Purchased all the equipment and finally got round to my first brew for a very VERY long time.
Made a few mistakes though. Printed off a brewday schedule and didn't stick to it! Forgot to use Irish moss.
Decided on Big Lamp bitter as it looked straightforward. The mashing seemed to go well and false bottom on my mash tun worked a treat.
Batch sparged and took sample to test if I had washed out all the sugars - didn't adjust for temperature (mistake No. 2) and probably stopped the sparge too early as a result. Ended up with about 3 gals which I am cooling in a cube overnight ( at this early stage decided not to invest in a chiller until I'm sure I can make decent beer). Will test gravity tomorrow and proceed from there.
I enjoyed my brewday and the lovely smell of wort and boiling hops brought back some good memories of my previous brewing days.
Hopefully a few tweeks and I'll be back in to the swing of things.
Sandybee
First AG brew for over 20 years
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yogester
Re: First AG brew for over 20 years
Congrats about getting back in the saddle!
Don't worry about the mistakes, bound to happen on a first brew day in so long. I know I forget things (like put on my mash tun's false bottom before doughing-in) if I haven't brewed in a month or so... can't imagine how many I would make after 20 years!
Sure it will be a cracking pint!
Don't worry about the mistakes, bound to happen on a first brew day in so long. I know I forget things (like put on my mash tun's false bottom before doughing-in) if I haven't brewed in a month or so... can't imagine how many I would make after 20 years!
Sure it will be a cracking pint!