Venturing into the unknown - 1st AG

Venturing into the unknown - 1st AG

by twoshots

Hi all

Today was my first AG brew day having only used kits previously. Much faffing went into the previous weeks collecting kit and building a fermentation chamber. Finally I decided to go for it. With my 7yr old as an assistant (aka hindrance) I attempted a Summer Ale from Greg Hughes' book. It all took longer than expected, the clean up was worse than I thought it would be and I am a little disappointed with the final efficiency. That said I've just made beer from raw ingredients so I'm very happy overall.

I need to improve my efficiency for next time and work out a better way of dealing with the aftermath (sticky bags and hop socks). Also I seemed to get less volume in the fermenter than I anticipated and struggled to keep mash temps stable (kept dropping 1deg per 15 mins).

Any tips greatly appreciated, so much to learn!
Cheers
Tony

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Post #2 made 10 years ago

by ShorePoints

Before venturing to try to help, I suspect that we all would ask if you could give an idea of what you did. Was this outdoors or indoors on a stove (electric or gas)? What scale, as in what volume would your kettle hold? Soon enough, someone will ask you to please post your BIABacus file so that efficiencies and the recipe can be discussed.
Mostly, do not worry about efficiency at this stage of brewing experience. You have succeeded in brewing what will become a drinkable beer - enjoy that.
From my experience, it is the process that is the key learning area. A recipe that has "integrity" (search that for lots of discussion on this forum) will get you off to a good start, but we humans can muck up along the way. So picture what you did and next time adjust to make it go more smoothly. We will provide tips if we have a little more detail.
Wrapping your kettle during the period when you are not applying heat can help keep temperature more stable. I use an old comforter because I brew outdoors, some use sleeping bags, blankets, or other insulating stuff.

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Post #3 made 10 years ago

by twoshots

Thanks for the reply, I didn't want to post a full wall of text but I see your point. Really it was a celebratory post, somehow SWMBO wasn't as excited as me at a bucket full of wort after several hours of work and lots of mess....

A quick run down of my set up:

56 litre stock pot (I think the head room in the kettle is quite large for 5 gallon brews.)
2.4 kW electric kettle element
Sight glass and ball valve
Bazooka hop filter
Immersion chiller connected to tap (coiled 8mm copper pipe)
Set up in my 7ftx7ft shed (requiring door open during boil due to heat and humidity build up)

The recipe is a reasonably simple low ABV hoppy summer ale. Based around the 'Summer Ale' in Greg Hughes' book it looks like this:

Pre-mash volume: 32 litres

Grain (Mash @ 65 degC for 1 hour)
3kg Golden Promise
0.5kg Marris Otter Pale
0.5kg Pale Crystal

Hops (Boil time of 70 minutes)
EKG 5.5% 20g at start of boil
Progress 6.5% 15g at 30mins from end of boil
EKG 5.5% 15g at 30mins from end of boil
Progress 6.5% 10g at start of boil
EKG 5.5% 15g at end of boil.

Protofloc 1/2 tablet added at 5 mins before end of boil (I forgot to add earlier - recipe calls for 15 mins)

Yeast
Safale US-05 Ale Dry Yeast (I've not use liquid yeasts yet)

I was expecting the mash to hold temp reasonably well (based only on what I have read elsewhere) but I needed to add heat a couple of times as the temps dropped below 64degC. I also stirred afterwards to even up temps and because I pulled the bag off the heating element just in case I melted the bag.

After the mash I extracted the bag to a bucket but did not sparge, just a gentle squeeze and tipped in the extra wort.

At the end I had 19 litres with a gravity of 1.042, I topped up with boil/cooled water to 21 litres @ 1.038.

I think I got ~72% mash efficiency and ~65% brewhouse efficiency with the volume left in the bottom of the stock pot (which I estimated at 2 litres).

Now sat in fermenter under temp control at 18degC.

I can see so much in how it went that could be improved (insulation and spare buckets definitely required). Hopefully I'll have a decent 3.8% refreshing summer ale.

[I don't have a BIABacus file as I haven't used it yet.]

Last edited by twoshots on 18 Jul 2016, 18:36, edited 1 time in total.

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Post #4 made 10 years ago

by ShorePoints

twoshots, thanks for the additional info.
Your kettle shape has some impact on boil-off rate by virtue of its diameter (surface area) for vapors to escape. If it has a thin wall all around and on the bottom, the surface area transfers heat away from the contents, too. Wrapping with insulation will reduce that heat loos during the mash. If the kettle has thick walls or bottom, there will be a lag in measuring the temperature of the liquid when heating. It is what it is for your kettle, you will adapt to it with experience. The weather can affect boil-off rate, too.
It looks like you did the right things when applying heat during the mash period, however, BIAB advocates here will almost always suggest a 90 minute mash. The difference between your 60 min and a 90 min mash is measurable. Your handling of the bag and its draining upon removal from the kettle sounds fine. There is another step called a mashout that might make your pulled bag less sticky.
Your kettle has the capacity to hold all the water for what is called a full volume mash and your specific gravity readings can be used later if you choose to add more water.
You got 19 L of liquid from your “pre-mash” volume of 32 L. I could ask if 32 was TWN (Total Water Needed) or SWN (Strike Water Needed) but that’s getting picky, since you did not employ the BIABacus this time. Where else did the liquid go? Boil-off, in the spent grains in the pulled bag, or in the kettle as trub on the other side of the Bazooka hop filter (you estimated 2 L). Leaf or pellet hops? You will develop experience on how to handle the hops and manage the trub as time goes by. You could employ a hopsock if you choose. Filtering trub is a lot of trouble and not going to impress your SWMBO - do not go that route. There are those of us who (for certain recipes like yours) transfer everything, including trub, into the fermenter and deal with it later, maybe cold-crashing.
Yes, there are many steps to go with the infinite variables. All in all, you did fine. You (and the yeast) made beer. Enjoy. The hardest part now is the wait.
Try the BIABacus spreadsheet at http://biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1869, and feel free to ask questions. You will get answers.

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Post #5 made 10 years ago

by PistolPatch

Congratulations on your maiden voyage Tony

.

Single measurements on single brews are nothing to worry about. If you continue to record low efficiencies (check this thread out to get clear on the two main types) on your next brew or two, then you can look through this list to see if you can find the root of the problem.

It is a common error for people to add kettle finings at 15 mins before the end of the boil. Anything over 10 minutes for protofloc or whirfloc denatures it. Manufacturer recommendations range from 5 to 10 minutes. Here is one example.

One good tip is to set everything up and weigh all ingredients out the night before brew day. I still find that doing this makes my brew day smoother and faster.

Lol on SWMBO. She should be happy... one brewer on his first all-grain brew day, fed the spent grain and hops to the family's pet goat, "Casper," which they found dead the next morning. (Spent hops are about the only thing that will kill a goat!) He ended up calling it Dead Goat Ale but his family were pretty unimpressed.

Good job

,
PP

Last edited by PistolPatch on 18 Jul 2016, 21:43, edited 1 time in total.

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