countdown to a brew day

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
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ritchie

countdown to a brew day

Post by ritchie » Tue May 13, 2008 9:02 pm

ive written myself a list, a sort of "How To...." in prep for my first AG brew day, i thought i'd let the good folk here pick over it and point out what ive missed, for a start ive neglected to add any yeast :oops:

1)Make a yeast starter the night before if using liquid yeast
2)Calculate amount of water needed using Daab's batch calculator
3)Turn on hot liquor tun to heat water to desired strike temperature
4)Run hot water into mash tun
5)"Dough in" malt and stir, adjust temperature with ice or boiling water if needed and adjust ph to 5.3( my water is pretty soft, maybe i can do without adjusting the ph as many peeps seem to?)
6)Cover mash tun for the 60-90 mins, then add water to make up for evaporation if needed
7)Drain first runnings into jug and return to mash tun until clear
8)Run first batch into boiler
9)Turn on boiler when wort covers element
10)Batch sparge with required amount of water
11)When both batches are in boiler and it is at a rolling boil and foaming has died down add hops at desired times
12)15 mins before end of boil place immersion chiller in boiler and add irish moss
13)Switch off boiler and add aroma hops, turn on chiller and cool wort to 25 degrees
14)Run off wort into fermenting barrel from a height to aerate it
15)Check the gravity
16)When fermentation ends rack to a secondary fermenter and add finings
17)Rack to a keg or bottle if needed.

as ever, much gratitude for any pointers, as im sure ive misunderstood some of the steps and the reasons for them

ritchie

Post by ritchie » Tue May 13, 2008 9:33 pm

doh *slaps forehead* see! i knew the keen eyed crew would save me from a fate worse than TCP.

prolix

Post by prolix » Tue May 13, 2008 10:40 pm

check taps are shut and grain and hop strainers in place, oh and check taps are shut :lol:

ritchie

Post by ritchie » Tue May 13, 2008 10:59 pm

im sure an open tap will happen sooner or later

prolix

Post by prolix » Tue May 13, 2008 11:10 pm

ritchie wrote:im sure an open tap will happen sooner or later
they are tricksters those taps!

subsub

Post by subsub » Tue May 13, 2008 11:41 pm

I'd give the liquid yeast starter a little more than the night before a brew if I was you. What happens if it doesn't start :?:

Chiltern Brewer

Post by Chiltern Brewer » Tue May 13, 2008 11:45 pm

Looks like you pretty much have it, just a few points/suggestions:

Liquid yeast can take a few days to multiply up to a decent pitching rate.
Rehydrate the Irish moss with boiled water and use enough (the packet instructions usually don't).
Don't get too hung up on water treatment (at first).

Regarding mashing - David Edge's CBA Guide - is one of the best I've found on the web. Of course I assume you've already read DaaB? :wink:

ritchie

Post by ritchie » Tue May 13, 2008 11:47 pm

thanks for the info guys, im taking it all on board.

ritchie

Post by ritchie » Wed May 14, 2008 8:34 am

How do i "adjust for temperature" when measuring the gravity with the hydrometer whilst sparging? ive searched but cant seem to find a thread that deals with this :oops:

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Stonechat
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Post by Stonechat » Wed May 14, 2008 8:39 am

It's a sticky by Gurgeh on BREWING EQUIPMENT.

Good Luck with the 1st AG!

stevezx7r

Post by stevezx7r » Wed May 14, 2008 8:58 am

ritchie wrote:How do i "adjust for temperature" when measuring the gravity with the hydrometer whilst sparging? ive searched but cant seem to find a thread that deals with this :oops:
I'd suggest downloading beersmith - http://www.beersmith.com/ -

This has all the calculators you will need i.e temp adjustment for gravity checking, what the abv will be etc etc. It also has an excellent recipe creator although certain elements are a bit off :wink: It's handy to put you in the ball park of where you need to be, if you see what I mean.

Re. your list, I wouldn't bother adjusting the Ph yet unless your water is extreme in some way.

Have you thought about using a packet yeast? These are easier to use than liquid to start.

I doubt you will need to add water due to evaporation unless your mash tun has no lid :shock: I put the lid on mine then cover with an old duvet.

I would rest the hot wort for 30 mins after switch off as this lets everything settle and iirc promotes good cold break - this is before beginning to chill it.

I would check the gravity before transfering to the fv as any adjustments needed could cause problems.

I tend to use a sieve to catch any bits from the boiler when transfering to the FV

I tend to ferment for 10 days as this makes sure that the yeast has done it's job in making alcohol and mopping up any undisirables.

You may not need any finings unless it's really cloudy, in which case I would leave for longer, unless you want beer asap. :wink:

Hope that helps (and is correct :roll: )

des

Post by des » Wed May 14, 2008 2:25 pm

at 13

I like to wait till wort cooled to 80 degrees before adding aroma hops, theory is that the hop oils do not evaporate so much and helps retain aroma.

Des

ritchie

Post by ritchie » Wed May 14, 2008 4:19 pm

excellent! thank you all very much for the input, i shall tweak my list to include the advice given. you have certainly helped clear up some confused thinking on my part. :D

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