Home Brew Forum

I had a go at my first All Grain brew day earlier in the week.
Its a slightly odd brew length as i didnt want to buy much more equipment and was limeted to a 14l stock pot for mashing and boiling. I'm using what i have for extract brewing plus a sparge bag.

Recipe:
Brew Length: 13L
2.50 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 92.59 %
0.10 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC) Grain 3.70 %
0.10 kg Wheat, Torrified (3.3 EBC) Grain 3.70 %
16.00 gm First Gold [9.30 %] (60 min) Hops 28.6 IBU
12.00 gm First Gold [9.30 %] (15 min) Hops 10.6 IBU
10.00 gm Fuggles [4.50 %] (2 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
10.00 gm First Gold [9.30 %] (2 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
0.50 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale

Est Original Gravity: 1.047 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.60 %
Bitterness: 39.2 IBU
Est Color: 13.0 EBC

Grain bill


Mashing


Batch sparging




Collected Wort


At this point i forgot to take any more pictures. There was also a slight hiccup with the thermometer as it turns out when the wort boils at 115 celcius its probably reading a bit too high so i'm not entirely sure of the mash and sparging temperatures. Also i noticed the taste of the wort, although it ended up at a gravity of 0.050 it was rather watery and not particularily malty. Would this be down to too low a mash temperature?

The brew length ended up at 12 litre's and 5 days on the gravity is down to 0.010. I will be bottleing in the next couple of days if the reading's stay the same.
So a bit of a mixed result but hopefuly the proof will be in the tasting in a few weeks. I will also be buying a spirit Thermometer.

Well done on your 1st ag brew, nice one! If your brew was mashed at a low temperature that is almost certainly the reason that it seems "watery". Don't get downhearted though, i'm sure that the finished brew will still be enjoyable, at least you know how to correct it for your next brew.

As HH said, don't get cought up on the details of the first one, it's a major learning curve and getting to know your system. Everyone has a similar first bru. the main thing is your on the road to somthing very nice.
Bru

I couldnt resisnt any longer......



I Have to say despite not really knowing the mash temp, and pretty much fumbling through my first all grain it is far tastier then any of my extract brews. It seems to have a grainyness and freshness to it i have never manages to achieve and is very enjoyable. Its a shame i only have 16 bottles left.

Nice looking pint you have for yourself there, well done!

BrewerBen wrote:It seems to have a grainyness and freshness to it i have never manages to achieve and is very enjoyable.

Exactly the difference I find between my AGs and kits - the smells are the biggest difference I think.

Its a shame i only have 16 bottles left.

And also another experience of mine....

BrewerBen wrote:I couldnt resisnt any longer......
Its a shame i only have 16 bottles left.

Yep time to get another brew on 16 bottles at a rate of 2 a night is a week's worth of beer ...........

Damfoose wrote:at a rate of 2 a night is a week's worth of beer ...........

Only if you're planning on taking it easy then...

Hi,
Thanks for the comments all. The 14 litre stockpot has now been replaced with a second hand Electrim boiler for the bargain price of 35 quid. I put on a brew yesterday as soon as i got it. I took pics again so i will put up another brewday thread.
Although i only have 16 bottles of All Grain beer i still have 20 bottles + 2 mini kegs of variouse extract brews. The only trouble is i should drink the extract brews first and let the all grain mature but i have no self control.

Good work! Nice looking beer for only 2 weeks old as well.

Now you've discovered the problem of this hobby.....you just keep making/buying/snaggling more bits of kit. Bigger, better, faster, shinier....

Hi Ben

Well done on your brewday! You mention the oddity with your temps and I noticed in the second pic you have your thermometer sumberged past the plastic part of it. I did that with one of those thermometers and it threw the reading right out. Just a heads up for using it in future.


Paul

Hi Ben,
Despite the small problem you had, it still sounds as though you had a lot of fun building your first AG. Sure looks a tasty pint on one of your pics. Nice one.

I have the exact same thermomiter if you very carefully take the top of the probe off where the wires go in and remove the sensor from the probe you will more than likley notice some water in the wires that go down to the sensor itself , Suck or blow the water out of the wires and leave on the side for a day also carefully heat the probe itself up as that will have water in it. What happens is steam condenses on the wires and then goes down them into the inside of the probe due the the big hole at the top of the probe where the wires go into the probe itself.

I had the same problem a short while ago and decided to investigate, The guage is now working as it should after I did the above. Also used it this weekend for a brew I did.

coatesg wrote:

BrewerBen wrote:It seems to have a grainyness and freshness to it i have never manages to achieve and is very enjoyable.

Exactly the difference I find between my AGs and kits - the smells are the biggest difference I think.

Its a shame i only have 16 bottles left.

And also another experience of mine....

All the AG guys know exactly where you are coming from on this, its hopefully enough to get another few reading this over to the dark side! Well done, good effort and a fine looking pint to boot.

looks a cracking pint, it made me go to the garage and pour one myself cheers