Just started my first AG brew It's a recipe from Graham Wheeler its the Ringwood Old Thumper Brew.
The Recipe (please see book)
Ok so step one was to weigh out the goods i didn't take any picture's
but i would like to take the opportunity to mention that all of my goods were bought from http://www.barleybottom.com/index.php Paul is a great guy and sorted me out with all of the goods i needed at a very good price... Thanks Paul.Next the setup. This is my own setup made from very basic homebrew and plumbing supplies, all of the ideas and know how etc was supplied by the guys and gals on this forum so once again another big thank you .
- The setup
- Setup.JPG (36.15 KiB) Viewed 965 times
When measured I got a Mash temp of 64 was aiming for 66 but 64 is still good, will have to try the strike temp a little higher.Started the sparge got the water to 82c takes a bit a of fiddling and faffing about with me knobs etc
going ok, first running’s were at 1062 the target is 1056 so we will have to wait and see. The overall sparge was not fun, it started ok and I re-circulated the first couple of litres, before starting the collection, after this I found that the collection kept stalling and needed attention, it was due to small (in size) grain getting stuck in the tap and blocking it. I had to keep opening the tap fully to let the grain out and then closing it up to slow the sparge !!- Sparge1
- SPARGE1.JPG (18.09 KiB) Viewed 965 times
- sparge2
- sparge2.JPG (23.31 KiB) Viewed 965 times
Collected what looks like 6 gallons, The sparge was a quite a task, it was very hard to manage the flow out of the mash tun. Started heating the wort and waiting for the boil to add the hops.
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I had more picture but not sure im adding them the correct way I tried to add them as attachments but 3 is the MAX
Been working on this for 1.5 hours so giving up...Finally got it into the FV. I don’t have a method of cooling yet, so I will have to wait overnight for it to cool.
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Pitched the yeast (S-04) after about an hour this is the first yeast I have hydrated in the wort that its going to be pitched into. The Original Gravity was 1054 was aiming for 1056 so I don’t think this is to bad for a first effort, I’m sure the lack of gravity was due to my inconsistency in the sparge technique
UPDATE
The fermentation went very well, first time using safale s-04 got a really good yeast head and it cleared down nicley. Finally stopped at 1.014 this has now gone into my keg and is maturing nicely, pulled off just a drop 1/4 of pint to check that the barell was building preasure.
Would just like to say this is by far the best beer I have ever brewed the move to AG was worth every minute of my time.
Summer Lightning is an excellent first choice for AG. My first one was based upon the recipe. Sounds like it went swimmingly.