#16 - My first brew day pics :)

[marcarm]

Thought I would share my totally non-scientific but very productive brewing process. I like to keep it as basic as possible, so don't use any scaling software for BIAB, rather follow an AG recipe and get a variable brew length by liquoring back if required, although most of the time I end up with more beer than intended. Using another calculator on my last batch, my efficiency is apparently 90%, although I'm sure I did something wrong in the calculations somewhere.

This is an overnight mash, so will be getting the boil on early when I get up with my 7 week old son, about 6am. I do have insomnia so will be feeding him at 11:30 then will get up with him early as I'll never get back to sleep, so might as well make use of the time.

Pics of where I'm up to so far:

Getting the water up to strike temp, 30l in the boiler aiming to get to 72 degrees. Marked out on the boiler where that is on the dial, managed to get it accurate within a couple of degrees.


Obligatory grain shot, that's just half, the rest in the tub below


The 'Research' lab, Beersmith 2 running on the laptop and brewing fridge below


Homemade insulation for the Buffalo lid


Hops that will be used


The first law of homebrew, one must be consuming home brew when making home brew


Home made hop filter


Grain added, bang on temp Note the home made thermometer holder


All tucked up for the night


I'll update with pics from the actual brew tomorrow. The recipe is 25l at 1.058 so will see what I get when the boil is complete.

[marcarm]

All done and nearly cleaned up, sometimes insomnia has its benefits

Lost 3 degrees overnight, happy with that


Bag draining, sparged with 5l of hot water


Hops weighed out, my 100g bag of Challenger actually had 112g in it, in they all go


Boil reached


Draining the boiler, next on the list will be changing the tap as it took ages


Filter did good


No no-chill cube, so all tucked up in a sanitised FV ready for pitching tomorrow


Sample, was aiming for 25l at 1.051 at 75% eficiency, pretty spot on when adjusted for temperature. Happy with the colour as well

[alexlark]

Cracking brew day. I got the same thermometer so think I'll use the bulldog holder!

[YeastFace Brew Co.]

I've also got the same thermometer and will be stealing the clip idea. Brilliant

[marcarm]

This is the beer all finished.

I ended up dryhopping with Challenger and Chinook, and it is really nice.

Nice malty flavours but with a big hop flavour and aroma, nice head retention, very pleased with it.

[alexlark]

Looks and sounds nice. Good selection of hops in there.

[Cheshire-cheese]

Great pics and love the thermometer holder