AG #1 - Summer Lightning

[Mike8578]

Finally got round to getting our first AG, indeed our first brew full stop, on the go today. Slight hiccup at the start as we found a leak on the mash tun. We opted for a Summer Lightning clone from GW's book with a 23L brew length.

So at 1pm the mash was on. At bang on 66C. Time ran away as we fitted up the immersion chiller so it mashed for 2 hours in the end. In that time the tun lost just 1C . It's just a Young's fermenter with 2 layers of foil backed camping mats, with an additional towel on top. Now our record keeping was poor but I'm sure I ran off about 25L into the boiler after sparging, with a further 5 or so kept to one side until I checked the OG. Was aiming for 1049. With the additional 5 litres in we hit 1050.

Crappy camera phone pic of the first runnings:



I'll take that.

So on with the boil, and due to only having one lead it took ages to get going. We found a lead just as it was struggling to boil so managed to get teh 2nd element going which sped things up no end. In went 52g Challenger which is more than the 46g in GW's book. I like it bitter though! 10 mins from the end in went the chiller and a further 19g Goldings. Again, more than GW's 15g but hey. It was only much later that I realised we forgot to add the Irish Moss.

Crappy camera phone pic of the boil:



Anyway, in went the chiller, and we forgot to add post-boil hops as well! Double Doh! Tasted the run-off though and it was superb. Really hoppy and fragrant.

Then on we chucked the US05 and now it's fermenting. Now the kit's together I'm sure it should go much more smoothly next time.

Main worry of mine though at the mo is will the lack of Irish Moss prove a reall issue in getting a clear beer, or could it still drop clear in the ferment?

[Hogarth]

Hi Mike -- every first AG brew day has f*** ups but sounds like none of yours were disastrous. Welcome to the club!

Despite forgetting the irish moss -- which we all do sometimes -- you can get a clear beer by dropping the temperature of the fermenter after the fermentation has finished -- ie by bunging it in the fridge for a couple of days. You can also add finings -- isinglass or gelatine -- either at this stage or when you keg it (but not if you're bottling it). But as far as I'm concerned, clarity comes way down the list of desirable properties in a beer.

You can compensate for the missing post-boil hops by dry-hopping. This won't give you exactly the same aroma -- it'll be more herby -- but it'll be close. Not at all necessary, though. I'm sure your beer will taste fine without them.

[Mike8578]

Thanks for the reassurance Hogarth. I have to say that other than those minim balls-ups, we were gob-smacked when we kept hitting our measures. We plan on bottling but don't have a fridge to put the fermenter in to cool it post-ferment. We'll maybe go the finings/gelatine approach on that basis.

[lancsSteve]

Nice one - good first AG brew that. Mine's just coming into condition in bottles. If i was doing it again I'd definitely dry-hop in the keg to get the hop aroma up - didn't do this and think I over-primed and went to the cellar too early but it's still a great brew.

Nice one!

[chris_reboot]

you could of course just leave it to clear naturally over time

[Mike8578]

It's likely to be in the fermenter for a couple of weeks anyhow so we'll have to see how it's looking by the end of this week or so.

[flything]

Sounds like a really good first attempt to me. Remember to update the thread with how it tastes once conditioned.

As for forgetting to add Irish Moss, it's not the end of the world, I've done it and while I never got the beer clear it did brighten over time and tasted fine. I'd forget to sparge if I didn't use the brew sheet from Beer Smith to remind me....

[Horden Hillbilly]

Well done on your 1st ag brewday. As other members have pointed out, don't worry about the hiccups, ag brewing can be very forgiving & I am sure that you will end up with a brew to be proud of.

[WishboneBrewery]

Nice work with the AG first brew
My first went really smooth, but my last one was a bit of a sod in parts, it will still be drinkable beer, and fingers crossed bloody good too

[Mike8578]

Thanks guys. It's a shame it's at my dad's about 30minutes away as I'd like to check progress myself. Made worse by being down to 1 car for this week so I can't nip up there!

Should get a full update tonight on how it's looking. I was concerned about the temps getting too low in the garage despite the numerous layers of insulation. What's everyone's views on casking it before bottling? I was just tempted to syphon into a 2nd vessel when it's stopped fermenting, with the priming solution pre-mixed and then bottle.

[chris_reboot]

What's everyone's views on casking it before bottling? I was just tempted to syphon into a 2nd vessel when it's stopped fermenting, with the priming solution pre-mixed and then bottle.

That's what I do when bottling.

[flything]

I used to always rack my beer into a second fermentor, then into a third/bottling bucket that had the priming sugars in the bottom of. I just go straight to the bottling bucket after about 14 days now. A week in the same place, then a couple of weeks somewhere cooler, then drink.

[Mike8578]

Went up today to check progress. The head has dropped down to just a yeasty surface. Still smells very yeasty. Colour is lovely and pale and it tastes fantastic. Can't wait to try the end result.

Gravity after just under 6 days is at 1.015 temp corrected, down from 1.052-ish. So not far to go.

Impressed with the tun/fermenter though. Dad's been checking the temps every night, worried about the ambient temp drop recently, and it's been steady at about 20C. He did have a cask full of hot water adjacent to it for the last two nights but I think it's probably maintaining a good temp without tbh.

[Mike8578]

Quick update:

Beer racked off into a cask tonight with a bit of priming sugar where we'll leave it for a couple of weeks. FG was just under 1011, down from a OG of 1052 post boil, so about 5.2% ABV. Tastes really, really good. Nice bitterness and most of all it's got a lovely smoothness. Tastes strong that's for sure.

Here's a quick, and utterly rubbish camera phone pic. Need to start using a proper camera!

[Mike8578]

All bottled up this evening:





It's still a bit cloudy, but I have an earlier bottled one that's done one week at room temp and one week in the fridge and it's not got more of a haze like a wheat beer.