Brewday 1 : Touchwood
Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:01 am
So, brewday number one went ahead today, as planned.
yesterdays trip to the LHBS was semi-successful. I acquired the last 3kg bag of Maris Otter, the recipe calls for 3.5 so I have made up with the only other pale malt on offer, a pale lager malt. Touchwood it will be OK.
The only Crystal malt available was not marked for colour, but it looked quite dark so touchwood it will be OK
No whirlifloc or whatever tablets so Irish Moss had to do, Touchwood it will be OK
None of the planned Challenger hops, so have used First Gold to bitter and Fuggles for aroma. I quite like the sound of the fruitiness provided by the first cold, so touchwood it will be ok.
No Gervin, or Safale 04, so I have used Nottinghasm Yeast. I remember the name from a number of threads here, touchwood it will be ok.
I have called this first brew touchwood, I think you can guess why. I've kept a careful note of the brew in case I have inadvertantly created the finest ale the world has ever known. In reality I'm hopeful of 30 pints of something reasonably pleasant and to my taste.
The day went reasonably well, I was surprised how quickly the boiler got 35 litre of water to strike temp. I planned to mash 4.2kg of grain in 11 litres of water but after the strike the temp had dropped to 64. Wanting 67 I added half a litre of boiling water which hit the target. There was a good deal of capacity left in the tun which is good, in future I think my brews will all be double length to make the most of the effort.
The sparge was a little concerning. Looking for G10 (unadjusted at 65c) I came up a little short on capacity but stoped nonetheless. The boil was OK but next time it's a hop bag for me, running off into the FV was a pain.
I was well impressed with the cooler, amazed at how hot the water coming out of it was, and how quickly it reduced albeit a small volume of wort to pitching temp.
The final result was not what I expected, 15l at G60 at 25c. I diluted the wort with 3l of boiled cooled water and another 1.5 of just boiled water to give me just short of 20l at 1046 - my original aim.
Everything looks in order, I aerated through a s/s seive and ended up with wort looking very much like the stuff I make up from kits. Slightly different smell though, a touch cleaner then the kits perhaps fresher if that makes sense?
Anyway some boring pics of fermenters wrapped in cool bags and boilers boiling are now on my camera. Once I find the lead to get them onto pc I'll add a couple.
yesterdays trip to the LHBS was semi-successful. I acquired the last 3kg bag of Maris Otter, the recipe calls for 3.5 so I have made up with the only other pale malt on offer, a pale lager malt. Touchwood it will be OK.
The only Crystal malt available was not marked for colour, but it looked quite dark so touchwood it will be OK
No whirlifloc or whatever tablets so Irish Moss had to do, Touchwood it will be OK
None of the planned Challenger hops, so have used First Gold to bitter and Fuggles for aroma. I quite like the sound of the fruitiness provided by the first cold, so touchwood it will be ok.
No Gervin, or Safale 04, so I have used Nottinghasm Yeast. I remember the name from a number of threads here, touchwood it will be ok.
I have called this first brew touchwood, I think you can guess why. I've kept a careful note of the brew in case I have inadvertantly created the finest ale the world has ever known. In reality I'm hopeful of 30 pints of something reasonably pleasant and to my taste.
The day went reasonably well, I was surprised how quickly the boiler got 35 litre of water to strike temp. I planned to mash 4.2kg of grain in 11 litres of water but after the strike the temp had dropped to 64. Wanting 67 I added half a litre of boiling water which hit the target. There was a good deal of capacity left in the tun which is good, in future I think my brews will all be double length to make the most of the effort.
The sparge was a little concerning. Looking for G10 (unadjusted at 65c) I came up a little short on capacity but stoped nonetheless. The boil was OK but next time it's a hop bag for me, running off into the FV was a pain.
I was well impressed with the cooler, amazed at how hot the water coming out of it was, and how quickly it reduced albeit a small volume of wort to pitching temp.
The final result was not what I expected, 15l at G60 at 25c. I diluted the wort with 3l of boiled cooled water and another 1.5 of just boiled water to give me just short of 20l at 1046 - my original aim.
Everything looks in order, I aerated through a s/s seive and ended up with wort looking very much like the stuff I make up from kits. Slightly different smell though, a touch cleaner then the kits perhaps fresher if that makes sense?
Anyway some boring pics of fermenters wrapped in cool bags and boilers boiling are now on my camera. Once I find the lead to get them onto pc I'll add a couple.
