Thats me ready for All Grain

ChrisG · Post by **ChrisG** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:02 am

Built my last few pieces of equipment at the weekend.

Immersion cooler and hop strainer.

Seem to work well.

Holes are on the underside.

ade1865 · Post by **ade1865** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:16 am

nice looking bit of kit. what's gonna be yer 1st brew?

welcome to the world of supreme hoppiness

ChrisG · Post by **ChrisG** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:42 am

ade1865 wrote:nice looking bit of kit. what's gonna be yer 1st brew?

welcome to the world of supreme hoppiness

I'm thinking about doing the Old Speckled Hen clone

fivetide · Post by **fivetide** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:25 am

Nice bit of brewfacturing there! The best of luck Chris - your first brew is a little nerve wracking and takes a while, but it's great fun. I hope you've got a few glasses of your last brew handy to keep you company...

ChrisG · Post by **ChrisG** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:34 am

fivetide wrote:Nice bit of brewfacturing there! The best of luck Chris - your first brew is a little nerve wracking and takes a while, but it's great fun. I hope you've got a few glasses of your last brew handy to keep you company...

I have more than enough!

Although I want to start early so not keen on drinking at 8am!

fivetide · Post by **fivetide** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:39 am

I wait until the copper hops go in

EportJake · Post by **EportJake** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 11:00 am

Welcome to the world of all grain. The first brew can be mentally and physically tiring, but its well worth it. It all gets easier from then on. I made Briar's Best from the recipe section for my first one and its a pleasure to drink. It's true what they say.... you can make beer that is as good or better than you get from the pub. Good luck!

youreds91 · Post by **youreds91** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:57 pm

Are those the Poundland connectors I recommended in a previous thread on the IC? I feel honoured.

I did OSH as my 2nd AG, been in the keg a week or 2 & it's looking good.
I've done 4 AGs now, I'll never go back.
Make sure you do a brewday thread with plenty of pics for the 1st brew.

CD

ade1865 · Post by **ade1865** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 3:45 pm

funnily enough my 2nd brew acouple of days ago proved to be a bit more stressful than the first, which went like a dream. This time i wasn't prepared, and just grabbed an opportunity when all the family were out, so that may have been where the stress came in.

I'm personally glad that i did a fair few kit brews first, so that i understand the basic principles involved, eg sterilization, pitching yeast etc, which if i flew straight into it would be a right palaver. So maybe my 1st AG was a lot more stress free because i already had a lot more knowledge than i realised.

My first brew i kept simple, no iodine tests, water treatment [except the old 1/2 campden tab] and just chucked the yeast on top of the foaming wort. easy as pie. I'm slowly going to evolve until i have it all under control

so this time i used CRS in the water, made my own recipe and measured the efficiency. I feel like a regular scientist now!

highwayman · Post by **highwayman** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 5:06 pm

Chris,

I have made 2 AG Brews todate..and cocked up on both!!

I made the Exmoor Gold Clone and got the Strike Heat too low put the liquor in at 66 degrees instead of 72!!!..but with the help of Jim and others on here I managed to add boiling water and despite this it is now ready and it's fantastic...

The second was Summer Lightening Clone..I let the wort cool and clear after the 90 min boil instead of cooling as soon as the boil had finished..I was worried it would affect the hot/cold break

However, I got straight on here..and Hordean Hilibily helped me out and all is well

..Just racked it into my Corni today

Good Luck Chris...

Any way ..what I am getting at is...If you are unsure of anything...or cock up..(as I did) GET ON HERE AND I CAN PROMISE YOU HELP WILL BE AVAILABLE

Horden Hillbilly · Post by **Horden Hillbilly** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:12 pm

Good luck with your ag brewing Chris.

If I may give you some advice, it will pay you to do a "dry run" before you start brewing in earnest. This will make sure that you have all the necessary tubing, etc to hand & at the correct length.

Guess who didn't do this on his 1st ag brew day & found that he did not have the tubing to connect the sparge water to the sparge arm when it was needed!

maxashton · Post by **maxashton** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:15 pm

Not you, HH, surely.

Horden Hillbilly · Post by **Horden Hillbilly** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:19 pm

maxashton wrote:Not you, HH, surely.

Guilty m'lord, although in mitigation I plead over keeness & youth! Yes, it was a long time ago!

fivetide · Post by **fivetide** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:00 am

I had a massive incident at the end of my first AG with equipment tumbling into the water and all sorts. But I'm now drinking it on draught and it's clear as a bell and tiptop.

What the forum is brilliant at is reassuring you at these times, and telling you just to keep going and see how it goes. More often than not all is well.

My mantra at such times is "Blokes used to do this in manky wooden barrels out back in a pigeon filled stable and yet beer still caught on!"

(The fact it probably tasted pretty awful and poisoned people regularly I block from my mind)

PaulStat · Post by **PaulStat** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:40 pm

Cool

i'm not far off having all the equipment myself!

Can I ask how much you ended up spending?

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Thats me ready for All Grain

Thats me ready for All Grain