Any comments / suggestions welcome
Thanks
Phil