Home Brew Forum

I wasn't going to this for another couple of weeks, but every time i go into the garage, this big sack of malt whispers to me, 'use me, use me...' AG#1 only went into the barrel last week, but having been devastated at my pathetic efficiency of 65% I spent a few hours stripping my mashtun down, reinsulating it, filling the lid with insulating foam etc. So i was itching for an excuse to see if it had made any difference. It's not a bank holiday where i live, hence the name.

Without further ado, here's the recipe. It's meant to be an IPA, although i'm not sure how pale it will really be.
brew length 23l
5500g Pale Malt
500 Crystal Malt
40g Columbus (16%) 75 mins
20g Fuggles (4.9) 15 mins
20g EKG (5.3%) 15 mins
20g EKG, 20g Bobek, 20g Fuggles at flameout.

Got strike temp of about 74C, and having thoroughly warmed the tun beforehand, doughed in and gasped in amazement as it hit 66C. Started work Gasped even more loudly when i opened the lid 90 minutes later and it was still reading 66C. Very happy. Got 26l out from the initial runoff plus a big batch sparge, SG ~ 1056 (after temp correction) which puts it close to 80%. Very happy with that. Hops are currently steeping away before i chill it. Made a big long checklist this time to avoid forgetting anything (last time i forgot to put the ic into the boil) and so far things seem to be fine. Be interesting to see how this one turns out. I may dry hop for the first time with this, but will make that decision once it's fermented out. Took pictures this time, although not as many as i'd planned!

6kg of grain.


finally getting to boiling point. Always takes longer than i expect


pre-boil gravity. at about 59C.


OG ended up being about 1059. Airlock was burping away before i went to bed, and is going like a train now

Glad to hear your MT held up. I might need to redo mine... need to conduct some SCIENCE!

we need the pictures.. need filth!!:)

lol. last time i took pics i managed to drop the lens cap into the bucket, so i was a bit more careful this time. Didn't take quite as many as i planned so you'll just have to imagine what the rest of the process looked like (just like everyone elses!)

Judging by your sample jar you're taking your readings at too high a temperature.. unless you're adjusting for the wort temp your numbers will be out. The density changes as the temps vary...

So, for ease I always keep a big jar of water at ambient temp and then sit my trial/sample vial into the cooler water bath to drop it to 20c - that way my OG numbers will always be at the same point that the hydrometer was calibrated at.

yeah, i temp adjusted the readings - couldn't be bothered to cool it down only to heat it back up again. one thing that completely threw me when i was taking the OG after boil/chill was i couldn't work out why the figure was so much lower than i'd anticipated. miles off. then i had a thought and stirred the lovely contents of the FV (with a sterile spoon) and took it again and it was bang on. I'd poured some water through the boiler at the end to rinse out ever last drop of the good stuff and clearly that was sitting at the top of my FV and much lower density than the rest of the beer. Live and learn