First ever AG :-)

[davidmpye]

Hi guys,

Here's a brief runthrough of my first ever AG brew - it was a London Bitter brupaks AG kit - next will be TOTALLY from scratch

First pic of the mash tun (filled and mashing in progress)



Ready to fill the 'HLT' - it's just a FV with no active heating as I have only one boiler..



Time to sparge


Boiling with the hops:



Ah, drat - just realised I forgot to put the hop strainer on!

Hour and a half later, time to put the cooler in!


Cool, and ready for the FV:


And off to its bucket!



After a few days, it'll be racked into another FV for a week or so, then into the Corny for a little rest before drinking

The remains of the hot/cold trub in the boiler!


Ahh, all done....!

[Dennis King]

well done

[leedsbrew]

Welcome to the dark side matey!................You'll never leave!

[Horden Hillbilly]

Congrats on your 1st ag brew, nice one!

[WishboneBrewery]

Good work Best hobby you are going to find

[Bobba]

Nice one Dave!
Just wondering what the cup is in the centre of your mash tun (3rd pic) when you're sparging?

[davidmpye]

Ah, that! It's just a small porcelain dish I used as something to pour the first runnings onto to get them back into the tun without disturbing the rest of the wort too much.

[jubby]

Very well done

You have obviously done your homework

[davidmpye]

Thanks for all the positive comments guys

It all seemed to go reasonably smoothly (with the exception of the hop strainer).

I found the sparge water had cooled down a bit too much by the end so next time will get it a little hotter.

Just another pic (24 hours after pitching the yeast):

[delta9]

Good job man, well organised firsst AG

Don't forgot to post pics of your final product

[Chard]

i know this was from a while ago but im researching for my own gear and 1st AG brew.

why didnt you just keep the burco as your HTL and run off from the mash tun into the FV (the FV u ended up using as the HLT)? the runoff doesnt need to stay warm really and that way you can control the sparge liquor a little more accurately.

now ive thought about it i suppose it does mean that you can start the boil slightly earlier and shave some time off your brewday.

hows it going now?

[davidmpye]

Still going good thanks - sorry for the delayed reply, just found my old thread again

THe reason was as you say - start the boil slightly earlier to get things going a bit quicker.

To be honest, I heat the sparge water to 85'C, and it still measured around 78'C at the end of the sparge, so I'm not too worried about the temp loss, and the time saving of getting the runoff boiling again makes it worthwhile.

One tip: My homemade manifold gave me a stuck mash once, so I finally managed to figure out how to prevent it - get one of those grain bags, but instead of putting the grain in it, put the manifold in it instead. Works a treat

Done 4 AGs since, while my fifth is happening now (boiling!) I was complaining about some of them being not very nice, but I've realised it is me being impatient - put em away for 4 weeks and they come out lovely!