1st Full mash

[Garth]

Hi, help required, Going to H&G tomorrow to pick up boiler and various other bit and bobs, including ingredients, so after an equipment test during the week, I hope to be doing a first full mash this weekend and as I am a big fan of them, I fancy doing a stout for the first one.

I've got Wheelers, Dave Lines, La Pensee and Protz's books, so I have a multitude of recipes I could have a bash at, but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on a good stout recipe for a beginner, ie a two or three malts and a couple of hops.

also any hints and tips, do's and don't from when you did your first full job would be great...

Cheers
Garth

[Bigster]

Not done a stout yet.

Tips on AG brew -

whatever happens dont panic, laugh if it goes wrong.
Try all your equipment before the day ( which you are doing )
Leave plenty of time - at least 5 or 6 hours for first time
If brewing in kitchen be prepared for a mess !


But most importantly enjoy and take pictures if you can ....

Good luck

[DRB]

Try not to flap to much,unlike me I started flapping so much I nearly took off.

[gizmo]

My first AG brew was a few weeks ago and the day before I wrote everything down that I had todo on a rough bit of paper and crossed it off when done. Next tip, find some more time, because I wanted todo a brew every week once i'd started.
Good luck, you'll enjoy it

[ColinKeb]

leave plenty of time for cooling the wort , unless youve got a wort chiller you end up like me sat on a deck chair in the garden all night with a thermometer in your hand. have plenty of confidence, wash your hands and keep wife, kids and small animals out of the room at all times .
good luck
cheers
colin

[Garth]

thanks guys, some invaluable help there.

Daab, La Pensee sometimes writes with Protz, got a few Homebrew Classics Camra books of theirs, IPA and Stouts & Porters, quite a good read.

some daft-sounding questions, the first of many I reckon.....

if I'm aiming for about 23 litres of wort what should grain-mash liquor ratio be? ie litres per kg, or does it vary recipe to recipe? as some recipes don't state this.

do I sparge till I get the volume required (23-25 litres) or until I get a certain gravity reading?, then stop? and if so, how do I read it, will my hydrometer do 60'C-ish?

after say, a 90 min boil, how long before I start cooling the wort thru me cfc? do I need a rest? and because I'm using a cfc do I need to skim the brown crap off the yeast head whilst fermenting?

I'm sure I can think of some more.

[eskimobob]

Here's a link to my Irish Stout.

I really like this. I used this to make the Vanilla stout too which is nice - going to brew another one in the next few weeks.

Edit: To answer a few of your questions:

if I'm aiming for about 23 litres of wort what should grain-mash liquor ratio be? ie litres per kg, or does it vary recipe to recipe? as some recipes don't state this.

Usually go for about 2.5 litres per kg. It can vary for each recipe as the mash thickness affects the extraction but I wouldn't worry for your first brew.

do I sparge till I get the volume required (23-25 litres) or until I get a certain gravity reading?, then stop? and if so, how do I read it, will my hydrometer do 60'C-ish?

I sparge until I have the quantity I want. So far, this has served me well. Others suggest sparging till you reach about 1005 to 1008. It's tricky with a hydrometer because you need to cool it quite a bit to get it into the range where you can adjust for temp accurately so I don't bother. People with refractometers have it cracked!

after say, a 90 min boil, how long before I start cooling the wort thru me cfc? do I need a rest? and because I'm using a cfc do I need to skim the brown crap off the yeast head whilst fermenting?

I usually give it about 10 minures for the trub to settle before CFC started. You can skim the first day or so if you get lots of lumpy crap but I usually don't get much worth skimming.

Good luck

[Bigster]

stuff JHBF members have taught me .....

grain / mash liquor - I usually go for 14 litres and grain usually in the 4 to 5 kgs range. Dont think it makes a huge difference.

I sparge until I get the volume I need and dont take a reading.

Not sure whether using cfc makes a difference but I sometimes scrape the crud off but only if it is stopping the lovely white froth forming.

[Garth]

thanks EB and Bigster, that answers quite a few thing that were bothering me, but as I said, I'm sure there's a kegload more....

[Frothy]

Good luck Garth - you've done your reading so you'l be just fine . For my first mash I followed Palmer and used a ratio of 4L/ kg for the dough-in which was more than enough. Took me ~5hrs

Q: are you batch or fly sparging?
I Collected 25L fly sparging for 45minutes to produce a 19L batch and still ended up with only 17L at the end of the boil.

Matt

wash your hands and keep wife, kids and small animals out of the room at all times .

[Garth]

Cheers Frothy

I'm fly sparging with a spinny arm thingy

[PieOPah]

This is the recipe I am going to be following on Friday -

Maris Otter 6.00 kg
Crystal Malt 0.50 kg
CaraPils 0.50 kg
Barley, Flaked 0.50 kg
Roasted Barley 0.50 kg
Black (Patent) Malt 0.25 kg
Chocolate Malt 0.25 kg

Can't remember the Hop Schedule as the list is at home.

Despite being a stout, I will still be adding my Irish Moss (who cares about haze in a stout ) but this will be purely out of a standard I wish to set myself. I will also be adding Yeast Nutrients at the same time (15 minutes toward end of boil).

I have pretty much made up this recipe myself and tweaked it based on various advise I have been given. I am expecting this to be a fairly strong stout although based on my current efficiency of about 55% it isn't going to be as great as usual (although I hope for a better efficiency next brew - I think I have managed to plug all the holes in my technique).

Will you be using a hop strainer on your boiler? One problem I had with mine (costing me a few litres and a good few efficiency points) was that it fell off the tubing. Since the tubing is only PVC, it softens in the boil. What I have now done is attached the tubing to the strainer with a Jubilee Clip. While I haven't yet tested it, I can't imagine anything knocking it loose no matter how many time I accidentally knock it while stirring

[Vossy1]

Good luck with the brews fella's

[eskimobob]

Interesting that you have added CaraPils. I am planning on trying this in my next stout too. Good luck

[PieOPah]

Just some grain I have lying around and I know it adds body...