My 1st AG - Birch Tree Ale (some more pictures)

Gurgeh · Post by **Gurgeh** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 3:59 pm

nice one Chris!

I reckon you could get some more of that cooled wort out of your boiler...

it looks like that orange tap is at the same level as your remaining wort. if you insert a piece of tubing to the outlet, it should cause a syphon effect allowing you to suck another pint or two out of it.

if it's not that, then there must be a leak in the hop filter or it's fitting to the tap. holes at the bottom are obviously the point, but somehow your wort is finding a reason not to go UP to the tank fitting, and down through the tap...

or you could just put a shed load more hops in next time...

experiment with tap water and see what you can do!

Thanks for all those great pictures!

delboy · Post by **delboy** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 4:54 pm

Gurgeh wrote:nice one Chris!

I reckon you could get some more of that cooled wort out of your boiler...

it looks like that orange tap is at the same level as your remaining wort. if you insert a piece of tubing to the outlet, it should cause a syphon effect allowing you to suck another pint or two out of it.

if it's not that, then there must be a leak in the hop filter or it's fitting to the tap. holes at the bottom are obviously the point, but somehow your wort is finding a reason not to go UP to the tank fitting, and down through the tap...

or you could just put a shed load more hops in next time...

experiment with tap water and see what you can do!

Thanks for all those great pictures!

Going by the piccies he did use a peice of piping on the tap to get the syphon effect piccy 1.
I think the problem is maybe that slice near where the pipe entetrs the strainer in piccie 2 looks to me like it would prevent it from syphoning.

Might just be a cause of turning the pipe so the slice is orientated towards the bottom of the boiler.

Post by **Aleman** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:33 pm

The other thing is that you really need the tube from the boiler to be full of wort too, otherwise air breaks the syphon from 'outside' the boiler

ChrisG · Post by **ChrisG** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:04 pm

delboy wrote:Might just be a cause of turning the pipe so the slice is orientated towards the bottom of the boiler.

You are totally right!!

I was going to change the pipe but didnt get around to it.....I will now!

Thanks Delboy!

Gurgeh · Post by **Gurgeh** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:16 pm

Well spotted DB - i missed that!

ChrisG · Post by **ChrisG** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 9:39 pm

Well thats my first All Grain bottled.

Works out to be around 4.7%.

Tasted some of it too and it is amazing! I cant believe that I have actually brewed this. It already tastes good enough to drink.

Actually thinking of doing this one again as my second.

Nice colour too.

fivetide · Post by **fivetide** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 9:27 am

Well, you didn't hang around that's for sure - what's that, 4 days fermentation tops? Haha! It'll be drunk 7 days in at this rate

ChrisG · Post by **ChrisG** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:24 am

fivetide wrote:Well, you didn't hang around that's for sure - what's that, 4 days fermentation tops? Haha! It'll be drunk 7 days in at this rate

yeah I couldnt believe it, fermentation was so fast, and thats without a yeast starter.

fivetide · Post by **fivetide** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:36 am

My last couple of brews have hit target in around four days, but I still leave them in primary for a week then in secondary for at least another week before moving on for conditioning. I like the yeast to clean up and then provide time to drop bright. I guess you're going for a very long condition.

ChrisG · Post by **ChrisG** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 12:16 pm

fivetide wrote:My last couple of brews have hit target in around four days, but I still leave them in primary for a week then in secondary for at least another week before moving on for conditioning. I like the yeast to clean up and then provide time to drop bright. I guess you're going for a very long condition.

Yup

depends if it last that long

ade1865 · Post by **ade1865** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 12:37 pm

Congratulations Chris. Like a few on here I'm only a brew or two ahead of you. I'd just like to confirm that your beer will be much in demand. My 1st brew was unveiled to a friend of mine the other night, and he continually asked me if there was any more rather than hitting the bottles of, until now, perfectly quaffable shop bought ale. In a way I was glad when the gas ran out

Alos I love my beer, it tastes better than anyhting I have bought.

Aren't we lucky

kevthebootboy · Post by **kevthebootboy** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 8:31 pm

ahhh well done our kid, really pleased for you

pantsmachine · Post by **pantsmachine** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 10:10 pm

Good man, very well done indeed. I'll have a sniff next time you brew, see if the currents waft it to Aberdeen.

My favourite 1st time your mates try it moment is....

They have their 2nd sip of the 1st pint then you get the look, the long pause and out it comes 'bloody hell that's better than the pint in my local' at which point you ask if they want to know more...

ChrisG · Post by **ChrisG** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 8:43 am

Thanks everyone, finding it difficult not to open a bottle already!

I have modified my hop strainer and it now works with the syphon effect. Might post a pic later. It snakes around the centre of the boiler and seems to work very well, hardly anything left in the boiler after the run off.

You just gotta love making equipment from scratch eh....its half the fun.

Now next job is to fix my leaking immersion chiller. Seems the fittings pop off too easily.

ChrisG · Post by **ChrisG** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 1:20 pm

Immersion chiller system now fixed and created a new hop strainer which drains almost all of the liquid from the boiler.

Works really well and I can position it so it touches the bottom of the bin.

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My 1st AG - Birch Tree Ale (some more pictures)

Re: My 1st AG - Birch Tree Ale (some more pictures)