Yesterday saw AG brewday #003. I cut my teeth on a few kit beers and having read this site over and over again it was obvious from the start that I would have to make the leap and go for an all grain set up. I think that I made many less mistakes this time than the first brewday where I failed to check that the hoses connected to the cooler were straight... resulting in a kink in the exit pipe and therefore a buildup of pressure and hose water spraying all over my shed (including some into the wort!), only time will tell if the beer is drinkable. The main error that I believe I made this time was trying to do too many things at once...... I mashed during the afternoon whilst my wife sat in the garden and our daughter played in the paddling pool... then I raised the wort to boiling for 10 mins or so.. then I turned it off and had dinner. After dinner I got the wort up to boiling before taking my (21 month old) daughter up to bed.. returning to the shed to finish the brew after she was asleep. I think that I may have kept the wort too warm for too long and also given the high ambient temperatures I think that I got a little bit more evaporation than I expected.. I may also have had some better brewhouse efficiency as I got a OG of 1.050 when I was aiming for 1.045... Oh well I gues I could have topped it up a bit .. but couldn't really be bothered with the fuss.. will just have to settle for a slightly stronger pint. I have been aiming for an OG to IBU ratio of .8 and this one has turned out at .74 so I guess (hope) it'll be drinkable when it is finished and conditioned.
So for all the beers I have used the following recipe changing only the hops #001 - EKG #002 - Bobek #003 - First Gold
98% MO
2% Crystal
OG to IBU = 0.8
2/3rds of the IBUs from the 90min hops
1/3rd of IBUs from 15 min hops
15gms hops steep at 80c for 30 mins
First Runnings
Boiling near the shed door to reduce condensation
15min hops and steeping hops. Only remembered to photograph the hops after I had added the 90min hops
The boil
Trub
Into the FV
Cavity walled brew box - this allowed me to brew during the winter in the she dusing an immersion heater in the FV and now the shed is too hot I add a bottle of frozen water into the box in the morning.
So it just leaves me to say a BIG thank you for all the information and encouragement I have gained by lurking on this forum and reading the posts .. when I have something useful to add to the debates I'll willing do it.
Cheers guys
Si
