AG #1 Pale Ale

[Maltmaniac]

Just did my first AG, well me and my two sons, and took me 7.5 hours. Not bad for a first timer but room for improvement.

No pictures I'm afraid as I was too busy. A basic Pale Ale as follows:

Pale Malt 5700g
East Kent Goldings 95g (90 min)
East Kent Goldings 5g (15 min) bruised and soaked in hot water for over an hour before adding.
1/2 Protofloc tab (15 min)
Nottingham Ale Yeast
EBU 55
OG 1057

Was a little short on mash water, I put in 16.5 litres, when I reckon 20 odd would have been better with the larger mash tun I have. Mashed at 66 and lost 1.5 degrees over 90 minutes. Sparge water at 80 degrees then into the grain with 20 litres, mix and 15 minute rest and drain.

Very clear runnings from both so well pleased with the design of the piping in the tun and ended up about the 29 litre mark. Anyway boiled it a little vigorous and ended up with 20 litres, so about 3 litres short with a litre lost in the bottom of the boiler that wouldn't drain and it came in at OG 1057 after the boil. Carried a small amout of clouded wort into the FV but not a lot and reckon it will clear well. Have not worked out efficiency but probably about 70 ish odd.

It was all done outside and for ingredients and gas I reckon it cost £14 to make.

Smells great in the FV so hoping for beginners luck with this and hope for a winner. Kept it simple anyway and was a nice day, hope it's not too bitter. With a good ferment should get between 5.7 to 6% ABV.

[Grahame]

Sounds like a good first brew! Did you tip the water that the hops were soaking in into the boiler too? No doubt it would be carrying quite a bit of aroma.

[Maltmaniac]

Was only enough to moisten them a bit, I'd read that it improved the flavour by inducing oxidisation for late hopping. I just measured the liquid dead space in boiler again, 2 litres so I need to get the tap pipe nearer the bottom to syphon some more of it off as it appears it is a tad far from the bottom.

Not much action in the FV as we had a low temp overnight so going to raise temp to about 22 degrees to encourage it. Was airiated with plenty of froth on top prior to pitching, so shouldn't be a problem.

[Maltmaniac]

Did a quality check tonight on this one which has been in the bottle for 6 days. Carbonation is good and the taste is lovely with nice rounded flavour and lingering smooth bitter aftertaste. Then tried a 2 can kit brew that had been conditioning a lot longer and although it tasted good before, seems like someone has tampered with it and made it into a lesser beer.

Only done a few brews but it's looking like my kit days are a thing, and taste, of the past. It is indeed a very noticable difference and although it takes many hours more to produce, the effort is worth it for the reward.

Keep on brewing. It makes the bad football more acceptable

[llannige]

No looking back now M.

Keep up the good work.

[WishboneBrewery]

As said before, its a very progressive and fulfilling hobby Hope its a good one

[Maltmaniac]

Well, even if I am biased, after two months of bottle conditioning, this has matured into a cracking pale ale. Soft malt flavours and medium mouthfeel are followed by a light nut/spice/smoke hop roundness then a satisfying bitterness. I initially thought I'd overdone it with the hops, but it's balanced out well, so much so I did another version with Golden Promise Pale Malt and the same hops. This V2 started at OG 1061 (was 2 litres short on volume again) and has dropped 51 points, further than I'd hoped.

It's not session stuff at 6.6% and I was hoping it would stop about 1015 for more sweetness and less alcohol. Hope it turns out as good.

I really need to start taking photo's of the brew days and post, because I have plenty of time now having had a few brews under my belt.