I'm making a mess!

[micmacmoc]

Well its my first AG day and I've encountered all the, I'm sure, usual beginners gaffes. I suppose you can't make an omlette without breaking eggs....I've had a blockage in the mash tun, the outside light packed up, it started raining, I put the grains in with too little water. Oh well its a learning process! I'm currently sitting in my (cramped) cellar wishing I had put the boiler in here...but the smell of hops would have permeated the ceiling and stank the house. I wouldn't mind, I'm enjoying the aroma of 'proper' brewing! I had'nt prepared enough containers for he various addings, my scales only go up to 1.5kg, the floor scales switch themselves off before I have weighed! Still, its been a learning experience and at least I managed to put the copper in before the boiler went looney!
I dropped our max min thermometer into the mash and it stopped working (its from work so its off to buy one early in the morning...won't be getting much sleep by the looks of it, this takes AGES!)

Ah, brewing....my back aches and now its time to pour a pint and watch the boiler bubble....in the shadows and rain, praying the result will at least will drinkable....if not then I'll try again. I have some extract tins for an easy life before I go AG again, next time I will definitely be a tad wiser!

So please tell me things have been worse and you still continued! I need encouraging! Someone must have been crapper than me?
I have much more respect for you AG guys now. Its bloody hard work. This MUST taste better than the kits...please!

Sorry if this sounds like self pity, now wheres my Barley Wine...

[trucker5774]

Don't give up......it's only cooking! Preparation is the key. It's easy to spend 10 hours doing it. I arrange other stuff to do while the mash is on and again during the other tasks. I probably spend less than one and a half hours actually doing it...............the rest of it is "cooking time"

Made me smile reading your efforts

[micmacmoc]

Thanks mate, really appreciated. Things got so bad that i just had to open the last bottle of a rather successful error i made when kit brewing, one of those lovely errors that tastes so darned good its gone before you know it. Jeez....looks like i'm pisht and its obvious that my idiocy is rising like a blackmore's Rainbow. Bugger. I've switched off my stopwatch whilst on the phone and don't know how long the boil was. er....call it a half hour to go....put 30g of styrians and the oirish moss and then the cooler. I'm being invaded by post rain slugs and snails here. Committing hara-kiri on my boiler. My mash tun is still dripping at an annoying pace. I'm going sti crazy down here.....feel a bit like Jack Nicholson in The Shining....luckily theres no axe. Oh but theres a guitar. Consider yourselves very lucky not to be here. Its terrible renditions of NeilYoung, Led Zep and Julian Cope for the next half hour in the manner of the pub singer off Vic and Bob. Pass the Nytol fer chrissakes.
Ta
Hicmacmoc
(progressing as he fades)
must remember 20g styrians......15 mins.....15 grams....stryians...st.ryans....15...ryan...strings....15...st..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Parva]

Hang on in there! Some of my best brews to date have been the ones that went so disastrously wrong I never thought I would get anything drinkable, much less bloody lovely! The first brew is undoubtedly the most stressful simply because it's the first run out with all the equipment and whatnot and things are bound to go wrong at some point. However, you'll now be prepared for AG #2 and it will be a much less stressful affair now that you have learned so much from the first one. And you'll hopefully have a nice pint of AG #1 to celebrate with in a couple of weeks or so. There's no looking back.

[trucker5774]

How did it go in the end,micmacmoc?

On the bright side...........good to find a fellow guitarist.... and someone who knows the correct phrase is not "harry carry"

I will probably be doing my next brew, around the middle of next week. Not sure what it will be yet. I just hope I don't end up writing about it here

[micmacmoc]

Well I finally got to bed at about 4am, having dropped the lead to the heater into the brew and eventually remembering to put yeast in at 03.40!
Even if it does all go wrong from here i'm determined to get some drinkable ale from AG brewing. I'll probably have to do some extracts for the next brew, I'm working 7 days a week until the end of the tourist season, Ag brewing will have to be moved to the autumn and winter if it takes that long! Just as well I have a coffee-shop, plenty of espresso onboard today.
Thanks for all the encouragement. I think my next ale will have to be called 'Never Surrender'
stew
meva
cornwall

[harvs]

This MUST taste better than the kits...please!

Yep it does - you'll be in for a treat

With all the learning, it'll be plain sailing for AG#2 !

[WishboneBrewery]

My first AG was pretty relaxed, the boiling and additions were all well sorted from my extract brewing, the Mash was the only new bit so I just wrote everything down on my recipe print out so that i knew what i was doing
My second AG was a little more complex as it was the first time I'd force-cooled and in doing so I thought I'd add some 80C steep hops so i added some time to my brewday in doing that.

Its all good fun, even if it does take up half a day

[Dennis King]

Keep going. the finished beer is worth it. Try preparing as much as you can the night before, weigh grains prepare water etc. I normally start around 10 o`clock and I`m finnished mid afternoon. Sure no. 2 will be better.

[haz66]

My first AG was a mega disaster in that everything that could go wrong did go wrong,
but the beer tasted bloody fantastic, but i learnt a lot from that first brew, and nearly
every brewday since as been more or less a breeze, but preperation is the key, but after
a few brews it becomes almost instint .
Whatever you do dont lose heart as it will all come good and you`ll look back at your 1st AG
with a smile.