Vossy first AG pt2

[Vossy1]

Part 2

Oh the smell...hmmm



Lots of seeds in these hops



Whilst the wort boiled I ran a soln of WVP through the CFC then a soln of iodophor, before finally rinsing with water.



Then I ran the wort through the cfc. I couldn't work out why the wort was steaming as it fell into the primary fv...then I remembered to turn the water on



It was at this point that I realised I didn't have a hop strainer....oh well...onwards
I made the starter whilst the wort went through the cfc.
This is the boiler after all the wort had been transfered



One bucket full of wort



Yeast pitched...job's a good'un. 5.5 hrs start to finish. The postie dropped my refractometer off this am. I got a Brix reading of 15 so that's a starting gravity of 1060.
I was aiming at 1065 @75% efficiency so I make my efficiency 69%, which, if that's right, is very good for my 1st attempt :pink
My errors...too high a strike temp leading to too much mash volume.

I thoroughly enjoyed today B)

[Andy]

Great pics vossy - well done, have a homebrew

[jasonaustin]

Great stuff. And great pics.
Looks so much more organised than my first AG.

[bitter_dave]

Great result - go and have a beer to celebrate

[bod]

i've done over 50 all grain brews now and mine look no where near as organised as that!

congrats vossy! welcome to the addiction!

[Jon Lacey]

Could you let me know what the valves are you have on your mash tun?
They look like radiator valves.

Beers
Jon L.

[Bigster]

Well done Mr Constructor - good fun eh.

Those pips can be pesky fellows. :huh:

Never seen so much piping / taps . A cross between percy thrower and fireman sam

[Vossy1]

Cheers guys...celebrating with a Nelsons Revenge as I type.

DaaB, sorry about the image size. At present I'm reducing to 40% of original, saving to desktop then loading to photobucket...it takes forever.

I'll resize and re edit into the posts, don't want any dial ups to miss any of the great stuff on this forum

[Vossy1]

Thanks DaaB, I went to photobucket and they show the image at 50% of original.
I've reduced this to 25% is this o.k for future posts.

Bare in mind I reduced the original to 40% before downloading to photobucket, photobucket shows at 50% of original and I've reduced it by another 25%...is there going to be anything left (15%). I'm not even using my digital SLR....god help me if I do :rolleyes:

I've looked in posting guidelines next to Jim's Beer Kit and in pictures there is no reference to size.

Please can you advise on pixel size so I don't make the same mistake again.

Many thanks as always B)

EDIT

Think I edited as you typed DaaB, Will remove the links to the pics as they have been resized to your post size. In future I will keep them at this size

[Bigster]

I keep forgetting to calm down the pixel size from 5 million to something more suitable - heat of the moment and all that

[Vossy1]

Just one query about my brew. I didn't see any trub be it hot or cold. I saw plenty of hops at the bottom of the boiler but no trub/mush???

Oh the ramblings of beginners

EDIT, Just re read in the Joy Of Home Brewing.

I'm refering to hot and cold break above, not the trub.

[Vossy1]

I'll keep the photies to 160 x 121, that's the easiest size on photobucket, ie, 25%.

I'm gonna have to write a programme to reduce them automatically on downloading from the camera

Trub...I get ya. I just thought that the hops turned brown on boiling :blink:

Quoting JOHB In theory the trub will inhibit fermentation and reduce the production of esters, often desirable in beer. In practice, the effect on fermentation is not significant to the homebrewer.

I will pat off any brown stuff on the yeast head.

All in all a good days work

Just got to sort BD's Bitter nd Twisted clone now, though I think I may do this HT clone again just for practice/slurping

[Vossy1]

DaaB, can you define 'skim'. I didn't dare take the lid off previous fermentations, through ill gotten fears of infection. I've removed the brown stuff from the last 2 brews.

I assume you mean removing the frothy head completely?

[Vossy1]

I read about using the back of a wooden spoon. I then saw posts saying never use a wooden implement

I tried to pat off the dirty looking stuff from the yeast head of the Brewers Choice IPA with a metal spoon, it didn't work. I tried to dig slightly underneath it, but the entire lot came off revealing the wort beneath, but like you say, the frothy head reappeared rapidly.

Do you try and remove the brown stuf from the side DaaB, the rim tide so to speak. I usually find it's too hard too remove, and anyway, I like a bitter pint...means no one else will drink it

[jasonaustin]

I generally don't bother to skim. But I probably move to secondary a bit earlier than others. I (try to) time this to be when the yeast head is about to lose it's buoyancy at the end of fermentation and therefore it could begin to fall back into the beer, taking all the gunk with it. It works for me.