eviljafar
Well-Known Member
So being a guy I have to rush out and tell all my friends. It seems a lot of people have done the same in the last week or so. Maybe it's peer group pressure.
Now that I have told you all that, I'm now thinking about my performance. In a few weeks a friend of a friend is sure to tell me, but I want to find out now. Beersmith tells me I have an efficiency of 64%. Maybe I was aiming too low but I was going to be pleased with 50%+, seeing I was fumbling around in the dark with little idea of what to do.
So now for the nitty gritty and the end of the inuendo. I've been enthusiastically reading all the "1st AG" posts for the last week and they have really helped me out.
I planned on making a SNPA clone. I couldn't find all the ingrediants so here's what I ended up doing. It's going to be more like a Canadian Amber Ale I guess. I wimped out on the 2 oz Cascade addition at 0 min too. I like Cascade, but 2 oz seems like a lot.
6 kg (13.2lb) Canadian Prairie Malt (3.3 SRM)
0.5kg (1lb) Crystal Malt 77L
0.25 kg (1/2 lb) Crystal Malt 45L
21g (3/4 oz) Northern Brewer Pellets 60 min
14g (1/2 oz) Pearle Pellets 30 min
28g (1 oz) Cascade Pellets10 min
28g (1 oz) Cascade Pellets 0 min
Safale US-05 American Ale yeast
I heated my water in 3 pots on an electric stove. I don't really recommend this and I don't intend to do it for much longer if I can help it. It was a real hassle to get them all the same temp at the same time. My strike temp was 65C and 250ml of boiling water brought me to my target of 68C.
At 45 mins into the mash my new digital thermometer jumped from 66*C to 132*C. I'll be taking it back tomorrow. I used my slow to respond floating thermometer for the rest of the batch.
I also used my "outdoor cooker" inside. I did a test run outside a few days ago with a few litres of water to burn the paint off the cooker. There are a lot of fumes when you fire these things up for the first time. I did my boil today in the bathroom where i have an exhaust fan above the kettle and a lot or hard surfaces. I really don't recommend this and I don't want to discount the danger of doing this or encourage others to do it but I don't have any choice if I want to do AG beer. I had 2 buckets of water and 2 wool blankets ready just in case I set fire to the inside of my apartment. After 15 mins of full power from the burner I covered a couple of surfaces with aluminium foil because they were getting hot. For the first time ever I didn't start drinking beer until a long time after I started to make beer. Once the boil had only 10 mins to go I relaxed a little and opened my first.
I had no boilover, I got my hop additions in on time, I chilled to 20*C in 17 mins and pitched yeast. OG 1.052.
Thanks heaps and heaps to the HBT forum, to those who listen to the ramblings of people like me, to those who post replies, and to those who have recently done an AG and posted about it. I'll be smiling for at least the next day.
Now that I have told you all that, I'm now thinking about my performance. In a few weeks a friend of a friend is sure to tell me, but I want to find out now. Beersmith tells me I have an efficiency of 64%. Maybe I was aiming too low but I was going to be pleased with 50%+, seeing I was fumbling around in the dark with little idea of what to do.
So now for the nitty gritty and the end of the inuendo. I've been enthusiastically reading all the "1st AG" posts for the last week and they have really helped me out.
I planned on making a SNPA clone. I couldn't find all the ingrediants so here's what I ended up doing. It's going to be more like a Canadian Amber Ale I guess. I wimped out on the 2 oz Cascade addition at 0 min too. I like Cascade, but 2 oz seems like a lot.
6 kg (13.2lb) Canadian Prairie Malt (3.3 SRM)
0.5kg (1lb) Crystal Malt 77L
0.25 kg (1/2 lb) Crystal Malt 45L
21g (3/4 oz) Northern Brewer Pellets 60 min
14g (1/2 oz) Pearle Pellets 30 min
28g (1 oz) Cascade Pellets10 min
28g (1 oz) Cascade Pellets 0 min
Safale US-05 American Ale yeast
I heated my water in 3 pots on an electric stove. I don't really recommend this and I don't intend to do it for much longer if I can help it. It was a real hassle to get them all the same temp at the same time. My strike temp was 65C and 250ml of boiling water brought me to my target of 68C.
At 45 mins into the mash my new digital thermometer jumped from 66*C to 132*C. I'll be taking it back tomorrow. I used my slow to respond floating thermometer for the rest of the batch.
I also used my "outdoor cooker" inside. I did a test run outside a few days ago with a few litres of water to burn the paint off the cooker. There are a lot of fumes when you fire these things up for the first time. I did my boil today in the bathroom where i have an exhaust fan above the kettle and a lot or hard surfaces. I really don't recommend this and I don't want to discount the danger of doing this or encourage others to do it but I don't have any choice if I want to do AG beer. I had 2 buckets of water and 2 wool blankets ready just in case I set fire to the inside of my apartment. After 15 mins of full power from the burner I covered a couple of surfaces with aluminium foil because they were getting hot. For the first time ever I didn't start drinking beer until a long time after I started to make beer. Once the boil had only 10 mins to go I relaxed a little and opened my first.
I had no boilover, I got my hop additions in on time, I chilled to 20*C in 17 mins and pitched yeast. OG 1.052.
Thanks heaps and heaps to the HBT forum, to those who listen to the ramblings of people like me, to those who post replies, and to those who have recently done an AG and posted about it. I'll be smiling for at least the next day.
